Full steam ahead

Some of the fantastic food at Mengshan markets.
see all photos »

I awoke nice and early to the erratic, yet continuous sound of horns being blasted at the intersection just outside the hotel. I had experienced similar sounds in Sri Lanka, yet it seemed like the horns were used more aggressively here in China. Anyway up we were and before long we were digging into another noodle breakfast. Finally we had a full day of riding, well longer anyway.

The scenery was continually improving and after covering quite a bit of ground we pulled in for lunch. It was this lunch which highlighted how animalistic Chinese cuisine can be. It's seriously crazy, they eat EVERYTHING. I can understand that China went through a phase where it was either eat everything or starve, but they actually prefer the feet, organs, heads ... even though there are plentiful amounts of food now.

After lunch we cruised on to Mengshan riding a total of 82km for the day. At this point in the trip I was a bit surprised to the lack of culture we had experienced, outside of food. With some spare time we decided to venture into a local supermarket, it was here we discovered the wonderful Orion Pie. A little like a wagon wheel and quite delicious.

Once back at the hotel our search for dinner was on. Scott was surprised to find the night markets had vanished which left us stranded for a good meal. We were starting to get desperate before walking around a corner and finding the re-located markets just setting up. It seemed odd that they were setting up when Chinese have dinner quite early. We were told the markets were actually designed primarily for people meeting up socially after dinner they they would have snacks and a few drinks. The food was DELICIOUS including some mouth watering dumplings and beautifully seasoned eggplant! It was easily our best meal up to this point in the trip. Everyone turned it in quite early tonight as there was another long ride tomorrow.