There is no cab in the trucks, so the men have to wrap their heads in cotton-padded clothes to keep warm. The passengers inside also have a hard time: they have to curl up in the narrow lorry which gives them cramps in the waist and legs, not mention the effect of the bumping. "We've suffered worse injuries than when cultivating the fields at home," the wife of Mr. Qin sobs as she rubs the bumps on her head.

Meals and sleep are major problems. To save money, they have no more than two meals per day. Each of the families prepared boxes of instant noodles before they left, but they have to eat them dry as no water is available. As for sleep, the men have to make up their beds on the road surface, while the women and girls have to curl up in the narrow trucks, their faces and hands suffering from exposure to the seasonal weather after 10 days on the road.

However, they have also been moved by some of the help they have received on their way home. Mr. Qin explains that they once went onto a highway in Guizhou without paying when their trucks could not climb over the hills and cliffs of the trunk route--when the traffic policemen discovered the farmers' predicament, they did not stop them but helped them on their way. On November 30, the farmers also bought boxes of bento at a discount price of 10 yuan, their one and only hot meal on the whole journey. Kind security men also let the farmers sleep on their own beds, also their first warm night.

An important element keeping the farmers going, even when they are too tired to take another step, is the thought of their children. "Look, this is my eldest son in his third year at middle school. He tells me he came top again in his exams!" Ms. Xiao passes round pictures on her mobile phone, "As long as our children are fine, we can do anything for them!"

And the group says its goodbye and disappears on its way...

(China.org.cn by Jessica Zhang, December 3, 2008)