Biking to the Moon

Before I report on my day, a little background. I love biking, but I'm not a big fan of riding on the street. I generally stick to bike trails. If I'm feeling adventurous, I might bike around side streets in my neighborhood, but I never bike on busy streets. Never. And I always wear a helmet, too. Until today, that is. We rented bikes this morning for the equivalent of $3.00 each for the entire day. Our plan: to ride about 40-60 minutes through town and out to a park called Moon Hill. It gets its name from the park's central feature: a big, mountain sized rock with a round hole straight through it, kind of like a big, full moon. What a ride. We cycled through an area with a long covered bridge where vendors were setting up souvenir stands, snd then we were in town. Cindy took a tumble, but thankfully she wasn't hurt, just dusty and a little scraped, so on we went. When we got to the main road, traffic was picking up--both bike and car traffic. Until the return trip this afternoon, this was the most traffic I'd ever ridden in. We rode around roundabouts and out past rice paddies. It was a great ride. I've seen so many bikers in China, but I never thought I'd be doing it myself. Frankly, it seemed awfully perilous before I did it. It was really fun, though. Here are some shots from the ride.












When we got to town, I stopped for a few shots. Here's a man lifting a broom out of a big stack. In the next shot, a woman carries her load of goods in the traditional manner.











As we got further out, the scene turned rural. Here's what I believe to be a newly planted rice paddy. In the shot after it, you can see a more mature paddy.











We saw lots of farmers out today. Here's one of them.





We rode over s bridge over the river, and we saw more bamboo rafts.





On the same bridge, we met a lovely woman named Mar, and she ended up joining us for our Moon Hill excursion. Moon Hill itself is quite picturesque, but I'm not sure that that's enough of a pay off. When we arrived, we were met by several women selling water and postcards who simply refused to take no for an answer. They followed us and asked over and over again if we wanted water. We said no, to no avail. To reach Moon Hill, you must walk up about 1,250 steps, that according to a guide book we referred to, and the women followed us as we walked, asking over and over if we wanted water. Mar spoke to them firmly but politely, and they finally left us, though we ran into others on the way up and back down. they have to make a living, I understand that, but it doesn't mean i have to like their persistence.

The walk up was physically tough for me--much tougher than the Great Wall. I suppose some of that is because of the difference in climate. It's hot and humid here, and that makes everything harder. And the stairs could be steep.





Rock climbers love this part of the world, and we saw a couple at the park today.





This sign at the gate might or might not be saying that climbing is prohibited.






We did eventually make it to the top. Here's Moon Hill itself.











Here are the four of us after our long climb to the top.





We walked back down and had lunch at a restaurant in the park. We met an English woman named Sarah there, and the five of us spent a nice hour or so chatting. Both Mar and Sarah are on solo travel expeditions that will last six months or so. I admire them both so much; I thought my six week adventure in China was something until I met them!

Our ride back to the hotel was through some pretty heavy traffic, but we made it back. As usual, we were exhausted by the end of the day. Tomorrow is another travel day. We pack up and head to Shanghai, our last destination.

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