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Today as the children sat their mid year exams I headed to Baise for day and to have my bike serviced. I had tried to get the man in Tianyang to do it but I found over a period of time he actually had no idea about bikes other than putting them together to sell and filling the tyres full of air. On the last try I had Lisa come with me. Things were getting so bad on my bike that the gears were not changing anymore. So whilst I was showing him this he was telling Lisa my bike was fine! My seat was so loose it was about to fall off, so whilst showing him this he was telling her my bike was fine and that there was nothing wrong. Then there was the brakes etc!

I had had enough so I got up this morning, put my bike on the bus roof and journeyed to Baise and took it to the place where I purchased it. They were so happy to see me. Each time I had walked past over the last few months with the girls the shop owners they would always ask when I was bringing my bike back to get serviced. They spent the next few hours pulling the disk brakes and gears apart to service them. After putting everything back together they then tightened and oiled everything that moved. When they proudly walked my bike across to me I tried to pay but they wouldn't accept any money for the work. I tried and tried. I think maybe, as the bike cost so much money in the first place the servicing cost is free for a time. I tell myself this to make myself feel better!

I gave Canadian Sara a call and we met for a late lunch, a beer and some great chat. She's a real cool gal that one. After lunch we headed to a friends bike shop where I purchased my first pair of padded bike shorts. I've been riding several hours a day for the past ten years or more and I've never owned padded bike shorts. Saturdays I used to ride up to six or seven hours. How stupid am I to have ridden for so long without padded bike shorts! I wore them for the first time tonight. WOW, should have got myself a pair of those years ago. Putting padding in your shorts, what a great idea! After saying good bye to Sara I rode my 'like new' bike back to Tianyang which took me two hours.

When I got home I was covered, I mean covered with bugs. The little black buggers were everywhere. There were million and millions of them in the fields. What looked like a sprinkler system was actually bugs. True! I actually thought it was a sprinkler system in each field. What looked like hundreds of jets of water going into the air was actually swarms of bugs. For a clearer picture think of rays of sunshine streaming through the clouds but instead of staying still it dances around like a spray of water in a gentle breeze. It really is such a strange sight and not one I like. As they drift along swarms of them cross the road and cover you as you ride through them. Argh YUKK!

My eyes, nose and mouth get covered. One thing you can't do is turn your head. You MUST keep it straight. If your head is turned a little they go into your ears and you then have that horrid high pitch ZZZZZZZZ sound as many of them try to find their way out. Half the time I ride with my head down to try and avoid this happening which as I've written in a past entry, can be very dangerous here in China. I then have to spend the next minute or so hokkin like a bloody footy player and whilst doing so I ride into another swarm.

Enough of that, you get the drift I'm sure.

My bike is as new and now I'm happy and buggless.

It's now time for noodles and a beer.

Seeya next time.