As we were leaving Old Gaochun Street, Peter asked me, "What are you doing now?"
"I've got no plans. If you have other stuff you want to do though, that's fine, you don't have to keep hanging out with me."
"Let's go to the other side of the lake."
Does Peter sort of like me? No, it's impossible.
We hop on the scooter and drive on a long bridge over the lake. We notice seven large boats and Peter tells me these are transport vehicles, carrying cement for construction. On the other side, we were suddenly in the country. On either side of the road, workers harvest vegetables in giant fields. Wild chickens ran freely on the road, Geese swam in the lake, we even drove past a wildlife preserve which Peter claimed has lions and tigers but I did not see any. There were large fields covered in water which men waded through in long waterproof pants.
We made a turn and were suddenly driving past large hotels. Peter told me that these are fishing retreats, man made lakes filled with fish that rich people can catch very easily. After passing 3 or four fishing retreats, Peter pulled over near a small bridge.
The bridge was mad of wood and rope, like one of those bridges you jump on in a playground to see how much you can make it shake. I bounced a bit on the bridge, but I could tell that Peter didn't really like it when I did that. He said that bouncing is something children do, so I stopped.
I know these photos are shit but it was truly breath taking. From the other side, Peter pointed out all the different provinces of China we could see from where we were standing. I don't remember the names of any of them, but I do remember him saying one has monkeys, which sounds cool. I like monkeys.
On the way back across, I sneakily snagged a picture of Peter. I wanted to ask him for one, but I was scared he would say no so I just snuck it in.
On the way back to my hotel, Peter stopped at the garden and old pagoda that I had mentioned earlier. The garden was filled with old people who seemed like they weren't doing anything. At first I thought they were playing cards or chess, but no, they were just sitting there silently.
Peter told me the pagoda was over 1,000 years old, which totally blew my mind. I told him that's 3 times as old as America, which he couldn't care less about. Sadly, the pagoda is now to old to enter safely, so we had to just look at it from the outside.
I loved the garden, and was very glad Peter showed it to me before we went back. He asked me what the plants in the lake were called in English. I said I didn't know. Then he said "Lotus!" and he laughed at me. I guess I deserved that one.
At this point, Peter was definitely sick of me, so we hopped back on the scooter and he drove me back to my hotel.
"Thank you so much for showing me around, I really appreciate it. That was amazing."
Peter nodded and drove off without saying another word. I guess my first instincts were right, this guy definitely hates me.
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