Today is the National Day holiday here, marking 61 years since the founding of the PRC. Red flags with yellow stars flutter from every flag pole, in the grimy air, on this less-than-clear, warm, autumn day.
We usually get out of Dodge for this week. QD is a popular spot for domestic tourists, and the early days of October represent the last hurrah for our beach side community. Red capped inland tourists follow flag touting tour guides along the board walk, the Olympic Marina and Old Towne. And this year we joined them. Rather than hopping a jet out of here-- past highlights have included holidays in Sanya (2006), Phuket (2007), Singapore/KL (2008), and Krabi (2009) we joined the fray!
Today EHJ, Bei Bei and I rented a pedi-cart and peddled our way through throngs of tourists and locals. We delighted in circling around people who insisted on snapping photos after being asked not to... creating a sort of frolicking retribution that rendered offenders speechless.
EHJ and I did most of the peddling, and Bei Bei was our break girl. These bicycle based vehicles are designed around the kind seen at tourist spots in the West... but lack basic safety features, like breaks on all the pedals. One functional, though somewhat awkwardly placed break is found down the center of the frame, it required Bei Bei's standing on it with her full weight of nearly 50 jin to coax the cart to a stop.
Still not satisfied after 30 minutes spent weaving through pedestrians, we hired a motorized buggy and joined other renters (about $7 for a half hour with no instruction... just handed a key and off we backfired) terrorizing pedestrians along the board walk, pier, Olympic Marina and in the pedway of the newest high end shopping plaza.
All-in-all, not a bad way to pass the first day of our 10 day "stay-cation".
1 comment:
We are thinking about Phuket for Christmas....any tips?
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