Amusement Park

Day six is 76 miles through rural China to Deging. The road is mostly paved, but there are patches of dirt road and construction.

It is Sunday so traffic is lighter. Like the U.S., Sunday is the most common day off. Unlike the U.S., Sunday has no religious or other significance in China. Many people take some other day as their day off from work. Even on Sunday, almost all shops and services are open.

We ride past terraced fields that are the rich green of nearly mature rice. There are also fields of sugar cane, banana trees and lots of small, neat vegetable gardens. China has a quarter of the world's population but less than 14 per cent of its land is arable, the rest is mountainous, barren, or usable only for light grazing. Arable land is precious and they go to extraordinary ends to use it intently.

Pat and I stop to watch a casket maker hollow out logs and paint bright designs on the ends.

Hello-hello greets us from all directions. We are challenged to bike races as we pass or are passed by Chinese. Today is a long ride so we gracefully decline the challenge and then pass them on the next hill. Twenty one gears really come in handy.

Picnics

Today the picnic is across the road from a village of mud-brick buildings. In the poorest villages, the buildings are made of an adobe-like mud brick. As villages move up the economic ladder, some adobe homes are replaced with homes built of fired brick. The next step up is to add decorated tile on the ridge-line, roof ends and the corners of the buildings. Villages above the mid-point usually have a flat area that is paved with concrete for drying rice-most of these areas have a basketball backboard and hoop.

The village where we stop for lunch is at the low end of the economic scale. The people are poor, but even here there is no evidence of the grinding type of poverty portrayed in the history of China or seen today in other parts of Asia.

Whenever we stop near a village, old people and young children gather; the others are working in the fields or at school. China is working hard to encourage and enforce a one child per couple rule. They may only allow one child per couple, but we almost never encounter just one child. At lunch today there are about a dozen children from three to six and 7 or 8 older people standing around.

Pat has balloons for the kids. Jim shows them how to blow up a balloon and then hold the end so that the escaping air whistles. It only takes one lesson and our picnic area is filled with whistles and laughter. By the time lunch is finished, only one balloon has popped.

Six of the 17 in our group bicycle the entire 76 miles; the rest of us take advantage of the bus for at least part of the way.

Tonight's hotel has mosquito netting. We see a mosquito or two in almost every hotel room. Mosquitoes usually attack Pat, but these don't bother her. From time-to-time we see a few flies, but no more than in the U.S. There are almost no unpleasant odors except in toilets. The Chinese make a serious effort to keep their country clean.

The city of Deging is high above the river and there is a 15 foot dike to provide added protection against floods. The top of the dike provides a great place to walk and see activity along the river and in the town. We meet three old ladies and Pat prompts me to say knee how rather than hello. Their response, in near perfect English is, "Hello, how are you this lovely evening?"