The day started with a great breakfast which seems standard fare around here, then off to the markets to do some browsing, and in the girls’ case, buying. They took their dresses they wanted copied to our tailoring friends and got that started. Ben & I took off and went for a drink by the river near the Japanese Bridge.
As we were walking around, just as we got past the touristy part… we walked past a pub with some girls dressed in less than most around here. We walked on past and as we did, the girls yelled out, “You come in for drink?”. “Nah, no thanks”.
“We love you long time!”
We laughed, they laughed and on we went. My life is now complete.
We decided that motorbikes would be the go for the day. We hired a couple, Hannah came with the boys and after she somewhat struggled going in a straight line, we decided it’d be best if we took a guide and she ride with him. The steeds were some Yamaha 120CC scooters which were pretty decent I have to say. Big wheel ones so pretty easy to control. The traffic was going to be the challenge.
So for $5 for the bikes, $5 for the guide and a few dollars of petrol from an old woman who hand pumped it, off we went. The guide took us all through the back alleys of the local area, showing us more of the river, the locals and how they lived, we stopped at a pottery area where they make a lot of bowls, mugs, trinkets and so-on. Hannah had a go at making a bowl in a very “Ghost” movie kind of way with the old women… Or not. We bought some trinkets and we were on our way.
We made our way slowly to Marble Mountains – home to 5 mountains of marble and limestone. They have been decorated massively by Buddhists over the centuries and feature large sculptures of Buddha, some large pegodas and various other statues. So many caves to explore and to get to the peak, you have to go through “Heaven” cave which has a small opening at the top, then giving a 360 degree view of the surrounding areas including the famous China Beach.
It was boiling hot, bloody steep and the marble was hellishly slippery, but it was very interesting and worth doing.
After that, we were “heavily persuaded” to buy something from the shop where we had parked our bikes. We’d worked out by now that the guide had a bit of a hidden agenda and was taking us to places where he either knew someone or got a kickback. We bought something after much haggling (getting a touch sick of it) and away we went. We went via China Beach which has been basically leveled and started afresh and then back home. Greg Norman and Colin Montomery (golfers) have designed golf courses here and the beach area is seriously amazing real estate. 5 star resorts as far as the eye can see, the one on Top Gear where Jeremy Clarkson is lazing around by is a 5.5 star resort on that same strip.
After we dropped Hannah back, Ben & I decided to go exploring a bit more by ourselves. Back to the beach area we went, had a drink and spring rolls and thoroughly enjoyed just relaxing. By now we were rather confident of dodging everyone on the wrong side of the road, bikes/pedestrians/cars pulling out from nowhere without looking and we were riding as the locals do – fast and care free.
Whilst all this was going on, Laura & Deb were treating themselves to 4+ hours of beauty therapy. If it exists, they did it. Manicure, pedicure, foot massage, threading (like waxing but they use a string of cotton), sampled the local delicacy and thoroughly enjoyed themselves.
After a big day, we had another tasty meal but in an Italian restaurant this time, then home to bed for an early night as we had a sunrise trip to My Sun (pronounced Mee Sun) ruins in the morning.