Distance: 80km Today is a bit of a blur because my bottom hurts from so much riding. I don't have a problem with the hills, I don't have a problem with the roads. I just have a very sore bottom. I skipped breakfast today because I'm feeling full of noodles. Instead, I bought some bananas and stuff from a bakery, which I ate while taking advantage of wifi in the lobby. Our hotel, the Grand Global Hotel, is just awful. Condom packets for purchase in the bathroom, a toilet that only flushes by lifting the cistern lid and pulling a wire, doona/duves hidden in a cupboard rather than on the beds, doors that scrape as they open/close, rusted surfaces. The whole place made me feel so dirty that I didn't even take a shower because I ... read more

Distance: 35km (of 60) We headed into town for breakfast at an extremely popular Yum Cha restaurant. We had our own private room and feasted on dim sum and cheong fun (rice noodles). It was raining quite heavily this morning so only Dimiter and Birgit dared the weather. The rest of us rode in the van and I even watched some TV shows on the iPad with Lyle. After 23km the riders rejoined us (thoroughly soaked, including Birgit's iPhone that stopped operating) and we headed to the Yao Ethnic Village. I sat in the truck for a change, watching the countryside and the strange antics of drivers on roads that need some serious repair work. The Yao village is part authentic village and part tourist operation. There were a few exhibits and we could walk around ... read more

Distance: 45km? Getting sick when you're on holiday is always unfortunate. But in our case, it was our Tour Guide that got sick! Poor Frank got terribly sick and spent the day in the van while we did our tourist duties. More Dim Sum for breakfast, then an hour drive out of town and we began our ride. I didn't go far before I flagged down our truck and asked them to fix my brakes. The ride took us through small towns and another infinite number of rice fields. I had to go down some gears to get up a hill, until I realised that there wasn't actually a hill - rather, my tyre was flat! I turned my bike upside down and waited for our truck, snapping photos of the rest of the group as ... read more

Today was a mixture of activities from walking to riding to hiking. Breakfast was Yum Cha style, with noodles and steamed buns, mostly quite sweet. The restaurant in our hotel overlooks a lake, with occasional fishermen passing the window. We spent a few hours exploring the Seven Star Crags Scenic Area, which is utterly huge. It has bridges over lakes, a mountain topped with a Pagoda, caves with boat rides, many statues of god people and a suspension bridge that cost me ¥2 (30c) to cross. We then went on a 16km bike ride, mostly along the side of a major road. We stopped for another Chinese lunch and went to Mount Dinghu in our van. We climbed the mountain via paths and roads (not real bush hiking), seeing waterfalls along the way. At the very ... read more

Location: Guangzhou Date: Monday 2 April 2012 No, not that type of shits. More the scary ones, as good as any theme park can offer and at half the price. More on that later... Today was my last day of independent touring, so I checked out early and headed to the Guangzhou Opera House, which is in an interesting part of town serviced by an Automated People Mover. For ¥2 (30c) I boarded the driverless train that was built to service a corridor of the city used by the 2010 Asian Games. The train is similar to automated trams that service large airports, except that this one is in a 4km tunnel. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guangzhou_Metro#Zhujiang_New_Town_Automated_People_Mover_System_.28APM.29 I emerged into a scene reminiscent of post-apocalyptic movies, with empty buildings and large areas of empty, paved areas. This might have been ... read more