bikes - check, moving on!

basil and kayl will be attending a school approximately 15 minutes from our house by bike.  they could take the bus, by far the mainstream option, or the subway (walk, ride, walk = 30 minutes commute), or we could get a car like some families have opted (only 5% of local population own cars) - we chose bikes!

bikes are awesome and living in a city where vehicles don't really go over 20 or 25mph means everybody can stop pretty quickly and accidents typically are not fatal.  that said, driving in suzhou definitely keeps you on your toes!

we find bikes for sale in the grocery store, on a side street near ancient suzhou (old town or OT), and in a giant brand bike store.  after hours of riding bikes, comparing features, sizing up the trustworthiness of our sales reps, we decide on 4 new giant bikes - not great quality, but figure they'll last 2 years...

first however, we take the subway to OT - which is easily identifiable due to the rectangular moat / canal which defines its border - and walk a mile or so to the giant store.  we try out different bikes, settle on 4 we all like, and as we begin talks with the cashier, find out they don't take ANY credit cards whatsoever.  but there is a bank down the street and we brought some american dollars with us so we have a plan.  a short walk later, we're loaded with RMB - enough to buy the bikes and hit the road.  advice to my readers: if you want to negotiate properly with a bike salesman, don't show up helmets in hand.  oh well, we've convinced ourselves that although pretty much everybody negotiates prices here, giant is immune to this practice.  moving on...

walking back to the store, i eye (cap'n) a local cyclist on a clunker and asked him how much he paid for his bike - 100 RMB ($18) says he and i'm intrigued.  why are we acting like tourists / typical americans here?!  we should just find out where he bought his bike and for less than $80 we could fit in, reduce our risk / exposure of having our bikes lifted, and save some $$ for a trip or a toaster or something.  so this takes all four of us on a goose chase including rickshaw rides, communicating to a group of about a dozen curious chinese, trying out chinese made bikes (half the price, not really sure about the quality - sketchy), couple miles on foot, and concluding once again with yummy food (per kayl, the best stir fry thus far)!

we did it - went back the next day and left w/ 4 bikes ready to shred suzhou pavement!  of course carly and i lost a couple years of our lives white knuckling the grips as we guided the kids through complex labyrinths of pedestrian, bike, and motor-vehicle congestion.  for example, a scooter might pass you going the other way at full speed and miss you by less than a foot.  it's a flow of vehicular travel rather than individual paths - once you surrender to the flow (thx trey) and relax, driving in china is fun - like a video game i suppose - or like flying in a flock of geese - however, first night on the bikes, i pre-emptively told the kids that "i would be surprised if none of us got in an accident on the way home."  apparently that was enough motivation for basil to prove me wrong - which he did.  :)

again, biking rocks - it's that simple.  you stop and notice sights along the way that might dangerously distract a motorist in route.  on a bike, you pull over and breathe it all in - actually you don't breathe it all in because the air over here is polluted and tastes pretty bad (though some days are better than others) - but metaphorically, you breathe it in, smell the roses...

...still up, we've discovered the ping pong table, evening soccer in the park, and mudu!  

keep meaning to take this laptop to a coffee shop, order a venti, and get all deep and philosophical with the ramblings - we'll see if things turn that corner - i've a feeling they will as this country is filled with friendliness and filth, laughter and labor, great walls and growing pains...

kind regards from a small fish in a really big bowl!!