China - Saturday

Today we went for a bike ride- Our driver took us to Honghua Lake, the local reservoir which doubles as an evacuation center (with chemical decontamination facilities, stockpiles of food and tents, and similar supplies for the apocalypse).  At the bike rental lot we got to test-ride dozens of bikes and pick our favorite variant. Being lazy, I went with a road bike since that would mean I could do less work.  Jeremy and Milo (our host) also chose road bikes, while our Chinese coworker chose a mountain bike. And we set off on the 18km ride! And we set off pretty hard.  Jeremy does triathlons, and I noted our host had proper form and pants tailored to stay out of bikechains... So he's not new to this either.  Robin doesn't ride much and had a slower bike, but he made up for these disadvantages by being almost a decade younger than us! We stopped once about a mile in for pictures, but other than that we kept a solid pace the entire circumference - frequently crossing that border between fun exercise and actual exercise.  I did have to slow down to reread a  "no electrocuting the fish" sign.  We generally took in the nature and people-watched the other people bicycling. Some mom steamed by on a bicycle for two with her kid as ballast on the back. I was impressed.  By the end I was actually drafting off teammates to be lazier. Of course, by that point Jeremy was pouring on the power because he could. So fun, but I was glad we finished.

After our ride we had time to kill before our lunch reservation (apparently we completed the biking part of the day faster than anticipated), so we walked a mile down to the Buddhist temple. The temple was gorgeous. Beautiful courtyard flanked by mini-shrines with an enormous (I'd guess over 10 feet tall) bell in one, and a similarly sized drum in the other. Expansive stone steps leading up to a bed of incense burning before the temple itself - all wood construction and bigger than a house.  Inside the temple was a giant golden Buddha, flanked by gilt goddesses. These goddesses were smaller, only 14' tall while seated. All against an intricately carved and gilt backsplash... it was awe inspiring. The same hushed tones and silence that I last saw surrounding the Book of Kells and in Cathedrals was also evoked here.

(Jeremy)

After admiring the temple in awe, we walked back to the lake for lunch.  Delicious food, painfully slow service, but luckily my housemates cat had stolen her meds, so we stayed entertained by status reports of just how high this kitty was. I emailed my girlfriend the following: "Going to an expat bar tonight. Getting a hamburger, and hopefully some fries. NOT GOING TO PULL ANY BONES OUT OF MY FOOD. NOT EATING LUMPS OF FAT LIKE IT'S NORMAL! " ... So young, so naive... The expat bar was more of an American-themed bar than an American bar, and their hamburgers were flavored, fatty, and dripped all over the plate.  However the whiskey sour that I got when I ordered a whiskey-coke was pretty great, and there were cigars on the menu! We ordered one for the novelty and then remembered why we never smoke cigars. The American themed band was actually really good though, with some quality Beatles covers mixed in with Chinese rock.

I'll leave you with a quote from the evening:

"I love the hubris of jumping in a taxi with a business card you can't read and a pocket full of cash, and saying 'Bàoqiàn, Měiguó*' anytime the cabbie asks you a question."

*"Sorry, America"

(Jeremy. Also this is what China thinks America looks like - pretty close!)