We only had 30 days on our visa for China, which is the fourth largest country in the world by land mass and the largest by population. So basically, we only got a glimpse. And even though it was tough, and the cold was hard, and the language barrier the biggest we’ve faced, we liked China quite a lot.

Who knows?

China has a lot of character, and I’m not just talking about the written language. Almost all the bicycles, motorcycles and trucks were overloaded with goods, giving us plenty of entertainment as we made our way south. It never gets old–being a spectator to the resourcefulness of the developing world.

This cart was absolutely bulging… and perhaps you can read the box on the side? Made in China. Classic.

Overall, we’ve been impressed with the kindness of the Chinese people. We often found ourselves saying, “Gosh, that was nice!” Like when we got mixed up on our route, and one of the local guys took half his morning showing us around and helping us sort it out. Or when we took a ferry (to correct our navigational error), and random pedestrians would come from behind and help us push our heavy-laden bikes up the steep ramp. Or when we stayed with our very welcoming warmshowers host in Kunming–his friend Lin offered to take our laundry home and wash it for us since we weren’t sure where to find a laundry service nearby! Time and time again, the people of China went out of their way to make us foreigners feel welcome.

That’s Hui on the left, and his friend Lin on the right. Great guys! We loved getting to hang out with some locals while we were in Kunming.

We also had a couple of experiences where we’d stop at a roadside restaurant to have lunch, and some locals would invite us over to join them in their meal. One time, through their phone translator, we had a guy tell us we were there “respected guests.” How nice!

Final lunch in China! These guys insisted on buying our meal and drinks, then bought us both a Red Bull for the road. We couldn’t understand a word each other was saying, but we had a blast anyway.

And on the food note, in case you were wondering, we didn’t have any particularly strange cuisine experiences. Our friends in Chengdu were kind enough to create a document of key phrases, several of which were “safe” food dishes we had enjoyed with them. So… we ate a lot of the same things for lunch each day, but at least we knew what we were getting!

The rumors are true. We saw this hanging in the hallway at one of the first restaurants where we stopped. Upon closer inspection, I concluded that one there in the front right–yep–that’s a cat. We didn’t eat much of our lunch that day….

And even though it’s somewhat of a dirty country, with loads of exhaust from trucks and dirt in the air, the landscapes we’ve ridden through have been beautiful. You’re never far from someone’s farmland in China… every available square inch of land is cultivated. They certainly know how to grow things here–I suppose they must if they are going to feed more than 1.3 billion people!

We rode past neat and tidy rows of every vegetable you can imagine,

Sunset on the valley as we made our way down to lower altitudes a few days before crossing into Vietnam.

And, in closing, we had to share these last two pictures of signs that brought smiles to our faces.

Watch out! Oh, to read the Chinese characters.

In the bathroom of Starbucks in Kunming… which had a Western toilet. Please note item #2–yes, they actually needed a sign for that!