Korla to Tokson
Distance: some 330km
Scenery: B
Road: C to A+++
Winds: C to D-
Climbing: very little
Altitude effects: not possible
Cultural interest: B-
Day 1 (Korla to Hoxud): After a few days in the comforts of civilization, getting back on the bike takes will power. I have very little of it so I mope around , watching an NBA game on CCTV5, until it's time to checkout.
Cloudy weather. Moderate headwinds.
I find the highway and soon I'm pulled over by the police. It turns out that slow vehicles are prohibited on the new highway on this section, and we must use the old highway. So I ride on the old highway, parallel to the perfectly paved new highway with wide lanes, and I find that it's not just bicycles and donkey carts on the crappy old highway. The new highway is a pretty expensive toll road so alot of taxis and overloaded trucks crowd the old highway instead. It's the cheapskate highway.
I get to Hoxud and it's time to find a hotel. But I don't read Chinese. The solution:
Day 2 (Hoxud to a campsite): Clear weather. Blue skies. Visibility very good. A barely noticable climb and a windy downhill.
I decide to break the law and ride on the new highway.
I'm feeling a bit soft staying in hotels every night so I decide to camp.
Day 3 (campsite to Toksun): Breakfast of Laghman again. 100km stretch of nothingness. Visibility excellent. Very beautiful landscape.
I have an old Chinese tourist map that I bought in Kashgar. It's printed in 2002 before the new highway was built. According to the map, I would pass through 2 towns on today's ride where I could rest and eat. Those towns don't exist anymore, making today a hot, windy, and hungry day.
Distance: some 330km
Scenery: B
Road: C to A+++
Winds: C to D-
Climbing: very little
Altitude effects: not possible
Cultural interest: B-
Day 1 (Korla to Hoxud): After a few days in the comforts of civilization, getting back on the bike takes will power. I have very little of it so I mope around , watching an NBA game on CCTV5, until it's time to checkout.
Cloudy weather. Moderate headwinds.
I find the highway and soon I'm pulled over by the police. It turns out that slow vehicles are prohibited on the new highway on this section, and we must use the old highway. So I ride on the old highway, parallel to the perfectly paved new highway with wide lanes, and I find that it's not just bicycles and donkey carts on the crappy old highway. The new highway is a pretty expensive toll road so alot of taxis and overloaded trucks crowd the old highway instead. It's the cheapskate highway.
I get to Hoxud and it's time to find a hotel. But I don't read Chinese. The solution:
I find a hotel with the nicest watchman in the world. Mr Wei is a 70 year old retired farmer.
He lives in a closet-sized shack in the hotel's courtyard. The guy's got tons of good spirit. His ecstatic friendliness and nonstop talking makes me feel like meeting me has made him very happy. I offer to take his picture and off he goes to get cleaned up and put on his hat. He comes back asking me how he should pose for the picture. It's an important occasion for him. We take 4 pictures before somebody else calms down his enthusiasm. An adorable man.
Day 2 (Hoxud to a campsite): Clear weather. Blue skies. Visibility very good. A barely noticable climb and a windy downhill.
I decide to break the law and ride on the new highway.
I'm feeling a bit soft staying in hotels every night so I decide to camp.
Day 3 (campsite to Toksun): Breakfast of Laghman again. 100km stretch of nothingness. Visibility excellent. Very beautiful landscape.
I have an old Chinese tourist map that I bought in Kashgar. It's printed in 2002 before the new highway was built. According to the map, I would pass through 2 towns on today's ride where I could rest and eat. Those towns don't exist anymore, making today a hot, windy, and hungry day.
No comments:
Post a Comment