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Pat & Nic

Pat & Nic

Visit Pat & Nic's website here for more photos and additional information:

http://www.travelpod.com/members/marshallmatters

"The world is our carpet now
The world is our dancefloor now
Remind me how to dance again
The world is our carpet now
Yes we're here
Free to laugh and cry
When I can't move
I'll enjoy the still for a while
And lose myself in waves
And mountains and the sky"

Bike Ride - Day 5. Danba to Ya'an

Ya'an, China
Monday, Aug 27, 2007 08:01

nic-makes-light-work-of-the-cycling

local-boy-we-met-on-the-way

village-life

dan-and-pat-enjoy-a-beer

nic-and-chandler-enjoy-a-beer

our-venue-for-the-night---nice

our-venue-for-the-night-nice

jd---chinese-style

scott-and-dan-enjoy-a-beer

We got the go ahead from Mike that the road was passable, although only at certain times of the day. As we had a lot of cycling and a lot of driving to get to Ya'an, we had made the decision to get an early start. The decision was to have breakfast at 6am, be ready to check out of the hotel at 6.30 and tinker until 7am. We wanted to be on the road by 7am. Unfortunately this was never going to happen. Although we had decent bikes, Giant, Trek and Cannondale - all good frames, they are as good as useless if the components are bad. And unfortunately the Chinese components are pretty bad. For example, during the week I had a number of punctures. One or two of them were caused by glass or metal on the road, but two of them were caused by the fact the spokes on the wheel were sticking through the wheel rim and the rim tape straight into the inner tube.
So unfortunately a lot of tinkering was needed that morning and we didn't hit the road until 8.30am. We set off continuing down the river and continued to experience the sights and sounds of village life. We were met by piglets and cows meandering down the streets, dogs sleeping by the roadside and farmers working the fields. Again we cycled past amazing countryside. We saw several dams being built and huge stone quarries. Lorries flew past us with gigantic lumps of stone. Whole mountains were being eaten away by the quarrying.

During one stop, a nasty little wasp decided to sniff around Chandler. Chandler decided to bat the wasp away with his hand but unfortunately he batted it in my direction. Its last act of defiance before it died was to sting me on my forearm. I was stung by a wasp about 6 years ago and remember I had a bad reaction to it and an even worse reaction to the anti-histamine tablets the doctor gave me.

After many hours cycling we loaded the van up and headed to Ya'an. As we were driving along we came across the construction of a huge dam. The scale of the construction in China is hard to comprehend and describe and when we had to drive through one of the mountains - well this simply messed with my head. Whilst the dam is being built, it is necessary to redirect the whole river. To do this they simply 'drill' a hole through a mountain - simple as that. Until the river is re-directed this tunnel is used as the road. I cannot describe in words the scale of these projects - the money and time it must take to complete it!! These tunnels are huge and when you are inside you see the construction work that has taken place. The tunnel went on for a couple of miles through the mountain - simply amazing.

After four or five hours in the van we arrived in Ya'an and again checked into the hotel. We had dinner in the hotel and enjoyed a last evening together. Chandler made the very nice gesture of wishing Nic and I a happy first wedding anniversary for the 31st and everyone raised their glassed. Very nice gesture and made the first anniversary very special.
After three bottles of wine, and a few beers we decided to hit the town. Ya'an had a much better feel to it that Xiaojin so I was confident of a good night out - plus this time we had the full compliment as Nic and Dan had decided to join us.
Our first stop was a bar not far from the hotel and Nic and the others ordered a bottle of Jack Daniels. Unfortunately China is the land of imitation and genuine JD is very difficult to get hold of. So they were presented with a bottle of JD that I am reliably informed tasted absolutely nothing like the real stuff. No matter what mixes they tried, it still tasted of vinegar.

We soon left this bar and the American guys asked around for recommended places. 'Deep Blue' came out as the place to go. So we jumped into taxis and made a bee-line for 'Deep Blue'. As soon as we walked in the owner welcomed us and asked if we were friends of James'. Thinking this might be a pass to free beer and special hospitality we said 'Yes!! James!! James is our friend. Do you know when he will be here?'. Who James was we have no idea but lots of people came up welcoming us and mentioning James. Thank you James whoever you are. We were told he would be turning up later that night and we all feigned delight at this prospect.

The beer flowed and we ended up playing drinking games. We started off with Perudo (known to the Americans as Liar's Poker). We then moved to a great card game introduced to us by Dan. Rather than downing shots of Vodka and Whisky, as is in the norm in the UK, the Chinese tradition is to down a shot of beer. Much better when you are old and can no longer handle spirits like me.
It wasn't long before Nic was a little worse for wear and we left the party at 1.30am. The others carried on until 3am. It was a great last night!

Cycling stats for the day - we went from Danba to Ya'an and cycled a total of 60km and descended between three to four hundred metres.

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Continued here...

Visit Pat & Nic's website here for more photos and additional information:

http://www.travelpod.com/members/marshallmatters

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