I met a Chinese motor bike rider today while I was eating in a small restaurant along a route. He came in there asking who's bike it was outside, then introduced himself to me as he was also travelling in China for 5 months with his moter bike, was now on the way to his hometown. He was an energetic man, the way his talking, showing the memorial stumps he collected all over China, asking people around to take our picture, eating, receiving phone call and talk loud, chatting with young soldiers at the next table, exchanging cigaretts... I guessed he was a boss of a shop or a company.
When I asked him if he had lots of hard times on the way, he smiled and raised his thumb up. Nice smile I liked.
He ate quickly, paid for my dishes as well and left busily as he came in.
He told me as I asked that there was a short cut to go to 武威, a city on the way to Urumuchi. It wasn't clear on my map, that's why I had planned to go a longer way via Lanchou, a capital city of 甘粛省. But he said (wrote) that the short cut was a state road and paved. OK, let's go that way, then. I was rather more interested in the smaller cities in west anyway, than a big capital city, where I'd take more than a day to look around.
Farmers dried red Kuko fruit on boards here and there along the way today. Kuko seemed special product in the area. I bought some for my family, hope I can send them later by mail.
17 July 2008, 青銅峡〜, 3605km
