Markus and I have cycled almost 1500 KMs in 13 days- A journey from the Taklamakan desert in the Xinjiang provence to the city of Golmud in the Qinghai provence. It would be best described as a tough ride across empty horizons. We never passed more than 3 settlements in any one day and some days we passed nothing at all. But in this great emptiness was also a great beauty.- From rolling sand dunes to a great lunar landscape to barren mountains. We passed just a handful of streams but these were all too salty to drink from. We passed very few places to eat but we were carrying a lot of food and we never missed an opportunity to restock our supplies. And food throughout China has been constantly brilliant. Arriving in Golmud was a massive relief. The massive choice of restaurants and supermarkets and basically just the choice of food was enough to keep us smiling. Markus's visa expires on Monday and it was a Thursday afternoon. We needed to reapply for his visa extension today. And this is where the real bad news hit us. When we are out in these remote areas on a bike, you pretty much lose track of all news from the world. Your day revolves around food, water, weather, distance and a place to sleep. It turns out China is celebrating its 60th birthday and so we were into our first day of 8 days public holiday being declared across the nation. The only PSB (Public Security Bureau) able to extend visas in the whole provence for the next 8 days is 800KMs away in the provincial capital of Xining. We are advised by the PSB in Golmud to get to Xining fast. Our plan of getting our visas extended in Golmud and heading south along Highway 103 and then east across to Yushu was now impossible. We had little choice, but to follow the Golmud PSB officers advice and take the next train out of Golmud and extend our visas in Xining.With the help of the most coked up, aggressive natured and frightening police officer, we managed to get two tickets for tomorrow evenings' train to Xining. Everything seemed in order. When we arrived the next evening at the train station, it was decided (after 30 minutes of ridiculous commotion), that the bicycles couldn't go with us on the train. Security procedures meant that the bikes would have to go on a freight train tomorrow morning and we would get the evening passenger train. You would think it couldn't possibly get any more ridiculous than this, but it was just starting. The whole process was so ludicrous, its just too much to go through it all now. To make a long story short, the next morning we arrived for check in at the freight departure area. There was police everywhere, with Alsatian dogs, with loudspeakers barking out orders (not the dogs, the police)...We weren't allowed to transport our cooking stoves, our knives, batteries even glue for our puncture repair kit on the FREIGHT train. We would be leaving town 9 hours later on the PASSENGER train and as far as the police guarding the freight were concerned we could bring it on the passenger train. It wasn't their problem. Needless to say the police patrolling the passenger trains would never have let us board a train with a bag full of knives, stoves, glue and batteries. The standoff lasted over an hour with one police officer almost crying (not due to us but due to the intimidating behaviour of her fellow police officers in a ridiculous situation). These stoves are worth €150 each and were emptied of fuel and if they are allowed on planes across the world, I can't understand how they can be refused on a Chinese freight train.Looking back now, it makes me laugh rather than annoys me. The tension that was in the air that day- The level of genuine brain washing that is used in the turning of people into machines, that these people endured to successfully qualify to become police officers. In the end, we refused to board the train and demanded our money back. Our names and passport details were recorded in little black police officer books. And we walked across to the bus station. The friendly bus driver helped us load up bikes and we were out of Golmud and on the road to Xining that evening. Who knows, maybe the police were responding to a tip off that this train was a suspected target for terrorists. But if not, I can think of any other reason why our bikes on board that train required the services of almost 20 heavily armed officers. Its good to get out of Golmud. I'm looking forward to getting to Xining.