Da Run Fa

When was the last time that you saw this many bikes in the US? Just look at all those bikes. In the background you can see 7 of the 20 dorms that Qingdao Agricultural University uses to house its 25,000 students.

The alleys between the dorms are filled with bikes. Despite the plethora of bikes, only about 1/5 of the students have a bike and those that do often haul a friend (or family) on the bike rack. Sara and I thought we'd adopt this nifty exercise in efficiency. We dropped about $40 to get a brand new bike from the RT Mart - or as it's called in Chinese "Da Run Fa" which means Big (da), Moisture/Sleek/Mellow-Voiced/Lubricated (run), Hair (fa). The bike from Big Sleek Hair is wonderful! It comes with all the fixings that bikes in the US eschew - such as fenders, a basket, a kickstand and a rear rack.

Since we don't feel conspicuous enough, just being stared at by 8 out of 10 people on campus, we decided to ride around - the Chinese way - with Sara on the rear rack. It did the trick. Now 9 out of 10 people stare and most all small children point, yell and chase us.

On GeiBei's maiden voyage, we rode past my favorite garbage man who this time was not neck-deep in the campus trash hole, but instead had found some used oil containers with a few drops left. He had syphoned enough leftover drops to half-fill a peanut butter jar with a melange of oil. I'd heard that this was how street-food stalls got their oil - but never believed or witnessed it. So, that's why it tastes so good?