Chapter 215

Distance covered: 920 km (total 11 803 km)

Home stretch. Our plan wasn’t set in stone, initially we were supposed to go all the way to the Kyrgyzstan border, and after being refused access to Xinjiang, there had been talks of going southeast into Sichuan and up through Hubei province, or perhaps more camping and exploring southern Gansu and Shaanxi, but now, given the new covid situation, it’s been decided we’d just head to our respective homes. I can’t disagree with that, it had been a kickass and fulfilling trip, especially for me, who left home seven weeks ago. And it will be nice to have a few more weeks at home before resuming work.

But first we have to cross half the damn country. We had a fantastic breakfast at a Tibetan eatery, their yak dumplings were to die for. Then we drove, and drove, and drove. After a stretch on rural mountain roads, we hit the highway for a few hours, then had to ride on another segment of winding rural road before getting to the highway again. Both had their pros and cons, the most obvious advantages being a lot of distance covered in a short time on the highway, and a more interesting drive on the country roads, with its bends and patches of varying quality and proximity to beautiful rural scenery.

“Look at all those mountains and lakes! Why do we live in Jiangsu? It’s so boring and flat over there”

“Because Jiangsu has money”

That’s the bottom line. Those landlocked provinces might be picturesque, but their economic engine isn’t running at nowhere the speed of the eastern seaboard ones.

That got us talking about our jobs. I’m wondering if my coworkers who left China for the holidays will be able to come back at all, and if shit continues to go downhill, if the school will even open. In February and March of 2020, I taught online classes, and there are worst deals than getting full pay to teach seven periods a week from the comfort of my apartment. I don’t want that, though. I want a return to normal, with gyms and restaurants open and teaching face to face, especially if they’re students I haven’t established a rapport with.

I drove the last segment, going through the endless urban expanse of Xi’An and then heading to the town where we had left our small car. It was still there, to our great relief, but then again it had been less than two weeks, and I can’t imagine the placid little town of Dixia has a lot of car thieves. We transfered our stuff from baba-in-law’s Subaru into our Nissan, the rubber lining on the doors was dry and they made a funny velcro sound when we opened them.

Then we got to the hotel we had booked, took showers, had a beer and crashed hard. When the girlfriend had called ahead to inquire about the possibility of filthy foreigners staying there, the lady just said “It’s fine, I won’t register him”. I wish more people would have this attitude in the face of joyless restrctive bureaucratic crap.