Bike Repairs

After the last week at or above 400 metres I'm finding it rather humid down at sea level.  Last night I waited until after 7PM before heading out to find something to eat.  I was hoping it would be slightly cooler.  It was; but still humid.

I stopped at several food stalls and used Google Translate on the menus to give me a rough idea on what was available.  There seemed to be a considerable amount of offal on offer!

In the end I picked a stall and selected four dishes.  The lady running the stall was trying to tell me something, but I didn't understand.  She eventually asked another patron to inform me I had chosen two soup dishes and suggested I only have one.  I agreed.

The soup had chicken wontons in it along with some greens.  The dish at the top left was thinly sliced cuts of cold pork with a dressing containing sesame seeds.  The top right was a bowl of boiled rice with a garnishing.  Total cost A$6.50

The following morning I went for a walk around the city.   Mid afternoon stumbled upon a bike shop near my hotel.  There was only one person present, the owner.

Using Google Translate I enquired whether he could replace my bike brake hoses.  "Yes.. No problem!"  (in Chinese) That was a slight shock as the last three bike shops had told me they couldn't.

Not wanting to miss the opportunity I quickly went back to the hotel return with my bike.  I then pointed out the broken wiring to the headlamp and "Yes we can repair that!"

As I left one mechanic had already started on repairing the wiring

By now it was 6PM and I wandered off to find something to eat.  This time I opted to go to a local bakery.  The neon lights were on and the streets were busying.

I bought a selection of buns.  Twice the quantity that I could eat as I intended to give half them to the guys working in the bike shop.  I'm not above giving a bribe or an incentive I knew the bike shop closed at 9PM and I gave them a bag of buns as I passed on my way to my hotel.

My four buns would be dinner and breakfast.

Two were savoury type buns.  One of them contained ham and egg.  The other was a plain bun.  The smaller one I thought might be a lemon tart but it's actually a custard tart.  I won't know about the last one until breakfast.

At 8.30PM I walked to the bike shop to check in progress.  The owner and one employee were still there and had just started on the brakes.  I sat and watched…… giving advice through Google Translate… whether it was ask for or not!

They eventually finished everything at 9:50PM.  Remember closing time was 9PM.  I took the bike for a test ride and declared myself happy before asking for the bill.  TWD$2000, about A$100.  I had thought I might do the job myself on my return home however as I watched them work I realised a special tool was required to crimp the brass olive onto the hose.  If I'd waited until I returned to Perth the bike would have needed to go to a shop and they would have charged far more.

So a win!

I need to take the bike for a longer test ride tomorrow.