Vroom vroom

So we went out and purchased new bikes to get around. Given all the stories I have heard of bikes being stolen we kept it simple and went to the local carrefour (think k-mart/meijers) and purchased some inexpensive ($50-$90) bikes so we could get around.

This one is actually The Paying Customer's bike, his came with a basket & I was on a mission. I had stuff to buy and needed a way to carry it all home. Charcoal, steaks & beer!! Loaded up and headed back. The place we are renting came with a grill...good. But, the chinese are very environmentally conscious and lighter fluid appears to be very hard to find. I find this very odd given their passion for fireworks. I ended up using these small "lighter brickets" one small box came with 4 of them. They light easily enough, but take 5-10 minutes to heat up and turn gray, no flames, they just slowly heat up....then you wait for them to heat up all the "normal" brickets....took over an hour to get the grill going. Definitely need to track down some "boy scout fire water"....perhaps I'll stop by the local painting supply store and get some of uncle deans favorite camping gear :-)

This is my ride! It has several unique characteristics. First and foremost it was the only bike I could find that was close enough to my size. While the average height of the Chinese is increasing as each generation gains better access western style methods for growing food, the bicycle industry hasn't responded yet.

This is actually an american made bike purchased in china! Its almost big enough, has a rack and it folds up small enough to fit into the trunk of a taxi. Overall not a bad gig. Next step is to find a basket I can mount on the front and maybe dig up same panniers.

On the rack you can see the brand-new giant-branded bike pump I purchased ($7.50), The Works' bike had a flat and required some repair work, and some tools...and some time. Found the local sporting good store (decathlon.com.cn), overall a decent place to get bike, camping & ping-pong gear.