This was the most awesome bike ride. We rode for hours on these offbeat paths and roadways that most Westerners never get to see. We rode along paths that the locals use every day for farming and walking from village to village and where the children walk to school. Most of the schools dismiss the children to go home for lunch and as we were here around noon we passed alot of kids in their school uniforms headed back to their homes.
We saw many, many people carrying "whatever" in baskets dangling from a bamboo pole resting on their shoulders... still a very useful method of transporting goods just like it has been done for centuries, I'm sure!
We passed house after house that looked like this... only this one had nice, colorful red ribbons hung by their door as opposed to most of the housed wehere the ribbons were faded but still important to the homeowner who believes that they bring them Good Luck. Every yard had the most perfectly manicured garden and every available speck of ground was farmed and had veggies thriving. I wish I could get a garden to grow like that at my house... never in a million years would my garden look that beautiful and lush.
