October 19th: Heishigu 黑石牯 to Lingmenzhen 岭门镇 – 39.72 miles
Day 6
With little sleep we had a long hot day. 34-35 degrees all day. We were hoping to reach Maoming, and thought that we were near after Cher read a sign that said, “Welcome to Maoming, Enjoy Our Safety Avenue.” As the sun was quickly going down, we hoped to find a hotel in town to catch up with the lost sleep, and Cher had already began fantasizing about a hot shower. However, after asking how far Maoming was, Cher learned it was still 70 kms away. Which means, we wouldn’t be able to enjoy their long “safety avenue” for another 2 days. Cher was very dissapointed to learn we would have to stay next to a noisy road and mosquito filled rice fields. I was equally dissapointed but didn’t let on in my attempt at manliness, and my cheery resolve only made Cher more annoyed.
After checking that we couldn’t be seen from the road, we decided to cook first and set up camp just after sunset. A passing farmer stopped and told Cher it wasn’t a good place to stay, assuring us that it was not dangerous, but just too many mosquitoes and too “wild”. He invited us to stay in the village. At first we declined but after some discussion we took him up on the invite. He patiently waited for us to collect our scattered cooking gear, and walked us to the village as he carried a large tree limb on his shoulder. He struck me as the ideal image of a farmer, polite, sturdy, with a straw hat, sandals, and a constant smile of amusement revealing white teeth.
As I watched Cher cycling next to him I was struck by the contrast. I realized how odd we must appear to everyone we passed and felt a twinge of shame for my frustration with their curiosity. Our trikes, and everything we own contain more modern technology than he was likely to come in contact with in a lifetime. We were from the future. True he wasn’t by any means living in the past and he owned modern luxuries such as a water heater, a washing machine and a mobile phone, but nonetheless the contrast was extreme. We are sanitizing water with a UV light pen and have a stove that fits in your pocket. Our 3-person tent is waterproof and can be set up in 2 minutes. In many ways even though we chose not to carry many modern conveniences, our way of life has arleady been branded by the modern world we live in.
We set up our tents in front of his house and soon the entire village had gathered and were curiously observing our tents and deciphering the mechanics of our trikes with their hands held respectfully behind their backs. Many were amazed by the mesh screen of our tent, which was not surprising since they go without screens in their windows. It was an event. Each of us took turns entertaining the crowd while the other took a hot shower in the house. It was a small price to pay for such hospitality. Cher answered questions such as “don’t you have anything else to do other than travelling?” as wandering around is considered a lack of ambition by the standards of industrious Chinese rural culture. I posed and hammed it up giving peace signs with the teenagers while they snapped shots with their mobiles. I asked if anyone had e-mail, and was given a physical address to mail pictures. This little adventure was a much needed reminder of the goodness of people after a few frustrating days.
