Another day, another ride. I could get used to this! Xi’an was the easternmost point in my journey, and I am now heading mostly westward. I am now riding alone, which is a first since Chiang Mai 18 days ago.

I decided to treat myself to a sleep-in, and a slow morning, before hitting the road at noon. The first stop was a cafe I had gotten to enjoy (coincidentally called “enjoy coffee”). They had a variety of beans from a sister-roaster, and were focussed on filter coffee. They had one of the Timemore 74(?)mm flat burrs (I think it is called the sculptor?) and made very yummy coffee. This was my third day in a row getting their coffee, so I was recognised, and had one coffee at the store, and another in my keep cup. Side note - the Kinto 500ml keep cup that I have is one of my most used items, and is one of the good purchases I have made along the way. I use it every single day, and it really fits the brew-at-night, drink-first-thing workflow I am doing now.

I had two options; I could take the expressway (~4-5 hours) or the national highway (8 hours). Since I was relatively groggy, and the route was mostly flat / uneventful, I chose to go via the expressway, using the ol’ don’t stop at the ticket barrier trick (that’s what they taught me at the garage in Xi’an!).

Today’s route in blue

The going was very uneventful, although I am really enjoying the new setup.

1. The GPS makes navigation quite effortless. I always know how far away the destination is, and other helpful information (and I don’t need to listen to the navigation assistant reading every single street sign for me, or telling me all the speed limits)
2. The bike feels much more balanced with some weight shifted to the tank bags up front
3. The mobile phone mount makes changing music on the road much easier.
4. The lights are SO powerful, and the ability to manually toggle them on/off quickly makes it easy to warn cars that I am passing by and not to change lanes.

Lunch was less than 100KMs out of town, at a bustling rest stop. Everyone was eating noodles of some sort (mostly instant noodles), and there was even a “boiling water station” where people could go to cook their noodles. I had dan dan mian, which was quite excellent. I realised while I was riding and thinking about food, that I hadn’t had any spicy hotpot while in Chengdu, which was something I’d been meaning to do. I’ll save that one for a future visit (paired with the pandas).

Dan dan mian with Sandeep

Rest stop boiler room

Then the route passed from urbanised flatlands to mountains. These were much friendlier, much more “civilised” mountains than those of Sichuan and Yunnan, with the hills covered in non-exotic trees, and with a gentleness and familiarity about them. Many tunnels were passed, including one which was about 12 KM long. Chinese roadbuilding is truly a marvel.

By the time I came off the expressway, it was ~5PM. I headed to Maji Shan, which I think is a collection of caves with Buddhist figures and teachings. Along the road was an army of people trying to flag down passers-by. I thought they were tour guides so I stopped to ask what the situation was. They bore bad news - the caves were closed for the day, but they could offer accommodation to stay the night until tomorrow! I politely declined and headed straight to Tianshui.

Upon reaching Tianshui, the evening routine kicked in. Check in, take the day bag, coffee bag, and normal (riding) shoes to the hotel room. Then set off for dinner / exploration. I spent most of the evening exploring the surrounds of the Fuxi temple (the inside of the temple itself was closed by the time I got there).

Fuxi Temple gate

There is a funny dynamic in Chinese cities, where it seems like bicycles and electric scooters seem to be treated the same way. So no one cares when you ride these on footpaths, and along walking streets and other areas usually forbidden for cars to drive on. Since Xi’an, I have been operating on the assumption that my motorbike is basically equivalent to a scooter, so I have been taking advantage of this by breaking all sorts of road rules, riding right up to temples and taking photos. No one has confronted me about it thus far, so maybe they feel the same way!

Posing in the Fuxi Temple complex

Dinner was Tianshui’s famous Malatang, which a few people had told me that I had to try. I’m usually sceptical when people reduce a place to a single dish or thing you “have to do”, as I feel like groupthink can get in the way of independent thinking, especially when travelling, but this was quite honestly (probably) the best malatang I’ve had. The meat was cooked tenderly. Noodles were done perfectly. Seasoning was on point and I didn’t need to make any decisions.

Malatang chef cooking my meal. There were several stations, one where ingredients were cooked, then others where flavours were blended

Best MLT in my life thus far

After dinner, I wandered around the night markets, and there was an interesting fair which was selling many things, including:

• Buddhist charms
• Aged vinegar (like 20 years old, and tasted quite sweet and fruity!)
• Russian goods (complete with Chinese/Russian flags)
• Some sort of service where they burn your skin
• Tea/meat/etc

China :shake: Russia

Aged vinegar vendor

Tomorrow; Lanzhou!

Stats:

• 376 KMs travelled
• 4 unique interactions
• 23.2L fuel added
• 63g coffee consumed

Altitude map of today’s ride

Route to date