adventure

quan tuo & i just got back from another wonderful adventure, this time in fire island. what an adventure i tell you! friday night, after L2 training, a group of us went out to celebrate easter's bday & had so much fun. qbertplaya & i met earlier & she accompanied me to get some cava & wine for fire island then we had a lovely snack at a spanish tapas place before meeting the gang. they were heading off to find some, no doubt funny, karaoke but quan tuo & i had to take my boyos to my friend adam's place for the weekend. that was fun, the boyos love it over there & they are so sweet as to really enjoy my boyos for what they really are - lovies! but of course a smoke, a glass of wine later, we had to go home & pack for the next day.
we got up pretty much right on time, on 3 hours sleep. my eyes have not been that bloodshot in a long time. so off we went to LIRR via penn station & promptly i snuggled up to quan tuo & napped. he woke me up & we got off on the bellmore stop & were to walk 1/2 mile down to the ferry. we walked a while & saw small homes but with an water alley behind them so that their boats & (better yet!) their jetskis were just parked outside & i mused on how lovely that would be! but we had walked a ways & saw no signs so we were suspicious. so when we asked it turns out we got off on the wrong stop (that also started with b)& were 30 miles away. so back to the LIRR heading towards babylon to catch another train to bayshore. quan tuo was impatient so we took a cab ($20 bucks!?! robbery!) to bayshore where the ferry was to depart & was only 1 stop away on the train. so we get there & there is time to buy tickets & get lunch (all we had thus far was a couple of small egg sandwiches & it's already noon) so i had a delicious seafood bisque & we took our orders to go to eat on the ferry. it was beautiful out. the earlier cool winds had subsided & the sun was out. with the occasional splash of water to keep us cool, the 45 minute ferry didn't seem all that bad (not choppy at all as i feared). heng zhi & his mom were at the dock to meet us at seaview port. what a lovely place. no cars, all bikes & walking. i don't know much about fire island in terms of size, etc. but it is managable to walk around & it's so very quaint. we walked to the rental house & it was great! awesome deck, our own bedroom, bikes available, 4 showers to choose from plus apart from the vino we brought, there was enough food there for everyone. so we change to beach gear immediately & head off. literally a 3 min walk to the spot on the beach his kids were hanging out. the weather was gorgeous. immediately after introductions, i plop down on the beach to nap while quan tuo, zhi & his kids played football. it was a good 30 minute nap. then quan tuo & i, true to form, did shaolin stretches on the beach & we worked on yiluquan for quite a long time. i wanted to go for a walk to explore but quan tuo wasn't up for it considering our earlier foray but eventually at the suggestion of going to town for something to drink, a milkshake popped into our minds & off he & i went to try to find ocean beach. it was exactly the walk i wanted, part of the beach, part off. we discovered this more exclusive section where all the roads were wooden & it took us to some of the most lovely homes & bamboo around. it was stunning! eventually we found the town & had our milkshake & rootbeer float. then we caroused around some more before returning to the beach spot. it was great to sit with zhi who i have always liked despite not knowing too well & we talked about kung fu, sifu & our own experiences, expectation & (sometimes lack of) understanding. it is certainly a singular experience, shaolin is. no one will have the same experience nor the same relationship with sifu. zhi did say that i should be glad sifu pays me attention because he is trying to teach me something; that the worst thing was for sifu to ignore you. it was quite enlightening. eventually we returned to the lovely rental, showered, bbq'd, smoked & drank & got to know one another better. zhi wanted to take us own to the club(s) in town but i declined, choosing instead to read & relax & write & rest. it was only a few hours later that quan tuo came home pretty drunk with rum breath. we slept in longer than planned.
quan tuo made breakfast for us & we headed off to a bike ride looking for those exclusive homes again which we found. we also found one of my favourite spots, close to the beach, these private homes were on wooden paths surrounded by gorgeous bamboo & looked like a maze. it was a delight to coast through one section where the temperature dropped 20 degrees with the wind in your hair, so we did that a couple of times before proceeding on. we were pulled over by a copper on a golfcart that no bikes are allowed on ocean beach area all weekend so we had to walk our bikes back to seaview which wasn't too too bad. we wanted to get back before zhi left the island for the day so we all met back up at the house, had a snack, popped open the cava & smoked a bit. we all walked zhi to the ferry then quan tuo & i had spicy & dirty & yummy bloody marys & shot pool for a little bit before going back to make quesadillas for everyone. we invited oneka, zhi's good friend, to join us on the next adventure bike ride: the sunken forest. now we were previously told that you can only get there by boat but quan tuo found a way - albeit gruelling & exhausting - it was fun. first we biked out as far as we could then carried & rode our bikes on the beach for a couple of miles then we dragged our bikes some more until we got there. it was a wooden path where we rode our bikes into the sunken forest. so beautiful & apart from a crash or two, we were doing really well considering the steep paths & quick turns into swamp or plants, there were no major problems, save a flat tire on my bike. i can't describe how lovely it was with the grey sky & intermitten sun filtering through the trees, plants & sweet bamboo! it was well worth the trek & what an unbelievable time we had & we were still in good spirits despite the heat, the damp winds & the rain coming down in spurts. in fact, we had to get back the same way we came, although with a different route & missed the heavy rain that came down soon after we got back to the house. i have bruises & mosquito bites & a sore arse from the bike seats but we trained harder! we bbq'd & showered then caught the 8:05 ferry out. of course i had to sneak in a milkshake which we enjoyed on route. the ferry was quick & not as choppy as we thought it would be. the LIRR was very quick with one change of train then straight to penn station then home.
it's always great to get home & sleep in my own bed. quan tuo & i chilled a bit before going to bed. i was looking forward to seeing the boyos but adam & i didn't connect this morning for the boyos return. i miss them oh so much & i don't like to be at home without the boyos! i hope to get them tonite after work!
next adventure MUST include my boyos. they would have had great times on the beach!