Buying a Better Bicycle

Saturday and Sunday ( I am always at least a day behind with this thing aren't I) were days that I either wrote, worked on the media I have collected so far -- photos and video-- or rode my new purple bicycle.

I have purchased some breakfast food so that I can basically eat in my room in the morning in case I don't want spicy vegetables and meat and rice for breakfast. I can always get it at lunch and supper. I could also get what look like incredibly sweet yellow Swiss rolls sort of things but I..well..never mind. Mr. Shang's Mulberry Juice is still holding out and there is yogurt and tea. I also found what taste a little like English muffins but there is not place to toast them. i put a sort of jelly on them. It's OK. The cereal I purchased that I thought was muesli was oatmeal you are supposed to cook, which I discovered after I ate it raw. Then I tried to cook it like instant oatmeal, which helped a little. I have put it aside for emergency back up at this point. I cannot believe I am going on so much about food, but there you have it. Eating in George Orwell Hall is not like eating in a restaurant. The restaurant food here is good, but the part of the Hi Tech Industrial Zone the school is in doesn't have any restaurants. My world would be very small if I hadn't ventured out on Saturday and bought a bicycle.

The Lotus Market sells everything, including bicycles, and they range in price. I tried to get a salesman to get what was the absolute cheapest bicycle down off the rack for me, but he refused. "Buy those bicycles!" he said, in Chinese, of course, pointing to a slew of other bicycles. "Too expensive!" said I, also in Chinese. He walked away. A little girl about 9 came over and said "Hello how are you?" in beautiful English. "I'm fine, and you?" Well I wasn't exactly fine; I wanted a bicycle and I was annoyed the salesman walked away."I am also fine, thank you. Do you want a bicycle?" she asked me. "Yes I do." At this point, another salesman came by, and I politely asked him for the bike. And again, he shook his head and rattled something off at me about the bicycles. I again said ,"Too expensive". And he walked away. The bikes were up on a rack and I could not get them down from where they were myself. Now what? I was determined to buy a bike--it was a goal I had set back in the States.

The little girl said in English, "He said these are bad bicycles -- those are good bicycles," and pointed at some other bikes. And I thought sure, he just wants to sell the American an expensive bicycle. Yeah, maybe, but...then I looked at the one I wanted. I crossed the floor and looked at the next expensive one, and then I thought the guy was right. I have ridden a bike since I was about 5 and I do know a cheap bike from a really cheap bike. There were some cool foldable ones there that were really too much for what I wanted. But I wanted to get basic transportation, and the difference in price between my original "bad bicycle" and this adequate but not tres cool bicycle was negligible.

In the end I paid about 50 bucks American for something I have used every day since, and we have a month to go here. And it IS a better bicycle. Many bicycles were on sale, like the one I ended up purchasing was. The ones on sale were amazing colors, like bright green and orange, really not Chinese. Mine is a nice light purple color and it says "Curvey" on it. (And now in the Xi'an air polluted endless dust, it looks broken in. ) It is a girl's bike -- can't remember the last time I owned one of those. One bike on sale, but more than mine, said "Alice" on it. That jacked up the price a bit I think, and I decided for that reason, however tempted, not to get it, as I couldn't see what else was different about it. My new bike has a great kickstand, a rear rack, a bell (all essential) and hand brakes (Shimano brakes for you gear heads)- it's one speed. I also bought an adjustable wrench -- knew I would have to raise the seat--and a lock.

You have to pay in advance at a cash register in the center of the store for expensive items like bikes. I wheeled the bike over and waited my turn. The little girl came back and said again in excellent, wonderfully enunciated English, "That is a beautiful bicycle." I told her she spoke beautiful English, which she did, and she totally skipped back to her parents who actually smiled at me.

This beats the interaction I had later with a 9 year old tough boy that occurred while out riding the bike. While I was waiting for a light, he came up and said in English,"Hi Hi hi! How are you I am fine. Can I have your phone number?" Just what are they teaching kids? I think it was a few sentences he knows, not a real request. I confess I laughed and said, "No way will I give you my phone number! Have a nice day!" He called out "bye bye", somewhat confused.

The first night out on a ride, I got a little turned around coming back and ended up in a part of Xian that the map only shows as a compass rose and dragons. The hi rises had about disappeared and rubble was increasing. It was getting dark, and I was getting a little tired and nervous. The bike really is ok, but the sprocket is small and you can't change gears, so you roll along in a sort of Zen like state through amazing traffic. Plus, everyone speaks Chinese and everything is COVERED in dust. I rolled up to a doorman for directions (I was sure I was heading in the wrong direction) who started to wave his arms frantically and say " NO NO NO NO" "Gao Xin Er Lu zai nar?"I tried. At that point, he looked relieved and said a whole lot of something very quickly, but pointed anyway and I found my way out of the rubble.

Xi an is literally developing before your eyes. The hi tech zone is very built up, but even here, there are slums next to gated apartment complexes. Government (Party) owned tenement complexes are gated and have guards as well. Developers are building ring roads around the city, but I didn't want to go on those highways, so I rode through the center on the old roads. My route circumvented most tourist and business areas, and as I rode past buildings with walls missing, you could see laundry and people living in the compartments like residents of some sort of tragic dollhouse. The stench of raw sewage there was strong and there was no electricity. My training as a messenger in San Fran was helpful in navigating around other vehicles (carts of all descriptions, motorcycles, cars, three wheeled cabs, other bicycles), but it wasn't like people were aggressive drivers, like mean or anything, just relentless, like the tide. Taoist really. Everyone has a space -- find yours and be in it. But don't stop.

The bicycle has expanded my world considerably, and so well worth all the hassle. I have more plans to check out the scene from here. I need a map.