It was getting cold on the road and we faced the prospect of six days of cycling so I and four others set off early for Lanzhou. We picked up a bus fairly easily and three hours later arrived in what had been voted the most polluted city in the world in the 1990's. We expected to have to walk around with face masks but were pleasantly surprised that at street level we could actually breath. We checked into the group hotel, the Eastern which had a beautiful marble foyer and great showers with hot water.
We spent the next few days touring the city, discovering the food markets and shopping centres. The food off the stalls has really been a surprise, places you would walk a mile from in most countries serve up delicious local food freshly prepared in minutes: you have to ignore the dirt on the floor and don't even think of going near the loos but the food more than makes up for it: dumplings, tiny kebabs of vegetables and meat cooked in boiling water served with noodles, pancakes stuffed with seaweed and sprouts, pastries stuffed with garlic and spinach, etc etc.
The Sunday flea market was also a great way to spend a few hours. Dozens of stalls selling jade, bronze bits and pieces, fake watches, stones, pictures and general "antiques". I think we all picked up something. The city did not have must else to offer the tourist though we did take a cable car up to White Pagoda Hill to catch the view but the smog spoiled it so we took the unusual step of taking the cable car down, you are meant to take a romantic stroll down past tea houses and beautiful views.
That afternoon the group cycled in so we returned to our hotel expecting to see a room list, when we couldn't find anyone we just happened to see Robert and then Dave on their bikes and putting two and two together we realised we were at the wrong Eastern Hotel. The group hotel was luckily only round the corner and was a dump by comparison, no Internet in the room, no restaurant, no laundry and no hot water when Mike checked in. We checked out and stayed down the road.
We then seemed to spend the rest of the time eating and shopping as next door there was a great Western Restaurant called Tiffany's and yes Breakfast at Tiffany's was truly wonderful so good we ate there three times.
Mike then took an extraordinary decision, to take a week off the tour! The next section promised five or six days of cycling including one or two days camping in increasingly cold weather and Mike decided to go touring instead, something he has never done on a tour before.
We spent the next few days touring the city, discovering the food markets and shopping centres. The food off the stalls has really been a surprise, places you would walk a mile from in most countries serve up delicious local food freshly prepared in minutes: you have to ignore the dirt on the floor and don't even think of going near the loos but the food more than makes up for it: dumplings, tiny kebabs of vegetables and meat cooked in boiling water served with noodles, pancakes stuffed with seaweed and sprouts, pastries stuffed with garlic and spinach, etc etc.
The Sunday flea market was also a great way to spend a few hours. Dozens of stalls selling jade, bronze bits and pieces, fake watches, stones, pictures and general "antiques". I think we all picked up something. The city did not have must else to offer the tourist though we did take a cable car up to White Pagoda Hill to catch the view but the smog spoiled it so we took the unusual step of taking the cable car down, you are meant to take a romantic stroll down past tea houses and beautiful views.
That afternoon the group cycled in so we returned to our hotel expecting to see a room list, when we couldn't find anyone we just happened to see Robert and then Dave on their bikes and putting two and two together we realised we were at the wrong Eastern Hotel. The group hotel was luckily only round the corner and was a dump by comparison, no Internet in the room, no restaurant, no laundry and no hot water when Mike checked in. We checked out and stayed down the road.
We then seemed to spend the rest of the time eating and shopping as next door there was a great Western Restaurant called Tiffany's and yes Breakfast at Tiffany's was truly wonderful so good we ate there three times.
Mike then took an extraordinary decision, to take a week off the tour! The next section promised five or six days of cycling including one or two days camping in increasingly cold weather and Mike decided to go touring instead, something he has never done on a tour before.
We have posted lots more photos on our flickr account
