Monday October 27, 2014
Monday October 27, 2014 Train 2,000 miles The night before we left Kashgar my intestinal illness reappeared with a roar. After so many antibiotics we believe the Giardia parasites are still dormant inside our intestines and surfaces at the worst times. The vomiting, diarrhea and nausea is really getting old. We slowly worked our way to the train station where are bikes and most of our panniers were packaged for a follow up freight train. We were unaware that our bikes would travel separately and since we were planning to train all the way to Chengdu (another 600 miles from Lanzhou) we had them freighted all the way and hope they are there at the end of the week.
The ride from Kashgar to Urumqi took 25 hours and did provide me with lots of bedtime as we were in what is called a 2 berth soft sleeper. Making my way to the train’s tiny squat closet was very unpleasant though and that happened a few times every hour. From the Urumqi train station we found a decent hotel which again provided me with much needed rest. Jocelyn’s bout reappeared during the end of our Pamir Mountains ride. Crackers and watered down noodles was all I could stomach.
After two nights we once again were on the train, this time to Lanzhou. While waiting for the train we met our friend Michael from Switzerland. We have caught up with him many times. He also has a 30 day visa. There is no way to cycle across China in that little time so most cyclists use the train for part of the journey. Other cyclists ride their 30 days then fly out. We hear that visa extensions are easy to get but require 5 days. We do not want to spend any more time waiting for visas.
We are looking forward to biking again as the last several weeks we have been in limbo waiting for visas then busing and training. After Chengdu we hope that the remainder of our China biking time will put us in Laos.
Now you know that KFC is one reason I worked at Melbourne campus…just saying how it was always a good deal! I hope that the train rides will be memorable as you are making a quick trip with the distance you have to cover…Movin’ on! I know you have a good chance of making it south to Laos if the weather holds for another month. This is a truly amazing world, and I am glad that we can chat on Skype often! Love you always, andee