Bike Races and Beaches

We have decided that there are a few things that our car must always be equipped with: bottled water, umbrellas, and swimming gear. 

Just the other weekend we decided to attend a local bike race in Dajia hosted by Giant.  We started out in the city at the road bike race and took the kids to play on a small playground close to the action.  I believe I have mentioned in previous posts that the kids get a great deal of attention for not only their young age but also for their blonde hair.  This is especially true for Lilly as she has long blonde hair.  A few people stopped to admire, try to touch her, or take her picture.  This especially happened to both kids when we stopped for lunch at McDonald's to appease the kids who had put up with extreme heat for our gain.

A woman taking Lilly's picture at the park. 
Lilly tries to act oblivious because she is so shy.

A large tour bus caused a huge traffic jam.
These men got out of their vehicles to show their annoyance
and attempt to get the rest of the cars to back up.

After watching the road race for a bit, we headed up the mountain to watch the mountain bike races.  Once at the top, we were trying to find a parking space and ended up in a traffic jam.  A very large tour bus attempted to drive down a narrow street with cars parked on both sides and ended up getting stuck and could go no further.  The police had to come and individually back each car in the traffic jam out in order to allow the bus to back up.  This is evidence as to how narrow the roads can be. 

The start of a race up the mountain for some of the younger riders.

It's hard to tell but many of them are riding adult bikes.

The mountain was beautiful!!  There were beautiful sculptures, playgrounds for the kids and flower gardens.  On our way back down the mountain we drove by a very large garden and I just couldn't help myself.  Chris stopped the car (he was driving because at that time the steep, narrow mountain roads were very intimidating!) and I got out and hiked up halfway through the gardens.  Completely worth it!

A statue in a park at the top of the mountain in Dajia.

These pictures are from the top and the bottom of the hillside garden.

We decided that because Dajia is right on the ocean we would attempt to find a beach nearby.  What we ended up finding was a once thriving beach that had, for some time, been quite deserted by the majority of the public.  Along the shore is a medium sized amusement park and water park that are now abandoned and a few housing units that are also now abandoned.  Lining the shore is an old walkway and what appeared to be a dilapidated concrete dock no longer standing.  It seems that the water has receded back so much that to actually get to the water you now have to walk about 100 yards along wet and sticky sand.  Chris actually broke his flip-flop because as he pulled his foot up to walk, the flip-flop suctioned itself to the sand. 

Of course, we were up for the hike out to the water.  And as a result, we had the entire beach to ourselves.  We passed many families who had ventured out on to the sand to catch small and medium sized crabs and hermit crabs.  And as we walked along the sand we could see small clumps of sand, obviously from the crabs shoveling their way under to safety.  The sand squished under our feet and made sucking sounds.  One can only imagine the tunnel system that must have been under our feet!

This crab is about 2 inches long.

Drew is pointing at a small crab in a hole previously dug out by someone trying to catch crabs.

The water was extremely warm and as we walked through it large schools of small fish would jump along the water, avoiding the tide that would eventually beach them on the sand and avoiding the danger we apparently posed.  Lilly could "touch" for about 50 feet out and the kids loved playing freely in the water.  It was a great day!

 

A cute site on our drive home.  It is very common for very young children (age 1 and up) to stand in front of the driver on scooters (regardless of how fast the traffic is).  Typically, you will see a parent with their infant/toddler in front of them and their older child (age 3+) sitting on the back holding on.