Felt really good this morning and excited about getting on my bike again and so up at 7.30, packed, breakfast, said good bye to the villagers and off on the road again. Google maps wanted to take me the most direct route but after 5 km on a dirt road track I turned round and went the longer way on the tarmac. The road was great and smooth and still went through rural areas.The scenery was fantastic and I passed through loads of little villages. People were always very welcoming and gave me water and wanted to chat - but of course I can't speak Chinese! In the afternoons there are always loads of people sitting around playing card games or Chinese chess. It is a national preoccupation.
This old man was desperately trying to sell me his bucket of nectarines (in season here right now). 
It was a good day for hats. 
Chinese men are the same as Indian men in the heat: they just roll up their t-shirts to expose their bellies. 
This man took his live duck on the bus with him.... 
A good ramp for taking logs on to the top of the log lorry.... rather precarious though. 
There were endless rice fields and people planting. 
I was biking along when suddenly I saw a man on the side of the road with a snake in his hands. He was comfortably handling it with his children only about 1 metre away. I have no idea whether it was poisonous or not. He put it in a bag to weigh it and then exchanged some money with another man and the other man went off with the snake - presumably tonight's diner!? 
Two other dudes enjoying the good quality road with very little traffic. 
After 130km I was ready to stop and it was not even dusk! For once I decided not to chance going as far as possible with the light to the next town where there might or might not be a lodge but actually stopped at 6.30 at a lovely looking place at the edge of a town. The people were really welcoming and the rooms great quality - especially for £4!. I had a shower, unpacked my stuff and went down to eat in their restaurant at 7.30 ish. They gave me a huge meal of veg, pork, eggs and tomatoes and rice. I was enjoying the meal when a large group of people arrived. A lady came up to me and asked if she could ask me some questions. I said of course and she took a seat. It was the first time I had spoken English to anyone in a few days. It turned out that she is the local English teacher at school. She asked me where I am from and what I am doing here so I answered. She then said that it is illegal for foreigners to be in this area and that the policeman outside wanted me to leave! WTF! I had absolutely no idea that this area was forbidden to foreigners and she could not explain why. As I was cycling today about 10 police cars had passed me and none of them had stopped me. She said that it is OK to pass through but not to stay in the area.
I am not sure whether this was because the area is so beautiful and they do not want tourists spoiling the area as there is not the infrastructure to support it and they want to maintain the way of life or whether it is because the area is populated with some ethnic minorities and there is some political issues. Either way I was rather shocked. I explained that I am on a bike and can't go anywhere in the dark and there are no buses. The lady explained that the policemen were happy to drop me 100km up the road at the nearest big town.
I was not too bothered as this was exactly where I was heading the next day and to make up time I had contemplated jumping on a bus anyway. The only problem was that I was really tired and ready for an early night and looking forward to my bed. It was such a lovely room as well. Instead of going to sleep I had to take my bike to pieces, pack up all of my things and get into the back of the Police car. By this time a large crowd had gathered to watch the spectacle. However, the Police, the English speaking teacher and the crowd were very helpful and nice about the whole thing. They said sorry but it is the law. They had waited while I finished my dinner and packed up my stuff. The ladies at the hotel were very apologetic looking and concerned. I was not charged for the room and they only charged me £3 for all of the food.
This picture of the crowd watching as I was driven away from the hotel was take from the window of the police car... 
It took about 2 hours to get from where I had been staying to the Huaihau and find a hotel that had a room. The policemen were very friendly once I had got to the hotel and made sure that the owners looked after me. The English teacher had told them that I wanted to stay in a cheap place and so they took me to a place for £6 per night. It was a very nice place actually with AC etc. The Policemen even let me take a couple of photos and took some of me too (I don't think that they wanted to use them as mug shoots ;-)).It was about 1 before I was checked in unpacked and settled.
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