#2: [20-Jul-12]

21-Jul-2008 -- This is the 13th out of 23 confluences that I visited on my bicycle trip to the North-East of China. The story starts from 40°N 117°E.

After visiting 47°N 123°E on the day before, I stayed in the town Lóngjiāng (龙江) for the night. As usual, I got up at 4:00 am and left my hotel half an hour later. After riding 35 km, I had a really big breakfast in Niǎnzǐshān (碾子山). Shortly after, I crossed the wall of Genghis Khan. Today it appears like a long-stretched mound. At this location, the wall marks the border between Hēilóngjiāng (黑龙江) and Inner Mongolia (内蒙古).

I had planned on visiting the confluence the next day. But suddenly, with being 16 km beeline away from the confluence, I came to an unexpected intersection – a new built two-lane divided highway that directly pointed to the confluence. This made me change my mind and I spontaneously set off - although I wasn’t feeling good and the day was extremely hot.

After riding over a long hill, I turned into a small road at a distance of 2.7 km. That road had a minimum distance of 310 m to the confluence. On some farm tracks I reached a distance of 80 m, where I abandoned the bicycle and tried to walk the rest. A big ditch gave me some challenge. Although quite big, I decided to jump over it (and succeeded in doing so). The location in the corn field was a little bit disappointing (also one should not have emotions about the looks of a confluence and take it as it is). I could see some graves at the edge of the corn field. It was still extremely hot and I noticed that I had gotten dehydrated. I quickly went to the next village in 1 km distance, called Dáwòěrmínzúxiāng (达斡尔民族乡). This means village of the Dawuer-Minority. Indeed, women were dressed differently in traditional costumes. In the village I finished a whole 5-kg watermelon.

Then, I rode back the way I came and stayed the night in the city of Zhālántún (扎兰屯).

CP Visit Details:

• Distance to an asphalt road: 2.7 km
• Distance to a road: 310 m
• Distance to a track: 80 m
• Distance of parking the bike: 43 m
• Distance to houses: 860 m
• Time for detour: 4:00 hours
• Time at the CP: 13:11 p.m.
• Riding time (distance) from Lóngjiāng: 6:00 hours (105.7 km)
• Measured height: 274 m
• Minimal distance according to GPS: 0 m
• Position accuracy at the CP: 4 m
• Topography: hilly, located in a valley
• Vegetation: corn, soybeans, forests on the mountains nearby.
• Weather: sunny, 33° C (felt temperature)
• Description of the CP: In the eastern part of Inner Mongolia, right at the foothills of the Dàxìngānlǐng Mountains (大兴安岭). On agricultural land.
• Given Name: The Minority Graves Confluence

Story continues at 49°N 121°E.