Sunday, 13th December, 2015
- Day 103/298
- 34%
Bike fixes takes center stage after fresh snowfall puts the brakes on a group trip.
Shop talk
Bike boy keeps watch.
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Zhihong’s workmate cleans the drive side.
Out with the old…
Because when water gets in under the seal …
… squeaky things happen.
Careful cleaning and greasing prior to reassembly.
… And in with the new!
And brake adjustment …
… All under the watchful eyes of bike boy.
Setting up shop on the footpath outside the shop, Zhihong replaces the squeaky Surly bottom bracket with a Shimano model and shows where NOT to let water enter next time, while I wonder whether the last time was a river crossing in rural Russia.
Then he massages the chain links and tweaks the brakes - but getting rid of the god awful squeak: priceless.
A boy on a bike hangs around for most of the repair work, watching us as the local street cleaner and policeman watch him. The boy's bike has some strange modifications and he lets me ride it!
I run my ever evolving list of bike wants past Zhihong, ticking off a new phone holder slash camera bag, and we investigate smog masks and better lights for riding at night.
After the bike repairs we head over the road for a well-earned lunch.
I dined here last night so I don't hesitate in going back into the cheapest and most delicious restaurant in China.
Today's plan had been to ride out to the Yungang Grottoes with some of Zhihong’s friends. But the friends aren’t so keen to ride in the ensuing snowfall, so we spend the afternoon route planning instead.
Zhihong shows me routes with Chinese place names and I try my best to match them to my iPhone maps. I think I know where I’m going now!
Late in the afternoon, a female customer comes in and the guys discuss the pros and cons of a Racing Green city bike with her.
At least that's what it looks like they are doing!
Then Zhihong shows me some Chinese-made steel bikes which he says are more rigid than those made in Taiwan, like my Surly. I thought the ’give’ in steel frames was supposed to be a good thing?
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Rebuilt defenses.
Runways in the sky.
Sleek reflections.
Fully animated facade.
Mangled shadows.
Closing up the shop we walk… and walk… and walk!
I thought we were going out for dinner but our walking doesn't seem to lead to dinner - it doesn't seem to lead anywhere!
Eventually it transpires that the woman is just working on her daily step count! Nonetheless the walk is interesting and we pass by various old buildings, including the rebuilt town defenses and light displays including the fully animated facade of the North Capital International Hotel.
Like Manzhouli most city buildings here are illuminated, but here it's mainly the tops which creates ghostly runways in the smog. Below, a sleek glass frontage reflects the sky scene while bare branches cast mangled shadows on the fearful footpaths beneath.
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Santa Claus has come to town.
What a spread!
Pretty packaging.
Thankfully we do eventually end up at a restaurant.
Coke's Santa welcomes those outside. Inside, polite and smartly dressed staff direct us to rooms numbered with non-sequential combinations, presumably assembled for their luck as in Beijing.
My friends order a tableful of dishes including dumplings, quail eggs and chinese hamburgers to name but a few. But the woman mostly eats sunflower seeds and it seems that we are entirely over-catered for. However at the end of the meal, the leftovers are all diligently bagged up for taking home, presumably for Zhihong’s wife who is waiting there.
After dinner there's the obligatory cigarette. Smoking is really popular amongst Chinese men, perhaps it has something to do with the lack of warnings on the pretty holographic packaging.
The bill comes and goes and I am not allowed to pay my share. It is the custom here for the host to treat the guest – even if they have already provided free lodging!
We catch a taxi home and I pass out soon after, exhausted by all the walking and eating.