Elizabeth rides easy May 29, 2011

In tribute to my friend,
Cynthia "Born to be Mild" Smith

I didn't have to drag Rakesh along on this Shanghai Expat Association (SEA) tour! 

Their write-up explains why:

Sidecar Adventure to Tong Li Water Town

In 1957, China began producing their own Sidecar Motorbikes for the PLA, and the Chinese army continued to use them for 45 years. Our host for this tour, CJ Sidecars (www.cjsidecars.com), has been buying and restoring these sidecar motorbikes. We will make a full day of our ride as we journey 80 km out of Shanghai, through the countryside, to the ancient site of Tong Li Water Town. This ancient town was built on seven islets created by the 15 water canals, which we will explore on foot and by boat.
NOTE: Each sidecar will be provided with an experienced driver and each can seat 1- 2 passengers (1 in the sidecar and 1 on the motorbike behind the driver). 

Woo hoo! Sign me up! And Rakesh, too! He stopped reading at "Sidecar Motorbike".

The tour participants met at CJ Sidecars to get all geared up for our ride. 

I looked like a biker chick, didn't I?

Elizabeth "Nature Child" Patel
(those who know me, try and contain the laughter)

I have a pair of leather pants I could have worn, but I didn't want to look be too hot.

Rakesh looked more like a biker than I did.

Some of the nice motorcycles we weren't taking.

Great decal!

Kind of expressed how I feel most of the time.

The motorcycle we took.

Safety first!

Rakesh still looked cooler than I did.
Must have been the shades. 

Getting ready to make it happen
and take the world in a love embrace.

Get your motor runnin'...

...head out on the highway....

...lookin' for adventure...

...or maybe just a break while we wait for the others to catch up.

The locals were delighted.

On the road again...
Bear with me as I upload this video.

Yeah, it seemed to take longer for me than you.
You have no idea how long. Pack-a-lunch long.
Take-a-trip-to-the-Apple-store-to-ask-for-help-long.
Anyway...

Another break. Here's a niiice bike.

We started down the long and winding road.
Oops! That's another song!

Cool shot!

We drove a little further and then had to stop again.

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance time

This took a while, but gave us the opportunity
 to admire the scenery and stretch our legs.
The sidecar was a wee bit cramped.

Another cool motorcycle in our midst.

Not to mention a Jeep

We were on the road again,
racing in the wind.

Our fearless driver

Our fearless tour leader

Close...

 ...closer...

 ...closest

Interesting structure

Some sort of toll gate? Observation bridge?
Who knows? Onward we went.

More eye-catching scenery

Excuse the blur. I was on a speeding motorcycle.

Interesting locals

 More riding towards Tong Li, our water town destination

Then we, or rather our tour leader, discovered we were lost.

How many men does it take to give directions?

U turn!

Here we went again.
Getting lost actually took us along some very scenic roads.

Don't blink or you'll miss the 'rorest'.

Finally, we reached Tong Li.

Local cutie checking out a motorcycle.
I mean the young child, for all of you jumping to the wrong conclusion.

We walked around Tong Li, but after our misdirection en route, we didn't have a lot
of time to explore this charming water town. I think this one is my favourite so far.

Having already shown you several water towns,
I'll spare you the repetitive photos in favour of this bakery.

Mmmmm....cakes....

Such beautifully decorated ones!

Quick! Get me out! Save me from myself!

Add Tong Li to the places I have to return to and explore more in depth.

Ready to hit the road again!
This time, I rode on the back.

To see what the trip back to Shanghai was like, just scroll upwards.
Feel free to sing along to this as you do:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UWRypqz5-o