Distance
covered today: 63.5k
Total
mileage to date: 321k
Time in
saddle: 4h02m
Time from
departure: 6.5+ hours
Max Speed:
48.1k/h, Average: 13.7k/h
Today was a rough day. Woke up this morning with what feels like a
cold and after taking a day off to get better was not looking forward to a day
on the bike. After lying in bed debating
whether to stay another day or stop bitching and move on, I decided at least to
get some breakfast. It rained the night
before and looked like it may still. I
have been lucky so far with the weather, but that was not to last.
After breakfast I was feeling better and
decided to stick with the plan and move on.
Hoping the rain had past through the night and the sun would break the
clouds I set off for the day. Soon after
it started raining. Really soft and slow
at first, but gaining intensity until settling into a fine dreary rain. Luckily with my layers and the general
warmth, I wasnt cold, just wet from the waist down.
The other fun part of the day was
national road 323. Despite being a major
road and on the map as such, it is not entirely paved. In fact it varies quite dramatically in
surface. Most of it is decent enough,
some of the downhills are like riding a horse, lean back and be ready for the
road to buck you forward. But thats more
fun than anything else.
Today
however, I came across the unpaved sections of the road. Which would have been fine, except that it
also had to be raining. By the time I
arrived at my stopping point from shoe to shin was one color. The mud had so thoroughly caked on that the
reflectors on my shoes, socks, skin and leggings were uniform along with most
of the bike.
With a bit of luck though I was able to
miss the downpour that signalled the end of the rain. Coming across a local tourist attraction (the
swallow nest caves) were several places that had food (i can not call them
restaurants). After a refreshing bowl of
rice, eggs, oil and salt the rain finally stopped and I was able to push on and
slowly dry out.
Now I am staying in a remarkably muslim
area. Even saw a ninja, (may not be the
accepted term, but what else do you call a person dressed in all black with
only eyeslits?) but most of the women are head scarfed. This is the second muslim enclave that I have
passed through so far. Dont know why,
but I didnt expect ninja's until Thailand.
Also just realized that its my birthday...
But I dont think this shanty town is going to have much of a night life. Going to have to wait till Sa Pa I think to
party this one out. Just happy the hotel
has hot water and electricity, now to dream of wi-fi and a 马桶.
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