Despite the sudden cold front that's blowing in from the NW, two neighbours and I still hopped on our bikes and rode about 23 km in zero degree temperatures. We ventured through as many small villages as possible, to protect ourselves from the fierce wind. As much as I appreciate the natural beauty of many rural landscapes, it's disturbing how some locals pollute the land and rivers right in their own backyard. Perhaps decades of non-ownership has taken away all sense of environmental responsibility, and/or because many people here are migrants from other provinces and they see their surroundings as a temporary abode anyway.
On a more positive note, the rural kids are very friendly, and unlike their parents, seem less fazed about seeing a "Foreign Devil" pass by. We stopped on the way and watched a few kids play a marble & card combo game. "Good morning," said one of them, probably using his English with a foreigner for the first time.
Despite the winter temperatures this January, I've been out in the Pudong countryside on my mountain bike three times now, which feels fantastic. Yesterday I ventured NE, and covered some new territory. And as always, if I come across kids, I stop and chat with them. Special moments; for them, because it's probably the first time they've ever spoken to a foreigner; for me, because I can never get enough of a child's heart. Played some soccer with the boys in their yard.
