April 1 - Easter Weekend - Part II

I was woken up around 4:30, by the time I was able to get a grip of myself and walk over to the church, the Easter mess was already in full swing - but I still had plenty of time, it lasted after 6 am. This mess turned out to be a highlight of my entire trip: first, I stayed at the very back, looking shyly at the people, but then, seeing my presence did not (apparently) bother anyone, I went up front on the side and was then an eyewitness of quite a ceremony. Men stood on the one side, women on the other, singing songs, which were accompanied by gongs. At front, young girls in folklore dresses were dancing to the music.

Women celebrated separate from men

Young girls dancing up front

The priest

The gong instruments in the back

Blessed are...

I said good-bye to my hosts, with the music from the church still in my ears.

Saying good-bye to my hosts

I rode on some minor roads, leading through more of these tribe villages, many of these hosting the high-roof houses. This is what the inside of the house looks like.

The scenery was nice and peaceful - the cultivated hillsides could have been in Europe, too.

Cultivated hillside

Crickets living in trees next to the road can be very loud - it sounds more like heavy machinery. This can be quite a nuisance for the people living there, therefore they were often collecting them, below is a picture. I also met a large gang of young kids, their task was to look after the cattle.

One cricket is not too loud - all of them together manage to give a real concert

Young shepherds

The minor road forked into a major one - leading through a pine forest, the surface of it being beautifully paved. I was looking forward to an amazing biking afternoon. There were a large number of cafes on the side of the road, with hammocks hanging between the trees, people were chilling in these, sipping on their drinks.

Pleasant riding through a pine forest

Alas, the good road ended and then it was quite a tough ride on a rather narrow road, in the afternoon heat, especially that the road started heading uphill. In the towns the spirit of communism was not to be missed.

We, the people...

This was not Mt. Everest, so I did manage to get to the top, close to sunset, when it turned into a nice downhill ride. It got dark, but I rode up for quite a while, till I got to a town called Phu Phong and stayed at a rather undescriptive motel, with not the most friendly of hosts. I completed some 130 kilometers that day.

Looking down fron the pass