I probably spent four hours today walking around, went to a small museum, wandered around Main Street, sidestreets and a few alleys, lots of interesting things to see. There is no shortage of fresh fruits, vegetables, and unusual animal parts for sale…

We all met up at 7 PM; myself, Paul, Rebecca, Bill, and the other addition to the group Ian from outside of London. Also Bobby, our Chinese guide. Had a nice dinner, seems like a good group though I’m a little concerned that other cyclists aren’t very prepared for this trip. This trip is 800K in total over 13 cycling days, some seem that they’ve hardly ridden this year at all!

Bobby lives about 600k north of here, has a car repair shop. Apparently car repair is slow right now because he’s guiding this trip… After our meal, we got briefed about tomorrow which includes a three hour transfer, then on the bikes in the afternoon for the 45K day.

I must say that I love having a smart phone with live mapping on it, you can find any path you want on the map and never get lost. Bill and I wandered out after dinner, walking down some side roads and came across a little alley bar called the hobo bar. Like everywhere here, we are absolutely the only Westerners to be seen, but we walked in and had gin and tonics which was such a treat because that is so rare to find here!

Had a nice chat with Bill, he’s about six years older than me, has already navigated the retirement jungle a bit, so I appreciated his insights on a few things…

Up early tomorrow for the bus ride, we will have lunch and then be on the bikes. Very much looking forward to that!