Bicycling to Shuhe

Well, the day after I was really homesick we rented just the thing that would cheer me up – bicycles. But Mom and I didn’t rent any old bicycle. We got a two-seater. We bicycled all the way to Shuhe, a little town outside Lijiang.

 

Mom and Dad switched out riding with me on the two-seater. Hey, I’m pedaling a 140-pound man on a bicycle I can’t really control while eating a popsicle!

When we got to the old part of the town, we parked our bikes by a river. I got stung by a nettle, but there were dock leaves nearby. Let me tell you a little lesson my Uncle Stephan taught me about dock leaves. Every time you get stung by a nettle, there is usually dock growing nearby. Pick up a dock leaf, roll it up into a ball, rub it wherever you got stung and say: “Dock nettle out, dock take nettle out.” It will probably heal in about ten minutes.

Mom found a ladybug and put it on my arm. The ladybug’s wing looked damaged. So I took a nice leaf, put the ladybug on the leaf, and put the leaf in a tree.

There was a lady on the street making food. In China, a lot of the best food comes from street vendors.

She was selling tiny fried fishes on a stick, and delicious potato cakes. We bought three potato cakes.

Well, no matter where you go, or what time it is, there’s always time to do a watercolor. A lady selling strawberries stopped to look at my watercolor, and then gave us a sample. We really liked them, so we bought half the basket. This part of China is famous for its fruit and vegetables. Surprisingly, we only paid $1.50.

Later, out of the corner of my eye, I spotted a shop that interested me. It was selling Chinese gourd flutes. I couldn’t play the flute at first, and thought it would be kind of fun to learn. Also, they were only 5 yuan (about 80 cents) each. So we bought one.

After I practiced the flute a little, I caught myself a horse ride around the town. It was kind of bumpy, and we had to stand aside for lots of cars, but it was still fun.

Now that I’m feeling a little better, I though you might be interested in some of the portraits I took yesterday. I was trying to get portraits of nice people. 

Like this lady who sold me my little croaking frog.

This nice old lady who really liked looking at my pictures.

A young lady weaving things in a shop.

And this old man, who liked my pictures too.

Surprisingly, when we were riding our bikes out of Shuhe, we spotted him close to the gateway. I guess he lives in Shuhe, and had gone to Lijiang for the day yesterday. He was happy to see me again.

When we got back and turned in the bikes, I mirrored Mao, China’s famous leader. We went back to our hotel, and enjoyed the rest of the day.