d38 Arrive in paradise

I checked out of my hostel and cycled, trained and tried to bus but landed up cycling to Atti's place.

Atti lives in a part of Hong Kong that you wouldn't imagine existed. A small fishing village nestled in the corner of an island away from the robots, the hustle of the city. It is a peaceful place without much going on. The restaurants are never open. If they are they'll close by 6pm latest. Some restaurants are only open on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, maybe. The only shop close to a general store/convenience store closes at 9pm.

From here the days have melded into one as I wait for my bank card from the UK.

Hong Kong biltong

d37 Chillin' & shoppin' & exchanging goods

The day was taken up visiting the tourist information center, walking the Avenue of Stars, museum going and other admin.

d36 Chinese banking disaster... Hello Hong Kong!

One of the things foreigners have to adjust to in China is their wacky banking system. Let's just leave it that it took a lot of patience to get my money from my Chinese bank account. They kept insisting I return to Shanghai to order a new card or open a new account (as you do in China when you lose a card). I guess the phrase "my Chinese visa runs out tomorrow and I have to leave the country" didn't mean anything to them.

Once again Daniel came to the rescue. He helped me with my banking woes in time to get to the border. I cross into Hong Kong with my bicycle this time. Much easier than expected.

d35 Over before it began - Where the f&*@# is my bike?

Continuing the events as they unfolded...

- I wake up on a sofa in an underpass below a major road at around 10am
- My only possessions are my shirt, shorts, underwear, socks, shoes and a few hundred RMB in my top pocket (no bicycle anywhere)
- I find a metro station and go back to where I met Aston the night before
- I trail the route from the metro station to the restaurant where we ate the night before
- I ask Aston's hair salon if they have his contact details, but they don't
- I head back to the area that I know Aston's offices are
- In the area is an internet cafe. I tried contacting Aston via email hoping he would see my message. He did later in the day
- The cafe manager, Daniel, is able to track down where Aston works by doing a search on the net
- I find Aston at work. He doesn't have my bike and the money in my pocket it probably his.
- Daniel and I go on the hunt for my bike. We go back to the place where I woke up.
- Daniel asks a policeman stationed nearby if he is aware of anything. Policeman shakes his head in the negative and is very unhelpful.
- Daniel and I search around the sofa for any clues but can't find any
- Walking past the policeman Daniel overhears a street cleaner talking to the policeman about a bicycle
- On further inquiry we establish it is my bike. The street cleaner had locked the bike in his shed not far from the sofa. Apparently he had found it on the side of the road at 6 am that morning.
- I gave the street cleaner a RMB300 reward from Aston's cash in my pocket
- I stayed with Aston in his apartment this night

Missing items:
1 x wallet with Chinese & UK bank cards (all travel funds), aprox. RMB200 cash, HK travel card
1 x cell phone with all contacts
1 x really cool bicycle pump

Mystery questions:
- did I ever make it to Aston's apartment with my bike?
- how did I get Aston's money in my top pocket?
- why did I leave in the middle of the night?

Answer:
Drunk people are stupid!

Dinner with Aston

With Daniel after finding my bike

d34 Aston and Dex traditional piss-up

I arrived in Shenzhen early in the day. I decided to find the two Trek stores in Shenzhen. I was later to discover that they had both closed. It's ok, I got to cycle around one of the newest cities in the world. Shenzhen was rice fields and nothing 30 years ago. Today it is a technological hub to the world.

To pass the time I went to a Starbucks coffee to read the news on my phone. I was fortunate to befriend some locals and spent about four hours chatting to them and enjoying a delicious Dongbei dinner.

I finally met up with Aston. I hadn't seen the man for over five years. It was like those years had never been there and we picked up where we left off.

This is the events of the evening as I remember them:
- we go for dinner directly instead of taking my bike to Aston's apartment as it was late already
- I had eaten already so we didn't order a lot of food
- we drank 2 bottles of baijo (Chinese rice wine at 50% alcohol or more), I drank a few beers on top
- we both have absolute memory loss from the restaurant onward

To be continued...

d33 Night bus to Shenzhen

The service I'd received from the Trek stored I'd visited was excellent. The mechanics were friendly and knowledgeable. I wish I could say the same for Trek Xiamen. The guys were loose canons with my bike. After visiting them it took a few days to get things on my bike working smoothly.

As I wasn't able to cover the distance required in the alloted time to get to Shenzhen and Hong Kong I decided to take the night bus. This would give me enough time in Shenzhen to hangout with an old friend from my JET days, Aston.

To fill the time I visited the Trek store (a mistake) and cycled around the southern end of Xiamen island. It is a pretty city island.

d32 Gulang Yu explorer

A lot of people talk about Xiamen and it's beauty. It's mostly true. Xiamen the island and city doesn't look much different from China. Except it's far more clean and orderly. The main tourist attraction is a small island, Gulang Yu, only accessible by ferry. No cars or bicycles are permitted on the island (half of the appeal). It was one of the islands foreigners were permitted to live on in the Imperial days. The old colonial buildings are still there and being restored to their former glory. It is a paradise for colonial architecture.

It's also a great place to have your wedding photo's taken.

d31 Arrive in Xiamen

The urban buildup continued all the way to Xiamen.

I was relieved to reach my final destination. I had racked up some good mileage just before reaching the island. When I was a few kilometers away a strong headwind started blowing. I prefer uphills... at least they come to an end. 

It wasn't a problem finding Michael's place. He took me out to a great fusion type restaurant where I could protein and carbo load.

I instantly took a liking to Xiamen as they have sailing as an activity for people to take part in. I've always wanted to learn to sail.

d30 A day with strangers

Being out of the big mountains and only having some rolling hills to contend with was a relief. I didn't fear the long slog uphill and started putting some distance on early in the day.

The night before I found a grand place to sleep. The nights are still hot so I only use a thin sheet to sleep under.

Around my lunch time I pulled into a quiet restaurant alongside the main road. I quickly made friends with the cook of the establishment (the son of the owner). I landed up staying the whole day with him and another friend of his. We had barbecue for dinner :-)

The urban expansion continued.

d29 Monumentous start and urban sprawl begins

After a good nights rest in a forest not far from a Buddhist shrine I started the days cycling. It wasn't long before I came across the monuments erected in honour of the Great Navigator Zhenghe. I spent a little time contemplating his achievements and what I am attempting to accomplish. Our exploits aren't comparable, but I did ponder on his spirit of adventure. He must have had a lust for discovering new and exotic places.

It was from this day that I noticed the urban sprawl on the east coast of China. I must have covered over 200km in the next 3 days. In all this time there were only a few kilometers when there wasn't a city, factory, construction site, habitation, urban anything. By my estimation I may have cycled past 500 million people.

d28 Waterfalls, oyster farms, factories, big bridges

The day was an interesting one. I had trepidations about following the east coast south to Hong Kong. I imagined the coast lined with chemical putrid spewing factories.

Instead I found some quaint fishing villages where the main industry is oyster farming. Quiet plains and orchards were not amiss. Of course there were factories but not what I thought them to be.

There was also a lot of nature to witness including some insects and waterfalls.

I didn't want to cross through Fuzhou city. It would just take up a lot of time. Instead I crossed a big bridge and slept on an island not far from the city.

d27 Secret camp

The race is still on. I cycled as hard as I could but only made it as far as I could.

No complaints, I found a lovely spot to camp at in an abandoned building in the mountains.

d26 More uphill

The uphill lasted another half a day. This was truly the most tortuous physical exertion I have ever faced. I like downhill.

What I learned:
 - keep hydrated
 - get enough salts to stave off cramps and assist with dehydration
 - eat regularly 
 - stretch

d25 Uphill slaughter

I had pitched my tent in an idealic spot along the banks of a still pond. I was well energised and enthusiastic to get as many kilometers under my tires.

That was short lived. Soon I faced the longest and hottest uphill cycle I had ever done. It lasted the whole day and was torture.

d24 Parade and go!

I know I was in Wenzhou the evening before. I woke up with the hangover from the night before.

After watching the parade in Beijing and eating a well needed pasta lunch from Karl I was on my way. Karl joined me for about an hour of cycling and showed me the easiest way out of Wenzhou.

I made camp in the dark after another 2 1/2 hours riding.

d23 Midnight coffe

The race is on....

I re-entered China early in the morning with the hope of getting a train ticket to Wenzhou. Surprisingly the train was quite empty for most of the journey.

When I got to Wenzhou I met up with Karl, collected my bike and bags from Patrick's place and pulled into Karl's. Now, a rational person would spend the night carbo loading, packing their bags and tweaking their bike for optimal performance for the next days ride.

Karl and I made multiple trips to the convenience store to stock up on beer and proceeded to get quite tanked. At the end of the evening Karl made a delicious cup of coffee. It was like watching a tea ceremony except with coffee (and with out the kimono or traditional tea making implements).

d22 Visa status outcome

It's official. The maximum I could get on my visa is 15 days... this time around.

The next time I ask for a visa from HK I only get 7 days. And after that 0 days.

I got my passport back. As soon as I enter China the race is on to get my bike in Wenzhou and cycle as fast as I can back to HK.