20-Jul-2012 -- This is the 10th out of 20 confluence points that I reached on a bicycle trip to the North-East of China. The narrative of the trip starts from 41°N 117°E.
At this confluence point, I crossed the route of my bicycle tour back in 2008. So this visit was a good opportunity to detect changes of the environment.
The confluence point is easily accessible from the city of Zhālántún (扎兰屯市) which is 20 km to the west. A major highway leads up to 3 km distance and a concrete slab road up to 320 m. In the same way as 4 years ago, I abandoned the bike at 80 m and then faced again the problem of crossing over a ditch.
Comparing the confluence point with the visit in 2008, we can see that that it is still located in a corn field. There is now an additional grave and the two trees have grown a bit, see 2008 and 2012. Comparing the confluence hunter, we can see that his red shirt is still functional even though 200 confluence visits lay in-between those images, see 2008 and 2012. The next village in 1 km distance, called Dáwòěrmínzúxiāng (达斡尔民族乡) went through minor changes. The sun has desaturated formerly blue roofs into a light blue color.
I continued eastwards on the main road to Arunqi where I had lunch. I noticed that it became feasible to visit one more confluence point at the same day.
CP visit details:
- Distance to an asphalt (or concrete) road: 320 m
- Distance to a track: 80 m
- Distance to a footpath: 80 m
- Duration of the hike to reach the CP: 5 minutes
- Distance of bicycle parking: 80 m
- Distance to houses: 850 m
- Time at the CP: 8:13 AM
- Measured height: 275 m
- Minimal distance according to GPS: 0 m
- Position accuracy at the CP: 3 m
- Topography: hilly, located in a valley
- Vegetation: corn, soybeans, forests on the mountains nearby
- Weather: sunny, 31° C (felt temperature)
- Given Name: The Brad’s Red Bikeshirt Confluence
Story continues at 48°N 124°E.