We had a leisurely breakfast today before chasing after our chores. First task was to buy food supplies for the rally in case we missed any stops or got hungry during the day. Lots of bottled water (not worth having fizzy on a trip that is likely to be bouncy!) and dried food.

  Figure 1 Our food shopping for the journey

Then back to the hotel in time for the lecture on Chinese road safety by the local chief of traffic police. Impressive set of 3 senior police plus an interpreter, all impeccably turned out and looking thoroughly competent. Fairly basic lecture but still quite useful reminders of the differences between driving in China and the rest of the world. Although warning us that we have to look out for cyclists, a category of road user with whom we might not be familiar, suggested they hadn’t visited Islington or Camden recently!

 

The lecture was a requirement for us to be issued temporary Chinese driving licences which happens on Friday before we are allowed to collect our cars.

Figure 2 Beijing’s head of traffic police explaining to us how to drive in China

The rest of the afternoon and evening was spent in the company of Patrick Debussere and Bernard Vereenooghe who needed a new battery while we searched the car suppliers of the city for octane enhancer. We don’t need it in China (at least Beijing) where 92 and 95 octane petrol and even the wonderful Shell V Power are easily available. But in parts of Mongolia and Russia we are uncertain. So we tried to find this.

 

There is an area in Beijing where there is a mall consisting entirely of people selling things for cars, which body shops and repair shops on the ground floor. Sam the interpreter for the rally team kindly took Patrick, Bernard Mike and me to this ‘car city’ to hunt for our needed supplies. Because octane enhancer is unnecessary in Beijing, the first 40 shops we tried had none. But just as we were about to leave Sam found some. We have invested heavily in the product! Patrick and Bernard have a beautiful 1933 Dodge convertible (look out for BelgianDodgeBrothers on Facebook).

 

We got back quite late and decided to test out the restaurant across the road from the hotel that had been highly recommended by not only other ralliers but also even the staff from the hotel. Despite minor communications issues, we had our best meal so far. It also happened to be the cheapest, the meal for four costing about the same as my lunch in the hotel the previous day. The Beijing duck was a revelation.

 

We came back to the hotel full and happy. Tomorrow we collect the cars and things start to get exciting! The buzz of anticipation is getting even stronger as everyone starts to focus on the rally.

Figure 4 Rowena and Mike eagerly anticipating a wonderful Beijing duck feast in the restaurant across the road from our hotel