As I skirted around the suburbs of Yanqing and corrected yesterdays detour I started working out the math of how far I had left to go. I still had just under 100km to go, but now I was in an urban area, I had no need or deisre to delay and so resolved to cover the distance in two days. This would mean being on the road by 5am to ensure I had enough time to cover the distance. The route from Yanqing to Beijng was made up of two roads – one being a motorway that forbid pedestrians, and the second being its little brother which once would have been the main transport line but now only took the overflow traffic from the motorway. This smaller road wound in and out of the hills more than the motorway which defiantly charged straight through the mountains via giant flyovers and long tunnels. Parts of the road were still under construction which meant for a few tight squeezes where heavy trucks and tankers hurtled by as I stuck to the barrier like glue.
Along the way I met 3 police officers at a check point who were keen to hear what I was doing. At this stage I was starting to grow fond of the police as so far they had been generally friendly and helpful, and these guys were no exception offering me food and water. Another interesting character I met was an old man selling nectarines on the side of the road. There were many people selling fruit along the roadside but this old guy caught my eye and we had a laugh as we tried to converse over the price of a bag of fruit. He was the first Chinese person I had met who realised that repeating what he said louder and faster did not help me understand but instead repeated his sentence slowly until I got what he meant. I later passed a petrol station who's staff ran out to greet me and offer me water and their support. Not long after leaving, one of the staff chased me down in their car just so she could get a photo of me. My found treasure on the side of the road had been scarce in China up untill now (the bottle of urine posing as a Fanta having put me off picking stuff up). However today, as if to show me a sign that I was getting closer to home, I amazingly found a cardboard box along the roadside – NZ Silver Fern Farms Lamb packaging. I strangely found some comfort in this find and walked on with a smile on my face while missing my home in NZ.
Later on during the day I came across another interesting business venture of the entrepreneurial local women. Along a section of over 5 km, numerous tents were set up along the road where women, young and old, all wore (very) short mini skirts and white tights eagerly waiting on passing traffic. At first I thought I had stumbled on the red light district of the motorway, but soon realised that they had another type of work on their mind. These women only flagged down passing truck drivers for the opportunity to supply them with water and to powerwash the wheels and body of the trucks. I am all for equal opportunities but to see these little women wrestling with a powerwasher as they were being splattered by muck as the drivers looked on voyeuristicly while smoking a cigarette seemed a little...odd (still trying to figure out a word for it!) This seemed to be big business as it appeared that all the truck drivers eventually stopped at one of these wash points and no dirty truck passed beyond this point, and there was a hell of a lot of trucks!
Throughout the day I passed many abandoned roadside buildings where restaurants, garages and convenience stores once flourished, harking back to before the new motorway was built and the locals could once eek out a living from the passing traffic. All these services were now located in the large city of Changping whose outskirts I would be staying in tonight. The motorway and my smaller road eventually left the hills we had been travelling trough and straightened out as they hit the open plains of Beijing. Flyovers and bypasses began to appear connecting the satelite towns of the capital which increased the flow of traffic. On one particular flyover was signage for the 2015 9th World Potato Congress on Beijing – it was confirmed, As an Irishman, I was meant to be here! Another sign of modern civilisation came in the form of the first Graffitti I had seen since Ulaanbaatar. Awesome murals had been commisioned under the flyovers to brighten up an otherwise drab busy road. Knowing I was unlikely to found a space for a tent from here on in, I decided to look for a hotel. The first hotel I tried seemed pretty big and within budget, so with confidence I headed inside but after waiting 15 minutes for the hotel staff to finish her conversation with the postman, she finally turned to me to acknowledge my presence. I asked her if she had any rooms available, but before I had finished my sentence, she rolled her eyes and replied with a shake of her head before walking off to another desk and decided to ignore me again. And the prize for best customer service goes to??? Undeterred, I concluded that she must be just another soul in the world who dislikes their job and carried on my way. To distract me I soon met a group of delightful locals who were all keen for a chat and a selfie and I spent a good bit of time with them having a laugh.
Throughout the day I passed many abandoned roadside buildings where restaurants, garages and convenience stores once flourished, harking back to before the new motorway was built and the locals could once eek out a living from the passing traffic. All these services were now located in the large city of Changping whose outskirts I would be staying in tonight. The motorway and my smaller road eventually left the hills we had been travelling trough and straightened out as they hit the open plains of Beijing. Flyovers and bypasses began to appear connecting the satelite towns of the capital which increased the flow of traffic. On one particular flyover was signage for the 2015 9th World Potato Congress on Beijing – it was confirmed, As an Irishman, I was meant to be here! Another sign of modern civilisation came in the form of the first Graffitti I had seen since Ulaanbaatar. Awesome murals had been commisioned under the flyovers to brighten up an otherwise drab busy road. Knowing I was unlikely to found a space for a tent from here on in, I decided to look for a hotel. The first hotel I tried seemed pretty big and within budget, so with confidence I headed inside but after waiting 15 minutes for the hotel staff to finish her conversation with the postman, she finally turned to me to acknowledge my presence. I asked her if she had any rooms available, but before I had finished my sentence, she rolled her eyes and replied with a shake of her head before walking off to another desk and decided to ignore me again. And the prize for best customer service goes to??? Undeterred, I concluded that she must be just another soul in the world who dislikes their job and carried on my way. To distract me I soon met a group of delightful locals who were all keen for a chat and a selfie and I spent a good bit of time with them having a laugh.
With no other hotels nearby, I later resolved that perhaps I was not supposed to be in fancy accomodation tonight and since this was going to be my last opportunity to camp in my tent (being the last night of my trip), then maybe I should make a special effort to find somewhere. A few kilometers later my wish came true when I found a turn off on the main road that had a small man-made wood planted to one side. Weeping willows ran along the road edge protecting and hiding the young trees growing behind them. I waited a few minutes watching out for security cameras and police cars, and when the traffic was quite, I sneaked down the embankment past the sign (that I assume read "no trespassing"), and found a spot in the middle of the wood. I could just make out the road from where I was so I decided to make myself a little more discreet and camouflaged the cart with some nearby broken branches. Happy with my decision to spend my last night on the walk in the tent and my "Bear Grylls" camo job, I was unphased by the numerous mosquito bites and deafening cicadas that occupied the area. As I laid back in my tent I found it hard to believe that 2 months had passed sleeping in this little cocoon and gave praise to it for holding up against the elements we had both faced up until now.