Hey Hey and a Big G'Day toya,
 
Stolen bikes hey!
We'll get to stolen bikes soon!
 
I actually had the most wonderful day today which began with the movie 'Inkheart' which I thought was the most wonderful adventure and I wished that it never had to end. Sadly though all good things do have to come to an end and as it was such a beautiful movie I thought that a many hour ride in search of new villages would be the perfect adventure for me.
 
On my bus journeys too and from Xian I have noticed a building on top of the last hill that the freeway goes though just before the Shangzhou City exit so I thought I'd slowly make my way to this hill through the villages that can be seen from the new freeway and the bus window as we fly by. When you look at the photos at the bottom of the page my city is actually on the other side of the mountains you can see in these photos.
 
This link will take you to the top of one of the mountains on another temple adventure I took last year during which I took photos of my city.  
 
Like most of my village rides there were kids running everywhere and soon enough I had a few chasing after me. I stopped, got us all a coke each and after a short chat I was slowly making my way through villages full of beautiful white houses that made me almost feel like I was back in the Zhouzhuang Smurf Water Village, but with out the canals of course.
 
After several hours I finally made it as far as I could go and then had to find a way up the hill.
 
On the way up I came across, or should I say surprised the absolute hell out of the monk that was supposed to be gardening but was more like far far away in dream land as he stared off in to the distance. He looked so relaxed and far away, almost like he'd found his Nirvana so I tried not to bother him but as it was a dirt track a few stones clanged together and he came back to life with a bang and I'm sure he nearly chopped his own foot off in fright when he saw me struggling away up the road next to him.
 
A few seconds later he was slapping his knees in fits of laughter.
I know I look strange and all but I didn't know I looked 'that strange'.
 
I spent the next hour walking around the temple, some of the surrounding wheat fields and staring down at the traffic as it sped deep into the mountain below where I was sitting. After a cheerful good bye to the Monk and two children who seemed to have appeared from no where I slowly made my way back down the mountain and way across to the river that runs along the bottom of the mountains that separated me from my city. When I finally made it back I dropped into the Muslim Eatery for a wonderful 'cold noodles, beef and veg' dish before heading across to China Mobile where I was going to put money on both my phone and Luo Wei's.
 
As I am always careful what I do with my bike and where I put it I carried it up the set of stairs and put it right at the sliding doors. In fact the front wheel was inside the store and right next to my wheel was the information desk that had a rather cute China Mobile girl sitting behind it. Just a pane of glass between her and my bike. I had only taken about five steps and looked around to check my bike and surprise to me, it was gone but as I had only taken a few steps in a few seconds it didn't click straight away. The girl looked at my face and she then looked at where my bike was (about thirty centimeters from her side) and she then looked back at me and we both ran out of the store to stop and watch as my bike sped off up the road.
 
Normally I would have raced up the road and probably would have caught him.
 
But sadly I had been riding for about six hours and my legs wouldn't have taken me half the distance. We both just stood there as he disappeared into the crowds on Market Street that would have then taken him right down to my school. The son of a bitch probably rode right past it waving and the gate guard being the jolly feller that he is, would have smiled and given a big cheerful wave right back at him without any idea that it was my bike he was on.
 
I spent the next few hours walking around the city in hope that the guy who stole it was just using it to get from point A to B like what happened in Guangxi. My bike disappeared and was soon found twenty minutes up the road at the supermarket. A few of us waited but no one ever came to claim it. So there you have it, my first stolen bike in China in just over four years. I've killed three, still have my dream bike at Guangxi Brads house and have now had one stolen.
 
My chopsticks will fly in a flurry of furious frenzy if I find out who stole my bike.
 
You can steal a mans iPod, his computer and even his girl (only because 'to be stolen' actually means she wants to go) but never, EVER steal a mans Beers N Noodles and defiantly not his damn bike, especially when he's just started riding again and the weather is perfect riding weather. But if you're hell bent on stealing his bike, don't steal it when he has a bloody four day weekend coming up.
 
That makes it like one hundred times worse!
Beers N Noodles toya.....shane
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The soundtrack to this entry was by Eskimo Joe
The album was 'A Song Is a City'
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