Down

This day's surprise was a long descent. We descended down almost to where we had started. A bitter sweet reward as this only means we must climb again to reach the Tibetan plateau. After a long day of cycling but little pedaling, we reached the city of Nanping. Its a big city so people are not so friendly and hotels are expensive. We've been off the Lonely Planet route for quite some time and have not seen a foreigner since we left Chengdu, so we are on our own to find a room for the night. After looking at a couple well beyond our budget, I asked an icecream vendor if she knew a cheap place. She was kind enough to write it down for me on the back of a cigarette counter, as I was having trouble remembering the name. A young girl of about eight witnessed our enquieries and volunteered to guide us to the hotel. Great! So she and three of her young buddies escorted us through town. It turns up they knew the owner, and the four of them bargained with him (against his better wishes) to give us a cheaper price. Great again! Beaming with pride, our young troop helped us unload the bikes and carry the panniers all the way up to our cheap fourth floor room. Ahh thank you... we said... but their job was not yet done. They searched the other rooms for an extra fan, brought it in, plugged it in and faced it towards the bed. They then prepared the complementary tea for us and served us, clearly enjoying their roles as hosts. Once we were happy sipping tea, they installed themselves on our beds to watch tv. hmm now what. We gave them some canadian pins, took some pictures and said goodbye... But they clearly wanted just to hang out with us. So in order to have a chance to eat, wash some clothes and do some groceries, we set a date to meet up with them again at night. Eight o'clock seemed too long for them to wait, so they bargained us down to seven thirty. At seven thirty they picked us up. The girls had a surprise for me, one bracelet and a hair pin with a bright blue bead. Its this type of gift that one appreciates most. I'm sure they count their pennies but in their mind a gift for me was worth it. or maybe they also thought my haircut was bad and that there might be some room for improvement. Instead of having them watch tv among our drying clothes, we whent for a walk around town and then icecream. They had a fridgefull of flavors to select from and were taking their time touching each of them. One girl scouled at the other, "not that one... its too expensive." "Its ok," I said, "you can have whichever one you want." And in one second, all four hands reached for the expensive ones. Six icecream bars... one dollar. Moment, priceless.