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Published: September 22nd 2009
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2:30 am street food - The last time I was in China I promised myself that if and when I returned I would invest in a motorized ride. Well, I'm back - so on to the hunt for a set of wheels to call my own.
This past weekend after a solid night of partying (2 clubs, dancing and street food.) A group of us were up and ready to head out in a search for wheels!
Our lovely little group consisted of 3 neophytes (myself included) and 4 well seasoned road warriors that earned their stripes weaving, dodging, and maneuvering the video game like traffic of Wuhan.
Strapped to the back of one of the teachers bike's (might I add, it was a lovely 1938 vintage side-car) we headed to the next town over. We were definitely a sight for the curious eye - a tight little group of foreigners all on motorbikes/scooters and a side car. Side cars have become a rarity here in Wuhan, add that fact plus a foreign owner of said rare, side car and you got yourself a rolling attraction.
When we reached our destination, the fun began - the area we stopped at had a scooter strip. There
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Still wrapped in plastic, new as can be. seem to be plenty of streets dedicated to bikes/scooters. Anyways, we searched and hummed and hawed. The weekend before one of the teacher's gave me a lesson in scooter riding. Though I did enjoy his scooter i really wanted to find one that was a little smaller and would eventually make the transition of riding a motorcycle easier. But where could i find a scooter that was like a motorcycle but not as complicated? The thought of shifting gears and fiddling with a clutch and multiple brakes seemed like a venture that would lead to me being creamed on the side of a bus. So no thanks... but where was this lovely vehicle that I'd heard mentioned by some of the teachers?
Low and behold there she was! Initially one of the teacher's spotted her in the back corner of the honda store. A lovely Honda wave featuring four gear shifting with no clutch!!! Oh She was lovely, but expensive! --- (insert sigh here)
I walked out of the store and headed down to the other end of the strip where cheaper knockoffs were being sold. There she was again... but cheaper--- oh knockoffs, they are called that for
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Wuhan warriors? Maple Leaf Marauders??? -- THE ADVENTURES BEGIN!! a reason. After testing out this scooter and not being entirely happy with the ride I was encouraged by another teacher to check out the original honda wave I initially peeped at...
Out she came in all her HTML/CSS purple glory! I'm not sure when it happened... it could have been when I first cranked the gas and took off with a wobbly start, or maybe it was shifting into second gear, i'm not sure when it was - but somewhere during that little test drive I fell for this two wheeled sweetness.
An hour and a half later and thanks to Steve R (Another of the teacher's on this venture who's mandarin/ bargaining skills are something to reckon with) - I was the proud owner of this sweet little scooter.
Another happy purchase later - myself and the two other teacher's were the proud owners of two lovely new scooters.... so now what??? MY adventure bug kicked into OVERDRIVE, but so did everybody else's!
Off we went - to the next town over for some lunch and general touring of the nearby country roads, town and to spy the infamous Yangtze river.
All I have are pictures
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peeking out at the Yangtze and this shortened summary of a fantastic experience. Our little biker/scooter gang is forecast-ed to grow even more after this weekend, it seems as though the two wheel bug is even more contagious than (inset recent pandemic here) .
We'll see just what kind of adventures the Wuhan warriors / Maple Leaf Marauders get themselves into!
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