Pedal power around Dianchi, and Chinese trucks (Part I)

Nimen hao, from China. I apologize for the format of this posting, or rather these postings. I attempted to place more than five photos in this weeks story, but the site only allows for five per posting. Therefore, this weeks selection will actually be in two parts. So please check both of them out. Sadly, the pictures on this posting are actually from a later time or date than the pictures on Part II. Hopefully you will enjoy them any way.

To start off, a group of teachers and other staff members from Kunming International Academy took a bike ride around Dianchi Lake this weekend. While it is certainly a distance that could easily be covered in one day, our group consisted of a wide range of age and experience levels. Therefore, we took two days to circumnavigate this body of water. About the same size as Flathead Lake in Montana, this lake's green color comes more from pollution than from any natural phenomenon, such as glacial silt. The trip itself covered everything from unimproved highway (a large, four-lane highway is being built along the west side of the lake), unimproved country roads (a mixture of rough pavement and even rougher dirt) and somewhat improved highways. While we sucked down large amounts of dust particles and diesel fumes, the air quality was generally better than in Kunming. We returned home dusty and sunburned, but happy.
To give you an idea of the riding conditions, this sign was posted over one of the unimproved country roads on our return trip. Large earth-moving trucks with incredibly loud horns (these horns are like the horns on the larger fire department vehicles--they can almost stop your heart if they are close enough to you). With driving lanes only being suggestions, and very few places for a biker to go when confronted with one of these vehicles, our group had to be both careful and aggressive in order to navigate these roads.

At the south end of Dianchi Lake, the smaller city of Kunyang (pronounced koo-un yahng), is the birthplace of Zhenghe. Kunyang's most famous relative, Zhenghe (pronounced jung huh), explored much of the far east and even sailed to the southern tip of Africa. Some even believe that he sailed to the New World. Because Zhenghe died in 1433, if he did sail to the New World, he would have actually been to the Americas before Christopher Columbus. Leif Eriksen would have still beaten this 'zhong guo ren,' Chinese person, to the Americas, but it is still an interesting twist on the age of exploration. This temple overlooking Kunyang was erected in honor of Zhenghe's accomplishments. It stands overlooking the city and Dianchi Lake.

I realize that many of you may not find this nearly as interesting as I do, by the trucks in China fascinate me. Yes, trucks include horse-drawn, flatbed trailers. However the trucks to which I refer are those combustible-engined vehicles that do the majority of the daily labor in our valley. The truck pictured above appears to be made out of an enormous roto-tiller engine hooked to a trailer (see the last picture for a profile view). These vehicles haul everything from produce and livestock, to bricks and dirt. Like a roto-tiller, the steering comes through one long set of handles attached to the front wheel carrige. They do not move very fast--even a novice cyclist can pass these trucks on most roads), but they are very powerful.

If the roto-tiller truck is a bit too primitive for your tastes, the Chinese also have the open-engine truck. At a glance, this vehicle is much like the previous version. In fact, the steering wheel actally attaches to a mechanism that ultimately steers the front wheels much the same way the roto-tiller truck arms steer that vehicle. In fact the engines are quite similar, except this more advanced version finds its get-up-and-go from a slightly more powerful engine. This truck also has the comfort of a true cab for the operator, and a true bed for the truck's load. I have been informed that, while these engines are extremely antiquated and create a very slow vehicle, they are quite reliable and extremely easy to work on. In any case, Kurt and Kent Reimer and Midway Rental may want to consider purchasing some of these. I think they would rent like hotcakes.

This profile of the roto-tiller truck is a bit dark where the steering arms are, but it gives a pretty good view of the truck's design and what it is good for--carrying large amounts of 'youzi' (pronounced yough dzuh), a much larger and tastier cousin to the grapefruit. I wish we could get this fruit in Whitefish. It is labor-intensive to eat, but wow, it tastes great.

Any way, check out Part II for more pictures from the ride around Dianchi Lake.