Bike-Ride To Australia Saturday 14th-January 2012 Mojiang to Dongguan. 44 miles. I’ve given up on trying to do my 80 miles a day at the moment! It’s just too mountainous. 20 or 30 km going uphill is hard work! And I’m certainly not some keeno athlete, trying to get there in the fastest time! I’m out to enjoy this trip, not kill myself!
As you may have guessed, it’s been another tough days ride, although not quite as bad as yesterday! And as I just said, I’m out to enjoy this trip, so when a hotel came up early, I decided to stop. When I said early, it was already 5 pm! And what a good idea that’s turned out to be! Despite the hotel still being a building site in parts.
Meeting The Locals
After showering, I went downstairs to the courtyard to ask the hotel staff whereabouts I was on the map, as I wasn’t 100% sure! I can never seem to match what’s written on my map with the signs on the road! They were playing cards and beckoned me to sit down, where I was given some homebrewed alcohol. Not again, the memory of the Romanian football team is still fresh in my mind!
I watched the game of cards with great interest, thinking I’d worked it out. Only to discover that the next minute I hadn’t a clue! Although I had worked out that it was a drinking game! And the person who’d lost had to take a drink, poured from a 5ltr plastic container. But then they’d toast me, so I had to drink as well!
The game finished, the table got cleared, and this huge banquet of food came out. I went to leave as I felt I was intruding, but they told me to stay, and I was given a bowl and some chopsticks. There was about nine of us in total, including the hotel owner. There were also a few children running around. At different times throughout the evening, we were joined by different people who would come and go.
Food And Drink
At one point, two English teachers from the local school joined us. And told me who the people were, it was the hotel owner who I knew, her dad, her brother and his family and some friends. I didn’t find out the reason for the gathering. It may have just been a regular family meal. The teachers did tell me what food we were eating; It was predominately different parts of a pig, cooked in different ways. But there was also some fish, vegetables and of course rice.
Later on, in the evening, the men started to play another game, which of course had to involve drinking! This game was a bit like stone scissors paper, but with numbers, gestured with their fingers. By the end of the evening, the 5ltrs of homebrew was more or less empty! I’m so pleased I decided to stop early.
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