I am seated in the class hard-seated which is the lowest class. The seating is the same as in the African busses, 3 chairs left of the aisle and 2 to the right. Fortunately I am next to the aisle, so I can stretch my legs a little. Still I do not manage to sleep more than 15 minutes in a row and in the morning I do not know how to sit anymore. In the morning more people get of the train than and after a while I can put my legs on the opposing chair, allowing me to properly rest for a while. At 19:30 the train arrives in Lanzhou. When I go to the office to pick up my bike I meet Enrique and Chele a Spanish/Argentinian couple who also are cycling. They also were on the train but were so lucky to acquire hard-sleepers. They are going to stay at a hotel near the station and we agree to share a room, but first I have to pick up my bike. What I already feared has happened, my bike has not come on the train. I am assured though that it will arrive the same night at 3.
The three of us search for a hotel and manage the get a room for 50 RMB for the 3 of us. In the early morning I fetch my bike so we can cycle the same day in the direction of Xiahe. However we decide to postpone departure with one day and recuperate from the trainride and do some chores.
I do not know why they really do it, but on several spots they put straw or other grasslike materials on the road. May be they want it just to dry or it might be that they want to have it crushed by passing traffic. In the last case my bike is not of much help, although I am eating a lot lately.
It is not only my bike that needs constant attention, also the bikes of my fellow cyclists once in a while need some at the road repairs. Here Chele's bike gets its steering secured, an action I am not unfamiliar with as my bike has a habbit of loosening the bolts on my steering. Later Enriques bike got a problem with a wobbly pedal, not unsimular my pedal problems.
As can be seen is my technique slightly less sophisticated, but uptill now I manage to tighten the bolt for a couple of km. The longer I hammer the longer it sticks. May be in Xiahe I find a decent cycle repairshop to get rid of the problem for a long time.
Just a sorry attempt to catch the beauty of the views. If you really want to know how beautiful it is, you have to go your self I am afraid or find some one who can make decent pictures.
With our maps with Chinese characters we were almost always able to ask for the proper directions, only when leaving Lanzhou on the September 15th we are directed to a different town then we wished. Everything worked out quite fine and we think the route turned out for the better. At least we were cycling over a road not much travelled with great views.
The monastary is a few km from the road, at first it annoys me that the monk who invited us, underestimated the time to cycle there so much, but when we arrive I am happy we went.
We had anticipated to reach Xiahe on the 17th but rain and problems getting up early the last few days, make that we search refuge in a monastary for the night. The place we sleep is very luxurious, with satelite tv, dvd, a stove and nice wooden floors.
The next day we only have 40km ride left to Xiahe and although the sky looks like rain we manage to arrive with only a few drops hitting us. We check in a guesthouse near the famous monastary. It does not have shower facilities, which makes Enrique and I decide to built one in the courtyard with my tarp and some ropes. All goes well until Chele takes a shower. The wind suddenly picks up and the tarp almost blows away. Enrique comes to the rescue of his wife before she is left in the courtyard only covered in soap.
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