Day minus 6
23rd June, 2013 Putting the bikes on the train.
Met at Beijing station to do the paperwork and stick the bikes on the train. This turned out to be more of an ordeal than we had bargained for. On a sweltering day, ended up in an endless farce related to the amount of petrol in the tanks.
As Fahni has some experience putting his bikes on trains in China, we did a cursory draining of the fuel before pushing them into the shipping lobby. Guards not happy with that, so we wheel them out and do a more thorough emptying of them. To get past the reserve tank level, I remove the fuel tap assembly from my tank, as it needed a new washer anyway. I also drain the carb.
With a bit of persuasion, the guards accept the bikes, weigh them and then Fahni completes the paperwork. All good.
Three hours later Fahni gets a phone call saying they will no longer accept the bikes. Back to the station. We spent another hour getting the last drips out of Fahni's tank using a rag cable-tied to a fish tape. The official still says he can hear fuel in my tank. I take the tank right off the bike, hold it upside down and shake it from side to side to show there is nothing inside. Get one of the officials to agree that it is empty and then put the bike back together.
10 minutes later another official comes along and says he can still hear fuel in the bike. I am nearly hysterical by this stage. One of his colleagues clearly doesn't believe him, but it becomes a face issue. I am getting agitated. What more can I do? Push the bike out again and perform the rag-on-a-fish-tape pantomime for their benefit. Of course nothing comes out, but face is saved and he finally accepts the bikes for the second time.
Aaaagghhhhh.
We hope this isn't a sign of things to come. Some have suggested that the official wanted a bribe. I suspect he was just a fool.
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Several jars of pickled petrol later, and Fahni can complete the paperwork.

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Bikes accepted for shipping. We hope.