Xian (she-an) a modern city with much of the vibrancy based on the 10 million tourists attracted by the “terracotta warriors” was once the capital of China until Kublai Khan moved it to Beijing. We went to see the excavated areas and were all gob-smacked by the sight of the rank and file soldiers with […]
We are in Ping Liang in China somewhere and everyone stares as we are the only tourists they have had for ever. Babies scream and grannies point and laugh. Crowds gather whever we go, especially with the bikes. It is quite amazing to get such attention when you are just having a long bike ride, […]
One of the sights we had been anticipating on our adventure has been the Great Walls of China. I say walls plural, because there have been about a dozen “great walls” built, the first around 500BC. We started to see the first evidence of one of the walls as we crossed the Taklamakan Desert and […]
I’m lying face down, the bike is running still and I’m waiting for the big black dog to sink her teeth in me. Shouts from the road workers have sent the bitch running, but my leg is at a strange angle with the bike on top of it. Dave is muttering about the leg […]
On a bike trip like this you have to have a computer if you’re going to maintain a website and write media columns. My first thought was to bring a laptop, one of those rugged types mounted in gel. The vibrations from being in a pannier was bound to be a test for any ordinary […]
Since we crossed the Torugat pass and moved out onto the Taklamakan Desert we have seen the “Desert Twisters” that the Taklamakan is famous for. There is probably a local name for it but let me describe (we have also posted a photo in the latest upload to the website). The wind blows almost all […]
Today a few of us went to see the Caves of 1000 Buddahs carved into a rocky cliff face at the edge of the desert. In 366 AD a Buddist monk started this creation and it continued over a 1500 years depicting the art and life of the people. Only in the early 20th century […]
Sitting in a depressing Taklamakan desert town (Mangmai) in an internet cafe that is like a bomb shelter with 200 people in it. We are the first foreigners to come here. Had a really hard (but good) day with 300 km on gravel, sand and rocks and then the last 80 on some wonderful tar-seal. […]
You may remember Gareth had been having starting troubles, due to a failure of the push button start system Dave and I had rigged a substitude solenoid from a Russian Volga Salon. We had ordered a replacement which arrived in Tashkent about a week after it was ordered Dave and Selwyn brought the part […]
The day has started bleakly – pouring rain and a falling temperature. Early start because we have 300kms of mud and gravel roads to cover before we get to the promised land – China! The pass is 3,572m so it’s going to get a lot colder. Two hours in, first puncture. Brendan’s a puncture-fixing fella […]
