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(2 October)
We got up fairly early and walked to the top of the Market road to rent bikes! Then we started what seemed like a suicide mission to get out of the town and into the country (sorry mum! Don't worry, I survived haha).
I may have mentioned once or twice that the Chinese drive like crazy people! There's no real order or anything. We were following our local guide through traffic, which was ok when we were around the cycle lanes, but when we had to cross a junction it was basically a free for all...just drive into the middle of the traffic and hope that it stops! There were a few scary moments but it was fine at the end of the day... They don't really drive fast it's just that they don't seem to stop or have any rules... It wasn't too bad after the first few times but I don't think I'd want to experience it again!
Once we got out of the town and onto the country it was beautiful! Loads of green mountains and rice fields... It really was awesome! After a while we stopped for a break at a garden type thing with a pond that was really cool. Then we went across the road to an old Chinese house! This was so much fun. There were a few families living there and it was built by their ancestors who were generals in the army. It was really cool! The man who lived there was actually the happiest man in the world!! He ran around the house, first showing us the big stone grinder thing that they used to make tofu. Then he showed us big lumps of stone that the people used as weights to keep fit for the army. They weighed a lot...I can't remember how much, but the boys all struggled to lift them. This wee old man just lifted it above his head like it was a pillow! Mental. Then he was having the time of his life getting all the boys to try it with him for photos... I've never heard anyone laugh so much! Only phil managed it without a bit of a struggle. (I attempted to lift one with both hands when they finished... Guess how that one went!). Then he showed us the pump for the well, and his birds, who did backflips when he told them to! It was so fun, got some videos I think which I'll try and get up later! After all this we went inside to a room covered in pictures from all round the world that people had sent him after meeting him! He really was a lovely man. There was a massive jar on the table full of snakes and things with all this goo, and a shot glass beside it... Apparently they take it to ease the aches of old age...needless to say none of us were up for a try! After this there was a quick look at the kitchen area and then we left. I gave him a wee donation towards the upkeep of the house cos it was actually such good craic just seeing that wee smiley man!
We moved on and cycled through the beautiful scenery for a few hours, it really was so much fun. We passed over a river and watched the bamboo rafts going down it. We went off the main road on a path through the rice fields to secluded dock on the river and cycled past the people working in the fields with their triangle hats on. We even had fireworks go off at one point! It really was just the most enjoyable day! Then we stopped for lunch, at what was supposed to be a "farmers house" but was definitely more like a farmers big massive restaurant in a barn haha. Out came the national holiday excuse again! But the food was good so oh well.
After lunch some of us wanted to go and do a dragon boat through the caves, so we went with the local guide and the others went back with Jenny. It was a bit of a fiasco to be honest, got there and it was stupidly busy, but our non English speaking guide wouldn't stand in the queue and instead spent an hour on the phone... I assume trying to get us in another way but not a clue. It was a bit bizarre, he seemed to spend the vast majority on the phone but not saying anything haha. Meanwhile we stood by the queue, really confused, and posing for so many photos for chinese tourists that we started considering charging them for the privilege! The Chinese absolutely love staring and taking photos of us, with or without them in them!
After about an hour mr Chinese man (or mr miagi, as we christened him) just started to leave, and we followed, confused until he got Jenny on the phone to tell us what we already knew...we were giving up on the caves haha. By that time we didn't really care though, just glad to be getting home!
So nice cycle home...until we hit the town again! Haha. Completely mental traffic again, and I nearly went into a rogue tofu cart that pulled out in front of me just after I had a shock from a passing motorbike...It had a man with a woman perched on the back, 2 legs to the one side...bit unsafe right? But then the woman was also carrying her baby, in that kind of "I could drop you on your head any minute but not too bothered" way that Chinese people do. I was like wow that's crazy... And then she started to BREAST FEED the baby. On the back of a motorbike!! Actually mental!
Want to make a quick note here about some crazy things about Chinese babies... They hold them really slackly in a funny way that I don't really know how to describe! They also don't wear nappies! Because they think it's unhygienic. So the kids wear trousers etc with holes in the bottom and when the mum reckons they need to go they hold them over a bin... anywhere like! It's crazy. In sure there was another thing I wanted to say but I can't remember now haha.
Ok so, once we survived the traffic and got back to where we rented the bikes, Jenny said we could have then for another few hours, but i kind of value my life, so went back to the hotel and chilled out for a bit, getting one of the warm fresh donuts on the way (actually epic, but you feel a lot more guilty when you watch them being fried in front of you!).
That night at dinner we had a "hundred year egg" dish - I don't think it is actually a hundred years old but it was black and tasted pretty foul. Jenny told us that it would actually be our last dinner with her as there was a problem with her permit and she couldn't come into Hong Kong with us! Talk started about her tip, and Phil came up with the brilliant idea of printing the photo of our whole group at the great wall on a card for her as well! I'm pretty sure that night i just wandered around the Market for a bit on the way back to the hotel, then left my laundry to get done and hit bed cos I was shattered!
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