From Mengcheng to Luyi, visiting Tai Qing palace

Fortunately there is also something else than BND in China! On rest days, and sometimes between pedaling, I’m exploring some Chinese history as well. On our way from Mencheng to Luyi, approx. 145 km’s I had a well-deserved break at the Tai Qing palace.

It has been an easy going day, nice weather, and pedaling most of the day with Candice. We’re traveling from Mencheng to Luyi, approx. 145 km’s with a lunch stop  at approx. 80 km. Somewhere before lunch we stopped at a local market to buy some bananas and within minutes we had a huge fan club around us. It’s difficult to communicate but we’re able to answer questions like ‘where do you come from?’ and ‘where are you going to?’ It was more difficult to buy ‘only’ two bananas (so we got 6 instead). The locals are so friendly and happy to see us. I really don’t know why but I guess we’re different. How different the world would be of we in the west would do the same. We’ve made a lot of (family) pictures which made people smile even more. Before this turns into a community gathering we decided to pedal on, waving and saying ‘zàijiàn’ (goodbye). And although there’s a small chance we would be back some day, you never now…

There are always cyclists going fast (like my roommate Pascal), or take their time (like my favorite Australian tour mate ;-), and you have people in between, like me. It seems that people with the same pace usually find each other somewhere during the day. John, Candice and I have more or less the same pace and we’ve been riding together now and then. So we teamed up after lunch, and pedaled away. 20 Km before we should reach our hotel: bang! The bold, which holds my saddle, brakes off. Meaning, there’s no way to connect the saddle to the saddle pin, so no saddle to sit on… that make’s 20 km a long way to go…

Lucky me, after 10 km we found Laozi, the greatest philosopher! He is considered to be the founder of Taoism. His statue is indeed pretty impressive! And he’s standing next to the Tai Qing Palace. A welcome break to think about life, and a bicycle without a saddle in particular 😉

A few of his wise words:

“A journey of one thousand miles begins with the first step.” (so true for our Silk Route).

“A good man does not argue. He who argues is not a good man…”

“The contented person will suffer no disgrace. Who know when to stop is free from peril. Hence, he will live long…”

“The first is compassion. The second is frugality. The third is never to be the first in the world (humility).”

The complex consists of a couple of temples and Lau Zi’s former residence. Here are a few images to give you an impression:

 

 

 

 

 

After almost 2 hours of walking around, it was time to continue the Silk Route. I was happy with this break which made the last 10 km’s without a saddle quite ‘easy’…