Uncle Owen, this R2 unit has a bad motivator!

Let's face it, in America, motorized scooters are just not that cool. Why not just make a little extra effort and buy a motorcycle instead of riding around looking like an overeager 15 year old. The scooter industry in China however, puts America to shame. Sit on a street corner for 5 minutes and you will see more types of motorized bicycle transportation than you can count on ten, maybe fifteen fingers.

Yesterday team Baoding decided that our feet were no longer adequate forms of transportation for our China experience. Taking the time to endure the 12 minute walk to visit our teammates Jon and Ryan's apartment was quickly becoming too much of a hassle. We needed a transportation transplant and we needed it fast.

Three of our more practical teammates proposed the logical solution, buy bicycles! (the normal kind). A perfectly fine solution but Jon and I wanted to take things a little bit further. With our mission before us we set out with spirits high, stomachs full of dumplings, and our Chinese friend Kevin in tow to help us negotiate/haggle.

As it turns out, a simple bike shop is not enough for China. Baoding presented us with an entire street dedicated to the selling of motorized bicycle transport. We traversed the street 2 times, searching in vain for a reasonably priced used electric bike. Just as our hopes were beginning to dwindle and we had decided on settling for a new bike in an older model, we stumbled upon a gem hiding in plain sight. After a quick inquiry as to the price we knew we had found "the one." The only problem was that there were two of us...

As fate would have it the chap selling us the motorized beauty just so happened to have more used bikes at an undisclosed location. We somewhat suspiciously followed our new friend out of the market, then across the street, finally into an old apartment complex (all the while Kevin assuring us, "It's ok, it's ok, this is safe..."). In an atmosphere that the word surreal does little justice in describing, we walked through a vacant apartment and to our great delight found in the very last room a row of excellence unparalleled in the market. We quickly chose a choice bicycle which he graciously sold us for the same price (after 30 minutes of haggling).

As I told Jon yesterday as we were zipping through the sidestreets of Baoding on our sweet new rides, "this may be the best monetary purchase I have ever made."