Portrait of an LBX

Jour 116 (15/01/10)

Tangyin(棠阴)-Nanfeng(南丰)

Province du Jiangxi(江西省)

- 55km -

C’est cette fois-ci sans alarme que nous nous réveillon. Nous sommes tous un peu crevés et Evan, la goutte au nez, se lève en disant: « I feel like a shit! » (« Je me sens comme une merde! »).

Sur le mur de l'hôtel: "Règlement sur le temps de la douche - Hommes (vieux, âges moyens, jeunes et enfants): 20 min - Femmes (vieilles, âges moyens, jeunes et enfants: 30min - Tout dépassement de 10min coûte un supplément de 1yuan."

(more…)

Jour 114 (13/01/10)

Zhangxiang(张巷)-Lipi(礼陂)

Province du Jiangxi(江西省)

- 78km -

Après cette journée d’hier, qui c’est mal terminée avec mon vélo, nous nous levons à 7h30, sous des « Hallow! » (« Hello! ») et autres « Naaïïïce tou miiit you! » (« Nice to meet you ») criés dans les escaliers. Sans chauffage, nous nous les sommes pas mal caillées et avons mal dormi. Je me réveille même avec un début de crève.

Dans les villages, les chiens font souvent les poubelles.

(more…)

By Evan (with significant contributions from Andy)

*Click here to see all the  pictures we took in the old town of Tangyin

The path between the fields on the outskirts of town and the stone compounds of the Tangyin Old Town, by Andy

In Shanghai we decided to modify our methodology of just fluttering around China wherever the four winds blow us toward a system of identifying some worthwhile destinations in advance. As such, we picked up some books about ancient towns (古镇) in Jiangxi and Fujian. Pushing into central Jiangxi, we had a chance to make use of our guides and pedaled toward the recommended ancient town of Tangyin (棠阴镇). As we crested a green mountain pass topped with a sign exhorting the locals to “develop the tourism industry (大力发展旅游产业),” we feared a repeat of our last ancient town experience in Wuzhen (乌镇), Zhejiang — an over-commercialized, touristic, stupidscape with a extortionate entrance fee and nigh zero meaning whatsoever.

A street bisecting the main road at first seemed to confirm our worries — Commercial Street (商业街), as it was called, was a filthy, cluttered, little road with hawker stalls on both sides. It appeared that the city was trying to enact its goal of tourism promotion but, not knowing what to do, resorted to the tried-and-tested “tourism alley” strategy. We were encouraged, however, to see many old structures just beyond the end of the street, and determined to find a hotel and return on foot to explore. (more…)

By Evan

Every once in a while a new acquaintance asks us if anything bad has happened to us on this trip. The honest answer is yes, any run-in we have with Public Security organs or the state in general is an event we wish we could forget, but we usually bite our tongues. In truth, the police have been our biggest worry since the planning stage of Portrait of an LBX began about a year ago. Nowadays we frequently pass signs on the side of the road that say, “If you have a problem, call the police!” accompanied by the cute little cartoon police characters Jingjing and Chacha (think comical cop icons called Po-po and Lice-Lice). “What if your problem is the police?” we wonder.

The long-standing fear reared its repugnant head in Tangyin (棠阴), Jiangxi just after we had ridden past a statue of the solemn fiberglass police officer saluting us in front of the busted town hospital with a rusted-out, tire-less car out front. As we stopped to take pictures, a cop car headed in the opposite direction suddenly turned around and cut us off. We were braced for confrontation, but the cops, after hailing us to stop, simply offered any assistance they could and, amid the usual compliments on our Chinese ability and exclamations about our height, gave us words of praise for our bike journey. Whew, that was a little too easy. (more…)