Mengyang to Simao

13.08.10
Mengyang to a place we never learnt the name of!!! (45 miles)
 
Mengyang was a nice enough place, I was bored of egg fried rice so we went all out with the phrasebook and got some noodles.  Not quite what we were after, as we wanted them fried with tofu,... but they came warm and we at least got an egg. If we deviate from our trusty egg fried rice we seem to come a cropper.
The ride from Mengyang to the place we could not work out the name for (our mandarin is a little rusty) was, compared to the last two days was ok.  For a long time in the morning we followed the express way, weaving in and out of the bridge supports that span the bottoms of the valleys that we go up and down either side of, while the no bike express way stays on a gradual gradient (I am not bitter, honest!). 
 
We covered the first 20 miles is fairly good time and then started the obligatory climb. we finally reached Dadugang at around lunch time and found a restaurant to eat at, ordered the favourite and was delighted to see a group of 8 army men turn up and commence staring at me, great... off putting to say the least while trying to scoff egg fried rice with chopsticks.  I am getting this a lot in China and it's starting to grate.  Anyhow after a quick loo stop in the loo from hell next to the pig sty (not joking!) we were on our way and for the most part it was down hill or flat/undulating.  The hotel we eventually found was fairly decent and for only 60rmb a bit of a bargain even if the bed felt as if the mattress was missing and we were straight on to the hard wood!

14.08.10
unknown town to Simao (Pu'er) (26 miles)
 
Bliss, mostly a flat ride (well compared to what we have been doing!) and just 1 climb, we decided that we would stop in Simao AKA Pu'er (not to be confused with Pu'er 50km up the road!)and knew we had a very short ride, so we set off later than usual, this was lovely as continuous 5.30am starts wear you down.  
Rich who is usually on hotel duty due mainly to his higher expectations was less enthusiastic today and we nearly missed the gem that we have found.  It has all the mod cons including a computer with internet access and is by far the best hotel we have stayed at in S.E.A and China and all for ?2, bargain of the century.
 
We headed out to find a Bank of China as we were banking on there being one here as it is a fairly sizable town/city. After chatting in gestures and phrasebook pointing with the reception staff we estimated that the bank was a fair walk away so were surprised to find it 5 mins walk down the road, with thank goodness an international ATM.  So we now have money which was always a worry.  I pushed the boat out and tried to order something other than egg fried rice for lunch and got 'burn in the mouth noodles' which would have been great if it was heat hot but unfortunately it was spicy hot and my lips started to hurt soooooo badly I had to give up, dinner was definately egg fried rice! 
 
15.08.10
 
Rest day, yippee..... I seem to be saying that a lot lately.  Anyhow I am in need of a rest day even if superman Rich was still saying 'another 50 miles in the tank'.
The hotel is great and we have got a lot done on the internet which we needed to do.  We also went shopping..... bliss... unfortunately for me I am not average chinese size, I feel a little like Gulliver over here as I am about a foot taller than the average women and then they have heels on, so no shopping for me, but we did get stuff for Rich.  Rich's cycling shirts have become somewhat fragrant in the underarm department and were in dire need of meeting the bin, so we managed to buy a non pastel/florescent/vomit inducing sports top and a rather spiffing smart shirt for the evening/casual wear.  So now he can throw out his old shirts and not smell, yippee.  
 
We head out tomorrow on our next leg, hopefully we can go all the way to Kunming with out another rest day, all good training for Tibet I keep getting told!! (Rich has just corrected me.... WE WILL be going all the way to Kunming without a rest day, the slave driver!!) early to bed then for an early start, at least the temperature is being kinder to us, highs of low 20's.