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Immersive tour of village, town, & city life in Northwest China
Cycling Gansu's Hexi Corridor: Village, Town and City Life
Uyghur & American biking through rural China!
🐓🌾🚜My life in rural China full playlist🐓🌾🚜
Content creators can enjoy unlimited access to a huge variety of music - funky, peaceful, upbeat, or whatever else you’re looking for - and eliminate the headache of navigating copyright strikes on...
Uyghur & American biking through rural China!
🐓🌾🚜My life in rural China full playlist🐓🌾🚜
Content creators can enjoy unlimited access to a huge variety of music - funky, peaceful, upbeat, or whatever else you’re looking for - and eliminate the headache of navigating copyright strikes on YouTube! All I can say is... wish I knew about it since day 1 🤣
A bike tour through the Hexi Corridor in northwest China, from a small city out onto empty roads and into villages. The couple rides over 500 km past fortress-like old houses built when the corridor was contested, through villages where only about 20% of homes are still lived in, and into a tiny city called Yongchang. They sleep in a remote hotel with a 1.5 star review because it is the only one for around 100 km and meet a man walking to Beijing with a cart. Then they join a friend's village celebration: noodles, a red packet for the host and a banquet with cold dishes, hot dishes and plastic bags for leftovers. The vlog ends in a big city with high-rise apartments, a mugwort farm and a wetland park at dusk.
Uyghur & American biking through rural China!
🐓🌾🚜My life in rural China full playlist🐓🌾🚜
Content creators can enjoy unlimited access to a huge variety of music - funky, peaceful, upbeat, or whatever else you’re looking for - and eliminate the headache of navigating copyright strikes on YouTube! All I can say is... wish I knew about it since day 1 🤣
The video opens on the North China bike tour, with the couple moving north to ride over 500 km through the Hexi Corridor from a small city toward the next town. Dinner in the first city includes the local tea they like, served as packets to break open with a little sugar. On the road they pass a deserted village playground, and the creator explains the corridor's history: a narrow band of fertile land between mountains and the Gobi Desert, once heavily contested, with old houses built like little fortresses. The villages are emptying, with buildings torn down and only a few residents left, which she links to people leaving subsistence farming for better-paid work in towns. They snack on naan bought in the city, see solar panels and picket fences, and reach the tiny city of Yongchang, where the hotel room needs a key card in a wall slot before the electricity comes on, a detail she says is common in Chinese hotels. The next hotel is the only one for around 100 km and has a 1.5 star review, but they prefer it to carrying a tent. On the road they pass an ancient wall in villagers' backyards and meet a man walking from Kashgar to Beijing with a cart. At a friend's home village, where only about 20% of the houses are inhabited, they join a family celebration with noodles, then a banquet where guests give the host a red packet and the host hands out plastic bags for leftovers. The creator explains the toast custom of lifting the glass and putting it back down to avoid drinking. The last stop is a big city with 15-floor apartment blocks, a trip to a relative's mugwort farm and an evening at the wetland park, where children's rides keep running even with one rider.
A bike tour through the Hexi Corridor in northwest China, from a small city out onto empty roads and into villages. The couple rides over 500 km past fortress-like old houses built when the corridor was contested, through villages where only about 20% of homes are still lived in, and into a tiny city called Yongchang. They sleep in a remote hotel with a 1.5 star review because it is the only one for around 100 km and meet a man walking to Beijing with a cart. Then they join a friend's village celebration: noodles, a red packet for the host and a banquet with cold dishes, hot dishes and plastic bags for leftovers. The vlog ends in a big city with high-rise apartments, a mugwort farm and a wetland park at dusk.
A bike tour through the Hexi Corridor in Gansu, from quiet villages and a tiny city to a village banquet and big-city streets.
Cycling Gansu's Hexi Corridor: Village, Town and City Life
8:02 Most Chinese hotels switch the power on only after you put the key card in a slot by the door, so the lights and air conditioning go off whenever you leave the room.
8:41 In remote stretches there may be only one hotel for around 100 km and its review can be poor; this couple now skips carrying a tent and takes the basic room instead.
17:17 Only about 20% of the homes in this village are inhabited; with no property tax on homes, families keep their old village land and come back for parties and celebrations.
25:19 At weddings, graduations and banquets, guests give the host a money packet to thank them for the invitation, and the host may politely refuse it a few times before accepting.
27:03 Expect far more food than the table can finish at a village banquet: cold dishes come first, then hot ones, and the host hands out plastic bags so guests can take the leftovers home.
28:13 If you do not want to drink at a banquet, try lifting the glass for the toast and setting it back down; in this region that is enough, unlike places where people keep insisting.
30:30 Mugwort is an aromatic herbal plant used in many ways in China; the use she knows best is in the buckets at foot massage places, where it scents the water.
16:23 Old buildings survive so long in this dry, cold corner of northwest China because moss and mold cannot take hold, so the ancient walls and houses still look remarkably solid.
19:38 Even small villages have an exercise zone with a playground and outdoor equipment, a free stop where you can move around during a long ride.
8:02 Most Chinese hotels switch the power on only after you put the key card in a slot by the door, so the lights and air conditioning go off whenever you leave the room.
8:41 In remote stretches there may be only one hotel for around 100 km and its review can be poor; this couple now skips carrying a tent and takes the basic room instead.
17:17 Only about 20% of the homes in this village are inhabited; with no property tax on homes, families keep their old village land and come back for parties and celebrations.
25:19 At weddings, graduations and banquets, guests give the host a money packet to thank them for the invitation, and the host may politely refuse it a few times before accepting.
27:03 Expect far more food than the table can finish at a village banquet: cold dishes come first, then hot ones, and the host hands out plastic bags so guests can take the leftovers home.
28:13 If you do not want to drink at a banquet, try lifting the glass for the toast and setting it back down; in this region that is enough, unlike places where people keep insisting.
30:30 Mugwort is an aromatic herbal plant used in many ways in China; the use she knows best is in the buckets at foot massage places, where it scents the water.
16:23 Old buildings survive so long in this dry, cold corner of northwest China because moss and mold cannot take hold, so the ancient walls and houses still look remarkably solid.
19:38 Even small villages have an exercise zone with a playground and outdoor equipment, a free stop where you can move around during a long ride.
0:00 Intro to the North China bike tour
1:14 Setting off from a small city
2:52 Empty village playground
3:08 Hexi Corridor history
8:02 Key card slot for electricity
12:20 Ancient wall in a backyard
17:17 Village celebration
25:19 Red packet custom
29:00 Big-city life
30:30 Mugwort farm
32:12 Children's night rides
0:00 Intro to the North China bike tour
1:14 Setting off from a small city
2:52 Empty village playground
3:08 Hexi Corridor history
8:02 Key card slot for electricity
12:20 Ancient wall in a backyard
17:17 Village celebration
25:19 Red packet custom
29:00 Big-city life
30:30 Mugwort farm
32:12 Children's night rides
Where does this bike tour go?
Through the Hexi Corridor in northwest China, riding over 500 km from a small city past empty villages to the tiny city of Yongchang and on toward the next town.
What is the Hexi Corridor?
A narrow band of fertile land between mountains and the Gobi Desert. It was once heavily contested, and some old village houses are built like little fortresses.
Why do Chinese hotel rooms need a key card for the electricity?
A slot by the door takes the key card and switches the power on; removing it when you leave turns everything off, which saves electricity. The creator says this is common in Chinese hotels.
What is a hotel like in a remote part of Gansu?
Sometimes there is only one for around 100 km, and its review score can be poor. The couple takes the basic room rather than carrying a tent.
Do you give money at a Chinese banquet?
Yes. At weddings, graduations and other banquets, guests give the host a money packet, and the host may politely refuse it two or three times before accepting.
What food is served at a village banquet?
Cold dishes first, then hot dishes, with far more than the table can finish; the host hands out plastic bags so guests can take the leftovers home.
How do you avoid drinking at a Chinese banquet toast?
Lift the glass for the toast and put it straight back down. In this region that is accepted, while in some other parts of the country people keep asking.
What is mugwort used for in China?
It is an aromatic herb used in many ways; the creator knows it best from foot massage places, where it is put in the bucket of water.
