So much riding in Lijiang

During one of my first days in Lijiang my hostel recommended I take advantage of the beautiful day and bike out to a village.  It sounded like a good idea. The first mistake was mine.  I was supposed to be going north.  I saw a sign that said I was going south but for some reason that wasn't enough to make me turn around.  In China anything that has to do with maps and directions is almost completely backwards from our western ways.  One problem is they don't read maps.  I don't like asking for directions. Period.  No matter what country I'm in.  Eventually I realized I had to.  It was a conversation in Chinese.  I understood him, he understood me but the bottom line was he couldn't help.  The Chinese will be very vague when they give directions because they don't want to look bad and give the wrong directions.  Or even worse admit they don't know where something is. 
A conversation could go like this:
-Where's the post office?
-Zai nar (over there).
Of course there's pointing in some general direction but you part ways completely unsure of where to go.

I rode around for hours knowing I wasn't getting any closer but I had all day so I felt like I had to shi yi shi (give it a try).    I never found the road my hostel told me to take but on the map there was another road that appeared to lead to the village and I just happened to be on that road.  After passing my 2nd set of ghost town subdivisions I ran out of road.

I turned around.  I rode some more and found the market on the map. I seemed to be getting closer!

(Lots of potatoes)

 (Look closely)

(Chicks of all different colors)

(This man bought 3 red ones.  He was given a plastic bag to transport his purchase - the same as when you get food for takeout.  This guy couldn't get them to stay in his bag so he tied the plastic bag. I think the poor little guys were dead before he rode away.)

After the market I was back on the road confident I knew the next road would be the one I needed.  If it was my road the name was different.  Eventually I just couldn't take the exhaust from the cars and trucks anymore. If the ride would have been out in the country without much traffic I could have gone for hours but this was not the country riding I had in Yangshuo.  I gave up and returned to Lijiang with sunburned hands!