China Bulletin 8

Hi Kids!

Or is it 7, I've lost count? Well it's 11 o'clock at night here and I'm sitting in Hong Kong Airport waiting for the BA flight 28 back to Blighty. My nose is streaming from the end of hols cold that started with a sore throat last night. Remember chaps, it is the germs that get you in the end.
Our last day has gone very well. We had a lie-in until 0830 to let the bloody tourists clear the dining room. It's all these trvellers, you know. They should ban them. Then we strolled around the shops for most of the morning returning to the hotel at 1130 for S,S,S & S and to pack before checking out at 12.29. We had to be out by 1230. Danny had bought us each a big two handled zip-topped plastic shopping bag like they deliver sand in from the builders merchants. Great, they took both panniers, various products of the retail therapy in which we have indulged, crash hats, wet socks etc. So we only checked in one bag and one bike.

Then we had an excellent last lunch of local specialities and a stroll round a local park before I sprinted (well, walked fast) to get a last few photos of the bronze horses on the other side of the bridge from our hotel. Then it was back to load the van with bikes, bags and bodies for the 50 minute drive to Guilin airport where we clashed with a big home-bound group of Brazilian ladies who had got up our noses by behaving piggyly in a tea-house earlier in the day. There were about 30 of them. All women, no men; I think they'd eaten them all.

We bade farewell to our excellent guide and companion of the last fortnight, Danny. I gave him the Areostia Ceramica (Moreno Argentin, do you remember him? The mould they made Bettini from) jersey as a keep sake since it was in Chinese colours, red and yellow. Sorry about that Barry. There was a delay of an hour in departure but we had plenty of time and our bags and bikes have been booked striaght through from Guilin to LHR via HK. So here we are in the VIP lounge stuffing our faces and writing the last China bulletin to you and my nose is sore and I hope we've got some anti-congestant in the cupboard in the kitchen at home. I chatted to a lovely couple from Seville on the plane from Guilin. Boasted about Donana and Cazorla, (remember Nancy & Sheila?), and El Entierro del Conde d'Orgaz de El Greco in Toledo and my mate Federico Bahamontes of the same town - I think they were impressed. Well, I think they were impressed!

All in all a great trip to remember - invest in China!

Love, Michael John. xxx

China Bulletin 7

Hi Kids!

"It's all over now, Baby Blue." Or almost. Our final night has been spent here in Guilin and we fly out from here 7pm tomorrow evening. We've had a really good end to the trip. Quite apart from the fact that I've just bought a pair of "Gucci" shoes for 23 quid.

We left here on Wednesday morning to ride 90kms to the village of Pingan at Longji, a famous heritage sight at 2000ft consisting of mountain sides terraced with rice paddy fields and home to two different minority ethnic groups (each vying with each other to sell stuff to tourists and to have their picture taken for money- but all in very good humour and taste.) The ride out of this big town was full of eccentric road behaviour; you just have to accept that there are no rules and ride defensively. The road was mainly flat and well surfaced and we stopped about half way for lunch. After lunch the climbing started but I rode better than the day before. The surface was better, the temperature cooler, the gradients less severe and we had left one pannier behind in the hotel in Guilin. It all helps. We climbed for about 23kms in three bites with descents in between until we reached the turn off into the valley at the end of which was our destination. It was like the Wye around Symonds Yat. Finally we arrived at a Checkpoint Charlie beyond which you are not allowed to ride or drive. Here we dumped the bikesand took our bags onto a local bus that sped up from the river to the mountain top. The climb was very impressive,it would make a good stage finish in one of the major tours. When we disgorged from the bus two porter ladies loaded our bags into two baskets, swung them effortlessly onto their backs and carried them up to our hotel an extra 300 feet up stone flagged steps. The hotel was wooden like a tryrolean chalet and the views from our windows were spectacular. We ate in the hotel with more European people than we have seen all trip. It was a bit noisy due to the construction of the building and the bloody foreigners.

This morning we had breakfast and then made a 2 hour walk around the terraces above the village. It was beautiful and very interesting and we were accosted by elderly damsels in traditional dress selling their wares and telling us that they had "Nomoney, nomoney" and were "Hungerly,hungerly" whilst rubbing their tummies with a grin. After lunch we descended to our bikes, packed them in a van and were driven back here to pack them for the flight home.

Must end now as Internet time is running out and I'll be seeing you soon anyway. I forgot to tell you about the fabulous butterflies they have out here, some black ones are as big as crows - well almost.

I wish you well,

Michael John

China Bulletin 6

Hi Kids!

I spent an hour typing this last night and then the screen went blank. Let's hope for better luck tonight. Yesterday was a super day. We were in Yangshuo and started with a hot-air balloon ride which was interesting, exciting, beautiful and 50 quid well spent. All five of us were squeezed into a wicker basket with an 11 year-old boy who was in charge. Well he might have been a bit older than 11 but he didn't look it. Anyway he was bloody good at his job for which much thanks. Those Karst hills look pretty hard if you hit them. For those of you who don't know about Karst hills ask Chris Devereux, he'll bore the pants off you with all that geological stuff he knows about.

Then we returned to our hotel for breakfast and a look round the town and left after lunch on back roads that were unmade but flat and very rural. We loaded the bikes onto a ferry to cross the Li river and then followed it to Xingping about 50kms in total. We booked into a rather simple hotel and immediately left to walk to the river for the classic bamboo raft at dusk ride on the Li armed with a few beers and some peanuts. We saw some cormorant fishermen at a distance but not in action; we did see a real wild cormorant in action and that was very impressive. Then it was back to the hotel for an excellent meal and a local artist visited to show us some of his works. He was a truly gentle man. Ormerod offered him a drink, but the bottle was empty. All heart, our Michael!

This morning we were up for 8 o'clock breakfast of banana and honey pancakes with boiled rice and off at 0900 for 32kms on unmade roads including a climb over a pass of about 10kms. This had some spectacular scenery but I was not in a fit state to appreciate the later stages as I was in extremis. My legs went completely and I was reduced to sub-walking pace. Graham waited back with me but I should think I was about 30 minutes down at the top. Finally we regained the flat well-surfaced road and after lunch we rode very gently to our destination of Guilin where we are booked into a posh hotel overlooking the river. Guilin is a big city that has really embraced the new commercialization. We ate at a fine restaurant and mixed with the crowds shopping until late in the evening. Tomorrow we have 90kms to ride to the rice terraces at Longji, our last day's riding.

Take care,

Michael John xxx

China Bulletin 5/Half Moon Hill Yang Shuo

Hi Kids,

Just back from having an hours massage from a nubile young native woman and life is good. Day 9, I reckon, and we're into the tourist area. People wanting to sell you postcards, clean your shoes, massage your feet, that sort of thing.

The town is Yang Shuo for those of you with the A to Z of China handy. Right in the heart of the Karst mountains up one of which we walked this afternoon by way of 860 stone steps. The toil was worth it with beautiful views and a moon shaped arch rather like I saw in Utah last year. A 52 year-old lady accompanied me all the way cooling me with her fan and sold me a bottle of water for a quid at the top and seemed to think her labour worth while. Today's ride along beautifully surfaced roads with modest gradients was only about 40 kms and we had a super stop at a farmers stall by the road to eat Persimmons and Pommeloes. Tomorrow we're to be picked up here to go for an hour-long hot air balloon ride which in this terrain should be pretty impressive. Tomorrow I think we only ride the bikes in the afternoon as we are approaching Guilin, our destination.

Today I saw my fifth fat bloke. That's 5 fat blokes in 9 days (<0.005%),>

China Bulletin 4

Hi Kids,

Sunday night, end of riding day 8, I think we're in a place called Libu or somesuch. We're a bit ahead of schedule owing to road works - bloody great big ones. At breakfast in a cafe in Zhaoping this morning Danny announced that we had 73 kms to ride but 40 of them were over a road that was being rebuilt and probably unrideable! That means rocks, sand, blinding dust, craters, precipitous drops down the river bank and an overall climb over the biggest pass we've yet negotiated in temperatures up in the 30s - or, plan B, hire two vans, put the bikes in one and us in the other and get dropped on a lovely new road past the road works and in the next valley and the total cost will be 27 quid. "Yes please!" Unanimous vote for Plan B. Half an hour later and we were all packed up and on our way. A bit of a white knuckle job so I only nodded off briefly. I think we would not have been able to ride the route anyway or we would have had difficulty arriving in Mingshan before dark. Anyway we were there for lunch and so we moved on this afternoon along fine roads following the river to arrive here at 3.30. Tonight we have eaten in a very new posh restaurant outside town where we feasted on a fish fondu besides many other dishes. The proprietor came out in his car to pick us up and deliver us back to the hotel.

So the last two days have been a bit easier on the cycling front, not that that has stopped me spending most of the time off the back! I think the Redhill lads only asked me along cos they couldn't find a rear gunner. The day before yesterday we rode from Huangyao to Zhaoping and that involved a modest pass to start with then a 30 minute delay while road builders crashed rocks down into the road from a great height, but then some beautiful new roads following a river gently downhill and for the first time we had the wind behind us. Danny is a dog fan so we strolled along well behind the others and he now knows about Guide Dogs for the Blind. He has a Belgian Schiffer dog, if there is such a thing. If he ever comes to England he wants to take Maxie out round Nonsuch Park with me on the mountain bike. We got to Zhaoping in one hit for a late lunch and then went for a hike to see a waterfall, which we didn't. What sort if idiots believe the estimate of 15 minutes walk from a local who has obviously never owned a watch in his life?

Love Mick.

China Bulletin 3

Hi Kids!

Friday today and we rode 80 km from Hezhou to Huang Yao. Hezhou is a big town in the throes of westernization, Huang Yao is a small village 1000 years old and many of the inhabitants are originals. We started today with breakfast on the street and then set off through a succession of villages each getting more rural as we progrssed. It seemed a little cooler today and we strolled along slowly, for which respite much thanks. I suppose it was after about 20kms that we came across a beautiful stretch of country where the number of shades of green was incredible - I bet the photo won't do it justice. Then we had the only hard climb of the day, unlike previous days where we averaged three. Once again lunch was a real entertainment. There seems to be some sort of jungle telegraph that tells kids when there are foreigners in town and we were surrounded with grinning kids saying "Hello" and giggling when you said "Hello" back. "Hello" seems so funny to them that I'm beginning to think it means "silly old buggers" in Chinese. We arrived in Huang Yao about 4.15 after a stretch of unmade road that made us wince a bit. We went straight to the ancient village which is preserved as a sort of heritage centre but with people still living in it. It was also the HQ of the local provincial communist party in the late 1940s. Kids were jumping into the river from a great height either from a big tree or from an old bridge. Also there was a painting course going on and I should think there were about 50 teenagers dotted about the place, each with an easel, a pallette and oil paints and a piece of sticky paper to catch the flies. All nice kids and some good paintings coming along nicely too. Then it was along to our hotel, the most primitive yet, to find we had a hole in the floor loo which also doubled as the shower tray, a gas geyser for hot water and no towels. Thank goodness I brought my new travelling blotter with me. Those of you initiated into the mysteries of my clothes-washing-while-travelling system will know that the risk of my losing a complete set of drying riding gear down the drain hole was a real worry to me. Tomorrow we're going somewhere else - God knows where.

Thanks to those of you who mailed today and thanks to Trevor for doing the Blog. I'll leave it to you if I may Trev, I'm having no luck with it from here. I've remembered something from the first day. Shortly after we started we went through an area where they sold stones - bloody great big ones. Some just big chunks of rock and others from river beds that had been eroded into amazing shapes. They'd look great in the entrance lobby of a hotel or commercial company. A sculptor would probably like to get his hands on some of them too.

See you next time.

Mick

China Bulletin 2

Hi Kids!

I think its Thursday today and this machine seems to be working so here goes. We'll work backwards.

This morning we hired two vans and drove out of Lianan to the top of the pass that crosses the Provincial boundary between Guandong (where we'd been for the last 4 days) into Guanxsi. Good job we did too. After 20kms of climbing the road broke up and was in a terrible condition for the next 30kms. I doubt if we'd have got through without mishap and the dust from the traffic was blinding at times. Blindness didn't seem to put our driver off. Dumped off on the right side of the tunnel that marks the Provincial border, we had a bit of a climb but then it was mainly downhill all the way to Hezhou. We had our usual lunch stop to eat several dishes previously unknown to man. And we've just had another 6 for dinner.

Yesterdays lunch stop was the best we had. We only stopped to buy some bananas and the next thing we knew our bikes were carried into the front of a shop and we were escorted to an upstairs emporium where we watched our lunch being prepared while we drank tea and ate peanuts and a funeral celebration was feasted on the floor above us. The village was full of kids looking on at us in wonder and giggling. A really warm welcome. In the evening as we approached Lianan we had the most spectacular mountain scenery at sunset. It was lucky they'd had to wait for me so long or we'd have missed it!

The day before we'd had our most extreme mountain crossing so far. It turns out that that waster Ormerod had told our guide Danny that we wanted to get off the beaten track and see some really isolated areas. What a load of bollocks. At the turning-off point several people in the village said we were mad to attempt the crossing. And so we were - but we survived about 10kms of "unrideable" roads with no crashes, and only two punctures and one broken carrier. It would have been nice to take photos of it but photography was the last thing on my mind at the time. 50 miles a day seems about the limit with the heat around 30C and the bikes that
weigh a ton. Well it's my limit anyway. Apparently tomorrow we are to visit a famous village where an English film called "The Painted Veil" was made. Has anyone seen it?

The Karst hills are still in evidence and some of the mountain scenery has been quite Alpine although the mountains are mostly wood covered. The hotels have been better than I'd expected. The driving on the roads keeps throwing up surprises but I haven't seen a crash yet. The air pollution in the towns is very bad but the rivers all look good and we have had good fish to eat every day - a fine carp for lunch today. Anyway our time is running out so here's wishing you well.

Thanks to those who've mailed me and my apologies to those trying to get me on the phone. It keeps making funny noises and vibrating in my pocket but I never get to it in time. We are 7 hours ahead of you our 10 oclock at night is your 3 pm.

See you soon,

Michael or Mike or Mick or Dad,
xxxx

China Bulletin1 - Sunday 7 October

Hi Kids!

End of first day's riding at Yingde. Sub-tropical? I'd say! Mid 30's celsius. Uphill (10mph!). Did 40kms and arrived here 5pm. We've left the industrialization behind and are definitely in a developing country. Is that true? Did GBs beat the Aussies? Only Mick Ward need answer. Start 0700 tomorrow.

Love Michael John. xxx