Day 2

I really don't know where to start in describing today! Not sure I can put it into words, but I'll give it a go! We started out at 7, same as yesterday with the first leg being about 20kms. We rode directly beside the Mekong for most of it, and with the sun rising it was magnificent! We did at times veer away to ride through some beautiful little towns that were just gorgeous and the kids were all outside waiting for the school bus! They were so excited to see us it was just so much fun! I couldn't help myself but stop to say hi (swatica) and take photos, but as we were riding as a pack for that leg the support vehicle had to wait behind with me and then I had to ride to catch all the others up! But worth the effort as the kids were just so cute! Town after town the same thing happened until I got banned from stopping and sulked for a while!! Usually I have been riding out front so stopping to take pics or chat wasn't so obvious to all or a problem I guess!! We passed several schools and the kids just got so excited to see us, it was hard to forget we weren't actually celebrities!! All the attention is so cool!! So I complained a bit more about not being allowed to stop and got told to keep riding, so I did.... At the next water stop we were told it was only a 10 km leg then they had a surprise for us. With huge mountains looming in the distance we were quite concerned what this surprise might be!! So as we cycled our 10km getting closer and closer to the mountains we grew more and more concerned! Chris (our tour leader) just kept smirking and I kept complaining that he wouldn't let me stop at every little house and with every little happy kid!! So when we rode into a town and he turned into the local school you can imagine my excitement!! I could have hugged him!! It was so cool, the kids all came running out to us. It was obviously an organised visit (sly Chris!!) so there was a ceremony where the kids pinned flowers to our shirts and wrapped cloths around our waists and Chris presented them with some bocce balls (yeah, go figure! They love it here!!). We then spent about an hour playing with the kids who all come from poor farming families. Have some great pics and had so much fun with them! They couldn't speak any English so we were all laughing together trying to work out names etc! I took pictures on my phone and then showed them which was a real hit! Played them music too! I often knelt down to chat to the little ones and when I stood up they would swarm me dusting off my knees and tucking my iPod back in my ears for me! I had some groupies that followed me everywhere I went, just so cute!! Tony did some magic tricks for them which they loved! Peter spoke to them about hands, through an interpreter. Kuhn Theiw also spoke to them. Great experience! We then had to leave and rode out to great cheers and well wishes for the rest of our trip. I couldn't help but cry it was such an emotional moment in my life! We rode around the corner where we took off our flowers and cloths to put in the van and headed out for the next leg. Trish and i thought we had it good drafting behing peter and chris for quite a few kms before Pete turned and asked us if we'd like to ride in front for a bit and take the wind? "no thanks, we're good Pete". "um no you're not!!" so accepting that chivalry was lost we accepted our place in the pattern and the four of us rotated the front to give each of us a break and we rode hard!! It was so fun!! We're doing 30-31kms and powering along! Yesterday we had spread out a lot, so to ride in a group was great!! Very motivating and encouraging! We set the pace at about 25km yesterday so to be hitting 30 today was great!! Had another water stop, then lunch and a bit further to our motel. After a quick shower we all piled in the back of the ute and drove about an hour away to a temple that is set into the side of a mountain. Absolutely amazing! But what we weren't told is that we were going to walk up to the top of the mountain to visit the temple!! So up we went, and up and up and up ......... Omg those stairs killed us!! And when I say stairs be aware that I'm being pretty generous!! Planks of wood held up by tree stumps and other planks is probably closer!! You couldn't grab the hand rail because it would wobble and we had to walk over the missing planks!! The stairs and walk ways were built by the monks themselves. Going up was optional and Chris did explain all this. I did get to the temple where Gai explained to us how to honor the Buddha (really great!!) but then we climbed right to the top of the mountain where there is a series of walkways built around the side of the rockface! You'll have to wait for the photos because words just can't describe how rickety and dodgy this walkway was!! I had reached my limit!! Others had dropped off along the way as it was pretty high and scary, but this walkway did me in!! No way!! So I and a few others turned back and headed down!! As you can imagine thousands of stairs weren't what we expected at the end of our second day of riding!! Back to the motel in the back of the ute and straight to get a massage!! My legs are so sore!! Those stairs killed me!! But it was an awesome experience and it felt like we could see all of Thailand from up there!!

So bed now! Not sure I'll be able to walk tomOrrow after my speed stretch on the bike and then all those freaking stairs but I guess I'll just deal with tomorrow tomorrow!! We'll all be the same so it's all good! So glad I did all that training, am doing well.........