We have it all on a plate. For $101 for the 3 of us we can have a guide, rent motorbikes, go trekking for 2 days and sleep in a bungalow. That's too expensive...so we rent bikes and head off to the park ourselves. Dagrun has our bags strapped to the back. She makes me laugh when she says she hasn't ridden a bike in years and is a little nervous as the gears are totally different. This turns out to be 2 years - oh to be 20 again and think 2 years was a long time. Tale sits behind me (she doesn't know my motorbike experience). They're only 90cc machines but they do have gears. My driving lesson is one lap around the block at night time...
...It's a shaky start to say the least, but Tale manages to hold on. So i guess you can call my third time on a bike a success. We drive the 45km to the park only to find the boat is 'hurt', there are no bungalows but maybe we can go trekking tomorrow. :(
I'm not sure how, maybe my belief in the Cao Dai Religion helped and Victor Hugo gave me inspiration, but within an hour we are on a boat crossing a river, we have a bungalow for the 3 of us (the girls don't snore so i allowed them to share with me), and we have trekking planned for 2 days. :)
Day 1 is a 12km/6 hour trek through the 'jungle'. We are a little fast, or a little stupid so it turns into a 25km/6 hour trek through the hottest time of the year. Its is so nice to be away from the motos and noise though. We don't see a great many animals as it's the dry season: birds, some muntjacs (monkjacks), squirrels and geckos. Still it's a good walk and afterwards we are ready for our luxury bungalow. No beds (mattress on the floor), no hot water, mosquito nets that don't cover us, no bed sheets, stifling heat, bugs galore and lots of frogs in the bathroom and actually in the toilet. Wait a minute - I'm sharing a room with two girls in the stifling heat with no bed sheets...SWEET!
On day 2 we have a short trek and a swim in the river/waterfall. It is BLISS! We just lie in the water, holding onto rocks as the current tries to pull us down the river. It's only as we get out of the water that we find we have gathered a large crowd and yet we are in the middle of the forest with no nearby villages! The guide is a nice girl - very friendly, and very camera happy. She only stops taking photos when Dagruns memory card is full - seemingly 100's of photo's. We feel like we are on a photo shoot - very strange.
The day gets even better when our guide talks to me about marriage. Apparently i look about 20, and am very handsome...i want no comments on this last statement thank you! She's made my week and this 20 year old needs to go and buy a girl some glasses.
For our bike ride home i ask Tale how she wants me to drive
"fast"
"so fast and safe"
"no, just fast will do"
This is my kind of girl. My bike has no working speedo, fuel gauge, or horn, it's hard to put into neutral and hard to start. In this country only having no horn is a death trap. We go full throttle most of the way back, i lose a bottle of water that's clipped onto the bike and i don't even notice. I think it's lucky for both of us it's only 90cc.
One last night in town, more food, more drink and more hatching of travel plans. I'm now taking a flight to Danang...me flying when i vowed not to...grrr.
It's also my mums birthday today - my phone doesnt work, i cant find an international phone and it's only after i get on the internet i find that my mum and dad can't log into theirs at home - sorry mum, happy birthday.
