October 3

We arrived feeling properly second hand.  We had about 8 hours until our connecting flight and we decided to head into the city.  First stop was to drop our luggage off which sounds easy, but when your bike doesn't fit through the security x-ray, it means an hour of negotiation.  We somehow regained composure on the train ride into the city and quickly realised we arrived just after National Day.  Tiananmen Square was jammed packed with people and we tried to escape as quick as we could after we spent some time checking it out, but that was difficult with the all the road closures.  Eventually we got back to the airport to receive another nasty surprise from Air China's excess baggage policy.  Having bikes, trailers, camping gear etc, we had no choice but to check everything in, but we got annoyed when we see people carrying on the equivalent of a supermarket isle jammed into woven plastic bags the size of a family tent.  It was nice to be heading home, mainly so we could change into some clean clothes.

Motorbikes with pictures of Rob