Bei Dai He, 01/10/2005 at 23:00
Day 17: Golden Coast – Bei Dai He: Happy Birthday China
On the 1st of October 1949 the People’s Republic of China was declared, which makes today China’s 56th birthday. We celebrated with a short ride to beach resort Bei Dai He in good weather and spent all afternoon on the beach relaxing and reading. Unfortunately there was no sun during all afternoon – we had a good time anyway. One of the weirdest things today was the sight of an American beach. Behind a high fence Americans (NO Chinese) were playing games and sitting around enjoying the beach, while on the other side of the fence the Chinese (NO Westerners except us) were looking at the Americans – not unlike at the Zoo. Quite embarrasing for the people inside the fence, we thought…
Tomorrow we will have our last day on the bikes for a while. It’s the last planned day of cycling with baggage for this holiday. Meanwhile it’s quite late and we’ll be heading back to the hotel now – if we can find a taxi.