Few weeks in South West China

[kingmarty45]

[Brice]

Another departure in the morning and it's getting chilly.


The fog is well installed.








Later in the afternoon a coal mine hangs to the moutain.


Miners live on site in some barracks. Look the color of the river, pollution is not really on people's mind around here.


Few hundredths meters down to the stream or how to spread more pollution.




Unfortunately it is the site of a nice hotel.


Tombs on the hills.


I stop to take a picture on this new rebuilt road when I spot my rear tire.


The knobbies on the side are cracking. Should be ok until Chengdu...


Later on a bridge.


Got vertigo?


And another gorge even deeper.





Later in the afternoon, I arrive in Zunyi. With the grey sky, the whole city looks a little depressing, crowded, high rise dirty buildings, narrow streets.


Like this old ChangJiang 750.


Or this vagabond.




To be continued...

[DanKearney]

Keep 'em comin' !

[Brice]

At this stage of the trip, I'm around 600km south of Chengdu, capital of Sichuan. I expect to reach the city within two days, stay there two or three days to do some maintenance on the bike then to head west on the Tibet-QingHai plateau.

It is freezing this morning, It is getting mandatory to protect myself from the cold and the wind. Since few days I've seen the local taxi bikes riding with windshield and fur gloves on the handlebars. I stop by a bike shop and ask them if they have some. 60RMB ($8) and few minutes later, the bike is equipped with some top notch winter protection.




After few kms, I realized that the windshield is mounted too vertical and too high but this will be good enough for the day. I'll rectify the set up later.


Impressive bridge in construction.


Chinese have developed a real know how for civil engineering.


Propaganda, the perfect family.






While crossing a village, a little girl runs in front of my bike, too late to avoid her and I hit her in the back with the front fender. I shout in my helmet, stop quickly then rush to check her. She is conscious and can move but she is a little knocked. She has a mark on the front so I start to worry about something serious.

The road nearly empties 1 minute earlier is now crowded. Lot of people around are talking and looking, some are shouting. I ask to call a taxi to bring her to hospital, nobody is moving. I ask to call the family, the Grand Mother arrives, she goes back to her house to grab some money then after more discussion she takes the girl to hospital with some relative. I want to go with her but the villagers stop me and tell me that I have to wait for the Police.


A local policeman arrives within 10 minutes but he is not in charge on this kind of accident, I have to wait for the Traffic Police who will come from a larger town. I shot the road under every angle to memorize the scene. The crowd is quiet, mostly curious about the accident and me. One or two people were hostile at the very beginning but it was more due to the barrier language than anything else.


One hour later, when the Traffic Police arrives, this is the big game. They block the road and start their job. They assure me that I have nothing to worry, their investigation will be made according the rules... It will take me few days to understand what they mean.

They find a translator to ease the communication, an English teacher from a local high school. The bike is put back where I hit the little girl.


I contact my wife by phone to inform of the accident then she contacts the Embassy. Some Embassy official calls me back few minutes later to have a quick report of the situation and give me some advices. He will follow this case for the next few days until its resolution.

I try to get some news about the little girl but nobody knows how she is. I ask to go to the hospital Tomorrow to see her.

The night is there, the crowd too.


While the Police is investigating, I'm waiting in a small shop. Many kids come to see me and they are asking for photos, my name, my email, phone number and whatever...


I do an informal English class and considering my bad accent I think these kids will never make anymore progress on the subject.


Everybody want his picture with me. This guy was funny, a cool little man, I help him a little bit to stand in the picture.


After 5 hours, things are moving. Road is unblocked. The bike is parked at the local Police station then they brings me to an hotel for the night. As requested they will accompany me to the hospital next day.


Next day at the hospital, I'm glad to see the little girl here with her Grand Mother. Doctor tells me that she has nothing broken but because of the trauma on the head they need to keep her in observation few days.


To make it straight, somebody must pay for this accident and its consequences and even if I don't think that I am responsible, this will be me.

The bike is insured, I'm a foreigner so considered wealthy. The girl's family is poor and the hospital is expensive.

I will spend 3 more days in this village not by necessity but because the Police holds the way they will write their accident report and my bike until I settle a deal with the family. Enough said.

I'm using my free time to walk in the village. People are asking me to take some photos of their shop or kids. This old man is making chopsticks.


This one sells Moutai, a Chinese strong alcohol.


These women make decoration, paper and bamboo houses for funeral ceremonies.


The butcher stall


Next morning, I'm leaving this village to Chengdu. I have some mixed feelings about these last days. I'm glad to know that the little girl is fine but I hated the way they played by their fucking rules.


To be continued...

[CrazyCarl]

Whoa man! That was it?! No anxiety? You said you hated the way they play by their rules but according to your description it sounded quite normal to me?

I seem to recall a mention of confiscation of the bike some time back. How did that get resolved? What did the embassy do? Were they helpful?

CC

[Snortin Norton]

Yeh but ,
how many Chickens did you owe the family for thier stupid kid running in
front of you ? 4 days in the hospital here would be $10,000 without medication , how did you fare ?????? The corruption there sounds pretty bad .
The USA does the same thing , but they just think we actually don't know they are screwing us .
Good luck , and keep your eyes MORE pealed for stupid things , kids , cops, animals .

Cheers, Snortin out

[kingmarty45]

I think you did good Brice mate, a lesser man would have speed off to avoid all the trouble. You stayed even though you knew it could have cost you your bike, your cash or even a few nights in the clink.

[Brice]

Whoa man! That was it?! No anxiety? You said you hated the way they play by their rules but according to your description it sounded quite normal to me?

I seem to recall a mention of confiscation of the bike some time back. How did that get resolved? What did the embassy do? Were they helpful?

CC

The bike, the bike's papers and my driver license were held by the Police.

There is no legal basis to settle such deal. If it had happened close to my home, I would have go home and let the insurance make its job. Here they knew that I was locked in the place unless ready to give up the bike.

[Brice]

I think you did good Brice mate, a lesser man would have speed off to avoid all the trouble. You stayed even though you knew it could have cost you your bike, your cash or even a few nights in the clink.

The translator told me that a Chinese driver would have not stopped because of the risk to be attacked or killed by the villagers. At best he would have run to a Police station.

On the moment, I didn't thought about the consequences, I'm a father too so I felt terribly worried for this little girl.

[Brice]

Yeh but ,
how many Chickens did you owe the family for thier stupid kid running in
front of you ? 4 days in the hospital here would be $10,000 without medication , how did you fare ?????? The corruption there sounds pretty bad .
The USA does the same thing , but they just think we actually don't know they are screwing us .
Good luck , and keep your eyes MORE pealed for stupid things , kids , cops, animals .

Cheers, Snortin out

I paid 6000RMB ($870) which is a big amount for China in the countryside. Insurance should reimbursed half of it.

Frankly, I don't care about the money, this is about the way it is done that bother me.