Longyan - Pengkou

Today was a relatively short hop skip and a jump into nearby Changting. It was always on my route and by coinidence it’s also the birth place of one of my ex students Eileen. Her boyfriend, Jacob is an old colleague of mine from Web and it just so happened that he had arrived in China 2 days previously in preparation for their wedding. Naturally this was something I wasn’t going to miss out on.

This was the nicest day so far in terms of scenery. The fact that it didn’t rain might have played a part in this but also there seemed to be less of those monstrous factories that I’d seen the previous days. The roads also seemed to be distinctively quieter. In the past I’ve been a fan of listening to music as I ride but I’ve been much more wary of doing so on this trip so far. I suppose I’m still getting used to riding the bike fully loaded and also it’s rather nice just to take in the sounds around you, even if that is the bellowing horn of a juggernaut whizzing past you. Today I took the opportunity to listen to a few podcasts and in particular Desert Island Discs. It got me thinking what 6 tracks would I take with me? When you start to put your mind to it your realize the sheer impossibility of it. I’m going to give it some thought though over the next few days.

In addition to the works of Shakespeare and the Holy Bible the one luxury I would take with me would have to be my trusted bike. I’m not sure how she’d get on riding on sand but I couldn’t really say anything else now could I?

One of the strangest sights of the day had to be the guys on the side of the road who were selling crossbows. I smiled and waved as I passed but this wasn’t reciprocated and as I pedaled onwards up the hill I had an awful feeling that one of them might take a pot shot at me, my paranoia meant I made it up the hill in double quick time.

I was met at the bus station by Eileen and Jacob and taken back to her parents house. Her brother had very kindly vacated his room and I was once again presented with the luxury of a comfy double bed.