Today was the first real riding day. Yesterday our path took us around the city, but we ended up at the same hotel we started at. Today we did some serious mileage: 50 miles, with two big climbs through passes.
Now I’m sitting at our accommodation for the night, a swanky beach resort. After we got back I went and played in the ocean before getting a 4-hands massage on the beach (at the ripoff price of $5, but I was too lazy to bargain).
Random Bits
My brain is reasonably fried, so no long-winded rants from me, but have some juicy tidbits of info instead. In no particular order:
- Number of children I’ve said “hello!” to: 50+
- Number of high fives to kids: 10, unless you count the trains of 10 screaming children all lined up
- (Sometimes they hold on, which is kind of scary)
- Honks I’ve heard: 300+?
- (People here honk to communicate presence, as traffic rules are very loose)
- Rest stops today: 3 (four segments of 20km)
- Times I wondered why the hell I was doing this: 4
- Times I thought it was the best decision ever: 20+
- Different types of food I’ve eaten: 20+?
- (Their food is very, very good)
Dinner Time
I’m off for dinner! Tomorrow we start off with a 10km climb, which I’m a little worried about. My lack of hill training is painfully apparent compared to some of the other riders. Must find longer cranks before tomorrow! I also have some GPS data t upload later. The Flickr set has new pics now, as usual.
The honking sounds exactly like our experience in India. EVERYBODY honks on the highway, especially when overtaking other vehicles of all kinds. In fact, some vehicles have signs on the back saying “Please honk”. As long as you keep a steady path in your riding — i.e., no sudden turns left or right or sudden stops — you should be OK. Don’t know if hand signals would mean anything to the locals, anyway.
Too bad you didn’t take French in high school — you’d be able to communicate better with many of the older citizens. I suppose many of the teenagers and young aduits know a little bit of English, from watching TV.
Walk or take the sag wagon for awhile, if those climbs get too tough — you want to be sure to finnish the trip, even if you have to slow your pace a bit.
Love,
Dad