The Ricksha Ride
	Dear Janice, when I went to China years ago it was connected to the two large panda paintings I had done. Pandas were sent to Busch Gardens on loan by the Chinese government. After seeing the paintings they extended a special invitation for me to come to China. I was allowed to bring four other people with me. They were Greg Leland, Jay Strong, both also Busch Gardens employees, Jim Tuten a photographer for Busch and National Geographic and his girlfriend, Penny. As we landed in Hong Kong which is where we stayed the first few days, I told Jim that one thing I really wanted to do while I was there was to ride in a ricksha. That had always been a secret desire of mine, to ride in a ricksha in Hong Kong. After going over to mainland China a few days later, when we returned there were about a half dozen rickshas and their "pullers" lined up along the wharf. Perfect! I told Jim to get my picture while I was riding but as we approached them the only one available was manned by this thin, little, weathered Chinese man that had to be at least seventy. His face was the color of a well used wallet and he had a big beckoning smile. Well, there was no way I was going to allow this frail man to pull me around in that thing and it would've looked ridiculous with him sitting in the seat and me pulling him. That would've defeated the whole purpose of the photo. Now that I think about it, it would've been pretty funny. So I asked him "How much just to sit in it for a photo?" His response kept being over and over "Yes, get in." So finally I just did. Jim snapped the picture and at first I thought the click had spooked the little guy because he took off like a runaway horse. I yelled "hey!" but there was no stopping him. My friends were disappearing in the distance and I didn't know where the heck I was going or where I would end up. Later the four of them said "All we could see is the top of your head bobbing up and down and your arms waving around." I didn't know that rickshas could even go that fast. That guy's little bow legs were a blur! I thought "If I could just manage to jump out onto his back like they do with runaway stage coaches in the movies." because dragging my foot hadn't worked. Then I saw a busy street crossing in front of us and I knew that he'd HAVE to stop for that. Wrong. He zipped through that traffic like kids these days on skateboards. Finally, after about twenty minutes, I looked up and there were Greg and Jay and Jim and Penny standing there and we were back where we started. As I got out of the ricksha my friends were waiting in the distance. I asked the man how much I owed him. He said " Three-hundred Hong Kong dollars." I'm just guessing what he said because it's been so long ago that I don't remember at all what the currency exchange was but whatever he said was about $70.00 American money. I said "No, that's too much." And before I could get the sentence out he yelled at me "THREE-HUNDRED HONG KONG DOLLARS! THREE-HUNDRED HONG HONG DOLLARS!" So to avoid any kind of insolent I practically threw the money at him. My friends who were standing out of earshot asked how much my ride had cost. I, being too embarrassed to tell them what I had actually paid, said $15 American dollars." They all said in unison "WHAT! Are you crazy? For that little ride?!" So we went back to the hotel to get ready for dinner. I felt uncomfortable because I hadn't told the truth about the ride so when Greg was in the shower getting ready I told Jay. (Jim and Penny were in their own room.) Actually, Jay was reading out of one of the guest brochures from the night stand and he said "Oh look, it says here that when riding in the rickshas be sure to establish a price BEFORE getting in or you can find yourself in big trouble. That's kind of what happened to you." So I told him what really happened, that it was $70 and not $15 that I paid. About that time the phone rang and it was Jim calling to tell us they were ready for dinner and would meet us in the dining room. Jay started telling him my ricksha story and was laughing so hard that you could hardly understand what he was saying. He was practically growling into the phone. Now, when I look at the photograph that Jim took of me sitting in the ricksha it's really funny because I see the waiting expression on the little Hong Kong man's face and I see that he's thinking "I've got a live one here." Lash Out Loud