First time arrested

Getting arrested isn't exactly a large ordeal in china for foreigners, and typically involves drinking tea with the police while they tell you you're crazy for doing what you're doing.. They then check your camera's pictures to make sure you're not a spy, while making a million copies of your passport and visa, practice their english with you and then ask to take a picture with you. Legally you're supposed to check in with police and tell them where you'll stay when you enter a town, before you're even allowed to find a hotel which doesn't make all to much sense.
Town of Wenchuan.

Aw, Crap...

I just broke my rack again, my headphones, and my phone in one swift little crash.
All, is now fixed once again by crafty crafty chinamen.

The Face of fear.

Tunnels. I've been around.. 25years i spose.. In all those years, I've yet to encounter anything as terrifying as a 4km long pitch black, unventilated tunnel. With the luck of god, *and earthquakes, the traffic only runs one direction every other day allowing marginally more space.. But you literally have to wait in the absolute dark, waiting for a car to come around a bend just to see long enough to move ahead maybe 100 meters. Instantly all goes black as the car passes and you're stuck slamming on the brakes and waiting again with water running at your feet, things dripping on you, and odd noises coming from unknown places. Light... Oxygen.. Never looked so good.
This is the only tunnel i encountered that was lit my whole journey thus far.

Rocked.

Unfortunately many of my earthquake related pictures were deleted from my camera by police, as couldn't' perform my usual trick of switching to a memory card full of panda pictures the last time i was stopped by police. That said, I didn't exactly enjoy the feeling of being an earthquake tourist once I starting seeing things first hand. My synopsis: The damage and deathtoll is far worse than the media both here and at large lead people to believe. Some locals estimate 500,000 dead.Dujiangyan, a quaint town with about half of the buildings still free standing, and currently about a third of all inhabitants still walking around with crutches. Most people have left - packed up and moved away already - death toll here was about 4500. Roads leading east from here are still not even close to drivable or bikable. Collapsed bridges and landslides galore.A monk stopping roadside to reflect, another hometown completely leveled across the river. Previous inhabitants are still not allowed to re-enter the town because of the fear of disease from dead bodies etc. To enforce this, there's a military checkpoint at the road.

A few photographers asked me to pull over to take my picture for some magazine.. i couldn't understand the rest of what they said, pretty good shot of the road conditions though.

Every ablebodied person in these areas has been givin a job in construction, people wake up daily still to rebuild their homes while living in trailer-like government housing in school yards and unnocupied valleys.
The chinese refer to the event as 5.12, (may 12th), they're own 9/11.

The Rack Saga continues

December 13th 2008, 4:13 pm - president george bush gets a shoe thrown at him
December 13th 2008, 4:15 pm - my bike rack collapses upon itself due to political pressure.

coincidence ? absolutely not, are you stupid ?

anyways - as always the industrious nature of the chinese resulted shone through in some miraculous trip saving.. initially when i saw that my rack had completely collapsed onto the wheel itself i thought my trip was over.

Fix one: Made by jamming a peice of steel rod up the aluminum piping of the rack
Lasted: 5 km

Fix Two: Tibetan lad at the side of the road re-did the operation and tied it together with metal wire whilst bleeding all over my rack.
Lasted: 35 km till next real town.
Fix Three: In the town of Li Xian, a welder spent an hour getting biblical on my rack with some sparks flying, he later wouldn't accept any money for his service and furthermore bought be a beer when he ran into me at a little restaurant and said "canada is friend" in chinese *the rest i couldnt understand.
Lasted: until next town when i looked down.

Fix four: Had the cracked welding job tied together again with metal wire.
Lasted: didn't matter, I was arrested and sent back to a major city.

Fix Five: NEW CUSTOM RACK !
My Friend Hans: "aluminium is for bitches", after debating going to an aircraft factory to get my rack arc-welded properly.
Cost: 3$ US for three hours of a street side blacksmith's time.. I had to convice him to accept that much as he wanted nothing but to help.


Hans is the man. Old rack: in garbage.

Sorry I can't add biking pics today - blogspot is blocked

Cheng-don't

Chengdu: You'd think any destination would be amazing after a 41 hr train ride... It's foggy foggy town, with some very classy streets, markets and temple areas, and some very smoggy typical streets..

Good people, and incredible food sums it up - but the visit was marred by getting sick for a few days.
Having knives thrown at me on stage at a sichuan opera while chinese people cheer.

One big buddah. Go big or go home. (world's biggest buddah, leshan)
A short break between nightly vomits.. so sick..Pandamondium - get it ?
Alledgedly taking pictures of baby pandas is illegal.

Some amazing lads - good friends that helped me plan and make barking noises to explain how much of a threat wild dogs are. Guy on the right lost two japanese friends in tibet.

My hero.

I saw her get off the bike and the weight of the boxes actually lifted the bicycle in the air.

Parlez vouz mandarin ma ?

Supermarket Lesson.

Lau Shi Marie

Goodbye lunch.

Honestly, even whilst really overpriced.. this course was good fun and just what the doctor ordered.. Thankfully I no longer need to point at my mouth and rub my stomach when hungry.
That said, mandarin is a second language for the rest of china as well..

Take a log off shanghai

Honestly, for a city with 20 million there's barely even a line to pee at the bars.. the only time it feels hectic is while biking in the motorcycle lanes.. tip: wear a facemask, don't breath deeply and pack an extra lung.

Ray - the tibet master

Finding this guy online was a stroke of miracle.. an interesting conversation (click to read)

Ray helped me plan my journey, and had some serious tips.. thanks ray. (on right)

Leaving my real home

Me my pa and my pad prepartum in toronto.. you can see in paddy's eyes she knows i'm about to leave.