J177 – 6/12/2006

For the last two days Serge has had a surprise for us: departure scheduled earlier on Sunday, 7H00 and this morning at 7H15.  So we set our alarms 30 minutes earlier.  Naturally, we wondered why.  Serge wants to keep time with the sun in China where, in spite of its width (almost 5000 km) there is only one time zone.  The further east we go the earlier the sun rises and the sooner night falls.  We found our friends from Mizuno Shanghai, as well as the television of Gangsu, who came to see us.

Today was notable because we went through the city of Lanzhou, which is 20 km long.  It’s the capital of Gangsu and our first big city: 2 million inhabitants, which is the population of intramural Paris.  On the Chinese scale, this city is tiny, almost a hamlet.  We are beginning to worry a bit about crossing the Eastern cities, which will get bigger and bigger.
 
Serge, who usually apprehends city crossings, is rather relaxed.  Along the Yellow River, which he followed through most of the city, he crossed some runners speeding along at 18 km per hour.  They were the first joggers we have met.  In the west of the country, aside from 2 or 3 deserted basket ball courts and a superb new stadium in Jiayuguan, we saw very few sports installations or athletes.  We never saw children playing with a soccer ball and got the impression sport and leisure don’t play an important part in the life of this primarily rural population.  It seems that singing and dancing are given a more important place in schools and more than once we saw young adolescents lined up in the school yard dancing to traditional songs. Nor has it been unusual to see middle aged people marching or doing Tai-Shi in the parks early in the morning.

After Lanzhou, it will be an adventure.  We made no reconnaissance for this part of the country and we observe that at the 43rd kilometer, leaving Lanzhou, the road goes up.  We are still at a certain altitude and the terrain is rough.  Serge is going up and down as if he were on a roller coaster.  He had fun racing a tractor. There are again fields on either side of route 312.  The barley is already high and the power blue flowers of the flax sway in the light breeze.  A fine rain started to fall and continued through the night: 54% humidity, it’s a record!