Final Day of Cycling

I don't know what else to do but laugh! After a hard day of riding, we finished at Yok Don National Park, where Heidi and Marcus will stay over tonight and visit the park in the morning. Not interested in seeming the park, I asked Kong, our cycling guide, to bring me to a guest house near the bus station in Buon Ma Thuot. From the outside you can't even tell its a guest house. It looks like every other storefront in Vietnam--crackers, soda, and candy among other odds and ends being sold to the passersby. I am shown to the back, down a dingy and poorly lit hallway where there are 3 single rooms. The walls don't go all the way to the ceiling, so the peace and quiet I was hoping for can only be found under the blare of the TV, the chatter of women gossiping over the day's laundry. the honking of trucks rumbling by on the busy street, and the shrill ringing of the telephone. The room itself is dirty and tiny, but it has a mosquito net! Hey, I can't complain, I'm only staying here one night and its costing me a whopping $3. Plus the ownwer invited me for coffee at 7.

The riding today was awesome. We started off by visiting two waterfalls, the two biggest in Vietnam, both of which pale in comparison to any note worthy falls in the US. The final 30 km of the ride were by far the best of the entire trip. There was a great tail wind pushing along the rolling hills at speeds that made me throw up my arms and laugh in pure exhileration.

I'm really doing it. All by myself, alone. It's unreal, exciting, and fascinating. The best time of my life. I wouldn't give this up for anything. What's next is anyone's guess. I am tougher, more resilient, and felxible that I even realized. It's already been 12 days on my own--I've crossed borders, meditated at a Pagoda, stayed with a complete stranger, eated coagulated blood, and cycled through 290km of beautiful countryside. All this in less than 2 weeks. It's hard to imagine what will unfold over the next few months. I can't wait to live every moment of it!