China Bike Ride 2006 - Page 14

We met this girl (and the boy below) in a shop in Yangshou. Yangshou has a high school that attracts bright kids from the surrounding rural area. This girls is in year 11 and has taken English for 6 years. She was amazingly happy to meet "high nose" people she could practise on. She has great written English skills but very rarely gets a change to practise spoken English other then with her Chinese teachers.

I was the first "high nose" this boy has ever met face to face! He is in year 10 and has taken English for 5 years. He is a mad keen football (soccer) player and fan. They would not let us pay to use the internet and offered to buy my bottle water for the next days ride.... all just to practise his English. As it turned out I was riding through his families village the next day, they were part of the 80 minority groups within China. And a very poor area.

One of the new roads going in... but the same old vehicles use are on them.....

This is the village that my new friend about came from.....

Happy people that live on above $400 Oz dollars a year for the whole extended family

And Education is NOT free here for any level!

Village streetscape......

Frank waiting for all the riders to meet up again......

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