Inspiration to realisation

Over the past few months we have seen a few of these amazing bikes around China.  Our recent trip to Xi’an and bike number 2 being on it’s last legs inspired Mr T to go for it and get one for himself.  The design and selection of parts was quite challenging as the shop owner spoke no English, but with the help of a Chinese friend over the phone an understanding was achieved.  We were able to trade in Mr T’s old bike for over half the price of the new one which was ideal considering the pedal nearly fell off on the way to make the trade.  We feel like we got the better half of the deal but I am sure the bike owner will be able to make something of his old bike with a little TLC.  We have been lucky to have beautiful crisp Autumn weather these past few days and have been out enjoying the city and our bikes.  With each ride he is becoming more confident on his brake free bike.  Lets hope we can hold onto it longer than his first bike (nicked after six days)!

Mrs T

Weekend in pictures

Another week has flown by with a fun filled weekend to finish it off.  We found ourselves up to Beijing for the second weekend in a row, out on the town in Tianjin, shopping for our newest addition, and enjoying the autumn weather with a bicycle exploration.  This time next week we will be in Xian checking out the Terracotta Warriors!

Beijing Take One

For our first school holiday we took a mini trip to Beijing, inspired by The Killers playing in concert there.  We were warned that the National Day holiday is not the best time to travel to hot spots like Beijing as they are even busier than usual.  We ignored the warnings and were amused to find them very true!  Most obvious was our trip to Tiananmen Square, which was a result of going to the Forbidden City and being deterred as it was so busy you couldn’t even move once inside.  We didn’t make it into Tiananmen square either as walking towards it as far as our eyes could see was wall to wall people.  There was some silver lining in that we found a great little art gallery and got some lovely paintings for our apartment.  I guess we will just have to go back to Beijing for some sightseeing. lucky for us it is a quick 40 minutes up on the train.

Mrs T