February 15, 2023
Fixing the Bike
Something doesn't add up. It seems we either got ripped off severely yesterday with the noodle salad costing over $20 or the inflation that everyone talks about is really that bad. Or maybe the person behind the counter changed the weight on the scale. It seems impossible the salad weighed close to 1kg. I did some checking online to find that nobody else had an experience like this, but many people were complaining about the outrageous prices on the prepared food items. So maybe it was just inflation.
But when you compare to Thailand as I always do, you would realize that noodle salad cost over 600 baht. Just insanity when you know that same thing in the food courts goes for 60 baht. I was still leaning towards the idea we really did get ripped off.
Anyways, we wouldn't go back. A much better restaurant was found.
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That satisfying lunch finished, it was time to unpack the bike from the shrink wrap. I had done such a thorough job back in Texas that it took ages to cut the packing and then remove the bike. But soon enough I was back on the road with the plan of riding to the original bike shop.
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Once at the bike shop, the service was amazing. Since it was a brand new Montague purchased there, the guy recognized me and didn't even ask for the receipt. He said he would do a free warranty tuneup. It was supposed to be done on a day turnaround time, but when I was on the way back to my Airbnb on the bus he called to say the bike was finished! That was basically an hour turnaround time, very comparable to the service that I would get in Shanghai.
He did mention that the right brake handle was bent. That would be due to the airlines mishandling the bike which is always one reason why I hate taking the bike on planes this way.
The quickness of the job really surprised me because back in Austin Texas I had called a number of bike shops to find out a tuneup would cost a fortune and also take 5-7 days turnaround time. The general attitude they had was one of "We don't have this and we don't want to do the work" whereas the bike shop here in Vancouver was able to do things super quick. This is despite the high labor costs in general as mentioned in the previous post.
So who knows. Clearly people can and will do jobs if it's the right time and circumstances it seems. Similar to the Chinese restaurant we ate at earlier, the service was killer good and the food was delivered quickly. So you just never know.
I'm sure the pandemic had a lot to do with all this All I can remember is before the pandemic there was seldom an issue with great service and finding the right parts etc... There are a lot of things, positive or negative, that just aren't making sense this trip. I consider myself well traveled globally and can usually find explanations for things, but it is very difficult to explain anything these days.
Today's ride: 12 km (7 miles)
Total: 1,355 km (841 miles)
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1 year ago
Welcome back by the way. Yes I think you're exactly right with what you said. I suppose it'll take time to find out the full effects of the pandemic and where this goes for a recovery, but right now things feel quite out of order.
1 year ago