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It has been a relaxing few days. I've had lie ins, I've drunk English breakfast tea and I've eaten Marmite on toast. I've got really clean clothes and Little Wheelie is fixed and raring to go.

The Chongqing newspapers have given me loads of coverage. Front page stuff. It feels very odd indeed.



One news paper got so excited they completely fabricated a whole story.

The story goes something like this.

I was cycling along in the remote countryside. It was getting dark, so I slept in a cave for the night and had to fight off wolves with a fire torch. In the morning I woke up and carried on with my journey, only to be stopped by a generous local peasant who kindly gave me one yuan. He thought I was a poor and handicapped man travelling in a wheel chair and needed some help.

oooo how kind the peasants are !

I'm not joking. This is really what one paper wrote. Are there wolves in China?. More specifically are there wolves in Hunan ?

Everyone believed it. Simply brilliant.... but unfortunately totally false.

Sichuan TV wanted to do an interview with me before I left Chongqing. They arrived at the house and we headed out into the back garden. They gave me a list of questions.

One of them asked if I had any interesting stories. They also mentioned the 'Battling with the wolves story'. When I told them that it wasn't true they seemed exceptionally disappointed. I think they were basing the whole interview on that exciting fact.

When asked if I had any other stories I could share, I told them "I've met some great farmers and I saw a stick insect the other day". This just doesn't sell news does it. I guess that's why the newspaper made up the wolf adventure in the first place.



I had to explain how it works, why it works and what was in my bags. They also wanted to film me cooly putting on my gloves, cooly doing up my shoes laces and cooly putting on my sun glasses.

I find it hard to be a stereo type cool. I'm more of an odd sort of cool. Uncool is cool type of thing.



Then it was street shots and skids. With empty bags, Little Wheelie sure knew how to put on a show. Rad !





It seems that people have been reading The Bike section and have slightly misunderstood my writing style.

I quote myself here.

"This machine is designed to cover long distances without getting an aching neck, a sore arse or severe chaffing, plus there is no need to wear those ridiculous Lycra cycling shorts either. Excellent. I just don't have the legs for them !"

Basically the last sentence is the clincher. Before I arrived in Chongqing, there were quite a few people who thought I didn't have any legs.

They aren't much to look at and they maybe hard to spot, but they are definitely there.

I haven't seen much of Chongqing because I've been resting, eating, fixing, minimising, reducing, rethinking, uploading, storing, posting, collecting, writing and sorting.

Not forgetting having a great time.

I will be leaving Friday. Fully recharged. I've been very fortunate and have been treated exceptionally well. A grubby tramp like me, being let into such a beautiful house. Staying in the Ambassadors suite no less.

We had a dinner party the other night and I met some great people. A very relaxed affair.

I made a small presentation in the lounge and no one seemed to care that I was sporting some fancy blue fluffy slippers. Diplomatic fancy blue slippers to be precise.


I was made to feel quite at home and the slippers just seemed perfect. Everything else, including my shoes was in the wash anyway.

Little Wheelie has been chilling out in the back garden, having a good rest under cover. She did however come out for a spin at the party.

Finally Wheelie gets an elegant passenger.


The British Consulate General, Tim Summers also sporting slippers.



Lucy Chan Summers


Its very rare for Little Wheelie to be free from all her heavy bags, and on the perfect quite roads near the house, she moved like lightning. Not slow lightning. Real lightning.

In one of the papers I also promised to try the famed Chongqing Hotpot. Its not just that the pots are hot, they are basically bubbling cauldrons of pure Chili. I met up with some friends and was taken to one of the best local hot pot restaurants in Chongqing. None of this touristy watered down stuff. The real deal.

The fumes have already affected my eyes look.

Wang xiaoying, David and Connie. Liu Li joined us later.


The pot was divided into nine sections. Kind of like the game noughts and crosses, only the noughts were Chili's and so were the crosses.

You pop in raw ingredients, wait for something to cook and absorb all the chili flavour, fish it out, wash it in Sesame oil and then pop it in your already flaming hot mouth.



Wait for it
















My face went red and my body sweat profusely. You get a complimentary packed of tissues when you sit down, but I soon had this upgraded to a whole roll of toilet paper. By the end of the meal I'd used up half it mopping my forehead and blowing my nose.



The meal was delicious though and was great fun. I was told that it wasn't really that spicy compared to some, this was said just as the table next to us had a fresh batch of pure super condensed chili added to their already evil pot.

Chili is a natural stimulant, a stimulant that gave me quite bizarre dreams that night. Just as I was nodding off, I caught my self twice trying to fix the gears on my Trike. The rest of the night was even more twisted.

I recommend to it to everyone.


I also visited an Orphanage in Chongqing today with Lucy.

It was a very large place and had its own hospital section. Many of the children have cerebal Palsy or other physical and mental dissabilities. This little kid was quite a character.



Going through treatment and exercises must be extremely tough work for the children. If Cerebal Palsy is treated early, then the physical dissabilities can be greatly reduced.


This orphanage was very well managed and had dedicated staff. It was bright and cheerful, with plenty of space.


This evening I stripped down everything on Little Wheelie. I will now be travelling super light.

My total load now is a mere 18kg. That should help me get through the heat. I'm in the furnace of China. The Food is hot, the girls are hotter and the weather like an extremely hot hammer whacking you over the head.

What better reason than to push on along the Changjiang River.

Shanghai here we come.

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