16-Jul-2008 -- This is the seventh out of 23 confluences that I visited on my bicycle trip to the North-East of China. The story starts from 40°N 117°E.

The previous day, I had visited 43°N 121°E and stayed in the city Tōngliáo (通辽市). On confluence day I slept late until 6 am. (“Late” because I normally got up two hours earlier).

I actually didn’t have the intention to visit this confluence. I wanted to meet some colleagues from my office in Zurich, who accidentally would arrive that afternoon in Tōngliáo. But in the morning, I had a look over the map and noticed that this confluence could be reached easily. I simply had to follow the main road no 314 for about 50 km up to Shèbótǔ Town (舍伯土镇). But time constraints didn’t allow cycling that distance. So I made the hard decision to take the bus instead.

At the bus station I had to wait almost one hour for the bus to depart. Also it was fully boarded, the driver decided to wait until the official time of departure had come. Once departed, the bus reached the confluence within less than an hour. The minimal distance from the road was 1.4 km. Since I didn’t see a proper track to take my walk, I overshot a little bit. At a distance of 1.7 km the bus had a stop at a toll gate. I used this opportunity to get off.

I found some tracks that passed by a factory. I continued my hike over some field paths and reached the confluence this way. Again, the exact location turned out to be in a corn field. With the overcast and the flat topography, this confluence was not the most spectacular of those that I had visited before.

After the documentation of the point, I walked back to the main road and soon was able to flag down a bus that took me back to Tōngliáo. I reached the city right in time. In the evening I enjoyed a great dinner with Chinese and Swiss friends. This would be my last lazy day of not-biking for the next three weeks.

CP Visit Details:

• Distance to an asphalt road: 1440 m
• Distance to a road: 1440 m
• Distance to a track: 170 m
• Distance of parking the bike: 50 km
• Distance to houses: 740 m
• Time starting the hike: 9:50 a.m.
• Time at the CP: 10:30 a.m.
• Driving time (distance) from Tōngliáo: 0:50 hours (50 km)
• Measured height: 184 m
• Minimal distance according to GPS: 0 m
• Position accuracy at the CP: 4 m
• Topography: totally flat
• Vegetation: corn field, nearby soybean field
• Weather: overcast, 25° C (felt temperature)
• Description of the CP: In the eastern part of Inner Mongolia in an agricultural area. On the floodplains of Xinkai River.
• Given Name: The Toll Gate Confluence

Story continues at 44°N 123°E.