Chinese bloke cycles 500km to get home... in the wrong direction

A migrant worker in China, hoping to cycle back home for Chinese New Year, realised a month into his 2,000km trip that he had been going the wrong way.

Originally from Qiqihar, Heilongjiang province in China's extreme northwest, the bloke had been working in Rizhao, a coastal city between Beijing and Shanghai. Not only had he intended to complete the mammoth cycling journey home for the holiday, instead of going north, the man went west, heading 500km into the central Chinese province of Anhui.

It was there that he was stopped by traffic police on a motorway, who found out he had set off from Rizhao in December, where the Chinese People's Online Daily reported he had been living in internet cafes and was low on funds. The man, who is unnamed, is unable to read maps and was relying upon others for directions.

When the kindly coppers discovered his predicament, they and staff at the toll station at which he was stopped purchased a train ticket for him to get him home. ®