We all got up late as it had been a very late night. Zoe had a bad hang over - after having the equivalent of 1/2 pint of beer. Arrrr.
We went out for brunch at the local noodle restaurant. 30p for a big bowl of noodles for breakfast. We also bought some lovely fruits on the way, all ones that I have not tried before! I love trying new things. I am not sure what some of the fruit was but I certainly tried Dragon fruit!
On the way to get food we passed a bike shop and I saw a guy with a touring bike trying to explain to a Chinese guy what he needed doing. I of course stopped to say hello as it is unusual to meat fellow cyclists. It turned out that Jean Marc and his wife Marrie are also doing a world tour but in the opposite direction to me. They have been on the road for over 1 year. They are also heading north in the same direction as me for the next few weeks. We agreed to meet for dinner later on today.
On the way back from noodles Jean Marc was still at the shop having some problems with explaining what he needed. Zoe really helped by translating :-)
Zoe and Bob were still planning on cycling home today and so I left them to get ready to go (and for Zoe to have a little nap) and walked into town to have an explore, do some shopping and use the internet in a cafe.
I tried to find a restaurant that would sell me some ground coffee beans (as so many of them serve proper coffee). Having been told that they would only sell it to me for £32 per bag (the amount for each individual coffee cup from one bag) I got rather pissed off. I was extremely glad to find an amazing little shop which sold fresh coffee beans from all over China and other countries. I could either buy the ground versions in bags or buy bags of beans and they would grind it for me there and then :-) I bought enough coffee to last me until well into Mongolia.... not that I have an addiction or anything! I am now probably carrying about 1kg of coffee... what an idiot. The lovely man in the shop brewed me a fresh pot for free and we enjoyed it together.
This glass table displays all of the different coffee beans that they sell.
Having pottered round, asked about boat tickets North (and decided not to buy any in case I want to travel with the French cyclists I met this morning) I went to a cafe. I treated myself to a lovely steak (£3) and cheesecake with a cappuccino (£2.80) at a cafe. Unfortunately the internet is so slow in this town that it worked out faster for me to use my internet connection on my phone. I booked train tickets for my trip to Xian to Beijing and also did some bank stuff.
My visa debit card stopped working last night and so I spent ages on the phone this afternoon and eventually (after 10-15 mins on hold) got through to a girl who told me that my file had not been updated correctly with the information that I am in China. She corrected this and said my card would be active again in 30 min. I tried to get cash out after 7 hours and my card was still refused. I have had to phone my bank about once every month since I have left the UK as they have either stopped it working on the internet or at ATMs. How difficult can it be? Each time it costs me and usually takes several calls before they fix the problem!
This is a photo of the most beautiful setting for McDonalds I have ever seen! If you can't see the photo click on it and it will be come bigger (to all those technophobes out there). It is strange to see McDonalds and KFC in so many places in China.
Zoe and Bob changed their minds about leaving today and so in the afternoon I met up with Zoe and Bob again and we went to a different river. They were on their bikes but I was in a bouncy mood and decided to run. Zoe has no sense of direction or time..... She said it was only about 20 mins on the bike - we returned 1.5 hours later with me having run 16km (GPS tracker). It was a nice route through the hills and local villages. It worked really well with me running and them on their bikes. I was very nicely exercised by the end. I felt that I had worked off my steak. I don't have any photos as I did not carry my camera for once!
After the run I showered and then went out to meet the French cyclists in town. We met at their hotel and then went out to the same bar where I had been drinking with my Chinese friends the night before. Louise also joined us.
We had a lovely evening swapping biking stories. The only country that we have all biked through is India (and of course China). They left France in March last year and made there way through Europe and some of the middle East before heading to South East Asia to find some warmer weather.
It was funny as we were on the same page having had similar experiences of cycling on a budget and roughing it. Louise just could not understand the appeal. I think that she is from a rather well off background and was quiet happy to pay £2000 euros for her flight ticket so that she did not have to do a 10 hour bus journey. It was like speaking to someone from another planet for 3 cyclists. However, it was very funny. We were all off budget eating pizza tonight. Normally it is noodles and veg for less than £1.
Jean Marc and Marrie had visited a market today and seen cats and dogs in cages and next to the cages dead, roasted cats and dogs hanging up. I found this difficult to think about and decided that I really did not want to see this and that I would not visit the market. However, the Chinese eating dogs is really no worse than use eating pigs (I know the Chinese eat loads of Pork as well) as pigs are as intelligent as dogs. Some friends of mine have pigs as pets and they are lovely creatures. Europeans just find it so difficult because we are used to having dogs as pets. Apparently this is becoming more normal in Chinese cities and eating dogs has become illegal in these cities.
Jean Marc and Marrie are lovely people and I really wanted to spend some more time with them and so we arranged to meet for dinner tomorrow and then to cycle North together. I had planned on leaving on my bike tomorrow but decided to wait for them for 1 day as they wanted a day looking round the area before leaving.
On the way back to my hotel (which is slightly out of the main area of town) I passed many Chinese local restaurants and took these photos. Zoe had pointed them out to me yesterday. The restaurants sell whole frogs, snails, snakes, intestines, chickens feet and anything else you can imagine. I think I will try snails and snakes at some point. The Chinese really do eat every creature out there and pretty much have meat with every meal. There is very little wildlife in the countryside that is not farmed creatures.
We went out for brunch at the local noodle restaurant. 30p for a big bowl of noodles for breakfast. We also bought some lovely fruits on the way, all ones that I have not tried before! I love trying new things. I am not sure what some of the fruit was but I certainly tried Dragon fruit!On the way to get food we passed a bike shop and I saw a guy with a touring bike trying to explain to a Chinese guy what he needed doing. I of course stopped to say hello as it is unusual to meat fellow cyclists. It turned out that Jean Marc and his wife Marrie are also doing a world tour but in the opposite direction to me. They have been on the road for over 1 year. They are also heading north in the same direction as me for the next few weeks. We agreed to meet for dinner later on today.
On the way back from noodles Jean Marc was still at the shop having some problems with explaining what he needed. Zoe really helped by translating :-)Zoe and Bob were still planning on cycling home today and so I left them to get ready to go (and for Zoe to have a little nap) and walked into town to have an explore, do some shopping and use the internet in a cafe.
I tried to find a restaurant that would sell me some ground coffee beans (as so many of them serve proper coffee). Having been told that they would only sell it to me for £32 per bag (the amount for each individual coffee cup from one bag) I got rather pissed off. I was extremely glad to find an amazing little shop which sold fresh coffee beans from all over China and other countries. I could either buy the ground versions in bags or buy bags of beans and they would grind it for me there and then :-) I bought enough coffee to last me until well into Mongolia.... not that I have an addiction or anything! I am now probably carrying about 1kg of coffee... what an idiot. The lovely man in the shop brewed me a fresh pot for free and we enjoyed it together.This glass table displays all of the different coffee beans that they sell.
Having pottered round, asked about boat tickets North (and decided not to buy any in case I want to travel with the French cyclists I met this morning) I went to a cafe. I treated myself to a lovely steak (£3) and cheesecake with a cappuccino (£2.80) at a cafe. Unfortunately the internet is so slow in this town that it worked out faster for me to use my internet connection on my phone. I booked train tickets for my trip to Xian to Beijing and also did some bank stuff.My visa debit card stopped working last night and so I spent ages on the phone this afternoon and eventually (after 10-15 mins on hold) got through to a girl who told me that my file had not been updated correctly with the information that I am in China. She corrected this and said my card would be active again in 30 min. I tried to get cash out after 7 hours and my card was still refused. I have had to phone my bank about once every month since I have left the UK as they have either stopped it working on the internet or at ATMs. How difficult can it be? Each time it costs me and usually takes several calls before they fix the problem!
This is a photo of the most beautiful setting for McDonalds I have ever seen! If you can't see the photo click on it and it will be come bigger (to all those technophobes out there). It is strange to see McDonalds and KFC in so many places in China. Zoe and Bob changed their minds about leaving today and so in the afternoon I met up with Zoe and Bob again and we went to a different river. They were on their bikes but I was in a bouncy mood and decided to run. Zoe has no sense of direction or time..... She said it was only about 20 mins on the bike - we returned 1.5 hours later with me having run 16km (GPS tracker). It was a nice route through the hills and local villages. It worked really well with me running and them on their bikes. I was very nicely exercised by the end. I felt that I had worked off my steak. I don't have any photos as I did not carry my camera for once!
After the run I showered and then went out to meet the French cyclists in town. We met at their hotel and then went out to the same bar where I had been drinking with my Chinese friends the night before. Louise also joined us.
We had a lovely evening swapping biking stories. The only country that we have all biked through is India (and of course China). They left France in March last year and made there way through Europe and some of the middle East before heading to South East Asia to find some warmer weather.
It was funny as we were on the same page having had similar experiences of cycling on a budget and roughing it. Louise just could not understand the appeal. I think that she is from a rather well off background and was quiet happy to pay £2000 euros for her flight ticket so that she did not have to do a 10 hour bus journey. It was like speaking to someone from another planet for 3 cyclists. However, it was very funny. We were all off budget eating pizza tonight. Normally it is noodles and veg for less than £1.
Jean Marc and Marrie had visited a market today and seen cats and dogs in cages and next to the cages dead, roasted cats and dogs hanging up. I found this difficult to think about and decided that I really did not want to see this and that I would not visit the market. However, the Chinese eating dogs is really no worse than use eating pigs (I know the Chinese eat loads of Pork as well) as pigs are as intelligent as dogs. Some friends of mine have pigs as pets and they are lovely creatures. Europeans just find it so difficult because we are used to having dogs as pets. Apparently this is becoming more normal in Chinese cities and eating dogs has become illegal in these cities.
Jean Marc and Marrie are lovely people and I really wanted to spend some more time with them and so we arranged to meet for dinner tomorrow and then to cycle North together. I had planned on leaving on my bike tomorrow but decided to wait for them for 1 day as they wanted a day looking round the area before leaving.
On the way back to my hotel (which is slightly out of the main area of town) I passed many Chinese local restaurants and took these photos. Zoe had pointed them out to me yesterday. The restaurants sell whole frogs, snails, snakes, intestines, chickens feet and anything else you can imagine. I think I will try snails and snakes at some point. The Chinese really do eat every creature out there and pretty much have meat with every meal. There is very little wildlife in the countryside that is not farmed creatures. 
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