Virtual China '98

Rain, rain and more rain! Our second day of biking in Taishan was as wet as can be. We started the day with a not-so-typical Chinese breakfast. Two of our helpful group leaders helped us choose dishes that we would like. We left luxury behind and headed towards Wushi Middle School on a crowded bus. The bikes were unloaded and we set out on our twenty-kilometer bike ride. After biking for about ten minutes, our leader for the day, Ben, decided to go and stop by a village. All we saw in the village were crops, houses, and chickens. After a little bit of exploring we came across an old woman by the name of Fong Po Fung, who graciously invited us in, and out of the pouring rain. We took advantage of this situation and interviewed the eighty-seven year old woman. After chatting with them for a while we set out again on our bike route. Biking nonstop for twenty minutes we decided to take a break and visited a duck farm. Unfortunately the ducks were scared of us and didn't give us a chance to take pictures of us. We kept on biking after having a drink and stopped by and old watch tower. We climbed up six tedious stories and took a couple of great pictures from the top. It was used to watch for intruders, especially neighboring villages. As soon as we left the tower, the rain got a little heavier. After realizing that e were way behind the other groups, we picked up the pace and tried to catch up with them. Then the rain got even harder, and then harder and soon it was pouring. You could barely see because of the thick fog and rain that splattered on your eyes. We biked and biked and biked and finally we saw the bike truck, but no bus. We were soaked to the bone. We stopped at the round about of Baisha, we were thinking of stopping at a gas station but then decided that it would be better to stop at a local hospital. They took up our request and let us in out of the rain. After all of the groups arrived, the bus came and we unloaded the food that The Peninsula hotel had cooked for us. The nurses allowed us to eat in their staff's canteen. We willingly accepted their offer. The staff offered us a tour of the hospital. Can you believe that we saw surgical gloves that had were being dried! Debating for awhile, the group leaders finally decided that it would be safer to not bike in the thunder and lightning and bus to the hotel. Since we still had a couple of hour left, our group leader, Mr. Koester decided that we should go exploring for factories. Our group came upon a fabric factory and shoe factor, both run by families. We had a nice dinner of noodles, fried rice, vegetables, pork, chicken, and watermelon. After dinner we went wandering in a night market in Taishan City and shopped for various things. Overall our day was very exciting and a great experience to remember.

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Jim Zahn

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