Felt pretty crap this morning on account of a few too many Beerlau the night before. I had met up with the usual suspects in a bar called Lau Lua Gardens, which has a fantastic outside area, with palm trees and fires to take away the evening chill. Since the town and all of it's bars close at 11pm the only option for another drink was to go to the local bowling alley. It was great fun and met up with several other travellers (as you do)
Once back at my guest house my sleep was rudely awakened at 6am, by what seemed like someone banging a tray repeatedly for an age. This apparently signified the start of the Alms giving to the Monks. This is basically a Buddhist ritual whereby food is given to the local monks at this ridiculous time of the morning!
To blow the cobwebs away, three us (Tim\Patrick\me) hired some mountain bikes and headed off to the surrounding hills. Stupidly we had chosen the hottest part of the day, and all with hangovers! It was a tough ride, but made enjoyable by the stunning scenery and the villagers coming out to say Samedii (hello) to the Falangs (westerners). Through every village the children would wave and high five us as we rode through. Our ride was rewarded at our destination, the waterfalls. After a short walk through the forest, it opened up to reveal the cascading waters. Nice.
A dip in the crisp flowing waters was just what I needed to cool down before embarking on the long and hilly ride home. Thinking about it, I reckon the reason why the villagers were so happy to see someone cycling through, is that no-one is stupid enough to cycle the 70km round trip to the waterfalls and back.
Needless to say, I was knackered by the time I got back.
Memorable Points: Bowling in LP (very bizarre), Bike ride, swimming in the waterfalls, Tim cycling with 7 wicker hats (much to the amusement of the locals), Friendly villagers, Trying to hitch a lift back with some Monks
