My friend Dieter works at the Belgium Embassy. As it is Easter they have the Easter Monday off. So he suggested to take me out north for some nice road cycling in the mountains. It was good that it had rained last night so the air was clearer than the last 2 days, but it was still slightly hazy.
Once we started riding the air became clearer. We could see further and further. It was so gorgeous with the blossoming cherry and peach trees, the fresh green leaves on many trees, the mountains and mountains, the temples and pagodas on the mountain tops. When we entered the 10km long climb I saw 2 beautiful pheasants flying from one tree to the next. The looked like phoenixes. It was so quiet on these nicely paved roads. Only the 20km false flat that is quite steep in some sections was killing with the head wind. I was hiding behind Dieter who pulled me all the way over that almost never ending false flat. The whole loop we rode was 85km.
Just when we started cycling we passed a place „Sino-Belgium Museum Display Equipment“. We first thought it was a Sino-Belgium Museum. But it turned out to be a factory for display cabinets. I never knew Belgium was famous for museum display equipments…
After the ride we stopped by at a university with an extremely impressive building, especially as it is in the middle of nowhere. We tried to get onto the campus but were rejected. Maybe it is a military university.
Even in Beijing the sky was clear blue. I went to a restaurant for some after cycling food. When I came back out of the restaurant there was a huge wind, clouds and particles in the air. This was the first sand storm in 2009, at least to my memory. Good that I was wearing sunglasses and an anti pollution mask.
In the evening I gave back the long loaner camera Canon G9 to Simon as he is leaving for Afghanistan. Now I am again cameraless…