National Day!

October 1 is National Day. Is it so far my favorite holiday in China because we dont just get one day off -- we get a whole week! National Day commemorates the day that China declared itself The People's Republic of China. "Fifty-three years ago, at Tian'anmen Square, Chairman Mao Zedong solemnly declared to the world that the People's Republic of China had been established. At that ceremony, the national flag of China made its first appearance and Chinese people sang their national anthem for the first time." Then the cultural revolution began in 1966 and ended in 1976. It's crazy because I have to constantly remind myself that my student's parents survived the cultural revolution...most of them were born during it! And a lot of their culture is still affected by it. It's also crazy because China has such an ancient, gorgeous history, and yet most of today's holidays and culture seem to only come from the last 60 years.

Anywhooo, I got to spend National Day doing something I love to do anywhere in the world. Cycle touring! Mae took me on this bike ride with her outdoors club to one of the biggest lakes in China. We rode our bikes over  40km to get to a hole-in-the-wall dock. Here were were picked up by the most hilarious man who boated us to an island where his family lives. The island is all orange and persimmon groves. We went swimming, ate too many oranges, and then were fed a huge, seafood feast that had all just been caught that morning. On the way home we went to an old town which was gorgeous. I met my future ex-husband but he didnt speak English! The bike ride back was tough to be honest. It's been a while since I have ridden that long. All in all it was over an 11 hour trek. But talk about a perfect day! Here are some pics:

A gorgeous view of some old sail boats from a bridge entering East Hill on Lake Taihu. The ex-vice president was on his way to stay here for the holiday and the entire road was blocked from cars. Plus there was a police man every 500m. Apparently when a high official travels anywhere, they clear the roads of cars for their entire journey. The amount of man power it took just around the lake was intense.

This guy on the left organizes the trips. He is 51 and I went ahead for most of the ride to the lake as I find it harder on my wrists and butt to go slowly. He tried keeping up (note how sweaty he is) and struggled (I think he did very well for a 51 year old) but he has a speedometer on his bike and we were only going around 26km/hr on average which I dont think is very fast. After all, the guys in the tour go about 25 miles per hour I think.

This guy had the greatest energy! He picked us up on his boat and took us to his house on the island and made us lunch. I asked him if I could buy a house on his island but apparently the entire area is now being conserved so no buildings can be erected nor can they change ownership unless they are passed through families. Guess I'll just have to marry him. Wouldn't our kids be so cute?