Crashed

I finally find the strength to get up in the morning early enough to start cycling to the next destination. The goal is Hami, roughly 400km away. The first day I head east and visit a place where they have old tombs from 900AD. In one of them they still had the mummyfied corpses. In 5 minutes I have seen enough and the girls at the entry look at me surprised that I am already leaving. After a few km I am in Chaofang, this is supposed to be an interesting ancient Uighur city. I look in through the gate and I decide it is not worthwhile to pay the 3 Euro. I do wander around the little town though, which has the advantage of not being overcrowded by the busloads of Chinese tourists. From there I go to Tuyugou, where I should be able to find the 1000 Buddha caves.. I do not find that many caves, but it is a nicely located in the mountains. I am not allowed to take pictures in the caves, because that would damage the caves, according to the caretaker, who when seeing my camera keeps on following me everywhere. I can understand that maybe a flash would harm a picture, but fail to see how a picture taken without damages anything. It was not that great anyway. While cycling to Tuyugou my pedal problem plays up again. This time I try to fix it with a nail and a stone, but I cannot really get the bolt on the axes tight enough that it sticks. Every 5km I have to repeat the procedure. Just when I had finished it for the so manieth time, a trucker stops to take me with him. I tell him I want to go to Shanshan. Unfortunately the trucker does not stop there, but a few km later. I do not feel like turning round and keep on going. In a shop I buy cookies, they do not have bread and refill my bottles. I also find a bigger iron stick, that I can use for my pedals, the nail is bent. After a dozen km I arrive in a little town where I find a mechanic, with his chisel and hammer I try to secure the bolt for sure, but I do not try it as I also find a hotel.

The daughter(?) of the owner has, I guess, not seen a foreigner before, she tries to touch me every time she can. She insists on washing my hair and initially does not want to get out when I want to shower. After showering she grabs my clothes to wash them.

The next day almost immediately starts again with working on my pedals again. Now I keep hammering, with a big stone for half an hour and this seems to pay out. The wind is horrible today and I do not mind when a truck stops and takes me for 20km. After that I grab the backs of trucks when they pass me. This of course only works when they go slow, but fortunately there are enough climbs. The last truck I hang onto, stops after 15 minutes. I think he wants to shoe me off, instead he offers me a thick ribbon which he ties to the truck and he suggests I tie the other side to my bike or me. I do not like the idea to being tied to a truck if I fall, I or my bike will be dragged behind the truck for possibly a long time. I decide just to hold the ribbon, which is nicer to hold than the sharp steel edges of the truck. After being towed for a while, I decide I might put the ribbon through my frame and then hold it with my left hand, while it is on the handlebar. In case I fall, I can immediately let go and I will be relatively fine. The problem is to get the ribbon on the right location. One hand is occupied with holding the ribbon the other I need for holding the handlebar. Fortunately I have strong teeth and I manage to put the ribbon in my mouth, so I got towed on my teeth, while my right hand puts the free end through the frame to my left hand. My right hand takes over from my teeth and slowly releases the ribbon till finally I am towed via the frame. This works excellent, especialy when the speed goes up, I can have both hands on the handlebar. Then I notice that the knot at the truck side is just about to let go. I quickly pull my self to the truck and hold onto it directly again. I decide to try to tie the knot again and after 15 minutes of hard work I have the whole construction back to as I want it.

Everything keeps on going well until the trucker indicates he wants to pull up. I think he means he wants me to ride to the right of him. I go so far to the right that I am next to the truck, then when the truck goes over a little bump or accelerates slightly it gives a forward pull, with me on the end of the tight ribbon on the side of the truck, my bike is basically pulled to the left from underneath me. I let go of the ribbon to late and before I know it I am rolling over the asphalt. I am lucky, only scratches on my right side; knee, hip, elbow and sholder have abrevions. The bike is still ok, only this time the raincover and a side pocket of my bag have holes and the zipper of the bag of my camera is broken, the camera, miraculously is still working.

I guess the truckers feel sorry for me and they invite me to the truck and put my bike between the cabin and the rest of the truck. After 20km I have to get off, but I get grapes and apples for on the way. I cycle for 1 hour and then find a place with a little vegetation to sleep. I have made good progress today, only about 90 km to go to Hami.

The final kms to Hami I all cycle, not many trucks pass me and the ones that do are either full or just do not stop. In Hami it is more difficult to find people who speak English. I want to take the train from here to Lanzhou, but have no idea how I will get a ticket and make clear I have a bicycle. Well that is a worry for tomorrow.