Days G10-11: Amusement?
My friend had the sense to think about doing some sight-seeing while we were here. Most of my trips don't involve doing the tourist thing and will avoid that out of habit as it's usually tiring and boring. But a quick check of things to do showed that the Chimelong Amusement Park was at least worth the foray and the $50. You can also buy an all-inclusive ticket that gives you access to the water park, safari, and the circus.
For a Chinese amusement park, expectations were low but I was pleasantly surprised at the quality. There were multiple roller coasters including a water blaster. The house of horrors and the 4D movie experience were highlights. The queues to get on the rides weren't too bad either.
There were all these covid checkpoints like scanning codes etc... but they were essentially meaningless. As it turns out I quickly caught on that Guangzhou doesn't take this covid very seriously and they haven't had many cases. But when it comes to zero-covid policy, that mentality is usually the beginning of the downfall of a place that gets walloped with an outbreak later.
[Update November 2022: True to form that is exactly what happened. As of now, they are in lockdown]
This is exactly what happened in Sanya on Hainan Island last week. After months of no cases, people got used to it and let their guard down, no masks, testing, etc.. And then, boom, covid exposion. You can't stop this stuff, it is the most contagious virus in human history.
If I had gone to Sanya like most of my friends did this summer, I would be stuck in hotel quarantine like them and everyone else. Within a matter of days the authorities locked down Sanya and then other cities followed suit. Now they're all stuck and have to apply to get out.
Thankfully this misery was avoided by not going to Sanya again.
There was lots more fun to be had at the amusement park then a nice rest at the hotel before sourcing out yet another location to do my group fitness classes at. This time was great as my workout partner complimented me mid-workout and said how fit I was
But still, my gut was telling me to get out of Guangzhou quickly because there were a handful of covid cases and there could be hidden outbreaks so the sooner I left the better. This was done the next day while waking up at a decent hour and checking the weather outside. All looked good, so my friend and I enjoyed some nice food at a Cantonese restaurant nearby (Guangzhou is essentially the Canton heartland) and I made tracks to leave. He was hoping I would stay longer as he extended his stay, but I had a bad feeling about both the covid situation and the weather and felt that leaving was a better choice. I urged him to get tested in case there was a problem entering the airport, and hopefully he took my advice.
I got the Montague out and was finally saying, "This might actually be a bike trip now." That was scuttled when I discovered that the derailleur had been bent out of shape from the earlier bus ride. For all the care that airline staff have shown to the bike, how ironic and frustrating that the bus staff would be the ones to mishandle it. This would have to be repaired. Luck, however, was not on my side. All of the bike shops I could find en route were either closed or not willing to fix the part. The last one was a Trek dealer and the staff were snarky as can be. They kept making up excuses like the derailleur is old, they don't have the tools to fix it, and they criticized me for putting the lock on the handlebars as it isn't safe. They have a point but the lock is there for safety so that nobody can nick my bike when parking it.
Anyways I was pissed. The weather was looking to turn and I had a bad feeling with the strong headwinds from the east and all the signs in the sky looking like another typhoon approaching. Sure enough, this was the case, and I had missed this forecast earlier. This meant if I kept riding I would end up getting soaked and that would be miserable cycling.
Earlier my friend had said, "If things go south, just come back to the hotel." In some ways I wanted to but I'm too stubborn to continue with a plan when one is made. Plus the whole day felt like it had a bad omen to it. It's almost like the bike was cursed with no shops that were willing to fix it. After that, the weather would turn to shit. Going back to the hotel would have beeen the best call after all.
Anyways, I carried on with the plan to ride to the bus station. The winds turned into tailwinds and the rain held off just long enough for me to get there. Once folding the bike up and getting into the station, the typhoon let loose with torrents of rain and the decision was confirmed as the best one. The security at this bus station was almost non-existent and the guy checking luggage Xrays was sleeping anyway. There was nobody on the bus either, just me. For that reason he probably cut short the trip and dropped me off in the middle of fucking nowhere but it didn't matter as I had the bike. It was still raining off and on and so I figured I wouldn't get very far before packing it in and taking a taxi back to the hotel in Shenzhen.
Just when the rain poured down heavy again, I gave up and called the taxi. It was then another 3 days of rain from this typhoon which scuttled any more biking plans and so I stuck to doing the group fitness in Shenzhen which was fantastic anyway.
Today's ride: 35 km (22 miles)
Total: 1,691 km (1,050 miles)
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