September 30, 2015 Rongjiang to Sanding Dong Village

Everyone was in a good mood this morning, including tour leader John.  He left the hotel with a spring in his step.

We met by the nice clean bikes, hoping they would remain clean through the day. What do you think?

Our morning meeting was brief and we headed out into the morning traffic.  Rongjiang has quite a morning rush hour..

The city is built along a riverfront and was quite pretty this morning.

I noticed a building with faded Olympic Game rings on front of it and a statue of what looked like gymnasts.  A quick search on the internet do not yield any further information.

Our first stop was a gas station.  Yingchu jumped off the back of John’s bike and proceeded to convince the station attendants to fill our group of bikes at the pump.

 Success.

Back on the road and into the rush hour traffic.  We could not have predicted the mess we’d be sitting in.  We sat in this line of traffic for 45 minutes. 

Trucks passed the back of our motorcycle with less than an inch to spare.

The opposing traffic was not giving way to allow our side to progress, anti was one lane ahead, with no flaggers (they don't exist in China - it is every driver for himself). 

Finally,  Yingchu, Boz and I got off the bikes and walked up to a the choke point and basically blocked the opposing traffic just so the motorcycles could get through.  We literally stood in from of trucks so they could not move.  After David got through, I hopped back onto the motorcycle and we forged ahead into the 70+ kilometers of construction nightmare that would be our life for the next three hours.

Not many photos today because of all the dirt and dust.

Occasionally I pulled it out for something really interesting, like this mining barge,

…and hydroelectric dam.

What an mess!  Slippery mud, ruts & deep puddles for miles.

 An unwelcome surprise reared its ugly muddy head not long into the ride.  Almost all of the pillion riders walked the muddy stretch, making it easier for the rider to get through.  

I got back up behind David and we rode maybe a quarter mile to catch up with Geoffrey and Steve contemplating the next quagmire.  Again I hopped off and walked to a pick up point.

This was repeated one more time before we hit dry dirt and gravel – for a while.

Our next obstacle course was over loose rocks.  Dave was doing great until we got a little too close to Steve and hit some big stones.  Dave fought hard, but in the end we went over.  Fortunately, Dave only sustained a few bruises.  The padded gear works well.  With some help, we got the bike back up, and pushed it over to a more compacted area. 

Back on the bike, we managed to stay upright through the rest of the morning'ss ride through a prolonged area of construction at various degrees of completion.

Our route was along the Dullu River.  This is the first time we’ve seen a number of boats on the water. 

The morning snack stop looked so meager, and with more than half of the construction area still to ride, Dave and I decided to continue on while the others stopped.  This allows us to go at a slower pace without the pressure of other riders waiting either in front or in back.

The surface for the rest of the morning varied from hard pack, dust gravel to loose gravel, to pot holes.

We even had another pile of rocks to climb over.  David got stuck up to his axle, but did not go over.  Once again I got off the bike and this time with the help of a nearby construction worker, while horns were honking, we picked up the back end so that Dave could slowly work his way through the pile of rocks.  China – what a country – just dump a pile of rock across the road and hope everyone can make it through.

The drive did have some points of interest.  It’s not everyday you can see a herd of musk ox  ambling down the middle of the road.

Another hydroelectric dam.  This part of China is mainly powered by hydroelectric.

We saw several ferry crossings along the way.

Finally, shortly after noon we came to the end of the extended construction and onto “good” roads.  In other words, there was still some construction areas, but usually a kilometer or less.

The roads were good enough for David to get some speed and have fun around the curves.

About 2:30 in the afternoon we approached the Dong Village area.  Less than 20 kilometers and we’d be “in the barn”.

So of course, it was time for more road construction.  We had ridden ahead of the group, relying on our GPS to get us to tonight’s hotel.  We pulled off the side of the road to get our bearings.  For some reason, the traffic all around came to stop.  No one was moving.  We saw an opening in the direction we need to travel, so after pushing David backwards onto the road, I waited on the other side of the road while he finished maneuvering the motorcycle.  CRASH!  The idiot dump truck driver decided, after looking David in the eye, that he was going to move forward two feet, although there was no opening in the traffic.  He hit the rear pannier, knocking David over.

I have to say, there’s nothing like cussing someone out when you know they don’t understand a word you are saying.  The driver got the message, got out of his cab, and contritely help us get the bike upright.  Dave has a sore ankle from the incident, but is able to ride the motorcycle.  It could have been worse.

The construction petered out, and we continued on just “finished” roads, entering the Dong Village area under a pagoda gateway.

Soon we saw our hotel just past a 1916 Chen-Yang wind-rain bridge.  

It is a traditional bridge and is representative of the Dong ethnic group architecture.  It combines corridors, pavilions, pagodas and attic sturctures.  The bridge is built without nails (we did see some in facia boards) using only wooden tenon joints.

The rest of the group wasn't far behind.

 The view from our room was fantastic.

We arrived early enough in the afternoon to take a walk around the village before dinner.  Many village women were selling embroidered and woven items on the main bridge over the river.

We wandered around the village square and some of the homes.  The pathways usually led to a home or down to the rice paddies.

 Kids stay nearby parents in the fields.

 This village thrashes their rice using a machine powered by a foot pedal.

Every available space is used to dry the rice.  Since the village doesn't have enough pavement, tarps are spread over the just-harvested fields.

When it is thoroughly dry, the rice is scooped into bags for delivery or storage.

Water wheels are used to flood the rice paddies.

The English translations on the signs are usually quite humorous.  Or they have little animae cartoon figures

This one seems to be telling us to only smoke opium in the opium trade place.  And the villagers should definitely not have pictures taken with foreign guest by force - heaven forbid!  This one gave us quite a few chuckles, but we really should take the Central Office of Spiritual Civilization seriously.