Chinese Administration 27th May

First priority of the day is attend the hospital for a supposed medical so that we can be issued with our Chinese driving licences, so our guide John takes us to the main hospital in Kashgar and on the 4th floor we have to wait for the correct papers to be prepared and then we are taken down as a group on mass to the 3rd floor where the eye department was located.
John our guide is translating and calls my name first because i am the first one on the list so we have to stand behind a line and then a nurse is pointing at a chart. Really clever this as the window to the right is streaming bright light through. You can see even the camera was having problems let alone the human eye. The picture is took at the distance we had to read it from




The chart had two sides on with the symbols of M, W, 3 and E with the other side having picture of plant, tree plane, chicken etc. Great she is pointing at the left hand side with the symbols but what am i supposed to do?
Ah this is for the illiterate (i know what you are thinking so stop it) and all you have to do is indicate with your finger which way the symbol is pointing. Oh i wanted the pictures. This started to get hysterical as we all stood at the side calling up, down, left, right to the person being tested to the complete disregard by the hospital staff. Guess what we all passed with flying colours
We then had to wait for another 30 minutes for i do not know what to then be told by John all done, we can go back to the hotel. Ahh! One slight problem the local government agency who will give us our number plates, wants to see the bikes and check frame numbers. Please, how many times were they checked at the border?
Some of the group where going off on an overnight trip down the Karakorum Highway so it was suggested that we took them up in two groups. The only problem was that Simon and Charles’s bikes were not back together yet. The group go off on there trip and the rest of us have to wait around to find out what is to be done for inspection of the bike.
Two hours later we then get told that all ok, they do not need to see the bikes and we can do as wee like. This is the only issue in China, no one seems capable of making a decision or use initiative, in fear that they may be disciplined.
Great lets hit the market and see if i can find a replacement pair of flip flops as it is the largest in Asia. To get to the market we have to go through the Muslim quarter which is the oldest part of the city and typically, as we are finding on our travels they are usually the in the worst of repair. As you wander through it does not feel like China


So across the river we head and into the market and it is very organised having areas for food, electrical, clothes, shoes and hardware. The only flip flops i could find were for young kids as everything else full leather shoes of varying colours and styles.
Colin was with us and he was looking for fork oi,l so two of the 8oo’s will need fork seals replacing. He looked all over the marke but it was on his way bike under some bridge arches he found a place that had exactly what we needed.
Shopping done for the day so back to the hotel and get some of the blog up to date.

7118 miles – Kashgar, China