Portrait of an LBX

Jour 144 (12/02/10)

Luxi(芦溪)

Province du Fujian(福建省)

Etant donné la journée crevante d’hier, nous faisons aujourd’hui la grasse matinée. Lorsque nous sortons, les filles du patron de l’hôtel insistent pour nous accompagner, de peur que l’on ne trouve rien: ni où manger, ni quoi voir. Nous réussissons, non sans mal, à nous en débarrasser, pour aller prendre quelques baozi sur une étal du marché encore très animé, puis partons vers le tulou le plus proche.

Marché de Luxi (1)

Marché de Luxi (2)

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By Evan

Time to make up a little lost time. After our time in Anxi, we spent some really glorious days meandering around Xiamen, which I swear is China’s most charming city — that I’ve visited — bar none. If we were urbanists and not LBXists, as it were, I’d spend an entire post writing about how we got lost in the old city’s dense, pulsing alleyways the way men lose their souls in a beautiful woman’s long hair. Alas, our quest is for LBXes, and after only three days Alexis returned from his visa run to Hong Kong, obliging us to part from that beautiful city. [Andy's pics of Xiamen here]

On our first day out of Xiamen, torrential rain stopped us short in Zhangzhou (漳州), a rat hole of a city, where successive sicknesses encumbered us for two days. At least it was in Zhangzhou that I got to see my Saints roll to a Super Bowl victory via a friend’s NFL.com subscription (thanks to Weiwei and Travis!). Three days later than expected, we rolled out of town toward the northwest and the land of the tulou (土樓), or as they ought to be called in English, round earthen castles.

Inside the tulou of Xiazhai. Photo by Andy

That day out of Zhangzhou, I lost three tubes to lesions in the same spot on my back wheel (one before even riding on the $@*# thing) before realizing that my rear Schwalbe Marathon XR, “the ultimate expedition tire,” had been ruptured severely. I threw it away and put on my spare, but seriously, I want my $55 back. Needless to say, that cost us loads of time, and we got only as far as the small town of Xiazhai (霞寨鎮), where the following day I was sick to the stomach… again. As I lay in bed listening to the same five Spring Festival songs on endless repeat at max volume (there will be brutal violence next time I hear the gongxi gongxi gongxi ni [恭喜恭喜恭喜你!] song), Alexis wandered out and found a surprise: a tulou right in Xiazhai, way ahead of schedule. (more…)

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Jour 141 (09/02/10)

Zhangzhou(漳州)-Xiazhai(霞寨)

Province du Fujian(福建省)

- 65km -

Cette fois-ci, c’est bon! Nous nous levons à 7h, le ciel est clément et aucun de nous n’est malade. Nous quittons la charmante Mademoiselle Cai (蔡小姐) qui travaille à l’hôtel, allons prendre un café au Mc Do, et reprenons enfin la route.

"Payer ses impôts conformément à la loi est un honneur"

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