Baking cakes and mixing cultures

So after two ferries, 13 trains, and two long distance buses I got into Hong Kong at about 12.30 on Wednesday. I actually felt a little teary on arriving. Maybe because it's been a long long journey to get here, maybe it was because it was so freaking hot, or because i had PMT or because of the general chaos trying to get out of China. Chaos I have to advise was caused more by our hapless guide than the tour group. Poor Merrick didn't seem to have a clue what he was doing at the border crossing. Ewen and I agreed that if we had been there by ourselves we would have been through immigration, in a taxi and at our hotel in the same time that it took Merrick to realise that we had to fill out departure forms. Mostly I think that i was just relieved that I got to Hong Kong and just a little proud of myself.
But I am being premature, before leaving we were still in Yangsho for another day and it was the day of the bike ride. Now i hadn't ridden a bike since I first dislocated my knee when I was about 12, so it's been a while. To stay I was nervous on the build up to it is an understatement. I was having a night of fitful dreams all circling around falling off a bicycle. Early in the morning without a good nights sleep, we went to the bikes for hire place at 8.30 and I was handed a pink ladies bike that looked like it had definitely seen better days. It sort of looked like the kind of bike I saw in photos of my Mother cycling to school back in the 1940s. Merrick, bless his cotton socks, advised us that the ride was going to be all flat and not bumpy. Yes Merrick. At the beginning it was fine and then we turned down this narrow dirt track, oh and did i mention it was freaking hot hot hot. and the dirt track was hedged on both sides by paddy fields. And there was no shock absorbers on the bike. I was so frightened. Slowly I started drifting towards the back of the pack, trying to cycle over big stones and gravel, and avoid ending head first in the paddy field. We had three guides, Merrick, Sally and Monkey Jane. Monkey Jane who bore a shocking resemblance to my old room mate Ora stayed with me, at one point bitching into her phone that she was stuck at the back with the lady that couldn't keep up. I mean in all fairness if you are going to bitch about me, bitch about me in Mandarin. And it wasn't that I couldn't keep up it was that I was afraid that I would tumble in a paddy field never to be seen again.
Only to add to my woes out of no where came these Chinese grandmothers with babies in baskets, I took a photo, and the cute old ladies who I then realised were cute old Chinese baby pimps, said, "Money"and put out her hand. No sooner had i handed over my one yuan that three motta sistas arrived with babies in baskets and all started yelling at me to take photos, I was trying to make a high speed getaway which of course I couldn't because I was too freaking afraid that i would high tail it into the paddy field. And there was no sign of Monkey Jane, eventually I took their photo and one of them just grabbed a 20yuan note from my purse, about 20 times more that the going rate for cynical photos of pimped out babies. They all started yelling again at me and well i didn't know the Mandarin of share the fucking money and you should be fucking ashamed of yourselves. Once I escaped from the little old pimps I caught up with the rest of the group and once we hit the main road I was flying ahead and left Monkey Jane with some of the slower coaches, I was doing great and really proud of myself as we cruised back into Yangsho until i had a small accident with a garbage truck. I was going too fast and the truck stopped too quickly in front of me. I'm okay except for the ugliest bruise ever on my leg.
The next day we when to the Yangsho cooking school which was lots and lots of fun. But when we got back we had about 6 hours to wait for our bus and having already checked out of the hotel we just had to wander. I decided that Yangsho was nice but didn't really warrant a second visit and by then i was pretty anxious to get to Hong kong.
This place is crazy, it's like someone made a cake out of London, San Francisco, Beijing and added a dash of New York. I do like it here although I've been too tired and freaked out to really leave my hotel room, anyway why would i when it's here ... http://www.mandarinoriental.com/hotel/556000014.asp Ewan called over and the two of us enjoyed some BBC and some English language TV.
Said bye bye to most of the group, am really going to miss Mike and Elizabeth, and Patricia. Am meeting up with Peter and Heather and Ewan tonight to watch the Hong Kong light show. They are all leaving tomorrow also to head off. Of all the group I'm going to miss them the most. And i am not looking forward to being by myself again, God I'm crying again. I haven't felt this nervous of vulnerable since leaving Dublin. I'm leaving Hong Kong on the 2nd and am going to go to Shanghai and onto Hangzhou which apparently is the most beautiful city in China.