Day 4: Foresight

Ok. Time to blog. I'll try to keep it short. 

Recap of the day: we descended from HeHuan Mountain and arrived in Hua Lian. It was around 120km and 3000 meters of descent. 

This morning we started off watching the sun rise at He Huan Mountain. I've always thought sunrises were overrated but that's because I'm not a morning person. This one was cool because I got to spend it with my dad on the trip and were doing this crazy biking thing. So it's sentimental I guess. 

Our descent started around 10. The ride was absolutely amazing. I think for around 2 hours I didn't have to pedal at all- which to me is the best part of cycling! It was literally all coasting and carving down the curved roads that hugged the mountainside. The view was also amazing. Imagine descending through a blanket of clouds and catching occasional glimpses of mountains peeking back at you while you try to not steer off into a ravine. Pretty fun stuff. 

So anyways the more memorable part of the day unfortunately wasn't the scenery but the fact that we got lost trying to find our inn. Well actually it's kind of Google's fault and partly Otto's fault, but basically the inn hadn't updated their address and instead of calling to check ahead of time, we just rode into Hua Lian thinking we knew where we were going. We spent an hour biking in the rain- from when the mountain pass ended and we reached town. It all ended in disappointment when we wound up in an alley lane and at a random guy's doorway. We then spent the next 30 minutes looking for a motel room but all were fully booked. There are no photos to commiserate this endeavor in the rain- only wet jackets :( 

Dad called the motel and they told us to cycle back to it's new location (I think just 20 km up the road) - and dad replied by asking them to pick us up. They couldn't do that as their car wouldn't fit us, but they offered to come and lead us to a nearby inn that they also own. 'Great!' we thought. At least we'll be out of the rain. 

Oh so naïve.

We followed the lady for a few blocks. A few blocks turned into a ride out of the town centre, and that turned into an excursion past the airport and to the sea-side. This is where we ended up- a jail cell on the 3rd floor of a beach-side 'house', except the 'house' part is loosely defined and subjective depending on whom you ask. 

We showered, for there was a shower! - and dried ourselves off with old clothing - for there were no towels. There were no restaurants nearby but we were lucky enough to dig up an old pizza from the freezer. Tonight's dinner is not the best, but we feast in gratitude. Kinda.  

During our ride, Dad had some words of wisdom to pass on to me. He said, "in life... there is no such thing as foresight. There is no 'if only I knew.' One has to go through experiences to truly learn," he counselled. 

Heh. How ironic that Dad got a little miffed when we got duped by the innkeeper. "If only I knew, I would've just stayed in the city and kept looking for a motel instead of coming to this hell-hole."

I can't say I really enjoy the room, the pizza, or the nasty neon-yellow sheets, but it is enough. I am happy that I'm out of the rain and not wrecking my knee pedalling a bike. And I'm also happy to experience all this firsthand because according to some, experience is the best teacher. 

Life lesson: Don't follow strange women into the dark on your bike. They will lead you into hell-holes.