Day 35,36,37&38: Chengdu (Rest Days) - Distance travelled so far 1,983km "The Fireworks/The Bike Service & The Stolen Bike Fiasco"
Hi all,
From now on we have decided to keep the text to a minimum and increase the amount of pics and video's.
We feel that people enjoy the pics and vids more and you can get a better idea of what we're going through with more video footage. We also hope that this will cut down the amount of work required to keep this blog up to date (and its alot!!!) Let us know what you think of the new format and if you have any suggestions feel free to drop us a mail.
Day 35
We arrived in Chengdu after getting the train from Kunming. The first thing that caught our eye was the ready supply of fireworks at the street stalls. Needless to say we purchased the biggest box on offer for a very reasonable 100Yuan (about 10 Euro). Check out the vid. Not bad at all!!!
Day 36
We also decided to get the bikes serviced (for the 1st time!!!) in Chengdu. We stumbled across a great shop named TF Bikes who did all three bikes for absolutely nothing..Score!!!!!
Many thanks to Liu Qing who helped us out. Check out their website @ www.tfbikes.com.cn
Liu with Brian and Mike. Very happy with free bike service. Thanks again.
Day 37
With all good luck there is a little bit of bad thrown into the mix. Unfortunately for us, we recieved the worst possible luck today. Brians bicycle (unattended for mere seconds!!!) was stolen whilst he looked for warmer clothing for our trip to Lhasa. With this huge body blow, we decided to let the bike insurance kick in and think about purchasing a replacement asap. Hopefully we can get a suitable bike sent to a destination ahead of us and then pick it up there...We figure that forgetting about this tragedy is the best thing to do. Its aweful but we will move on...
That night we meet a gang of Americans who are teaching English in Beijing so we decide to have a laugh with them. We especially met a cool buddy named Ryan Francis McQuid. An Irish brother of ours who couldnt play table tennis to save his own soul!!!!!... Keep it up chief...Youll get there in time!!!! ha ha ha......don't bust too soon!.....and remember to keep in touch.....
Our newly adopted table tennis inductee, Ryan Francis McQuid.
For all you at home.....enjoy a little taster of our night!!!!
Our night at Sims Cozy Garden Hostel. Apologies to all Elton John fans!!!
Day 38
We boxed our bikes and sent them on a train to Lhasa in Tibet....Worrying stuff considering our obervations of the packing staff at the train station. We would see them again in another few days time...(With some luck!!)
With all our visas, permits and tour finalised we are all set for tomorrow. We decide to do some more site-seeing around Chengdu.
Horse-riding in Chengdu....Tally-Ho!!!!!
...and we thought our pannier bags were heavy!!!
Our green and black tea drinking experience at a traditional tea house in the Tea Market area of Chengdu. All we can say is that"Pu'er" tea is top notch. Thanks to May (brown jacket) and staff for a great tea education.
We also gave the Cozy Garden Hostel another send off later that evening (and into the wee hours!!!).....Great night was had by all......
