Their one goal
My parents had one fun goal to accomplish while they were here in China. To them, it didn't sound like a difficult request. They wanted to ride a motorcycle, even briefly, in China. They would be the only members of their motorcycle club to have collected China. Surely, they thought, we would know somebody who owned a bike. Should be easy, shouldn't it?
Uhhh, no.
When I first came to China two-and-a-half years ago, I was shocked at how disorderly the traffic on the sidewalks was, especially the motorcycle traffic on the sidewalk. However, since then the sidewalks were made a little safer. The motorcycle ban inside the city of Shenzhen has been more strictly enforced, and now I rarely see a motorcycle anywhere. So when my dad made what he thought was a simple request, I couldn't imagine how we could accommodate this.
On Thursday we went to Dapeng Fortress, a Hakka settlement hundreds of years old. It also happens to be in a district of Shenzhen where the motorcycle ban is not so strictly enforced, if at all. There my parents were able to ride ever so briefly a motorcycle in China. Our friend David was with us, and as his Mandarin is much, much better than mine, explained to some people that my parents were in a motorcycle club and the members go all over the place to ride motorcycles and have pictures of themselves in these places, and could one of them help them, etc, etc. One man was more than happy to indulge them, especially after my dad further offered him some cash.
Uhhh, no.
When I first came to China two-and-a-half years ago, I was shocked at how disorderly the traffic on the sidewalks was, especially the motorcycle traffic on the sidewalk. However, since then the sidewalks were made a little safer. The motorcycle ban inside the city of Shenzhen has been more strictly enforced, and now I rarely see a motorcycle anywhere. So when my dad made what he thought was a simple request, I couldn't imagine how we could accommodate this.
On Thursday we went to Dapeng Fortress, a Hakka settlement hundreds of years old. It also happens to be in a district of Shenzhen where the motorcycle ban is not so strictly enforced, if at all. There my parents were able to ride ever so briefly a motorcycle in China. Our friend David was with us, and as his Mandarin is much, much better than mine, explained to some people that my parents were in a motorcycle club and the members go all over the place to ride motorcycles and have pictures of themselves in these places, and could one of them help them, etc, etc. One man was more than happy to indulge them, especially after my dad further offered him some cash.
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