October 14th: Hong Kong to Doumenzhen 斗门镇 – 14 miles
Day 1
We finally finished packing and clearing out the apartment at 2 am. 4 hours later, we were on a van heading towards China Ferry Terminal for the boat ride to Doumen, the start point of our long journey. After paying only 60 HKD excess baggage fee for our 2 gigantic trikes, we boarded the ferry. Somehow they only x-rayed our luggage upon arrival, so apparently it is ok to carry around metal containers filled with white gas on a boarding-crossing ferry. Having chosen the 2-hour boat ride to Doumen to avoid traveling through the more densely populated cities surrounding Hong Kong, we found that our choice was correct. We assembled our trikes in a relatively empty parking lot outside of the terminal, and were on the road by 1:30pm.
Escaping the still bustling city of Doumen was a onslaught of heavy traffic over pot holed roads lumpy enough to make our panniers scrape on the ground. Not only were there large ruts but also large black puddles. Motorcycles, buses, trucks and cars were heading in every direction to avoid the holes, water and our trikes. After stopping multiple times to get our bearings we made it just 14 miles before calling it a day. We found a little motel in Doumenzhen. Eating out instead of cooking was the easiest agreement we have reached. However, the guilt of spending more money than necessary took over and we resolved to start cooking as often as possible, as grocery shops are easy to find along the way.
