eleanor moseman

I wake up around 9 and feel like a bag of bricks was dropped on my head and I’d been eating cigarette butt flavored sand paper. Baijiu still puzzles me, I can handle any liquor/beer but that stuff is like pure poison.

After a run to the “bathroom” (hole in the ground) I go to get water from the hostess.

She says something about me being drunk last night. Are you insane? I wasn’t drunk but I know you fools were.

I ask her for some water to fill up my bottles and she offers me some food before leaving. Sure, why not.

After about 15 minutes sitting there filling up on water and watching her put her make up on, clean her face, and wipe up stuff, I apologize and tell her I must get going.

Walking with my bag to the police station, I see a Kazakh shepherd with his flock and a give a friendly wave and a “Hello”. He smiles and waves back. Whoa, maybe I shouldn’t wave, it made me nearly fall over. Damn, this is going to be a long long long awful day.

The man from the night before without a uniform helps me get my bike. No one comes to me, no one really says anything except for the guy that grabbed my bum screams something about me going. Yeah, don’t worry buddy, I’m ready to go – trust me. The civilian clothed man asks if I’ve eaten and lie. “Yes, she fed me”.

View behind, the entrance to the town of hell:

View ahead, get the hell out of here…take a deep breath, it’ll be okay.

I get on on ol’Nelly and feel my head spin. I can’t wait to get out of here, 50 less kilometers to a town where I can eat and crash. Shouldn’t be too bad.

Wrong, head wind. Feel like death. Scenery is crap.

I pass SanTang Hu the first time and as I’m going up out of the basin I notice from my compass that this is all wrong. There was a turn off and with an 8km descent to town. I turn back reluctantly but with a tailwind this time and descend to the edge of town. A typical truck stop town, “Brown Frown Town”. It’s more black and lots of frowns.

There is a sign for the town with about 2 km more to go. I arrive into a very small, dusty town and ride to the furthest part to find a luguan. It’s clean and laoban/laobanniang are friendly. I also get to pull my bike into the room for 15rmb.

A little quick laundry and head to get some noodles. It’s only about 5:30 and I’m glad to finish for the day. The blasting headache finally disappeared.

Find a Chinese restaurant and order Chow Mein. Okay, so…it arrives. It doesn’t look as tasty as the other 500 bowls I’ve eaten but I begin to dig in.

There is a strange meat/texture of something. I put it to the side, it’s also a little cold like it hasn’t been cooked. Then, there is something sharp in my mouth. I pull it out expecting to see the stem of a vegetable and to my disgusted surprise it’s a claw/nail. I’m telling myself it’s a chicken claw but it more resembled a large cat claw or small dog with a little blood vein to the nail still attached.

“meow meow” I hear the cat pass by me to the door. Yes! The cat that is in the shop. I’m literally starving and tuck the nail under the plate so I don’t throw up from seeing it and finish the noodles scraping everything else to the side.

I had seen police around town earlier and as I was inside the restaurant a military jeep pulls up out front. An officer barges into the place, looks at me, and barges out as fast as he entered. Yep, that’s probably for me.

As I exit the “xiao mai bu” next to the luguan with my cookies, breads, and soda, the jeep is pulled up out front with 4 officers and 2 locals. I walk past minding my own business.

Within 5 minutes they are there. “Where are you from? Where did you ride from? Where to? Where are you going? Where have you been? What are you doing? What do you do in Shanghai?”

This is the second time where they photograph the cop checking my credentials with me sitting next to his side. Do they submit these to Big Brother to let them know they are doing their jobs in the desert where all the crazies are stationed?

After this ordeal the cop tells me that if I have any problem to contact the police, they will help. HA! ARE YOU SERIOUS?! He also gets my phone number because he’s going to phone the town ahead to expect me and to help me find a place to stay. I’ll have to figure out how to get out of this one.

The owners are sweet people and chat me up for awhile and give me a Hami melon that I have to leave behind because of the weight.

Making a sweet porridge for desert and to hopefully erase the idea of a eating cat/dog out of my head.

As I’m cooking there is a knock on the door and a middle aged man walks in and looks at me and then leaves.

He returns in about 10 minutes and examines my food and says it’s not good. Asking where I’m from and how he’s going to Miami in 2 years. He gives me some sweet caramel candies too. After a short chat he leaves, but also telling me he’s going to go get me some food.

Again, he returns, after knocking comes in and gives me some instant noodles and a cup of instant milk tea and some breads.

Then he returns. He asks me to come over to his room so he can get a photo together. “It will be quick”.

Ah, okay, whatever…I’ll play along. I enter the room and there are sunflower seeds everywhere and a small table. There is also a young attractive boy. Turns out to be his 18 year old son. He takes the photo of us together and poses a polished stone on a pedestal next to us. The boy seems to have problems with the camera and Dad laughs at it all. I’m offered some baijiu and the thought makes me want to puke. I smile and wave my goodbyes.

He returns to check on me and sees my instant noodles. He takes them away. Only to return with them and a bar of foreign CHOCOLATE! A big bar of too…holy cow. This is a treat. I need to return to the room for a retake of the photo. Okay.

Ah, and I think it’s over…smiling at the thought of that delicious chocolate and eating my instant noodles.

He returns with some boxes.

They are opened and more polished and colored stones. He hands me a stand and tells me to take a rock. I’m not sure if he is selling them or really just offering me one. To play it safe I tell him, “I’m sorry, I can’t, they are too heavy. Thank you so much but, really, I can’t, I’m on bike.”

He seems okay with it but we go a little back and forth about it. His son is standing at his side, smiling.

I exchanged QQ #’s with his son, which I still have to send this photo to him.

As I lie in bed, I relive the past 48 hours and I remind myself that the days can vary from light to day. That the people drastically can change from 50 kilometers. What I’m saying, people, generally are so awesome and I’m not going to let a few rotten people make me think differently. Of course, I’m a little damaged from 2 experiences and I’m a little weary of things and men…but for the most part…they just want to talk with me.

Sometimes, China, I love you so much. NOT the ones in charge..but the wonderful strangers I meet along the way.