Gwailo's Lost in China

Well not really lost but just having a tough time getting through... First the roads had been absolute crapola up until Guangzhou. Very unpredictable they were. One minute they are okay and the next it is like mountain biking. Way too many potholes, bumps and cracks... not good for the bikes. I kept worrying my bike was going to break at any second.

Trevor and I both kind of have roles. He is more of the bike mechanic (mainly the patcher upper when a flat arises) and planning the route. Although his planning is questionable at times... twice already he has led us about 15 km in the wrong direction... I wasn't a happy camper. Anyways my main roles are the retriever of food, negotiating hotel rooms and talking to the people. Trevor is kind of behind the scenes and I am more out there if that makes any sense. Well up until China my jobs were pretty easy. Now however the communication is tough. I really have had to up my game of charades as of late. I am learning a few words here and there so that is good. Happy to say I now know how to say all the numbers from zero to ten! Still though my pronunciation is horrible and I get laughed at a lot.

Right now we are in a town called Huidong somewhere in Guangdong. I think we have passed the hardest part of China in getting through Guangzhou. We got super lost there. It took about five hours to get through the city. We had trouble as there are certain parts where cyclists cannot ride. We ended up saying screw it and cycled across this bridge to get into the city. Coming off the bridge we were met by a few police officers who stopped us but then told us to go go go! I think he didn't want to have to explain in the little English he knew that we weren't supposed to do that. We knew but we really didn't know any other way to get across.

Pic 1: My pedal finally had to say goodbye. We aren't carrying a wrench so I had the street bike mechanic in Guigang replace my pedal.

Pic 2: The sign is clear as day right? Well not for us... we have had to memorize Chinese characters to know where we are going.

Pic 3: Entering Guangdong praying for better roads and convenience stores. I would say after Guangzhou the roads have been a lot better and there have been more convenience stores... so I am guessing that worked.

Pic 4: These are the kind of roads we have had to deal with in China... not for bike touring that is for sure.

Pic 5: Me taking a chill pill on the side of the road while pondering life.

Pic 6: One of my pannier's lost a screw so here is me screwing in another.

Pic 7: Outside Guangzhou while we were lost. I got a decent map from this hotel and we were on our way!