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