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.

d21 A rest day

I met up with Jeffrey in the afternoon. We had a great chat about Hong Kong before he had to leave for soccer practice.

The local street food is also expensive $$$

d20 Big Buddha hike

Against the advice of the tourist information center I decided to climb the Lantau Peak on  Lantau island. I had a fantastic time hiking with the locals and exchanging stories. 

I had my first taste of Tai O and vowed to come back on my return to Hong Kong. Arriving at 7pm in the evening didn't give the fishing village any justice.

d19 Hong Kong Island explorer

One of the most popular walks in Hong Kong is known at the Dragons Back walk. Easy on anyone's' scale of walks.

To start the day I took the double decker tram from Livingstone Town in the west all the way to the otherside in the east. From there I walked into the hills, along a rainwater catchment system, past a WWII cemetery over the ridge to Big Wave Bay.

The water was more still than bath water.

In the evening I watched the very boring Symphony of Lights with some Japanese guys I met. They were far more entertaining than the show.

d18 HK Shopping Mania

Lets just say I shopped until I dropped.

I can confirm Hong Kong isn't as cheap as people think.

d17 Dim sum with friends

I feel very fortunate to have had the opportunity to catch up with my friend Shirley. We had worked closely when I was a CWLC Representative when working at EF. This is going back at least two years ago. What better way for two friends to enjoy themselves over a few dishes of dim sum!

In the afternoon I met up with Jeffrey and Julien. We explored more of the lesser seen parts of Kowloon, being the Kowloon walled city, and had dim sum for dinner. A great way to end a heart warming day.

d16 Huge visa issues

There were a few missions I had to accomplish in Hong Kong:
   1 - Get a 30 day visa for China
   2 - Go shopping for more items I needed for my bike (saddle and handlebar bag at the top of the list.
   3 - Go sight seeing

I got the disappointing news that the maximum visa as a South African national I was eligible for is a fifteen day visa.

15 days!!!

Immediately I though of plan B:
 - Go back into China to fetch bike
 - Cycle to Hong Kong 
 - Fly to another South East Asian country to get a 30 day Chinese visa in one of thos countries

Flying is against my travel philosophy. I think one should travel overland so as not to miss any opportunity and to admire the landscape. But when backed into a corner and left no options what can we do but fly.

Yes, I did look into taking a cargo ship from Hong Kong but that is way out of my travel budget. Gone are the days of the hap-hazard traveller being able to jump on the next outbound ship.

Thanks to Chenning, Chris and Meggy for sending me the relevant documents I needed to apply for the 15 day Chinese visa. Who knew they would need their old passport to apply for a visa?

d15 Welcome to Hong Kong

Fortunately Jiaojiao had been able to book a standing ticket to Shenzhen the day before. I had a relaxing start to the day going with Patrick to a hill in the southern parts of the city with a good view. He showed me some interesting landmarks including the cruise liner moored for the past 8 years or so, the one any only real skyscraper which stands empty and the Wenzhou millionaires' island.

At home Carson was locked in the master bedroom. Neither of us could were able to jimmy the door open. Neither could the locksmith. He had to use an angle grinder to bust the door open. I left them to it before they were able to spring the poor pooch free. I was bound for Hong Kong and had a train to catch.

I finally made it to my hostel in HK at 3 am.

d14 A feast with the expats

I got over my loss in mahjiang the previous night very quickly when I arrived at Texan John's house. I also took care of the pounding headache by minding how mant hair's of the dog I drank. Patrick and Karl got into the beers at full speed when we arrived. They guys definitely party hard.

Texan John had prepared a full lamb hind quarter roast. According to him it was a lot bigger before he served it up. There was enough to go around with the ample potato salad. 

We had decided previously to go to a barbecue place for our evening meal. All the folks at Texan John's place bundled onto a scooter or into a taxi and left for some more fantastic Wenzhou cuisine and beer. 

The bbq place wasn't quite what I imagined. It's not like Steve's on the corner of Huashan and Guangyuan Lu in Shanghai. It seems a bit more up market (for a street vendor). Never the less the food was plentiful and tasty.

After a lot more beer we eventually made it home from an expat bar.

d13 Loosing face at mahjiang

The day was relaxing. In the morning I potted not getting up to much. In the afternoon Patrick and I cycled to a public swimming pool where we met up with Karl. After that some more cycling about, dinner cooked by Jiaojiao and more mahjiang.

My 'beginners luck' had worn out this evening. I got thrashed at mahjiang, not winning a single game.

d12 Good times in Wenzhou

After a long slog in the heat I finally made it to Wenzhou where I mat Patrick from couchsurfing. Patrcik showed me around the area and introduced me to his very bouncy dog Carson, a beautiful golden retriever. 

Later that evening Jiaojiao cooked a fantastic Chinese meal. I must state at this point that Jiaojiao is a master at cooking Chinese cuisine. I thoroughly enjoyed every meal she prepared. 

In the evening Patrick, Jiaojiao, Karl and myself enjoyed a few games of mahjiang. All were very patient and explained the rules of mahjiang in an easy way to understand. I won 1 game.

d11 Quadruple whammy ancient water towns

After camping in quite a spiffy place I was well set for the day. I had crossed over a big ridge the afternoon before thus facing downhill the whole way to Wenzhou. Well in theory it works as there are more downhills than uphills.

Given my geographic altitudinal advantage I still had the geographic distance to overcome. 

The day was fairly eventless. I visited 4 ancient towns before setting camp.