Back on 2wheels - Dipping a finger in the muddy Pacific
Edward Genochio
(muddied by the silt that pours out of the mouth of the Yangtze
River), and so officially began my bicycle ride back home, from
Pacific to Atlantic, China to England, Shanghai to Exeter (I might
have to carry on to Land's End to make sure I really do reach the
Atlantic...).
To old-timers on this mailing list: hallo again, apologies for the
deafening silence that has been pouring out of the 2wheels updates
machine for the past half a year or so, and welcome back.
To newcomers to the 2wheels list, thanks for signing up.
To recap:
Last year, 2004, I rode a bicycle (well, two bicycles actually, after
the first one was stolen by a Mongolian horseman near Ulan Bator) from
England to Hong Kong.
This year I am going to try to ride back again, via a different route
that you can map-gaze on www.2wheels.org.uk/return/routemap.asp.
The general plan is to head south and west across China down to
Vietnam, Laos and Thailand, and then, at the turn of the year, head
north again back into China, across the Tibetan Plateau and the
Taklamakan Desert into Central Asia.
First up in the 'Stan department will be Kyrgyzstan, followed by
Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan. Cognoscenti of the former
Soviet republics will notice that Kazakhstan is not on the list – but
then neither is Filthistan, Ghastlistan, nor for that matter the
far-flung Utterlighastlistan.
If the good people in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the Islamic
Republic of Iran are kind enough to issue me a visa, then Iranwards I
shall go, before pedalling west along the Anatolian coast of the Black
Sea, across the Bosporus into Istanbul, up the Balkans, over the Alps,
down the Rhine, across the Channel and so on to an as-yet undisclosed
location in the south-west of England.
Since this journey started at the Pacific, it seems that the only
decent thing would be to end it at the Atlantic – but I would like to
consult more widely (this means you) as to which (if any) parts of
England can be said to have an Atlantic coastline. Does Land's End
count? Or do I have to keep going to the Isles of Scilly?
But that is 25,000 km and a year or so's ride away.
Today, I am cycling through Shanghai for the last time.
Will I miss it? Well, yes and no.
I won't miss the automobilist madness of the no-bike road system that
blanks out most of the town centre to two-wheelers.
I won't miss the small nation of petty-minded, brown-trousered,
life-diminishing whistlocrats who patrol Shanghai intersections with
their shades, white gloves and delight in taking control of the
minutiae of other people's lives. The other day one of these
proto-fascists ran across the road, whistling, waving and hollering,
to move my big toe two and a half inches kerbwards.
I won't miss the incessant noise of Shanghai's latest urban design
fad: jackhammering half-decent pavements into rubble and replacing
them with something slipperier.
I won't miss having a few pieces of food with my oil at every meal. Or
perhaps I will – it could be that it's an acquired taste, and I've
acquired it.
I won't miss the silent but deadly electric bikes, which cruise the
pavements at twice the speed of regular pushies, but with half the
stopping power. You don't hear them coming until they've smashed your
hip through your armpit, and should be banned immediately, or
retro-fitted with noise enhancers. Perhaps that way they could drown
out the pavement jackhammers.
I won't miss the drivers of sleek black tinted-windowed poncemobiles
who know that might is right and that a right turn on red is just fine
fine fine, especially if it means mowing down a column of bike-laning
bicyclists on the inside track.
I won't miss dying of asphyxia, lung cancer and an overwhelming sense
of malaise every time I sit in a wangba [internet cafe] to send an
email. It can be hard to see the screen through the fug of cigarette
smoke. No, I won't miss that, and I won't have to, because it's the
same in every wangba in China. Anyone know any smoke-free wangba
chains, please let me know.
I won't miss having to lie to everyone and telling them that I'm a
student at Fudan University, just because that's what foreigners
living in my part of town are supposed to be, and my Chinese isn't
good enough to convince people that in fact I'm just a lazy,
good-for-nothing cyclist on a break from cycling.
But everything else, give or take, I'll miss. Shanghai can be fun,
especially on days with no Ys in their name. Other days can be OK too;
after all, at least you can breathe the air – so long as, to borrow
the fine words of Tom Lehrer, you don't inhale.
Some words of thanks to a pair of very fine Shanghai institutions:
Decathlon China, and their bike team headed by Michael Zhao, have done
a great job in kitting me out with a new bicycle, sleeping bag, socks,
bells, whistles, etc. Thank you, Decathlon, Michael, Haro, Cyril, and
the rest of the team. Anyone passing through Shanghai in need of
bicycling or outdoor gear could do worse than to check out
http://www.decathlon.com.cn/.
Roger Owens at Drennan Co., Ltd, has saved my emotional bacon by
fixing it for me to have my old Mark I bicycle, as stolen in the Great
Mongolian Bike Robbery, and subsequently, against every expectation,
found by the Ulan Bator Police Department, shipped back to the UK,
after the Chinese post office declined to do so on the grounds that it
didn't fit in the right sort of box. We went through a lot together,
that bike and I; I'm glad we'll be able to spend some more time
together when I get back to England. Anyone passing through Shanghai
in need of engineering equipment or components could do worse than to
check out http://www.drennanco.com/.
I must stop there. Some of you have jobs to do.
Next stop: Jingdezhen in China's Jiangxi province. I'll write more
from there. In the meantime, have a peek at www.2wheels.org.uk. If you
haven't been there recently, you'll find a lot of new stuff, including
600+ photos from the UK-China ride last year at
www.2wheels.org.uk/photos, and a new blog section at
www.2wheels.org.uk/blog.
Thanks for reading. If you know anyone else who might like to join the
list, please point them in the direction of
www.2wheels.org.uk/updates.
Edward Genochio
Shanghai, China
www.2wheels.org.uk: bicycling from England to China and back again
Supporting:
FORCE Cancer Care in Exeter
Please donate if you can – see
http://www.2wheels.org.uk/return/force-cancer-care.asp
SUSTRANS – practical projects for sustainable and enjoyable transport
Please donate if you can – see http://www.2wheels.org.uk/return/sustrans.asp
Or donate directly at http://www.justgiving.com/wheels2
Sponsors:
* Decathlon China
www.decathlon.com.cn
* Drennan Co., Ltd., Shanghai
www.drennanco.com
* Eclipse Internet
www.eclipse.net.uk
* P&O Ferries
www.poferries.com