It has been a wild ride the last couple of days…I guess I’ll start with two days ago we started out skipping breakfast and getting on the road close to 8am, with the plan of stopping for breakfast later into the ride.  The ride out of Simatai was up a mountain..beautiful scenery, with the Great Wall to our left or in front of us the entire morning.  About 8 miles into the morning we decided to stop for breakfast in a small town. Doven was looking around the street trying to figure out the good place for us to eat?  He chose a dicey looking place that did not look inviting.  I was apprehensive to eat at this restaurant, I voiced my opinion..but we decided to eat there anyway.  To no surprise the food was less then acceptable?  We were introduced to Jason’s new found gag reflex and Kevin once again muscled through whatever was put in front of him.  Ian and I only ate the humbow buns which we jokingly said were filled with dog meat?  With that joke Jason gagged again and didn’t eat anything else.  Needless to say it was another awesome experience here in China.

Back on the road…  more hills, beautiful scenery, great riding! The roads got a little hairy, really bumpy, which is not good for our seemingly fragile bikes?

About 35 miles into the ride my wheel blew out.  I broke two spokes which resulted in me not being able to ride any further.  Ian tried his hardest to get the trusty kevlar rope spoke tool thingy to work, but it was not successful.

We still had 40 miles to ride to our destination and we are out in the middle of nowhere.  This is where Doven went to work trying to find me a ride to our destination.  At this point the entire village was out to see what was happening on the road.  Curiosity risen. Doven was able to find someone who would be able to drive me to Chengde.  The bargaining ensued.  45 minutes of conversation resulted in a price of 260 yuan ( ~$38).  We loaded up the bike and all of the extra luggage into the van.  Everyone seemed a little nervous to let me go off by myself in some stranger’s van in the middle of nowhere in China.  Unable to communicate…I went anyway.  No other option.  Seemed safe enough to me?  Gave our American hugs, and said goodbye.  Doven gave the instructions to the driver and we were off to Chengde.  I wasn’t nervous at all, the guys seemed nice enough.  And as it turned out they were really cool.  They took me through a shortcut with more amazing views. Breathtaking!  We arrived in Chengde in about 45mins, found the hotel, and went to check-in with no success.  To our surprise foreigners were not allowed to stay in that hotel.  Due to the Olympics, foreigners are only allowed to stay in certified hotels…the LoLo hotel was not certified?  Back on the phone with Doven he was able to arrange another hotel and off I went with the driver to the next hotel.  Checked in with no problem.  Made it!  Now lets get the bike fixed.

Rest day in Chengde…. I woke up early again about 5am with a welcomed call from my lovely Danielle.  It was great to talk with her.  I Love you D!  After our conversation I went back to bed…then woke back up around 7am for breakfast.  Went to breakfast alone..the other guys were still asleep.  Once again..Breakfast was an experience in its self.  Being the only foreigner at breakfast everyone is interested in what I am eating, what I am reading…just more curiosity.  I love it!

Our mission of the day was to get the wheels fixed, explore, relax, and get some footage.  We found the bike shop with no problem got the wheels fixed for $10.

We found a great place to get a cappuccino.  We also found a great place to get a massage.  We were introduced to ‘cupping’, Chinese traditional treatment for rejuvenation of the body.  Heated glass ‘cups’ suctioned to our backs.

China is great!  Back on the road bright and early!

This entry was posted on Saturday, September 20th, 2008 at 10:20 am and is filed under on the road. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.