Day 25 (Morning):
Start: Jiande City, Zhejiang Province
End: Lanxi City, Zhejiang Province
Daily Traveled Distance: 54 KM
Total Traveled Distance: 1768 KM

Day 25 (Afternoon):

Lanxi Social Welfare Institute Volunteering
Changes
Lanxi
As soon as his feet hit the mat, Lan Xiao Yong seemed to lose his posture and balance and began to fall forward. Before I could rush forward to steady him, however, he shocked me by quickly breaking the fall with his out-stretched arms. It had only been eight months since I’d visited the Lanxi Orphanage, and at that time Xiao Yong seemed to have a difficult time even crawling on his belly, let alone balancing on all fours.
But he was not done. Posed like a track star ready for the starting gunshot, Xiao Yong tilted his gaze slightly upwards and launched himself ahead like a cannonball. The sight of this little boy bent double and crawling on all four limbs with his head close to the ground looked very much like a baby bulldozer. “Clear out of my way, I’m built for speed” seemed to be his sentiment as he shot ahead without regard for his surroundings.
The changes in all of the children at the Lanxi orphanage have been astounding since the beginning of Red Thread Charities’ intervention two years ago. Starting with a group of close to twenty special needs children that were mostly unable to lift their heads by themselves two years ago, the six remaining children now are all physically active and so mobile that they’ve had to put up a toddler gate at the stairs. Starting with an orphanage environment where the only sounds to be heard were the cries of the bedridden orphans, the only sounds you hear now are the joyful squeels of the children as they play with each other and the caretakers.
In one more year, the financial support that the Lanxi Social Welfare Institute receives from Red Thread Charities will be withdrawn. With the rehabilitation training that the staff has received during its three years with RTC, along with the relationships that RTC has set up with the local area hospitals and medical centers, the Lanxi Social Welfare Institute is now in a good position to assume its role as a special needs child rehabilitation center not only for the orphans, but also for the local population. In 2009, RTC will be beginning a new partnership with the Yiwu orphanage which has over seventy children.
Biking China
As we’ve continued to bike, the heat has replaced the winds as the toughest obstacle in our daily rides. Starting our days at seven in the morning means that we can get in around two hours of biking in ninety degree heat before the sun’s rays fully overwhelm us. One hundred degree plus days are the norm and as we go further south, it will only get hotter and more humid.
Steven and I both been affected physically and mentally by the unrelenting heat, from developing heat blisters to feeling faint while biking. Thankfully, however, neither of us have suffered from heatstroke. We debated for several days what our options were, and in the end, we have both agreed to end our trip about two weeks early to be most prudent and safe.
One of our biggest concerns upon reaching this decision was that we would dissapoint our readers and those that have sponsored us financially. In our initial discussions, we decided that we were still going to go south on the bikes, but as we got closer to Lanxi, it started to make more and more sense to end at our final orphanage visit. It felt like the most meaningful and appropriate way to end this trip.
From growing intimately familiar with tendonitis (Steven), fixing flat tires after hitting the point of extreme exhaustion (Craig), and becoming a master of the animal domain (Me), we have experienced more on this trip than we had ever thought possible. We are grateful for your supportive comments and donations, and hopefully this blog has done two things: entertained you, and more importantly, raised awareness for Red Thread Charities and orphanages in China.
Whie this marks the end of our biking journey, Steven and I will still be in China for another two and a half weeks. We will be exploring parts of China and of course you should expect our usual blog entries. More details will come in the following days, but in the mean time, thanks for everything.