10 Days to Beijing

This IS the hard part.
The noise on the roads is deafening at times with the honking of horns of all tones and decibels, the penetrating 2 stoke engine noise, construction drills, dynamite explosions, drones of trucks, - and the happy sound of fireworks blowing up to wish the newly weds a happy and long life together!
Villages are a frenzy of activity and extreme concentration and caution is needed to avoid collisions. The police and taxi drivers are sometimes the worst culprits in the dangerous driving stakes.
There is little open space- but what there is is cultivated right up to the road side.
The old folks sit beside their houses in the sun and watch and rest for a while , as they too must push carts and toil to make ends meet. My heart goes out to them. Life has never been in their favour. They survived Mao to now have the benefits they enjoyed with Communism stripped away.
The air is hazy and I cannot take good photos although there are mountains towering to my right.
But still - there is a great pleasure in seeing all this, to really experience and smell it from the seat of a bicycle. I remain astounded by this China and there is still a lot of beauty around - it just needs to be carefully looked for and marvelled at for it has survived through centuries of millions and millions of people