The 1000 Day Holiday

I had a few concerns that my Mongolian “horse” for this adventure would turn out to be a cross bred donkey/mule/pony/over-sized dog. But he was cool, had attitude +MORE

 My trusty steed..

My horse insisted at being at the front of the group. I couldn’t decide if this was stubbornness or he was a wimp and didn’t like getting the whipped by the guide. If we happened to drop from the front – usually because my horse would decide it wanted to explore some dense bush. It would then proceed to shove past everyone else on the track even with no spare space.

Note to self in future: Always keep your legs up and clear when they do this…

It did make the trip into a mini race, with the others trying to get to the front. I think they participated in this game more due to the fact of my Horses other problem.

 He had incredible amounts of gas! I’m sure he farted over 500 times in 4 hours – horse farts smell!

Heres the highlights of Marc’s pictures from the trip. 

Getting the drift? GRIN

Post horse trek Marc & I had a race to see who to get back to Chengdu (400km which takes 8hrs by direct bus) in time for the France Vs Argentina Game which was starting in 12 hours time. With no buses going, we planned to hitch independently.

I managed to score a local bus which went 1/2 way and then into a 800cc minivan..  Thinking I had Marc well beaten. Only to have the minivan break down, turn back 5 or 6 times, decide that it was ok, and go again… I got to Chengdu at midnight (10hrs total). My only surprise was Marc walking down the stairs as I checked in. Beaten by 10 minutes…  Although he did get ripped off, his ride dropped him 45km outside central Chengdu, and thinking he wasn’t far from the centre jumped in a cab. 150Yuan later ($25).. he beat me..

I got mine back with Argentina beating the frogs in the Rugby!  Guess what?  French is called “farqwah” in chinese… like prince farqwah in shrek..