Ch 27: The Best Force in the Universe to Have on Your Side

July 25

Man is it hot here. I can lose ten pounds just walking around in this heat. So what better way to spend the afternoon then riding a mountain bike around along the river right? We left around noon time, just in time for the sun to be at full blaze. We probably had a gallon of water each just within the first hour. The scenery is amazing though- the limestone hills look just like they do in those classic water color Chinese paintings. We biked for a few hours and eventually would up in a small town where we picked up more fluids. Then dissaster struck. My bikes chain broke and I was stuck... No where to go and who knows how far from town (we had been biking for 4 hours).

I tried to fix the bike myself but to no avail. A motorbike "taxi" (they have those in China, you ride on the back of someone's bike) came up to me when he saw my bike. He asked me where I got the bike from. I told him I rented the bike far away back in YangShuo. He looked surprised.

(translation). Hm... Yangshou? he said, we are in YangShuo want me to take you back to the rental office? What?! I thought, no way we are in Yangshuo we biked for 4 hours. I then took out my map and he pointed out where we were. I guess it was a combination of the heat and our wandering around without actually following the course of the river but the bike guy was right. We had apparently made a big circle and ended up just 5 minutes from where I rented my bike. The luck of a fool to have his bike broken down so close to home... I was relieved that my non chalant map reading and wandering while it did not get us close to our destination (dragon bridge) did in the end prevent a horrible situation from occuring (being stranded miles away from home with a broken bike). Whether it's the luck of a fool or the luck of a genius, luck is luck and I'll take it any day.