Items tagged with China
2009-04-25 22:00:00 In the end it took us nearly 3 days to get back to Kashgar from where we stopped cycling. After leaving getting over the last pass we drove through the desert at night. Near Kudi we had to take off our bicycles from the truck because there was a police check point and the driver doesn’t want to get seen with us by the police or army. We don’t know the reason for this but he was clearly very nervous about this. In two of the small town in the desert there is also a police check points so we had to off load our bicycles in the middle of the night in and cycle 25km and wait for him to pick us up again.
Written By: Billy van Graan
During this he was also selling part of his load to people next to the road. The whole thing felt very “illegal”. This whole taking the bicycles off the truck and putting them back on was a pain in the ass and we were very tired. When we arrived in Yecheng 3 o clock in the morning we parked in a yard somewhere presumably where he had to sell the rest of his load. The driver told us we could wait till sunrise in his truck but Muis wanted to get to a hotel and a proper bed so we decided to ride the last bit and get it over and done with.
Once at the hotel they wanted to charge us more than the last time and I was pissed off. I just stood there until they gave us the proper rate. The woman behind the counter got all nasty but I didn’t care.
Woke up this morning and had my first shower in 11 days. We took a bus to Kashgar and booked into the same hotel. When we arrived at Kashgar bus station I really needed the toilet so I ran in to the bus station and asked around till I found it. The smell was very bad and when I stepped inside there was no doors on the cubicles and you could see some people sitting and doing their thing in full view of everyone else. Lucky for me I only had a number 1. I loved Muis’s look when he came back from the toilet. He was clearly as shocked as I was.
We spent the rest of the day eating and getting everything organized to go back to Guangzhou including buying boxes to transport our bicycles in.
2009-04-24 22:00:00 After packing up everything we went to the road to wait for a truck to come so we can hitch a lift. We waited for about 40 minutes and the first truck came past which we stopped and explained we wanted to put our bicycles on the back and go to Xaidulla town. The driver agreed and we fastened our bicycles on the back on top of bags that contained stones. After Kosbel pass the driver stopped and slept for an half an hour and we continued to Xaidulla. When we arrived we went back to the guesthouse we stayed 2 days earlier and had some food which cheered us up a bit. We hanged around to see what is going to happen since we couldn’t really communicate with our truck driver or anyone else in the town.
Written By: Billy van Graan
When he was ready to leave another guy told us to get back in and he also got in and off we went. We negotiated a price for the driver to take us back to Yecheng where we would try and catch a bus back to Kashgar. We settled on 400 yuan for both of us which we thought were a bargain. It turned out the other guy that got into the truck with us was also a truck driver and his truck broke down just before Chiragsaldi pass. We spent around 2 hours at his truck while the driver of our truck helped him. On our way up Chiragsaldi pass it started to snow and further up everything was covered in snow.
Although we were heading back and the trip was pretty much over I still enjoyed riding in the truck even if it was at an average speed of 25km/h. It was nice and warm inside. I was listening to music and watching the mountains and snow covered passes roll by. There was just something special about it. The truck can go fast but as soon as you reach 30km/h it shakes so much that the driver can’t control it.
We tried communicating with the truck driver and figured out a couple of thing like what his driving route was. How much it costs per trip and all kinds of other things. He knew who Mandela was which was amazing. I guess everyone around the world knows Mandela.
We drove till early the next morning until we reached Mazar where we slept in a small quest house for truckers. It was about 3 in the morning but the owner woke up and cooked for us. The food was like usual extremely tasty.
2009-04-10 22:00:00 Not a very eventful day since I slept until 12. I had a huge headache when I woke up. When Eric arrived Muis went with him to get some headache tablets and Glucose Injections (what they use over here for hangovers). Eric went to check on his buddies at the hotel. In our drunken state last night when we booked Eric's friends into that hotel Muis and I ransacked the place like I mentioned in the previous post. We took everything we could lay our hands on, since we know everything in hotels rooms is free. You usually get those cute little soaps, toothbrushes etc. What we didn't know was that the condoms, vibrating ring and all the other sex utilities aren't. That happened to be quite expensive and Eric had to cough up for it when he went to fetch his friends.
Written By: Billy van Graan
We felt bad about this but Eric wouldn't let us pay for our mistake. He is keeping all the toys for himself though. Muis and Eric went for lunch and I went back to bed. In the afternoon our bike boxed arrived and mine looked like mine was attacked by a big dog. It had huge holes in it and the bottom was completely torn open. Amazingly nothing fell out and the only thing wrong with the bike was a bent disc brake. We went looking for another one and eventually found one after about an hours searching.
In the evening we went out for a meal with Eric and his girlfriend, Jane. It was the first time we actually chatted with her and we think Eric is lucky to have found such a nice girlfriend. I don't think she thinks we are that interesting because we didn't say too much because we where still hung over. After the meal we went for a massage. We had to make sure Eric told the people we wanted normal massage and not an egg massage like a lot of the hotels in this region offer. The massage was more torture than anything else. Next time I'm taking a normal oil massage.
2009-04-09 22:00:00 Woke up late today when Eric came to pick us up. We went to Dong Guan City to look for a camping shop then went and looked at some houses since Eric wants to buy soon. Saw a really cool place and it is amazing how much cheaper places are here. The rent for really smart fully furbished apartments are also very cheap.
Written By: Billy van Graan
We went back to Chang An where Eric lives and visited a part with a big pagoda then met up with some friends of his because Eric wanted to bid farewell to one of them moving back to his hometown. We went out for a meal and started drinking vast quantities of beer. In China like most people know you "gan bei" - down - when someone tells you to. The beer is not as gassy and you can drink much quicker and much more. Between 8 of us we finished a couple of boxes filled with 750ml bottles. We were all drunk by the end. Me and Muis started teaming up since we where the foreigner and being targeted all the time.
Two of Erics friends where so drunk they could hardly stand on there own so when we left we booked them into a hotel since they didn't live in the same city. By this time me and Muis were also not thinking straight so once in the hotel room we started packing ourselfs with whatever we could find. We did this because we are used to that things in hotel rooms are actually free. Our loot included soap, a super compressed towel in a form of a hockey puck, toothbursh, condoms and even a vibrating ring.
Back to Erics place we wanted more to eat (don't actually know how because we stuffed ourselves at the restuarant with beer and food) so we stopped at a small stall near Eric's flat were they BBQ all different kinds of kebabs. We drank and ate some more till we couldn't anymore. Eric eventually fell asleep at the table. We even tried some chicken feet kebabs, but they are so so.
All in all great day. Had lots of fun.
2009-04-14 22:00:00 Cycling Day: 2
Written By: Billy van Graan
Distance: 130km
Woke up in the desert and it was quite chilly outside. We had breakfast and packed camp. Packing camp on this trip takes considerably longer than on my European trip since we have lots more stuff now and everything just fits so you need to pack very carefully. We walked back to the road and on our way we saw one of the workers which are working on the new railway line (we thing that is what they are doing) doing his business behind a heap of sand. I don’t think he was expecting 2 foreigners to come walking out the desert with bicycles.
The first 40km flew by since we had a nice strong wind blowing from behind but after the road turned it was back to our normal speeds. We stopped at a very small village called Quarak where we had some buns with minced meat in and bought water and fruit. We weren’t there for 2 minutes and we already drew a crowd. They just stood there watching us eat and some wanted to touch our bikes.
We then cycled on to Yarkand, a much bigger city with a lot of Chinese people in it, and stopped for noodles just before entering the city. This noodles where awesome and had eggs on top and it really helped getting some energy back. We then cycled through Yarkand which was a mistake because we could have just passed it if we took the correct road. After asking plenty of different people we got back onto the correct road again and cycled on to Yecheng. On our way to Yacheng a bunch of fguys in a small car passed us and the suddenly stopped in the middle of the road almost causing an accident with cars coming from behind. We slowed down and the car then pulled onto the side of the road and when we passed called for us to come over. We were tired and not in the mood for them so just carried on cycling. Not long after the guys were riding next to me shouting something, and then I see one guy hanging out the window trying to give me a Pepsi. I took the Pepsi from him while riding and off they went. Wow that was cool I though and looked behind me to see where Muis is to show him my prize, when I realized he also had one. We stopped at the next in road to for a rest and some fruit and to have a couple of sips of our Pepsi’s. When we were busy another boy showed up and just stood there looking at us until we left.
When we reached Yecheng we booked ourselves into the first hotel we saw and went for a walk and dinner. After dinner we bought some supplies and went straight to bed. Tomorrow we get onto highway 219 and the real fun will start.
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