Village walls
The policeman walks into the small coffee shop.
Police: Whose electric scooter is that out front?
ME: That would be mine.
Police: (he looks a little surprised, but he is polite): You need to move it somewhere else.
ME: OK. (I go outside to move my scooter, that is the size and weight of a motorcycle.)
Police: Move it over there. (He points up some stairs.)
ME: Uh….
Police: There. (He points again, like maybe I didn’t see him the first time.)
ME (surprised he doesn’t see a problem in what he has asked me to do): My scooter isn’t made to ascend stairs.
Police: Oh, that. (He thinks for awhile and tries to look cool in front of all the onlookers. I don’t think police actually help most people move bikes, but then again most people he’s ever dealt with did not have blonde hair and green eyes. I have totally confused him with my logic, people are watching, and he’s embarrassed.) OK, I’ll help you.
And then with the help of three people (two policemen and me), up the stairs my scooter went. I am almost certain the police won’t be around when it’s time to get the bike down the stairs.
Only in China are people asked to park their motorbikes upstairs!
The rest of the story
I leave the coffee shop, walk up the stairs, and unlock my motorbike. The police are, of course, no where to be found. I do not want to damage my bike or my body by trying to get the bike down the stairs.
I look the other direction to see if there are other options, but it appears to be a dead end. I get there, see something that resembles a doorway. I'm not totally sure, but I think if I can go out that opening with my bike, I don't have to negotiate stairs. I ask two guys sitting around if it is a dead end, and they tell me it is not. I ask if I can get to the main street from there. They use their hands to indicate that various twists and turns will get me back out on the main road.
So I go that way. I end up in a village with narrow passageways not quite big enough for both me and the children running and playing in them. The villages charm and fascinate me. But the villages are a maze. I turn left, then right, then weave in and out of alleyways. The sun is on my left, then on my right, then straight ahead. Soon, I have no idea where I am. I have been in the village maze of alleyways now for 45 minutes, which is only scary because it should only take me 20 minutes to get home from the coffee shop.
I am lost.
I think it is great fun getting lost, actually, except I'm afraid my electric bike will run out of battery power before I get home.
I ride and ride and ride. I hit a main road, but I don't know where I am. I turn the direction I think leads towards my apartment complex. I am wrong and go far the opposite direction.
My electric scooter ran out of battery power at the gate of my apartment building.
There is never a dull day in this country.
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