October 20th: Lingmenzhen 岭门镇 to Dianbai 电白 – 30.48 miles
Day 7
Woke up fully rested at 5am and started packing before the rooster’s crow. We were eager to get back on the road without the hassle of cooking breakfast and packing in front of a crowd of spectators. It is nerve wracking to have a crowd watching your every move. No wonder the pandas don’t breed in the zoo. After packing in the dark we were ready to go by 6am and after thanking our host we departed. We stopped near a construction site behind a sand dune and cooked our oatmeal breakfast. Despite our efforts in going stealth, we still received a curious visitor as we were about to eat. Cher politely answered the normal questions: no it’s not electric powered, you have to pedal; yes it has 3 wheels; we are from Hong Kong and going to Vietnam. However, she drew a line at the question “what are you eating?” We had decided that on the subject of curiosity, we could not possibly satisfy everyone, so we would have to make some boundaries. First we won’t discuss how much our things cost. Second we have a no touch rule. This is a grey area but curiosity at one point turns into harrassment.
Twice today we’ve put our boundaries into practice. I snapped my fingers and gave a dissaproving look at 2 separate people, one turning the steering, the other turning the pedals. Afterwards they looked from afar or at least respectfully and even warned others not to touch after they turned up. It’s working and now we can eat in peace without having to worry about someone poking into our bags.
We had dreams of camping on a beach and followed a sign that promised “Romantic Coast” which is 16km away on a detour. Oh la la! It might be a rest day! As we peddled down the road, we soon found out that the coast is owned by a company, fenced in, and guarded by men in camo uniforms. The “Romantic Coast” costs 50 RMB per person to enter and they don’t want anyone stealing it. We dismissed it and moved on enduring the searing afternoon sun. Wanting to get some rest for our legs, we decided to have a rest day. After arriving n Dianbai, a blooming town outside of Maoming, we found a cheap hotel close to a market, grocery shop and an internet cafe and settled in for some blogging, sink laundry, air conditioning, spam and egg cooking, and trike maintenance. And of course, 2 delicious, cold, wheat beers to celebrate the successful completion of our first week of slow travel.
Gourmet chef in his natural environment