Wednesday, May 03, 2006

Day 243 - cycling from Golmud to Xitieshan

Start: Golmud, Qinghai, China
End: Xitieshan Lukou, Qinghai, China
Distance: 124 km
Time: 8'38"
Avg: 14.3 k/h
Max: 33 k/h
Total: 11,122 km
Total riding days: 132
Riding hours: 0905 - 1845

Hubris; nemesis. Flying down tarmac for 60 km, wind on my back, I'll be Budapest in time for tea. Then the wind turns, the tarmac dies, and I have to revise my estimates. Budapest in time for Thanksgiving, maybe.

Anyone thinking of going the same way - there's a little luguan (guesthouse) at Xitieshan Lukou, next to the petrol station. It has something rather amazing in its 10-kuai bunkroom: satellite TV. You can't get the BBC, but if you feel like spending an evening or two soaking up Palestinian politics, Sudanese soaps, Abu Dhabi documentaries, Libyan lifestyle programmes, Saudi soccer - this might be the place for you. If it's in Arabic, you can get it here.

Better still, you can get Indian TV and watch the cricket.

Admittedly, only Sri Lanka A vs Pakistan A, but it's still willow on leather. And because it's Indian TV, you get alternating half-hours of English and Hindi commentary.

The English commentary is rather dull, but the Hindi stuff is priceless - especially if you don't speak a word of Hindi, in which case it goes something like this:

...hindi hindi hindi tickled down to short fine leg hindi hindi hindi good effort there by the bowler hindi hindi hindi no laughing matter i can tell you hindi hindi hindi ...

I only took one photograph today. Here it is. Like it, or lump it.

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