Across China

China started life in my plan simply as a means to get into the east of Mongolia. Having ridden from the coast to the far eastern border of Mongolia, a few things have grown on me. The people first and foremost have proved incredibly generous. It takes a simple question “where can I find somewhere for breakfast?” Next minute I have been led down the street to a shop (which to me looks indistinguishable from the row on either side) breakfast has been paid for and a new Weichat friend connected. Google translate has been hammered relentlessly otherwise language would have been an impenetrable barrier.
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It did’nt start easy. My GPS track on the first day lead me into some remote mud tracks connecting tiny villages followed by steep climbs out into the next valley. I began to wish my schedule had been a little easier on the kilometres. Backbreaking agriculture occupied every square metre along my path, roadside camping was not an option. I was having trouble selecting food that had sufficient calorie burn, Google translating food packets and cooking times seemed to consume hours. The huge 1800 metre climb on the second day did little to ease my fears about  my timetable. Then I started asking people for help, and help came.

Second day checking into a little hotel was a classic. Finding hotels in small towns requires local knowledge. Even though Google maps tells you the hotel is right here, only the local fruit vendor can take you up the alley to the secret entrance. Foreign travellers need to register their movements with Police and the smaller hotels are not familiar with the process. It was a little confronting when half undressed ready for a welcome shower - the door burst open with three burly Policemen and the hotel owner bursting into my room. The attitude was friendly (did I want a cigarette?) but the process very long.

The things that work well include the constant wide verge geared for scooters, bicycles, three wheeler tuk tuks and donkey carts. The slower village traffic is a constant on China roads, so it makes it easy for a heavily laden bicycle to join the mix or follow the lead through city intersections. The cities have been a breeze to navigate, helped both by the GPS planning and the bicycle friendly options. Traffic on the roads has been light, even tempting me onto the motorway for a burst of quick kilometres. Traffic count on that day was only about one car per five minutes.

This northeast corner of China is clearly not a hot spot for foreign tourists. I have clearly stood out as a novelty, my random selfie count is in pop star ranges. Even in the Jinzhou Sheraton I only spotted two other non-Chinese faces.

The geography has changed from the agriculture intensity near the coast, to very dry passes opening out into wide lust heavily farmed valleys until I reached Inner Mongolia. The intense agriculture tailed off into long rolling hills, initially dry and brown to green pasture on the Mongolian plateau of the last two days. Stock includes big herds of Mongolian ponies to smaller (presumably small enough for wintering in barns) herds of cattle and sheep. Most noticeable has been the lack of water anywhere. Riverbeds are deep dusty cuttings through soft soil. The agriculture is supported by pump houses every few hundred metres, presumably pumping from artesian reservoirs. 
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The isolated wide spaces of the Mongolian plateau has given me this weird sense that I am not in a foreign land, so few visible reminders of the China that I have nearly passed through.

Top of the 1800m climb day two

Backbreaking agriculture occupying every square metre of land

My Mongolian buddies outside Bairin Right Banner leading on to a night of extreme hospitality

The bare dry hills guarding the entrance to Inner Mongolia

Entrance to a Mongolian sports ground

Mongolian grasslands

Couldn’t quite make the town 30 kms away - but awoke to a herd of Mongolian ponies grazing around the tent

Hundreds of kilometres of manually laid drainage (note the lack of road cones)

Town entrance West Ujimqin