Day 9 Zhongshan to Yangshuo

End of the line in tourist city
Far too many of them, like us;
Sellers seeking to sell, in the ditty!
Biking before was far less fuss.

Looking for coffee and even wall-hangings,
Folks from all over you are bound to meet,
No soft touches, but firecracker bangings,
While everyone says their goods are a treat.

Peter the Greeter and Stanley the Man
Brenda so tender and Richard the knife
All are as brilliant as only they can -
Frank deals so well with our trouble and strife

Day 10 Yanshuo - Li river bike and boat ride

The dusty road has come and gone
Replaced by sinuous tar,
Made the bike ride far more fun
Than travelling in a car.

Sure we've seen a limestone pillar
And punts upon the river Li
A chinese hand upon the tiller
Ferrying us towards the sea

Music sounding by the roadside
Took us in to have a look.
A fiddler, while our time did bide,
Played a sweet melodic hook.

Day 11 Yangshuo bike ride and cormorant show

Last trip on the bikes, without Moon Hill
And ladies selling, selling water.
Of them we'd certainly had our fill
Preferred riding on bricks and mortar.

Rode through many stunning valleys
Flanked by limestone pillars
Didn't stop to dilly dally
Sped up and down the hilly killers.

Finally after dinner in the town
Said goodbye to Chein and Long
And the bikes we'd called our own
Should have given them a service gong.

Cormorants swimming in the dark
Catching tiddlers in their beaks
Engaging punters in the park
Hoping the boat has no leaks.

Glenfiddich seconds and almost thirds
With raucous tales of derring-do
And Ozzie tips on handling birds
Or teasing those they knew how to.

Day 12 to Xi'an

Stan has gone to Shangri La
And Peter's off to Paris
We're in Xi'an, it's not too far
Frank for the food didn't tarry.

Day 13 Xi'an

Warriors all made from terra cotta,
Pagoda's wild goose chase,
269 steps, got hotter and hotter,
Umbrellas and flimsy lace.

Day 14 Xi'an

Up on the ramparts round Xi'an City
At first it rained and then it didn't
Cycling/touring - like Walter Mitty;
Hired bikes - change gear they wouldn't!

Beijing

Day 15 to Beijing

Trainfull of Danes built for rugger
Thro' the night, a prayer on a wing,
The Emperor was a horny old bugger -
First thoughts of weary, ancient Beijing.

Tiananmen Square and Old Mao's tomb
Belie the huge development
Fuelled by the colossal boom
That'll make it China's firmament.

Day 16 The Great Wall

Up multiple steps, through seas of hawkers
We found this impressive, rice-glued wall -
With forts for archers bowling yorkers
Against Mongolians they didn't like at all.

So up and down and along we went
Till the hill sign said Hollywood
In Chinese, that's what it meant -
For photographs we posed and stood.

Describe our consternation
When a bride and groom we found,
Beyond wildest imagination
For adverts, I'll be bound

Lunch on the way back home -
The Dong Jiao Min Xiang place
Pretty posh and then some,
Somewhere to stay and not lose face.

Day 17 - Last day in Beijing

"Not luxurious imagination"
But a walk around the lake
Summer Palace a fascination,
Caligraphy lessons I did take.

Seen the biggest Buddha in the world,
Peking duck tonight we'll get
Lahma'd out and flags all furled
For the airport we're all set.

Postscript

Well, China was quite amazing
The old, the new, and ever onwards;
We'll teach our kids some Mandarin
In 70 years they may be landlords.

Say a thank to World Expeditions
They did us proud and found the bikes
To deal with every road condition,
Sorted all our likes and dislikes.

Frank gets the prize for guide superior
Became a friend, no apologist,
We never suspected a motive ulterior,
He goes straight to the top of the list.

Glutinous rice is the name of the game!

Hotel is called it, Wall is cemented

With lime; but it's food just the same.

If I see any more, I'll go demented.

Tonight cooked a steak on the barbie,

Jamie's spuds, steamed courgettes and leek.

Tomorrow I'm watching the Derby -

Of chopsticks I'm unlikely to speak.

Yet - and yet - China's so big.

It's colossal and growing so fast.

From cultural oblivion, they're something to dig.

One thing's for sure, they'll never be last.

Well, back in Europe again

My intentions to post a blog on a regular basis from China were thwarted, as China does not permit access to this Google-based blog - nor does it allow access to FaceBook. So, I am now posting a rerospective blog from Schipol airport, while waiting for the plane to Bristol.
Enjoy!

Charles de Gaulle airport - Paris, France

Clive arrived at Gate E34 first and was munching a ham ciabbata when I got there, having been detained in the Virgin mobile phone shop! He reports that no iPad 2's were to be had in eithe Heathrow or Paris cdg. Equally, I can report a dirth of Motorola Milestone XT720's, which I am told is the latest smartphone to arrive from the USA.
Read the first few pages of China Road, by Rob Gifford on the plane from Bristol. He tells me that the Chinese have emigrated in their millions from the countryside to the cities - and we are going in the opposite direction, with a bit of luck. I haddn't fully appreciated that we as a nation seem to have behaved rather poorly during the colonial days when Shanghai etc were colonial outposts. Clive takes his pragmatic view that in those days we did as we thought appropriate. Doesn't hold with retrospective apologies. What does he think about slavery, I ask
To be continued!

2011 Trip 2 China

Depart Bristol Sunday 15th May for Paris - there to meet Clive and catch the connecting flight to Guangzhou, where we are scheduled to land at 1655 Monday 16th. First night at Hotel Canton, 374 Beijing Road - tel 020-83189888

Start of another long bike ride!

This is the itinerary!

2011 Trip 1 - South Africa

Suikerbosse

The Cape Argus ride 2011 was cycled in perfect conditions, as can be seen from these pictures. 68 miles through heavenly views, beside the Atlantic and the Indian oceans, and starting and finishing under Table Mountain, one of the world's most iconic sights. The pictures show two of the climbs - Suikerbosse, which came at the end of the ride, shortly after Chapman's Peak. There were tens of thousands of riders, with about a thousand from overseas. We were given a favoured start time, in the middle of the pack. The other local entrants were all seeded, in accordance with their prowess in earlier seeding events up and down the country. Prior to the schedulede ride, we trained in Franschhoek, Montagu and Swellendam, with a day ride on the Bainskloof Pass that we'd ridden on three years ago. We cycled that twice in the same day, for good measure!

Chapman's Peak

Cyclemeter record of the actual ride (route was clockwise)

Started and finished with Clive - 4hrs 40 mins

Training schedule leading up to the Cape Argus ride