Luxury holes in the ground.

Today's destination was Songpan, and we headed there without knowledge of what hotel we had to stay at ... just the name of a good restaurant ! Blind faith, or poor organisation ...probably both !

Must be cold staying in a tent in the winter.

No idea what this is all about (a shop, I think)

Empty roads.

Decent scenery.

Think this is a Chinese graveyard.

Stopped for gas & a pee ... luxury: a tiled hole in the ground !

The villagers make money selling horse rides to the city folks !

High up ... and therefore cold, despite the sunshine.

Yak traffic jam. Everyone just pushes their way through.

Made a mental allowance for the wrong co-ordinates, found the restaurant, met Emma ...

... and eat a Yak burger while waiting for our guide to send the correct co-ordinates for the hotel.

Which it turned out, we had already driven past. Grrr.

The boardwalk into the city had been washed away...

...so we had to walk in along the the road. Life in your hands job, it was.

No idea what this came from.

Yaks penis .... lovely !

The old walled town of Songpan...

... was now getting a little too touristy !

The Swiss lads had again decided to take a "scenic route" and arrived at the hotel some 5 hours after us, much to Abdul's annoyance.  But we re-grouped and walked back to Emma's Kitchen for our evening meal, but that was that.   All back to bed by 8pm, and I had still not spotted anywhere else to go for that final beer.

And yet again, this was another hotel which chose not to turn the heating on.  There was a glimmer of hope that seeing a switch on the air conditioning marked as "heat/cool", maybe it worked in reverse... but alas, after three hours on max heat, we got the room temp up a few degrees to 17 C.

After a cool night, it was only in the morning, did I discover a massive Karaoke bar behind the hotel... didn't think of looking there.

Yakety-yak (dont come back)

Glad I brought that jacket now ...

The hotel just would not turn the heating on.

 So after a noodle breakfast next door to the hotel, I put the thermals on and we headed out..

Heck, a Yak..... where did he spring from !

Stopped to spend a penny,  and the lady basically followed me in to collect it.

Meanwhile, John spots an opportunity to get his bike cleaned.

More Yaks.

A typical village.

And we reach our hotel in Langmusi early afternoon.... but again, no heating !

Guess this worked once.

Nice colours in the mountain behind me.

Went for a walk that afternoon, and spotted a restaurant called the Black Tent Cafe, which had a western menu, so excitedly told the news to the gang once back at the hotel.  It was a unanimous "Yes" to my suggested venue ...Pizza & Burgers ... nice change from noodles..

 But after nearly getting hit by a Yak earlier in the day, it was only fitting to eat one of his brothers !

Yak Steak .... medium rare.

On the way back, everyone headed to bed, but I had spied a coffee shop that during the day, didn't serve coffee.  So maybe in the evenings, they served beer .... only one way to find out !

Bends, views, fresh tarmac.... and bloody taxis.

The hotel did not do breakfast, so Abdul took us to a local cafe ... Noodles, noodles, or noodles ?

And then it was like the opening the cage door ... we found the G213 turned into this Monte Carlo style racetrack, with mostly virgin tarmac.  Nobody wanted to be tail-end Charlie that day, and off we all shot like demons...

But it wasn't long before we just had to stop for pics

... and poses.

Crowded mountain village ...

 ...had my first very close call here,.. we were entering the village, and a taxi shot from a road on the right without stopping.  Clearly his vehicle had clutch problems, or he was just too frigging lazy to do a hill-start on the junction... anyway, seconds later and he would have T-boned me.  Fortunately the Trannies brakes are pretty good and I pulled up in time.... but was so tempted to ease off the last few meters of braking and put a crease in his door ... but I didn't.  Swear words and some internationally understood signs had to suffice.

Yes this was one of the best days to date, and we were all pretty exhilarated.  Treated to bike to a wash as we had plenty of time to kill waiting for the Swiss lads !

But in Xiahe, the hotel again was not where it should have been, so we waited for Abdul to send us the correct co-ordinates.  He had now mastered to art of retrieving them from his mobile phone, so we were making progress.

With the altitude, comes the rain & cold.

Walking out, at 3000 mts, you notice the lack of oxygen, but at a steady pace, its not an issue.  I eat with the lads tonight, and we found a "Tibetan Restaurant", with an English menu.  Got offered a welcome cup of tea ... not yer regular PG Tips I have to add...

But the food was really nice, and identifiable....

No night-clubs to discover at this altitude ....to go dancing here, you would need an oxygen mask !

Keep searching.

Seems like during the night, Max's bike got attacked by a yellow bear ...

I know the culprit .... but my lips are sealed.

Heading out we teased by the information that we are finally shaking the desert off, and after 10 days, I'm not sorry to see it go.

Nice entrance to a town... beats a simple sign.

The roads were mixed ... we started on the Jingzhang Expressway, but then after 2 hours, we wove through Xigùqu, being a polluted dirty smelly city, before starting to climb the G213 into some better scenery.  But, the road was strewn with gravel on all the bends, so had to be a little careful taking pics while riding !

I took the lead, and by now, clearly the three of us (John, Jeremy & Me) had formed this alliance and pretty much rode as a group of three for the rest of the tour.  Arriving at our destination city, I confidently followed my GPS to our waypoint .... to find the actual spot balancing on a cliff over this lake.

It was clearly in the wrong place again.  So then the frustrating hour of calls to the guide, poor explanations of where the hotel should be, and then simply waiting for him to arrive.  I'm determined to sort this out and try to provide a correction factor.

Yes, the hotel ... which we drove past about 5 times before the guide arrived. Grrrr,

So after a quick walk, we opted for an evening meal ... coincidentally, there were just two cushions, matching the nationalities perfectly....

I was chuffed to find a Chinese beer that tasted good ... but on closer examination, it was only 2.5% abv.  Maybe I'll keep searching.

This was the largest glass they had !

The evening's routine was one where we eat early ... John & Jeremy would then retire, while I would continue on a quest for night-life, action, company, ... well anything really.... just not bed.

Seems like since the discovery of "cheap" LED lighting, every building has to have some...

China has hundreds of Karaoke bars, but you find that when you walk in, you are presented with an array of private rooms each with ear splitting karaoke machines.  You rent the room, buy some beer, (and a lady to serve it), then sing to your hearts content.  With a voice like mine, hardly conducive to an entertaining experience.

Well, after 2 hours walking, was about to head back when my eyes caught a sign - "Midi Music Bar".  That'll do.  No karaoke at least.

Sat down and was brought 5 cans of Budweiser !  Do they know me ??  There was some music, but it died quickly.  Then came some sunflower seeds, then some biscuits ? Then more Budweiser !

Then the attempts to talk with me, from five friendly guys and the owner/manager.  Oh it was difficult, but after 4 beers and a lot of smiles, I asked for the bill... it wasn't the ride that killed me, it was that bloody 2 hour walk.

And then the surprise ... they would not let me pay for anything. That bit I understood OK.  So with more smiles and handshakes, I departed.

Midi music bar, Wuwei : N35.9390 E103.3079 ..... and tell them the Crazy Welshman sent you.