A bicycle, a hammock and everyday life by Fuxian Lake

Fuxian Lake, part 2 of 5. All five notes.

Two months by the lake gave me time for the things I enjoy most: riding a bike, looking at the water and wasting an afternoon somewhere pleasant.

The shared scooter at the guesthouse was fine for errands, but I wanted a bicycle of my own, for the exercise and just for the fun of riding.

The second-hand bike I rode back from Kunming

I bought a second-hand bicycle on Xianyu, a Chinese second-hand marketplace. Then I rode it more than 50 kilometres from Kunming back to Fuxian Lake.

I hadn’t ridden that far in a long time. Late in the ride, the road started climbing into the hills. I rode for a while, then got off and pushed, then tried riding again. Eventually, I felt as though I could barely keep going.

I finally asked an AI how much more uphill road there was. It told me I had about one more kilometre to go before a nine-kilometre descent.

Oh my God. Nine kilometres downhill! I can still remember how wildly happy I felt at that moment. I had been so close to giving up, and suddenly there was the promise of all that downhill road just ahead.

After all that, the bike earned its place in these photographs alongside the lake.

Two views of the whole bicycle

I wasn’t the only one riding, either. In the evenings, plenty of people were out cycling the roads around the lake.

It was easy to see why: a broad tree beside the water, branches framing the hills, an open patch of shore. Almost anywhere was a good place to stop.

Trees and places to sit along the shore

A hammock at Dahekou

Where the bike usually took me was Dahekou (大河口). I’d string my hammock between the trees there and spend the afternoon by the lake.

There was shade from the trees, boats on the water, the hills beyond and a broad stretch of shore. I could happily do nothing there for hours.

Other people came to make their own memories. One afternoon at the end of June, two couples were having their wedding photographs taken by the water.

Lotus ponds and a line of waterbirds

The roads around the lake passed plenty of lotus ponds and blueberry farms. One lotus pond was so beautiful that I kept going back, and waterbirds often visited it too.

After weeks of looking out across open water, it was a nice change to look closely: droplets gathered on the leaves, a pink flower standing above the green.

More leaves, flowers and views across the lotus pond

One day at the end of July, I came across a row of waterbirds standing along a ridge between the fields, so neatly spaced they looked as if they were queueing. It was quite a sight.

The small things stayed with me too: a bird on the water, clouds reflected in the lake, white mushrooms among fallen leaves.

Small sights and everyday views

What I actually ate

I could have cooked at the guesthouse, but I was usually too lazy, so most days I ate simple home-style dishes in town, with the occasional bowl of rice noodles.

Eating alone also limited what I tried: a lot of dishes are made for sharing, and more than I could finish on my own.

The noodle dishes included rice noodles with pork intestines (肥肠米线), Jianshui-style caoya rice noodles (建水草芽米线) and rice noodles with pork ribs (排骨米线).

Another bowl of rice noodles

Snacks were part of it too: fried potatoes (炸洋芋), a freshly baked flower pastry (鲜花饼) and corn cakes (玉米粑粑). The pastry had just come out of the oven, and the corn cakes were being made in a griddle with round moulds.

Corn cakes being made

Food wasn’t what I’d miss about Fuxian Lake. The life was: a bike, a place for a hammock, waterbirds and all that water.

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