Start cycling from Qingdao China and Go west!

Finally I arrived in South Korea Capital city Soul.

and I met Teacher Sim Sonsenin and spend a few week and helped with gardener.

Then Sim Sosenin gave me a ticket to China. From Incheon, Korea to Qingdao China.

when I arrived Qingdao China I bought a simple local bicycle on the street side.

It was just a bicycle shop with a few bicycles on the street.
“How much is the cheapest bike?”

It cost about 20$.

It’s just a normal bike, no gearbox of course, it’s what we call a “mamachari” in Japan, and it’s not really suitable for long distance riding, but it was cheap so I decided to go for it!

Here, use this,” Mr.Li said. Mr.Li who met on Qingdao horbor
It was a map of the whole of China on a sheet of paper.

In the corner is written in small letters “6 million to 1”,
and on the left edge are Korea and Japan in small letters.

The small size of Japan made me feel the size of China even more. The “1:600,000,000” map has only the names of the provinces on it.

It’s better to know where you’re going than not to know at all.

Mr Li points to a spot on the map, Qingdao, and says

“Go West! ” he says in English.

“I have to go, it’s the only way.”

So I tied my luggage to the back of the bike I’d just bought, using a rope I’d found lying around.

I took out the compass I had bought at a 100 yen(1$) shop in Tokyo, which I thought I would never use, and mumbled “Go West” as I set off towards the compass pointing west.

I wondered if I could go south through China with such a rough map and compass.

I’m so “lazy” that I’m amazed at myself”, but there is no way back.

I thanked Mr. Yun and Mr. Li and started to run along the big road facing west.