Day 1 was shortened and rerouted by some roadworks and traffic not unexpected on the way out of such a giant city. Now we have stayed in the totally rural area of Daihai, next to a lake in a modern hotel.

The day yesterday allowed us to get a final accuracy trim on the trip meter, now accurate to better than 1m. / Km. It also allowed us to get some useful fuel mileage calculations, 22.6 mpg – US gal, 26.9 mpg – Imp. gal or 9.51l/100Km. As with our lightness, probably the most fuel efficient car in the event.

We spent part of yesterday following an unfortunate Irishman that put three quarters of a tank of diesel into his 280 Mercedes, following him through some flat sections choking on his tailpipe, eventually passing him on the next modest incline. To the credit of the Merc, it limped about 60Km on its unvolatile cocktail and made it to the end-of-day check point, before the Irish crew went looking for a dump zone and some fresh fuel from the right hose.

Day 1 was also filled with long stretches of familiar looking landscapes. Tastes of the High Sierras, broadacre corn farming like Iowa and some beautifully constructed roads.

It was also punctuated with succinct reminders that western values do not prevail: poverty, absence of roads thru villages, a courtyard with a water handpump to the well and a Sat TV dish. And probably the saddest – a cart and donkey tug-o-war being conducted by two drunk elderly men flogging the donkeys with their whips as they struggled on cobblestones to best each other. This while traffic was blocked by an event in a town main intersection, and casually observed by a local policeman. Sad, but real and no doubt only the first of many less endearing sights we will encounter.

This entry was posted on Saturday, September 11th, 2010 at 12:40 am and is filed under Blogjack, Events, Hayden, Rallying. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.