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Published: October 12th 2009
Tuesday.
We woke up a bit earlier than we would have normally because it was going to be a big bike riding day, and we wanted to not start in the think of the heat. Our destination, Dragon Bridge, a place to swim and relax.
Along with Jimmy and Cali, we met Greg and Maury at, once again, our favorite cafe, Kelly's. We had a big breakfast and were set to go. Ahead of time, we rented bikes from our hotel. Jimmy and I got mountain bikes for a bit more money, while the girls got regular road bikes. Greg and Maury rented from their hostel somewhere further away.
To start, we knew the general direction to go in because it would be the exact same from the other day before. However, once we got going and passed where we had been, the path not only got less familiar, but increasingly bumpy with stones and uneven terrain. Staci was sure to point out how she wished she had a mountain bike.
We got to a huge fork in the road. It just so happened to also be home to sellers of everything we'd constantly been refusing for the past week. No, I did not buy anyone back home wilted flowers to put in their head, even if it was bundled together with a warm bottled water. It may have not been the greatest idea to follow up refusing to buy from them by then seeking their advice on directions to Dragon Bridge.
Greg, who speaks and understands basic Chinese (more than most people in our entire program) literally was pointed in two opposite directions by two different people at the exact time. It seriously looked like the scare crow in Wizard of Oz. Finally, we got what seemed to be a better sense of directions. We didn't have to pay them, but I wonder if we would have been given better directions had we bought some of their water. Probably not. Regardless, their directions took us on one of the most irritating bike rides up and down rocky dirt paths any of us could have imagined.
It was never ending. Our water supply was down to a mere few drops and the sun kept shinning down on us brighter and stronger. Alas, we came to the ending of the rocky dirt path, where we were greeted to a perfectly paved highway road. Not exactly certain of our surroundings, another random person came up to us indicating she knew the way. It didn't appear she was selling anything, at least at the moment. Many people try to get you to follow them if they know you want to go to the water because they will then expect you to choose their bamboo boat to float down the river on upon your arrival. Lucky for us, none of us were planning on going bamboo boating anyway.
After the paved road, another dirt road with boulders and pot holes awaited us as we made it through a small village like area with huts, houses, and farmers killing chickens in the middle of our path. I guess bicycling can now be considered a not always vegetarian activity.
Finally, we made it. Dragon Bridge is located on the Yulong river. Feel free to look it up online to see pictures, as we will not have much to offer.
Of course, there was an array of bamboo boats to choose from with their owners ever so politely (except not really) explaining how they had the best and the strongest boats. It was nice not to have to choose a boat and a price as all we wanted to do was swim and work on evening out our very pronounced farmer tans.
We parked and locked our bikes and headed on to the bridge to take a break and catch the wonderful views. Apparently, it is a popular place to do wedding photos--we witnessed many different newlyweds posing near the river.
We found a spot pretty much directly under the bridge and changed into our swimming suits. Jimmy, Cali, and Greg wanted to jump off the bridge into the water (apx. 30 feet high?), but the rest of us declined, perfectly content watching. Their jumps were successful, the only injury being massive wedgie.
We swam around and enjoyed life for a while before deciding to head back, hopefully finding the correct path.
Apparently, no such path exists, as every path is correct, and beautiful in its own unique way. Yeah right.
We were able to make it out of the village, and in order to avoid the disaster of a path that was before, we decided to take a trail that looked more promising--I mean come on, a small Chinese woman with her big sun hat was on a bike riding it, why shouldn't we!
I should have mentioned the water buffalos sooner, but since they come into play now, here you go....
Near the trails and paths, there are, what appear to be giant water buffalo helping out in the paddies. Some of them are directly tended to by people, others are just roaming around having a blast. I was riding in front of the line and all of a sudden there was a family of three water buffalo, papa, mama, and baby. The baby was cute and much smaller than the huge mama buffalo who decided to charge me as my bike got a little too close to the fruit of her loins.
Just narrowly missing her horns as she attempted to turn me inside out, I switched my Never-Was-There-A-Better-Time-To-Have-One mountain bike into high gear and peddled off into the sunset. Well, there was no sunset, but that just makes it sound more dashing, doesn't it.
The rest of the group caught up with me and after counting and recounting all my limbs, fingers and toes, I was ready to go. Or so I thought.
The path we were on increasingly became thinner. Mixed with rocks and unevenness, it made for sudden stops to regain our balance. As the path continued, it was getting fairly evident that it was not a path intended for bikes, or lost foreigners for that matter! Soon, there were small ditches on each side of the path, making for any kind of a stop virtually impossible, as there would be no place to rest our feet. As I mentioned earlier, at times, stopping was a necessity. The first person to go down was Cali. It was a light fall, but a fall nonetheless. The second person to go down was once again, Cali. However, her fall prompted Greg to slip and they both went down in what appeared to be quite a beautiful synchronized flail of arms and legs. Again, nobody hurt.
I proudly claim the next two falls. By this point, the ditches on either side were getting a bit bigger. For my first fall, I found with the thinness of the path, it was hard to keep a militaristic straight line while riding. My front tire succumbed to the ditch, sending me sideways. For my second fall, I landed in a hole. Besides the many thorns, it was probably the nicest hole I've ever fallen into. Aside from a few minor scrapes and bruises, no injuries to report.
We saw what we thought was the correct path across the way, but we would have to cross a muddy, rocky stream. If only it was as easy as the computer game Oregon Trail. Jimmy forded the way finding a thin row of slippery rocks to walk across. I'm not sure how we did it, but we did, one by one, passing our bikes to Jimmy so he could put them on the other side. Next, we walked across, each step on the rocks felt like a potential last step before breaking a bone. Thankfully, nobody fell.
Back to riding again. Except what we thought was the actual path was more of the same good for nothing thin dirt path with rocks. We were officially in an irrigation field. We were officially ready to sign up for the next season of Survivor.
Sadly, the next fall would be the worst, and my poor little Staci Bear Jam Boo Berry Pie Sauce was the chosen recipient. By this time, the ditches on either side of the thin-as-two-shoes-put-together path, were 4 feet deep. Staci was in front of me and suddenly she lost balance and her front tire tipped over the ditch, flipping her in the air as she plummeted downward. It looked awful, and her screams of pain and horror made me worry something nasty as I ran to her rescue. She also landed in a bunch of thorns with her bike wrapped around her legs and arm stuck in between the roots of the tree she was under. I reassured her that I was there to help her, and waited for some of the others to come and help. We were able to get her bike out and slowly managed to free her arm. Jimmy and I each took an end of Staci and lifted her up to the top of the path where she was able to catch her breath and check her wounds.
Staci's back was bleeding through her white shirt courtesy of the flesh tearing thorns. Her knee was pretty banged up and bleeding as well. Her whole body ached, but nothing appeared broken.
It was a quick decision, and once Staci was able to stand up and walk, we all agreed to turn around, and look for any kind of help to get us back on track. We met up with some more water buffalo, nicer ones, but they offered no help, only a few snorts and a huge turd.
Greg used his Chinese skills with a passerby and we got back in the right direction, this time walking our bikes. Staci was unable to ride at the time, and in process of hearing Staci's fall and screams, Jimmy had thrown his bike down the ditch, damaging the gears and twisting the tire, making it extremely difficult to ride. We walked for about 20 minutes with the continuous help from a nice Chinese man and his family. It seemed like forever, but we finally made it to a path we knew we had been on coming in to Dragon Bridge. We stopped for a coke at a nearby stand.
Staci was feeling a bit better (but still in a lot of pain), and the paths were actual paths this time, so we all hopped on our bikes and rode bike. Jimmy was able to ride, but he had to work twice as hard to move. Along the way, Maury's tire popped, and I got a leg cramp. We all still managed to make it back before dark, but not without extreme effort.
Greg and Maury went back to their hotel while Jimmy, Cali, Staci and I returned our bikes, and headed straight to the showers in our rooms. We laid down and rested for awhile (yes, I tended to Staci's injuries like the knight in shinning armor that I am) before meeting up with Jimmy and Cali for dinner and drinks. Our bodies were sore and our minds exhausted, so naturally we ended up drinking a bit more than we should have. Except for Staci that is, who had a rare injury-induced moment of maturity (drinking maturity) and stopped after her 2nd drink. Who knows, if she had drank more, she may have had two knees to worry about...there's a lot of crazy paths here in China.
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Oh my!
Wow...scary entry...but so glad that all of you survived with just a few scrapes and bruises...sounds like the path less taken was not a good choice! What an adventure you will have to tell your children at some point in your life...one day they will hear this, look at their old mom and dad and not believe that you were ever capable of such adventure!:) But we all know better! Enjoy getting back to routine this week! Love you both!