Location: Taiyuan and north on Highway G108 and then G208 towards Datong, China
We had to reach Datong before the 14th of December to submit our visa renewals so we were in a bit of a rush. Just outside of Taiyuan, we slept in a little grove of pine trees next to the highway. The grove seemed very deserted but on three different occasions during the night some guys came walking through the grove shining flashlights up into the trees. They spotted the tent but did not come close to investigate, they seemed more interested in searching for something up in the trees. We assumed that they were looking to catch some sleeping birds (because hunting is illegal in China).
The air through Taiyuan was nasty but it improved drastically outside of town. That night we slept in a large greenhouse owned by a very nice farmer couple who were very welcoming and quite amused by the fact that we wanted to sleep in their greenhouse while it was "so cold" outside. Chinese people seem to have almost a fear of anything cold. Next morning we found several stands beside the road selling typical breakfast foods such as our beloved dumplings and soup. Yummy...and all for about $1 per person. In the afternoon we turned off onto the quieter G208 highway which lead towards a small mountain range. Soon the road entered a narrow valley and a fierce, cold headwind was rushing down it. There was no shelter to camp anywhere because there was only a rocky river bed next to the road and steep walls on either side. So, we decided to ask if we could put our tent somewhere in the little village we came through. We asked at 6 different places but most people would not even come out of their homes, instead they just shooed us away from their windows. Several seemed genuinely scared of us and after thinking about it we concluded that some of them may have never seen a foreigner before. The chance of a foreigner coming along this quiet road is very slim and the probability of that foreigner to be bearded, blond and blue eyed like James and pushing a loaded bike is even slimmer. Furthermore, the probability of that foreigner stopping in the village to ask for a place to put a tent to sleep for the night is probably pretty much zero. So, as annoying as it was being treated like scary freaks we understood why these people acted like this. (anti Western propaganda on the TV surely also contributed to the people's fear). Eventually a very nice lady had absolutely no problem with us putting our tent in her courtyard. Her husband even brought us some hot water for our noodles and a hot steamed bun. Very nice. Her young neighbour was terrified of us though. She pulled her kids indoors and locked the house as soon as she saw us. Smiling and waving at her just seemed to scare her more as she watched our every move from behind the curtains. Poor girl.
Our hosts were very sweet though, surprisingly sociable, not at all afraid and even invited us inside for breakfast the next morning. They were unfamiliar with our light weight, thin Polartec outdoor gear so they were constantly expressing their worries about us being cold (cold= "Lng", a word we heard all the time!) so they offered to give us two pairs of thick, long wooly pants which we would have loved to accept for their funny look but they were very impractical and too bulky. The last photo is a typical Chinese outdoor toilet pit. I dare not think of how easy it would be to fall in, especially when the foot slats are iced up. And what about doing a #2 during a rain storm! Charming thought :-(
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