The 1000 Day Holiday

While in Beijing, I ran into a guy, Stu, who I know from Nelson. And he is a true Ginger Ninja/Red Head/Carrot Top/Ginga.

In NZ/Aussie gingers definately are the butt of a lot of jokes. But Stu has discovered an amazing travel benefit of the Ginge.

He was negotiating for a tshirt in Vietnam and he is a very dedicated bargainer. After a lot of bartering they were at a deadlock. She wanted $3, Stu only wanted to pay $2.

She had a flash of inspiration. She said pointing at his hair and then to his crotch, “same same?”

He replied yes…

She says, “you show me, I give you for $2″

And the rest is history….

Who said recessive genes were pointless.

Today I hired a bicycle to cruise around the sights of Beijing. THE BOOK even goes so far as providing you a mapped out route.

I quickly lost that route, and wandered all over central Beijing. The city is filled with over 2000 Hutong, narrow alleyways that twist and turn, leaving you disoriented and a long way from where you started. 1/4 of Beijings residents live in houses on these alleyways. There was more than 5000 Hutong, but the Olympics and rapid development are bulldozing them at a rapid pace.

Anyway.

I was on the other side of the city and one pedal fell off. DOH. In most other cities I’ve been in there would be bike fix-it men on every corner. But since the roads are all paved I guess the demand for running repairs is a lot reduced.

So to get home, I was one leg pedaling. I discovered an unreported feature of my Jandals (flip flops). I hooked the remaining pedal between my foot and Jandal which created a type of toeclip so I could raise the pedal, completing the loop. I had some races with other cyclists and even Electric bikes/scooters and they all thought it hilarious. A foreigner with a 1 pedal bike..

Beijing would class as a bike friendly city! most roads have a bike lane, some the width of 2 normal lanes. There is also integrated traffic lights for the bike lanes!

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.. 

577 Days down, 423 to go…
01/08/07 Arrive phonsavan
02/08/07 to Nam neun
03/08/07 To Vieng Kahm
04/08/07 To Luang Prabang
05/08/07 Luang Prabang
06/08/07 to Luang Nam Tha
07/08/07 Chilling in Luang Nam Tha
08/08/07 2 day hike in NPA
09/08/07 2 day hike in NPA
10/08/07 Hanging out. avoiding busses..haha
11/08/07 To China! (mengla) Overnight bus to Kunming
12/08/07 Kunming – CS surfing w Laura
13/08/07 Kunming – CS surfing w Laura
14/08/07 hanging w Optimus Prime in Kunming
15/08/07 Bus to Dali
16/08/07 Dali
17/08/07 Bus to Lijiang
18/08/07 Party Party in Lijiang
19/08/07 Oops, slept in and missed the bus to the gorge
20/08/07 Leaping tiger gorge, sleep at tea horse
21/08/07 Leaping tiger gorge, sleep at Woodys
22/08/07 back to Lijiang
23/08/07 bus to Dali
24/08/07 Dali – 3 pagodas, and the lake by bike
25/08/07 Bus to Kunming
26/08/07 Shopping in Kunming,
27/08/07 Overnight train to Chengdu
28/08/07 Remainder of train…
29/08/07 Hike Emai Shan
30/08/07 walk to the summit for Sunrise.. well FOG
31/08/07 To Leshan for the worlds biggest Buddha (nup.. it rained..) so onto Chengdu.