Mao Country

The end of this epic adventure is hurtling fast towards me - and very soon I will be contemplating normal life again ( what ever that may be)
We have only 7 riding days left and on Wednesday 12th November- we will be cycling onto Tiananmen Square in the heart of Beijing. I have been able to ride every single riding day and I am so grateful for such good health and robust psyche!
It is so often that, as the end of a demanding task approaches, it is easy to relax and forget the usual precautions. However, in these last days of cycling, we are acutely aware of all the dangers facing us and we are being super careful. Each riding day now - still about 120km- seems like a hard day at the office. It is not particulasly enjoyable , but getting to the end of it well gives a great sense of achievement and satisfaction.
I have resorted to using my head a little more, thinking and imagining, as all I really see is the road ahead and all the traffic. Distant views are a thing of the past due to the pollution. Today I reflected on Mao and his extraordinary political career. This is because we are cycling through the Province in which he was born - Hunan Province. He was born into a poor farming family in 1893 and he taught in the 1920's in a peasant training institute. He was very sympathetic to the farmers' plight, and being heavily influenced by Marxist thought - he soon began advocating that the only way to replace the old order, was by mass armed uprising. I can now appreciate why he gained a following so quickly. This area is intensively farmed. No land, no crops, no animal dung even, is wasted. Corn cobs and nut shells are dried for fodder. The peasant farmers are tough as nails, reed thin, and seem to work endlessly. Their strenghth seems way out of proportion to their diminutive size. I am sure that they look far older than their years. Modernisation has helped no doubt in many ways - but life still seems tough, dirty, cold and somewhat joyless. And there seems an unfairness to it as it is their foodstuffs which feed the nation. So I escape the harsh reality of this scene into my thoughts knowing that at the day end - I will be comfortable. How tempting Mao's movement and the benefits thereof must have seemed.
Today also was the very first riding day when I took no photographs. Indeed, there were interesting things to record - like the bamboo workshops, but I was in survival mode. It also made me realise that I am so much more drawn to take photos of the natural world - rather than the man made world. So I include alongside a few photos taken yesterday - while the sun was briefly penetrating the smog and the fields were being worked.
I remain continually amazed at the diveresity of crops and the intricate detail with which they are farmed and prepared.
When I next write - I hope I will be very close to Beijing. Thanks again for giving me the excuse to record my wanderings, and thanks as always for the wonderful feedback.