Bike Riding and the Night Market

As some of you out there may know, I never learned how to ride a bike, let alone drive a car. But here in Yilan, scooters or bikes are the way to go. So my roommate Michelle took me outside to learn how to ride.

While wobbling outside on a bike WAY too big for me, some of the neighbors came by. The little boy spoke English (told us that he was going swimming!), but his family spoke Chinese to Michelle. And they offered to lend us a bike that would fit me better. So we did, after they made a big fuss over pumping it with fresh air. Then another neighbor came out with tips, and spoke to us in passable English about his trip to Washington, DC. And a bottle of ice water which we could not refuse. AND THEN out comes a little grandma, who insisted on lending us her bike, which was even smaller and more my size. It was so sweet. And by the end, I could sometimes go up to 4 pedals in a row before falling off. I'll keep you posted on more progress.




We also went to fabulous Hot Pot dinner last night (all you can eat, self-selected, self-cooked dinner) which was fabulous, and visited the local night market. There was so much activity at the Night Market, which was interesting because besides stalls, it also had several arcades for little kids. And here's a little guy catching turtles at the Night Market. They were for pets, not for snacks;)