Trip Status #1 Pingyao

Trip Summary

We are currently resting at Pingyao (山西·平遥) for several days as it has been a long ride. We departed Tianjin 天津 on 24/3/18 and cycled south west towards Pingyao. We arrived in Pingyao on 3/4/18 after cycling just over 650 km in 10 days. We had 1 day rest in the middle.

Journey from Tianjin to Pingyao. Each red marker is where we stopped for the night.

Our overall plans for China. Green marker represents a rest stop (also you guys get a trip update!)

What we’ve learned

When approaching an intersection, most people would follow the light, however, some rebels would carry on and we are always on the lookout. Needless to say, most vehicle at the intersection are going at 10km/h so they don’t run over anyone. The best approach for us has been to move slowly out into the intersection, indicate and slowly go around other people.

Camping isn’t a popular hobby here in China, travellers would stay at guesthouse or hotels when they arrive, so we struggled to find suitable places to pitch our tent. After continuously asking friends where we can actually pitch a tent, someone said the public parks in small towns are good as no one would mind if you stay overnight.

This lovely man offered his spare room when we asked at the park if we can tent at the park… Very kind of him

A free room is a free room

We are very happy seeing the environmental efforts China is putting in. It’s really great seeing all public bins designed with both rubbish and recycling. Not really sure what happens to the recycle items, but we do our part by sorting through our waste. Even the road planting has increased tremendously. The way they plant trees for the street is so different – they buy grown trees that are trimmed so much, then plant them on the side of the road. If you didn’t know any better you might’ve thought they were dead!

Grown trees get trimmed, transported, then planted back.

Bike sharing is amazingly convenient in China! They are cheap, easy to use and some of them are designed with non-puncture tyres and solar panel basket.

Where’s next

We are going to Xi’an 西安, Lanzhou 兰州 and then Urumqi 乌鲁木齐。We are quite ahead of time because we get 4 months to roam around China!