The first night of my first ever tour I decided to stealth camp (following inspiration received from this forum), in rural China. I was a bit overwhelmed with thoughts of the bike, the terrain, my clothes, cooking, what time to finish riding, what time to start in the morning, how the stuff was sitting on my bike etc etc. Grossly inexperienced.

I found myself in a lightly mountainous region. After a hot day, to my surprise it started to get cold and dark quickly. I found a recessed spot among tall grass a little back from the road, in front of a run-down looking shed which formed an outbuilding for a nearby factory. I didn't know that at the time. All went as well as could be expected until the next morning at 8am. In hindsight I should have been up and out of that area two hours earlier. I had already packed my bike and was attending to a call of nature when a security guard from the factory spotted me, started yelling and came over. I turned to face the irate guy with just a t-shirt on and piece of paper in hand.

Being a foreigner in rural China on a bicycle is enough to all but the most insurrmountable problems. The security guard actually apologised for disturbing me. I in turn apologised and said I couldn't find a hotel and was tired, plus that I was just leaving (the last part was true). I was out of there five minutes later and vividly remember thinking how ironic it was that so many people on bikeforums stealth camp for years and here am I getting caught on my first ever attempt!