A lazy start in a very nice guest house. Packed and left by 1100 strolling gently through the streets of Tak Khaek. Met the Toblerone couple again. Stopped for late breakfast at a snack place at the Mekong water side. Just outside, met the Spanish guy from a couple of days ago; he was just riding his hired motorbike back to the hire shop.
Teresa ordered eggs with some rice and I had violently spicy salad with sticky rice. I cried eating the salad. Lovely mix of julienne veg with nasty amount of chillies. Teresa was horrified by the eggs as they turned out to be over boiled nearly fully formed chicks!. It seemed to be a local delicacy! Bonne Appetite! Cycled in 42 degrees Celsius for approximately 55km (crazy). We stopped every 8-10km just to drink and cool down. Ventured into a very pleasant market and could have had buffalo hooves or copious amounts of fruit but had hot, freshly cooked pastries instead. The meat stands usually have a strangely constructed fans with wires and fabric scaring the flies away – better than nothing I suppose. No refrigeration of course!
Another temple or two. We finally passed out and we tried to hitch a lift. Unfortunately no joy. After about 15 mins trying, we stopped two passing cyclists for a chat instead. A Frenchman, Erwann, from London and his Iranian girlfriend, Roxana. We had a long chat and they convinced us to push another 5km to a possible guesthouse. We arrived in no time and the guest huts where just lovely (if somewhat small and hot). A rustic place with a restaurant and disco over a man-made lake. We chatted with our newly met friends about bikes, routes and politics drying out the outside bar from the beer. A former copper trader from the city, one day he decided toquit the well paid job and cycled from Istanbul to here so far. His girlfriend was a chemist in the process of emigrating to Quebec. Proof that you can find love cycling!
Teresa ordered eggs with some rice and I had violently spicy salad with sticky rice. I cried eating the salad. Lovely mix of julienne veg with nasty amount of chillies. Teresa was horrified by the eggs as they turned out to be over boiled nearly fully formed chicks!. It seemed to be a local delicacy! Bonne Appetite! Cycled in 42 degrees Celsius for approximately 55km (crazy). We stopped every 8-10km just to drink and cool down. Ventured into a very pleasant market and could have had buffalo hooves or copious amounts of fruit but had hot, freshly cooked pastries instead. The meat stands usually have a strangely constructed fans with wires and fabric scaring the flies away – better than nothing I suppose. No refrigeration of course!
Another temple or two. We finally passed out and we tried to hitch a lift. Unfortunately no joy. After about 15 mins trying, we stopped two passing cyclists for a chat instead. A Frenchman, Erwann, from London and his Iranian girlfriend, Roxana. We had a long chat and they convinced us to push another 5km to a possible guesthouse. We arrived in no time and the guest huts where just lovely (if somewhat small and hot). A rustic place with a restaurant and disco over a man-made lake. We chatted with our newly met friends about bikes, routes and politics drying out the outside bar from the beer. A former copper trader from the city, one day he decided toquit the well paid job and cycled from Istanbul to here so far. His girlfriend was a chemist in the process of emigrating to Quebec. Proof that you can find love cycling!