Bizarre scene as the circus of 130 cars hits town, the locals are aghast with the sight of it all. Some of the drivers ham it up with fancy dress, and period dress to match their motors. But there is universal smiling from them all as we pass. (Probably just giggling that we "foreign devils" can only afford funny old bangers, when they drive swish new ones.) But the locals are all out wavingat us at every street corner. Even the police smile and wave. Great atmosphere everywhere. The sights are incredible...as we are right off the beaten track. Yesterday for instance, we had to do a last minute diversion through coal towns (pollution, my goodness), and tiny farming communities. Poverty? sure. But very peaceful atmosphere looking after their crops, animals. I have a very different picture of China, and the Chinese from this trip. All positive. My good ness though, we should all start learning Mandarin, these guys are moving fast.
And now to Priscilla, as we have named the car. Priscilla was not good to us yesterday. Not good at all. My goodness we had a challenging day as we drove from Datong to a yurt encampment in Inner Mongolia. We must have stopped 30 times. BUT...Tim and I have advanced our knowledege of mechanics 100-fold. We changed fuel filters, adjusted alternators, and numerous other tasks. Had to. Result was that we limped home at 11.30 last night, that's about 6 hours after most. But one lot got back at 3.30am. Not fun driving in remote China, when you feel the car is going to die at any minute. But we made it. We slept in a yurt, and woke up to a surreal scene of being waved off by Mongolians, for our drive to Erenhot which is our last town in China before we cross the border into Mongolia tomorrow. The good news is that Priscilla went like a dream today (Tim will explan more about today). I attach a pic which show the scene. Now time for email backlog.
And now to Priscilla, as we have named the car. Priscilla was not good to us yesterday. Not good at all. My goodness we had a challenging day as we drove from Datong to a yurt encampment in Inner Mongolia. We must have stopped 30 times. BUT...Tim and I have advanced our knowledege of mechanics 100-fold. We changed fuel filters, adjusted alternators, and numerous other tasks. Had to. Result was that we limped home at 11.30 last night, that's about 6 hours after most. But one lot got back at 3.30am. Not fun driving in remote China, when you feel the car is going to die at any minute. But we made it. We slept in a yurt, and woke up to a surreal scene of being waved off by Mongolians, for our drive to Erenhot which is our last town in China before we cross the border into Mongolia tomorrow. The good news is that Priscilla went like a dream today (Tim will explan more about today). I attach a pic which show the scene. Now time for email backlog.
1 comment:
Greetings from all parsons downunder - what a feat!
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