2 Wheels 4 Girls

Ellen is currently sitting under the shade of a road sign looking out on the prairie listening to the Old 97′s.

Since the food poisoning incident, Ellen has had a bout with stomach problems for the last few days. When she left food poisoning town, she ended up only riding for 40 or so kms before having to stop. Stomach issues trumped her will to put in more kms. So she found a house (with a nice family) in the middle nowhere to was willing to let her stay in one of their rooms for 15 kuai a night. She says that there isn’t a town for 100kms in either direction. The house has no shower, and the bathroom is a hole in the ground behind the house. Ellen has been there for 2 nights already and is almost ready to leave. When I asked her if she feels dirty from not showering, she just said “Naw, I’m so used to it by now. Always dirty.” So tomorrow morning, she should be going to Manzhouli.

The family she is staying with speaks Chinese with such a thick Russian accent that Ellen has difficulty understanding them. So there is a lot of pantomiming going back and forth. During family dinner yesterday, the old man of the house picked up a porcelain lamb and pretended to eat it. Ellen took this as the man really liked Lamb. But she said it’s odd, because she’s only seen wild cows near this house. The cows are just wandering around the prairie, grazing. She says these are the happiest cows shes ever seen.

Ellen is right at the Russian/inner Mongolian border right now. She’s been there for 2 nights already due to a bout with food poisoning. She ate some bad cold noodles for lunch yesterday and is only now starting to feel better. So she’s going to stay one more night and is going to leave in the morning.

The Inner Mongolian town where is is (I forget the name, sorry) is where Russians come to buy products to sell in Russia. So, if you aren’t Han looking, then you’ll get greeted in Russian, which has happened to Ellen numerous times. There are a tremendous amount of bugs up there and she says that the sun is humongous at that latitude. Yesterday she told me she saw the most beautiful sunset of her life. After sunset, there’s still light for an hour, due to the sun still radiating. Oh yeah, Ellen passed the 4,000 km mark a few days ago. Go Ellen!

Ellen is very near the Russian border being attacked by horse flies the size of her pinky toe and being stun by bees. Don’t worry though, she’s a trooper even though she has 20 bee stings. Even while going 25 kmh, there were 10 bees hanging onto the panniers. She says that she’s persevering right now, but hates everything with wings at this moment.

Ellen sent me a text with the below

300 kms from the Russian border at 扎兰屯。 I saw a baby goat walking along a mud fence. Got a Photo. It was weird that it was up 5 feet climbing on the fence.

Climbing a mountain all day, a very slow 80 km – but I expected this as China uses mountains to separate Mongolia from the rest of the folks. It’s a pity because in Inner Mongolia it’s cleaner and the people are helpful yet mind their own business – if you’ve lived in China you know what I mean by not bothering you. Also, I enjoy going up the mountains because there are less people, communities, and there is always a beautiful view – and the ride down is pretty awesome.

Beginning to sleep more than 5 hours. Got roughly 9 last night minus the waking up confused “where am I?” and sweating.

So tired of the food selection. Everything is either loaded with sugar, swimming in oil, or deep fried. God, all I want is a salad with blue cheese, cranberries, and walnuts – and a Dr. Pepper Big Gulp with extra ice. Lots of ice. Ice for days.