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Desperate China travellers walk home: state media
BEIJING, Jan 31 (AFP) Jan 31, 2008
Fed up with the transport gridlock caused by China's harsh winter weather, desperate travellers have opted to walk or even ski home, state media reported on Thursday.

Among them were a dozen bus travellers who were stuck for four days on a blocked highway in central China's Hubei province.

They set off for their homes in Guangdong province hundreds of kilometres (miles) away, the China Daily said. Sixteen frigid hours later, two of them a 52-year-old man surnamed Zhan and his wife, were picked up at the border by their son.

"The cold numbed their senses as they trekked through the rain and snow," the China Daily said. "Their lips were purple from the cold and they were totally exhausted."

The annual winter trip home for the Lunar New Year holiday, which this year is in early February, is the most anticipated time of year for tens of millions of Chinese.

But nearly three weeks of unrelenting snow and freezing conditions have jammed up the nation's transport systems during its busiest time of the year, leaving huge frustrated crowds stranded in train stations, airports and on clogged highways.

One university student in Hubei tried to ski the 200 kilometres to his home city of Wuhan along snow-covered highways, the paper said.

"He hired or borrowed some ski poles, skis and the rest of the equipment, bought some snow gear, packed some water and snacks and got on the highway," it reported.

However, he was later spotted by police and taken to a nearby bus station, it added, without explaining why.

Du Dengyong, from the southern city of Shenzhen, walked 16 hours through sub-zero temperatures to retrieve his girlfriend, who was in a bus stuck on highway, the China Daily also said.

The trip left the 24-year-old in hospital with hypothermia.

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