Cycle complete!
It's probably hard to see exactly how bad the road was but by far it was the worst I have ever cycled. I had climbed slowly up a potholed mountain for the best part of 2 hours and when I got down from it the road only got worse. Instead of tarmac they get large rocks, place them on the road and then smother them in sand. The result is a cobblestone nightmare with deep pockets of sand, which does not suit a heavy bike with narrow tyres in the least! It was not only rough but the road was constantly up and down, rarely it being flat. It became too bumpy and dangerous to cycle on the ups or downs so instead I had to push for 2 hours. Fatigued from the pushing along with the midday sun I figured that I was never going to get where I needed to be if I didnt get help. so I pulled off under a tree and waited. There were only two type of vehicles that passed the road, one being motorbikes, the other more importantly being trucks. After 30 minutes a truck finally passed so I flagged it down. Not that it was too hard to stop considering it was only going 5km/hr! I explained my predicament and that I needed to reach this certain place for which it happened they were also passing. We threw Melissa and the bags up top and I climbed up into the cab with the other two. The pace didn't pick up much over the next 6 hours, in which we picked up a puncture and were sidelined for over an hour. In the dark we reached the point where our routes seperated and so I headed off into the dark not knowing where I was gonna sleep for the night. Mercifully it was a clear moon-lit night and so I could half make out where I was going, although because it was in a gorge with a river on one side it was impossible to camp anywhere. After 30 minutes I realised I would need to find a house to stay with so I pulled in at a random house and asked if they could help me out. The beaming burmese smiles that I could make out from the dim lighting, meant it was all going to be okay. And so on a bamboo floor beside the peaceful river and under a star full of skies I fell fast asleep.
Possibly the most dramatic and captivating sunrise I've ever witnessed. Hauled myself up to the top of a temple in dark of night to sit and watch slowly the sun peak over the horizon. While it did so 23 hot air balloons floated gently up and down over the landscape.
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The AuthorName: Daniel Ross Top Tips:
1. Constantly challenge yourself. 2. If you never try you'll never know what's possible. Archives
October 2016
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