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Cycling Through Karsts

The plan is to rent some bikes, so when Natalia finally wakes up (complaining slightly that I didn’t bother to wake her up), we head down and grab some breakfast.  We swing by the sunglasses place, but she’s forgotten to bring us the zhongzhe.  Tomorrow, she assures us.  We get some bikes from the Backstreets guesthouse.  They seem pretty decent, although the saddles are never great on these bikes.

We follow the map to a bike trail that runs near, but not along side the river.  Natalia isn’t sure, but I win her over with my confidence that we’re heading towards Moon Hill, which is a karst formation with a moon shaped hole in it.  Who wouldn’t want to see that?

After a scenic bike ride, we arrive at moon hill, fend off the women trying to sell us water (“You’re too polite.” Natalia tells me.), and make our way up the hill.  A bit of a hike, but nothing compared to the Krabi climb a couple of months prior.  We take some pictures up there, fending off even more water sellers, then descend, taking a different path so we can see the hill from a distance.  We grab a drink and a light lunch from the cafe, before venturing out.

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We plan on going for an extra long ride, but the rain starts, so we figure we’ll head back.  About 20 minutes from town, it really starts to pour, so we duck into a restaurant and decide to eat a second lunch.  Noodle soup.  Simple.

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It’s still raining, but a little less hard, so we make our way back into town, drop off the bikes, and have a shower at the guesthouse.  For dinner we get some yak cheese pizza at a place run by an Ottawa native.  He’s got a bunch of good books, so I’ll probably be back to grab at least one before I leave.

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The weather is still lousy, so we get some sleep.

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