The plan was to cycle to the Great Wall today however I pretty much spent the first biking day with my Pops trying to fix my bike!
After spending ages on the phone to the bike shop that hires bikes and talking with the concierge at the hotel yesterday and being assured that they understood that we wanted to hire one good bike with gears for 4 days, my Dad went down to reception to find that they had delivered 2 old fixed wheel bikes! My dad explained that this was not right and so they then returned with just one bike with a few gears. When they then asked where he was biking too and he said to the Great Wall they then went off again and this time returned with a good mountain bike with many gears. Awesome! 2 hours later and we were ready to go...
We repacked all of our things and worked out that we did not need a faction of the things that I normally have to take with me (like camping things and smart clothes etc) and so left most of my luggage at the hotel and just took 2 back panniers and a front pannier. I could carry all of it on my bike leaving my Dad free to cycle without luggage. This worked out perfectly as it would slow me down as I am really used to biking long distances at the moment where as he has not had chance to do very much cycling recently due to work and home life commitments.
We left the hotel about 11. Unfortunately, my bottom bracket on my bike that I ordered to be delivered to my Dad's house in the UK did not arrive before he left and so I needed to buy a whole new group set at a bike shop in Beijing. We had found a bike shop and organised this yesterday and so this morning, on the way out of Beijing we popped into the shop to get the replacement fitted. It took them a while to fit the new parts, replace a spoke, tune the gears and for us to buy some inner tubes etc but we went to get something to eat while we were waiting.
I enjoyed taking my Dad for a brunch of noodles at a cafe close to the bike shop while the guys in the shop fitted the new components. I have been used to having spicy noodles for breakfast but this was all new to him. I am loving sharing my traveling experiences with someone - especially my Dad. I can point out all of the silly little things I have noticed about China over the last few weeks to him and see his reaction to things that I am now used to.
While waiting for the bike I also got some credit for my phone so that I could use my GPS to get out of the city without getting lost. It is very difficult to get round Chinese cities without this. The silly system in China where your packages are only applied at the end of the month has been very frustrating and it has meant that I have ended up spending a fortune on communications and ages faffing about. I now have 3 sim cards and only 1 that actually works!
I did not really want to replace all of my group set as it was new only 2 months ago and all that had broken was the bottom bracket. However, no shops in China it appeared would sell this as a separate item. Oh well. The good thing is that I now have even more photos to add to my collection of broken bike parts.
It was about 2 by the time we left the bike shop and got on the road to leave Beijing. We had cycled about 2km from the shop when the gears jammed. We had spent about 30 minutes with the lad in the shop getting the gears tuned so that they were smooth and unfortunately he had not tightened the screw which held them to the frame and so the whole thing came off. Arrggg. All of that perfect tuning for nothing - it would have to be done again.
We then got about 5km from the shop and then my chain broke in 2. Not only had he not tightened the front derailleur to the frame but he had not put the chain back together again correctly when he fitted the new group-set! We spent about 1 hours with my chain tool trying to put it back together again. I have never had to use this tool before and it was like being a kid again with my Dad showing me how to use it. Although it was a pain to have to do it, I really enjoyed the experience with my Dad. We both work in the same way in terms of problem solving and we could both laugh at the situation of getting covered in oil and having an audience of Chinese people. It was a father-daughter bonding exercise that I have not had in years :-)
We managed to get the chain back together again but about 1km down the road it split in 2 again. We were directed to a small local bike shop where the man tried to fit a chain that was from an old fixed wheel bike and the chain was far to thick and so would not work with my gears.
I then tried to find the nearest bike shop in the direction that we were heading out of Beijing by searching for one on google maps. We found one 4km away and so off we set with me running and pushing my bike (as with out a chain I could not pedal it) and my Dad on his bike. It took a while before I realised that it was easier and faster to sit on the saddle and push with my legs on the ground. Then my Dad started pushing me along from his bike with his hand on my back much to the hilarity of all watching and to me! The last time we did that I would have been when I was about 8! It was surreal to be doing the same thing 22 years later on the other side of the world! I could not stop giggling.
We eventually got to where google said the bike shop was only to find it was not there! I phoned the number and found out that it is only an internet shop and the address was for the office, where they did not keep any bike components! Fortunately, they did speak very good English and directed us to another shop round the corner where I managed to get a replacement chain.
By this time it was about 5pm and we had only traveled 10km from the hotel! The road was busy out of the city and so I found an alternative route and eventually by 6ish we were out in the country. I was really hungry by this time and I have been eating only really healthy Chinese food recently and so we were naughty and stopped off at a KFC for diner.
We knew that we would not manage to get to the Great Wall this evening but we were not sure how far we would get. We tried to find a hotel in a small town along the way but there was no accommodation and so we biked on to Hauilou.
We arrived in Hauilou at dusk. I was quiet happy about this as I never felt unsafe in China and I knew that there were many different hotels in the town (experience and also Google maps). We checked out a few. I have been used to squat toilets but my Dad preferred western style bathrooms and so after looking at a few we found a reasonable place - not high end but with western loos. It was strange looking from the outside and had really sparkly bright lights in the reception area. It looked a bit like it was from a film about the future.
I found it quite strange having company in the evening as I had got used to being on my own in China in the evening. The Chinese people are very friendly but very few invited me out in the evenings and so I got used to writing my blog etc after a biking day. When we had got showered and freshened up, I was surprised and happy that Dad wanted to go out for a drink. I thought that as he was not used to biking he would just want to relax in the room (and would be tired from the jet lag etc) but far from it. He wanted to explore the country. So that's where I get it from!
We had a fab evening sitting at a table outside on the street taking in the scenery. We ordered a bottle of wine for the table: £2.80! Fab. It was very drinkable and we were nicely merry by the end of the second bottle. It was great to catch up with my Dad and get to know him better. It was also really interesting to people watch the Chinese customers. There were many of them that were drunk but they all behaved very well. It was a good atmosphere on the street cafes.
This was our room for £12.80 per night! My dad was really shocked that it was so cheap. I was shocked it was so expensive! :-)
After spending ages on the phone to the bike shop that hires bikes and talking with the concierge at the hotel yesterday and being assured that they understood that we wanted to hire one good bike with gears for 4 days, my Dad went down to reception to find that they had delivered 2 old fixed wheel bikes! My dad explained that this was not right and so they then returned with just one bike with a few gears. When they then asked where he was biking too and he said to the Great Wall they then went off again and this time returned with a good mountain bike with many gears. Awesome! 2 hours later and we were ready to go...
We repacked all of our things and worked out that we did not need a faction of the things that I normally have to take with me (like camping things and smart clothes etc) and so left most of my luggage at the hotel and just took 2 back panniers and a front pannier. I could carry all of it on my bike leaving my Dad free to cycle without luggage. This worked out perfectly as it would slow me down as I am really used to biking long distances at the moment where as he has not had chance to do very much cycling recently due to work and home life commitments.
We left the hotel about 11. Unfortunately, my bottom bracket on my bike that I ordered to be delivered to my Dad's house in the UK did not arrive before he left and so I needed to buy a whole new group set at a bike shop in Beijing. We had found a bike shop and organised this yesterday and so this morning, on the way out of Beijing we popped into the shop to get the replacement fitted. It took them a while to fit the new parts, replace a spoke, tune the gears and for us to buy some inner tubes etc but we went to get something to eat while we were waiting.
I enjoyed taking my Dad for a brunch of noodles at a cafe close to the bike shop while the guys in the shop fitted the new components. I have been used to having spicy noodles for breakfast but this was all new to him. I am loving sharing my traveling experiences with someone - especially my Dad. I can point out all of the silly little things I have noticed about China over the last few weeks to him and see his reaction to things that I am now used to.
While waiting for the bike I also got some credit for my phone so that I could use my GPS to get out of the city without getting lost. It is very difficult to get round Chinese cities without this. The silly system in China where your packages are only applied at the end of the month has been very frustrating and it has meant that I have ended up spending a fortune on communications and ages faffing about. I now have 3 sim cards and only 1 that actually works! 
I did not really want to replace all of my group set as it was new only 2 months ago and all that had broken was the bottom bracket. However, no shops in China it appeared would sell this as a separate item. Oh well. The good thing is that I now have even more photos to add to my collection of broken bike parts.
It was about 2 by the time we left the bike shop and got on the road to leave Beijing. We had cycled about 2km from the shop when the gears jammed. We had spent about 30 minutes with the lad in the shop getting the gears tuned so that they were smooth and unfortunately he had not tightened the screw which held them to the frame and so the whole thing came off. Arrggg. All of that perfect tuning for nothing - it would have to be done again.
We then got about 5km from the shop and then my chain broke in 2. Not only had he not tightened the front derailleur to the frame but he had not put the chain back together again correctly when he fitted the new group-set! We spent about 1 hours with my chain tool trying to put it back together again. I have never had to use this tool before and it was like being a kid again with my Dad showing me how to use it. Although it was a pain to have to do it, I really enjoyed the experience with my Dad. We both work in the same way in terms of problem solving and we could both laugh at the situation of getting covered in oil and having an audience of Chinese people. It was a father-daughter bonding exercise that I have not had in years :-)
We managed to get the chain back together again but about 1km down the road it split in 2 again. We were directed to a small local bike shop where the man tried to fit a chain that was from an old fixed wheel bike and the chain was far to thick and so would not work with my gears.
I then tried to find the nearest bike shop in the direction that we were heading out of Beijing by searching for one on google maps. We found one 4km away and so off we set with me running and pushing my bike (as with out a chain I could not pedal it) and my Dad on his bike. It took a while before I realised that it was easier and faster to sit on the saddle and push with my legs on the ground. Then my Dad started pushing me along from his bike with his hand on my back much to the hilarity of all watching and to me! The last time we did that I would have been when I was about 8! It was surreal to be doing the same thing 22 years later on the other side of the world! I could not stop giggling.
We eventually got to where google said the bike shop was only to find it was not there! I phoned the number and found out that it is only an internet shop and the address was for the office, where they did not keep any bike components! Fortunately, they did speak very good English and directed us to another shop round the corner where I managed to get a replacement chain.
By this time it was about 5pm and we had only traveled 10km from the hotel! The road was busy out of the city and so I found an alternative route and eventually by 6ish we were out in the country. I was really hungry by this time and I have been eating only really healthy Chinese food recently and so we were naughty and stopped off at a KFC for diner.
We knew that we would not manage to get to the Great Wall this evening but we were not sure how far we would get. We tried to find a hotel in a small town along the way but there was no accommodation and so we biked on to Hauilou.
We arrived in Hauilou at dusk. I was quiet happy about this as I never felt unsafe in China and I knew that there were many different hotels in the town (experience and also Google maps). We checked out a few. I have been used to squat toilets but my Dad preferred western style bathrooms and so after looking at a few we found a reasonable place - not high end but with western loos. It was strange looking from the outside and had really sparkly bright lights in the reception area. It looked a bit like it was from a film about the future. 
I found it quite strange having company in the evening as I had got used to being on my own in China in the evening. The Chinese people are very friendly but very few invited me out in the evenings and so I got used to writing my blog etc after a biking day. When we had got showered and freshened up, I was surprised and happy that Dad wanted to go out for a drink. I thought that as he was not used to biking he would just want to relax in the room (and would be tired from the jet lag etc) but far from it. He wanted to explore the country. So that's where I get it from! 
We had a fab evening sitting at a table outside on the street taking in the scenery. We ordered a bottle of wine for the table: £2.80! Fab. It was very drinkable and we were nicely merry by the end of the second bottle. It was great to catch up with my Dad and get to know him better. It was also really interesting to people watch the Chinese customers. There were many of them that were drunk but they all behaved very well. It was a good atmosphere on the street cafes. 
This was our room for £12.80 per night! My dad was really shocked that it was so cheap. I was shocked it was so expensive! :-)
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