Man cycles home only to realise he'd gone 310 miles in the wrong direction

Don't you hate it when that happens.
 By 
Yvette Tan
 on 
Man cycles home only to realise he'd gone 310 miles in the wrong direction
The man (not pictured) was trying to cycle 1,700km home Credit: Getty Images

A Chinese man who didn't have enough money for a train ticket decided instead to spend a month cycling home -- only to find he was going in the opposite direction.

The migrant worker, who had cycled some 500km (310 miles), was trying to make it home for Chinese New Year.

He set off from the Chinese city of Rizhou towards his home up north in Qiqihar, which is over 1,700km away.

Original image replaced with Mashable logo
Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

The man only found out he was going the wrong way after he was stopped by traffic police in the city of Anhui for riding illegally on the highway.

Original image replaced with Mashable logo
Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

The man told the police that he had received the wrong directions at the start of his trip, and had been following them for the past 500km, according to the People's Daily.

Original image replaced with Mashable logo
Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

He added that he had only been working for a short while, and had spent most of his money in internet cafes.

Original image replaced with Mashable logo
Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

Officers and tollbooth workers decided to chip in to buy him a ticket home, rather than making him bike over 2,000km back.

This year, some three billion trips were made by millions of Chinese travellers rushing home for Chinese New Year, arguably the country's biggest celebration.

So at least he got to avoid the crowd for a while.

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Yvette Tan

Yvette is a Viral Content Reporter at Mashable Asia. She was previously reporting for BBC's Singapore bureau and Channel NewsAsia.

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