Sorry I forgot to take a picture of the Michael Jackson clown girl: Maybe I eat too many cookies

January 6, 2015

There was a promising sign for a waterfall pointing away from the main road close to the gas station, and so I optimistically headed in that direction. Had I thought more about the fact that it was the dry season and that the landscape was flat I wouldn't have got my hopes up so much, nor would I have been so frustrated at cycling around in circles for a while before eventually giving up and making an irritated retreat. My final stop on my search was at a house where a friendly family laughed at me for looking for a waterfall and told me I had no choice but to turn back. Interestingly there was a girl of about twenty in that family that was very pretty, except she had a completely white face, a bit like a clown. In Thailand it seemed that white was considered beautiful and I often saw girls wearing whitening make-up or rubbing whitening cream on their skin. But this girl was taking it to the next level, looking like Michael Jackson as she stood there amongst the natural skin tones of the rest of her family.

Sorry I forgot to take a picture of the Michael Jackson clown girl and her family, so here instead is another temple. They were everywhere, like churches in England

I was getting a bit bored of all the flat farmland and so I took a slight detour to head for the Phu Pha Yon National park. I could see the mountains of this National Park from very far away, and my legs protested a great deal about the steep climb up to get up to them. But it was worth it to be amongst the more natural surroundings of the mountains and woodland. There was no entrance fee and nothing very much to see, but the road through the park was going the right way and had little traffic, and was a real pleasure to cycle on.

Although a lot of the area near the road was still cultivated

I camped that night in a nice spot surrounded by rocks and trees and sat out under the stars. It was lovely. I thought that the only thing that could make this better would be to have some company. "You've got me" said a little pink notebook. How could I forget? I looked at my accounts for the last couple of days.

05/01/15ICE CREAM - £0.20
COOKIES - £1.20
TOTAL - £1.40
06/01/15
BREAD - £1.48
CHOCOLATE MILK - £0.25
ICE CREAM - £0.54
COOKIES - £1.10
TOTAL - £3.37

"Is this the kind of junk you've been eating for the whole trip?! It's a wonder you've the energy to cycle at all!"

"What are you now, a nutritionist?"

Nothing really happened the next day at all. But I cycled behind this man for a while. He was barefoot and smoking a cigarette - every so often a puff of smoke would come up. This was the highlight of my day

I passed through the crowded and not-so-pleasant town of Mukdahan, just outside of which is this - the Mukdahan Tower! Nothing else really happened on the 7th, except I bought more ice cream and told Alan to shut up because it was cheap

06/01/15 - 79km

07/01/15 - 74km

Today's ride: 153 km (95 miles)
Total: 35,465 km (22,024 miles)

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