Days 86-87-88

It was another day off for us group members whilst the GlobeBusters support crew went off to do their work checking on the ferry arrangements at the port.

There was a light rain all day long but this didn't worry me as I spent the day around the hotel just relaxing, sorting out photos, updating the blog, re-packing my luggage and checking out the headlight fault on my bike.

When the support crew got back we were notified about the plan to change hotel the following day in order to be closer to the ferry as the port had changed to another one nearby that dealt with freight and passengers.

Later that evening after our meal we made use of the facilities at the hotel and played a few games of ten-pin bowling which proved to be good entertainment for all.

So the following day we had a relaxed start before riding our bikes to the new hotel to drop off our luggage before taking the bikes down to the docks to be loaded into a container. The group members were then bused back to the hotel whilst the GlobeBusters support team ensured the bikes were safely strapped into the containers and the necessary customs paperwork was sorted.

The hotel was nicely located near a Burger King, so this was a nice treat for most of us that wanted a change from the Chinese food we had been having for so long. We went to the supermarket next door and stocked up on nibbles for the ferry crossing the following day.

Again, it was a leisurely pace the next morning just getting our stuff sorted as to what we will take on the ferry and what we will leave on the bikes or in the support van. We was told that we should expect not to see or have access to this stuff left on the vehicles for 2-3 days as this was a recon trip for GlobeBusters and they had not gone into South Korea before so didn't know how long customs would take to clear the bikes and van.

When we arrived down at ferry terminal we changed the last of our Chinese money into Korean Won before going through the gates. We were all amazed at sort of special treatment we were given with three or four staff escorting us all the way through to boarding the ferry ensuring the process went smoothly to process us out of China, a far cry from the process when we entered China!

It turned out that not only was this a new crossing for GlobeBusters, but we were also the first foreigners to have ever taken their vehicles on this ferry crossing and the head of Weidong Ferry was so excited about this that he personally wanted to ensure all went well and that our experience was a good one.

Once we boarded the ferry we were shown to our cabins where we had two people per cabin so that was better than the Caspian Sea crossing. Kevin & Julia were upgraded to a larger deluxe cabin suite that proved to be an excellent entertainments room later that evening where we had drinks and nibbles whilst rolling the dice in a friendly competition!