a bike ride…
So Gerald, Ray & Dan headed out one morning on chinese mountain bikes, which are just like the american ones, except they suck. The day before, Gerald (a scotsman living in London) & i had biked from my new home town Yangshuo to Moon Hill where we got lost on purpose, discovering a neat little village
, a beautiful view
, and Yangshuo again by mistake
.
On this morning though, the three of us headed towards Fuli, where we encountered a military vehicle @ an intersection. two uniformed men sat in a green truck on which a large speaker was mounted. Which played…pop music. China is not much of a police state apparently. As long as Deng Xiou Peng’s reforms stand the Communist party-which isn’t very communist anymore-will stay in power. The people have the potential for everything now-“To get rich is glorious” said Peng in the 80’s- mini skirts, discos, nice apartments, everything except the right to protest & vote. The Republicans must be jealous.
Gerald & ray are pefecty companios for travel. At this intersection we discussed what direction to take, someone suggested “this way” & off we went dowb a dirt road. Within a few hundred yards we encountered another intersection and spent 5 minutes discussing politics before setting off again “that way.” We came to rice fields, got stuck, turned around, got muddy, laughed, politics and always plenty of patient stops for photos. Perfect. And no idea where we were exactly. we came to the Li river just in time for a boat trip across. 2.5 yuan each, 2.5 yuan for each bike. No price increase for tourists on this small utility barge.
After an hour of biking, an hour resting under some big bamboo trees-Ray’s Persion version of siesta- and some more biking we found a riverside village for lunch. The restaurant was closed though and a big group of English kids from China Climb-an adventure tour group in yangshuo-had just arrived. I stripped to my bright red Patagonia boxers & went for a swim. The river was cool, the kids loud, and soon Gerald joined me. A light current in the middle pushed against us as we floated. Ray was spotted sitting on a veranda, a local gentleman setting up an umbrella. Ray is quite the dealmaker, whether the market is global or village. All i can say is “Tai gui le” (too expensive)!
Ray making a deal en route…
Returning to shore we found Ray sitting with a big pot of tea negotiating lunch. I left at some point to take pictures within the village & came across some Americans making their way to a restaurant supposedly down some side “street.” There was a sign, but no menu. They spoke no english, we no chinese so I pointed to a rice cooker, said the word for vegetables (“cai“), and mimed the chicken dance while clucking. “Ahhh“! As I left I told the Americans “You’d better say no “CLUCK!” if you don’t want it!”
I checkeed back a bit later to find them on the roof drinking beer & eating candy bars: “we haven’t seen her!” Ah…China!
i returned to our own riverside lunch of noodles & green cabbage and egg-delicious, prepared in the dark, dirt floored “family room” below us. We we’re joined by a nice couple fro Kentucky -good Democrats both- whose guide, Wan (Juan?) was a delight. Informative, relaxed, great company versus pushy seller. He suggested arranging a boat back to Yangshuo: 60 Yuan each, boat to arrive @ 4:40 and we accepted. He brought out his cell phone-for everywhere in China they seem to work, even in this crazily hilled area. when in Yangshu, ask for Wan on West Street. he’s the best, very genuine..you’ll not even want to haggle much over prices with him!
After lunch we made our way to the shorline with our bikes and I encountered the Americans. “How was lunch? Did you ever eat?”
“Yes…she cooked us a chicken–the WHOLE thing.”
“What?”
“Yeah…she was out killing it!”
I was jealous! …but they had to ride back to Yangshuo, and Wan got us this…
Tags: Travel
mountainattitude
hey just wondering if those snazzed out mountain bikes have european or american hand brakes. thats it. no other comment about the travels, adventures or fantastic stories. lookin good bitious…keep it up. xoxo