Day 0 | Journey to Anqing
September 3rd 2011
13:50 | Bus from Hangzhou to Anqing
Today we are leaving Hangzhou for the banks of the Yangtze River and the city of Anqing (pronounced Anching), where on 5th September we will be setting off on our cycle trip.
Arriving at Hangzhou Long-distance bus staion with two fully laden bicycles. Waved through security check points by the guard who is slightly bewildered of what big big bikes we have. Thankfully no problems getting them on the bus however :)
Find a dusty seat next to a curtain that hasn't been washed in this century, ready for the 7 hour journey ahead of us. Snack pack and chinese Marie Claire and sweet sweet bread to keep us fed.
On our way all going well until around three hours into journey driver explains that we have to change bus. Mild feeling of terror and panic sets in when noone else apart from us is told to get off and our bikes are already beeing wheeled down the street. We exit the bus through a sea of staring faces and quickly chase after our bikes. Luckily our bikes are safely loaded onto the new bus by two kind chinese chaps, who helpfully clear some space in the mountain of chinese lugguage. Get on new bus to another sea of staring faces. Finding no free seats together, one nice man shouts down the bus telling a young lad he should move seats so the laowai can sit next to each other.
Arrival in Anqing
Having successfully survived our first chinese long-distance bus journey, we first have to readjust our handlebar from storage position to the cycle position. A simple task normally performed in a number of minutes made substantially more difficult by Neil's lack of mechanical ability, which results in all manner of screws, brackets and handlebars being strewn across a dark and empty corner of the bus station. After 30 minutes of increasingly stressful attempts, we finally manage to reattach Lana's handlebars. Neil's handlebars are succesfully readjusted by Lana in approximately 30 seconds.
While cycling through the dark (but surprisingly lively streets of Anqing towards the river bank where we hope to find our hotel, we accidently stumble upon a "MERIDA" bike shop. What are the chances! We stop off there and got our bikes professionally fixed. The shop's Laoban's (boss) pal conveniently offers to escort us to our hotel.
Arriving at 7+1 Hotel, Lana successfully negotiates a room for the evening. The lovely security man shows us a safe place to park our bikes and carries our bags to our room. Hungry stomachs take us down the road. While searching the streets we ask two chinese people if they know somewhere to eat. Seeing our Laowai faces they instantly direct us to KFC, however when we tell them we prefer chinese food they offer to show us somewhere near by. Getting to know each other while walking to the restaurant, we find out they are students by the name of Vienna (a girl) and Lulu (a boy). We reach a crossing, where they point us in direction of a lady on the street firing up some tasty dishes in her wok. We say our goodbyes, exchanging numbers and arrange to meet the following evening (fingers crossed for Karaoke - Neil). An hour after arrival Anqing friends already made :)