This morning Andrew suggested that we rent mopeds to tour
the surrounding areas. I have never
driven a moped and would have preferred the exercise on a bike, but everyone
wanted to ride mopeds and I thought it would be cool to try something new. With a deposit and a driver’s license we were
turned loose on the streets with 4 mopeds.
Six of us rode with a buddy and Emilie started out by herself. It was a little nerve wracking to weave in
and out of traffic and people, but eventually we made it to a main country
road. I loved the looks we received as
we passed locals and tourists alike on bicycles and in buses. I guess white tourists on mopeds are not a
common occurrence.
We came to a tourist attraction of a mountain with a hole in
it. At the bottom women carrying coolers
with drinks, fans, and umbrellas joined us.
They said it would take 20 minutes to get to the top. From looking at the top I did not think it
would be possible to climb all the way to the top in twenty minutes and thought
maybe we would get to a look out spot.
At the bottom of the hill the water carried by the ladies
cost 2 yuan, but they climbed with us and so did the prices. After an endless amount of stairs we reached
the hole in the mountain and the water cost 10 yuan, but I got her down to
5. I figured she deserved the extra 3
for the hike up. We continued up a dirt
path and were able to reach the tippy top of the mountain looking out over
dozens of peaks. It is so beautiful
here, but there has not been a clear day with no smog since we have arrived in China.
After the climb back down it was my turn to drive the
moped. I took it for a few laps around
the parking lot then we headed out on the main road then off onto a dirt
path.
The path took us passed rice fields,
over streams, and through tiny villages.
I fell in love with the moped within 5 minutes of being on it. I loved driving through the rural scenes with
mountains in the background.
This was definitely
a highlight for me on the entire race.
We were out in the middle of no where with water buffalos and rice
fields on the side of the road when a lady approached us. She had postcards in her hand to offer to us for
a “cheap price”. She was not the last
villager of the day to offer us souvenirs. The path wound through taller,
rockier, steeper mountains and along a river.
We stopped for lunch at a restaurant along the side of the river and
were not too surprised to find an English menu.
Lunch was delicious cheap local food.
After lunch we headed back on the road and I was driving
last in our parade of mopeds. I heard
what sounded like a rock popping out from the side of my tire. Within a sort distance I realized it was not
a rock, but a flat tire. I beeped my
horn to stop the others, but they did not hear me. There were many villagers around and I
figured my group would notice me eventually, so I was not too worried. But, I was a little concerned about getting
the tire fixed. I pulled over and waited
for them to notice I was missing. Within
minutes a man was by my side checking out my tire to find a nail.
He offered to fix the hole for 10 yuan or a
little over a dollar fifty. I agreed and
finally my group came back to find out what happened. The man pulled out a pump, patch kit and
tools to fix the tube, but in the process of taking the tire off he put a few
holes in the tube. He ended up putting 4
patches on the tube as his wife and some friends stood nearby to watch. With each new patch he raised the price. Finally he had the tube patched and it held
air. But then he needed to get the tire
back on the moped. For the next 45
minutes he worked the tire over the rim and tube. It was not easy, so he used large spikes, a
hammer, and any other sharp object he could find. Every time I went to check on the progress
there were more chunks taken out of the tire and I worried about the inner tube
having more holes. It was getting close
to the time when we were to turn the bikes in, so I was getting nervous about
getting back to town. I knew it would be
a miracle to make it back to town with air in the tire due to the 4 patches and
the chiseling the man had done on the tube.
Finally he finished the tire and it seemed to hold air. I was sad that our day on the mopeds ended
this way. I held my breath as we drove
back into town, but we had no more problems with any of the vehicles.
