In order to achieve our goal of taking a ferry across the Bohai sea to Yantai, we had to ship our bikes ahead and take a 7 hour bus ride North around the coast to the city of Dalian. It is in a completely different province of China (near North Korea) and we are eager to see what the next turn holds (and excited to get a small break from riding). We had a great day off in Qinghuangdao yesterday where we were able to walk on the Great Wall for the first time.

Unfortunately, we decided to give our guide a rest for the night and hit up the KFC in the bottom of our hotel. Now first off, we haven’t ate anything other than authentic Chinese food this entire trip, but with the first leg under our belt, we were all craving a little American comfort food, particularly french fries. With as many potentially sketchy foods we’ve encountered and eaten over the last week, nothing had the negative impact that the KFC had. Let’s just say it didn’t exactly settle well with us and we’re definitely going to stick with Doven’s suggestions from now on (he tried to steer us away from the KFC).

But looking ahead, we’ re going to have a day to wander around city of Dalian before our ferry ride and meeting back up with our bicycles. Although the bus ride is a little rickety, it yet another new experience traveling in China and we are very much looking forward to getting back on the bicycles (once our bodies have had a chance to heal). We’ve heard the Dalian is less polluted and our lungs our looking forward to that as well. But overall spirits are high and we’re really starting to adjust to life on the road here in China.

That’s all I got for now as there’s no telling when the internet might give out on this crazy bus, but here are a few choice pictures from our adventure to keep you entertained. Hope all is well in your part of the world!

Treated like rock stars in a small town we visited, the owners of the restaurant hired a local photographer to document the experience. Needless to say they hadn't seen many foreigners in a LONG time!

We like to change our route a lot, which has caused a few headaches for Doven...But he enjoys the spontaneity of Team Man Zou!

Riding into the Qinghuangdao, Kevin and Sean take a break from the pollution to pose for a picture.

Another interesting roadside picture in China!

Sean meets a new friend in Qin Long, who shows us around her city and helps him find a new shirt to buy.

Doven and Reidster, out for a stroll along an empty riverbed....Check out the cool Man Zou t-shirt!

After riding into Qinghuangdao, let's just say we were a little dirty from the conditions here!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 24th, 2008 at 2:48 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.