MANCHENG AND HAN DYNASTY TOMBS: DAY ONE

As I cannot check into the hotel until 2pm I take my time packing. I really should have done it yesterday but ran out of time. I have decided to cycle to Mancheng and explore the area, also to visit the Han Dynasty Tombs if possible. The weather is fine, I have breakfast, shower, pack, and tidy up. I'm travelling light as I'm on my bike, so I have a small rucksack for the trip. I make a careful list of everything I need, but time gets away from me a little and I leave at about 12 pm. I decide to have lunch locally before setting off properly as I do not know to what extent I can rely on the food in Mancheng, so I eat at Jack's hot-pot restaurant although to be honest, I'm becoming jaded with this sort of food. I eat as much as I need and set off just after 12.30.

I take my time on the roads and hope nothing goes wrong with my bike. I've had the tyres pumped up and everything seems to be working OK. One thing I don't need is a flat tyre as this would mean abandoning my bike and travelling by taxi until I can get it fixed. I've printed maps of the area and directions, copies of the booking in English and Chinese, photos of the hotel and a map of the tombs so I don't expect to get lost. I stop occasionally for a drink of water from a bottle I'm carrying on my bike, and wear a face mask as it is rather smoggy today

After an hour or so I stop for a break near what seems to be a farm as I have passed outside the boundaries of the city into a semi-rural belt, and I see a shepherd crossing the road with a flock of sheep. We smile and wave at each other as he passes by.

Eventually I arrive at the edge of Mancheng itself, marked by a giant strawberry at a junction. (Maybe there are some strawberry farms nearby) so I cycle on and keep looking at the maps to find the hotel. After one or two moments of confusion I pull up outside, checking my photograph to make sure I'm at the right place. It's taken me about two hours.

I've anticipated some language difficulties on checking in, however in my experience these are easily overcome especially when you have everything written down in Chinese. I go to the reception desk and show them the booking. The two ladies in front of me become agitated and confused, speaking in rapid-fire Chinese, looking at the printout with puzzled expressions on their faces, and I begin to realise that something's wrong. I'm not altogether surprised but I do tend to plan travel carefully and usually have a back-up plan. I show the photograph of the hotel to check that it's right, but the confusing scene goes on and it's clear by now that they have no knowledge of my booking.

Finally I call Iris at home and amid apologies for the disturbance I explain what's happening and ask her to speak to the receptionist, passing my phone over the desk.

It turns out that the hotel is refusing to honour bookings from my chosen website, and is only taking pre-paid bookings from Chinese websites so the hotel is full. As I have a confirmed booking in my hand I'm unhappy about this and Iris offers to speak to the online booking service for me as at present I cannot get online. So I wait in the hotel foyer for about 10 minutes and she calls me back saying they will contact the hotel. In the meantime would I like Iris to try and find me another hotel nearby? Not expecting success I agree as the alternative is cycling back to Baoding. Iris calls me back a few minutes later and says she has found a hotel just opposite the one I'm in now and I can have a room for 2 nights, at RMB 100 a night which Iris thinks is suspiciously cheap and may be poor quality. I explain that I'm not willing to pay a cancellation charge for the first hotel owing to the circumstances and Iris agrees with me that they have failed to honour the contract.

Looking outside the hotel I can only see a filling station in front of me so I am not sure where to go. There is a building a little further down the road with yellow writing on it that may be a hotel but I'm not sure and am reluctant to trudge up and down looking for it as I'm somewhat tired from my journey. I'm asking Iris what to do when a smiling Chinese lady walks in and waves at me, so she is clearly here to collect me. We walk across the road to the building with the yellow signs. The room I am shown is a twin room,spotlessly clean and I'm happy to take it for two nights. This is a small, family-run Chinese hotel and the lady there seems very friendly. I guess the low price is due to the hotel having no restaurant so not being able to offer meals.

I can't thank Iris enough for this: I have a shower and relax, and following this Iris calls me back to say that I need to get a receipt for the hotel I'm staying in as the booking service may refund it as compensation for my misfortune. She also says the hotel will be taken off the website. I thank Iris and go out to explore the area in search of  something to eat.

I ride around Mancheng, which is not an attractive town. It's dirty, chaotic and seems to have virtually nothing in the way of good restaurants. I bumble around a few hutong and manage to stumble across a version of “Scrap Street” (near the university in Baoding) where I can have a cold beer and as it happens they actually give you a jar to drink out of!

This street vendor has traditional Chinese woks made of cast iron, instead of the flat-bottomed things I see everywhere!

Vegetable market in the hutong.

This vendor sells household goods.

The bar where I have my first beer!

This helps to restore my spirits but I begin to feel hungry eventually. So I cycle off in search of dinner and find a little hole-in-the wall hotpot restaurant where I see some Chinese sitting outside around a big brass Mongolian-style pot. I stop and manage to order some meat and vegetables, by gesturing, farmyard noises, pointing at other diners' food, pidgin Chinese etc. So I sit outside with my own brass pot. It's quite good and I have more than I can eat although the meat is a bit tough.

As it's still quite early I find my way back to the beer shack I've found and have another drink. I get talking to a couple of young people who work there although this is done through an app on their phone.

  Finally I head back to the hotel and go past a park where there are many Chinese dancing to cheesy music. It is probably about 10 pm by the time I go to bed.