The circus comes to town

Yesterday we finally hit a paved road after two weeks of rough travel and today we sailed into our first relatively big city. Since the last post, we've made our way North West from the city of Xiahe in Gansu province to Tulu in Qinghai. We chose the smallest roads possible on the map and stayed in sheep and goat herder tents, a yak tent, a monk's quarters, and our favorite, out on our own tent. This route is not for the claustrophobic. There are small villages and towns along the way where we replenish our water, buy food and repair our bikes (we've had to re-weld our bike frames three times each. Luckily there's a welder in every town.) We do not have to wait long before the entire town knows the circus is in town. I am the bearded lady and Pablo the Elephant man. So many people gather around us that it is even hard to see the shops we are trying to find. Instead of fighting the crowds, we use them... asking them for directions for those hard to find items. Our Tibetan/Chinese communication skills make for great entertainment. By the time we leave the towns a huge crowd has assembled to see us off. Our goodbyes are answered in chorus and we feel as if a whole crowd of friends is seeing us off. Nevertheless the whole experience is a little bit draining and we are more than eager to set off on our own. Ahh we are being kicked out... we'll post again in another 500km.