Day 8 | Stay in Yueyang

September 13th

150 km away from Changsha we spontaneously decide to take Day 8 to rest our legs and prepare for the final assault on Changsha. It is mid-autumn festival – a Chinese national holiday – so we also take the opportunity to gorge ourselves on mooncake, a tasty treat composed of a soft pastry shell and a mystery filling.

In the afternoon we decide to see more of the city with our unloaded bikes. We follow the brown tourism sign to the Yanshan Islet and come across an impressive bridge crossing the Yangtze.

In the evening we take a walk in the market quarter and pick up some tasty food on sticks for dinner. While we try to figure out what is being deep fat fried at the next stall, we are approached by a young Chinese guy with a London accent. We have a drink together and discover ‘Wayne’ has lived in England for the last 8 years, but has returned to China and is now living in Changsha. Our first Changsha friend and we haven’t even arrived yet. :)