Day 26
No word yet from the young girl we met. Still resting and decided to clean the trikes. The hotel owners have proved to be extremely helpful and attentive. When I indicated I wanted to wash the trikes I was provided with a hose, a basin, and a long brush for cleaning the wheels. After finishing, my hands covered with grease I was also shown to the back of the hotel where I was given a bar of soap and a scrub brush to clean my hands. From sun rise to sunset the family is up cleaning and taking care of us and their 3 year old son. We are quite impressed and highly recommend this place to any cyclists or climbers passing through.
Speaking of hotels, although we have a tent, we have only used it 3 times and all of those were in China. When we planned for the trip we imagined that we would need to camp out to stay within our 20USD/day budget. But the prices for accommodation are low enough for us to stay indoors and enjoy the conveniences, as well as stay within our budget. The reasons that we aren’t camping are as follows:
Convenience: Hotels are everywhere and we rarely pay more than 10 USD per night. Most of the time we are well under that. And as I pointed out above we are well within our budget. Camp-able space is very limited. Most fields are cultivated and the one forest we pitched our hammocks in was only grown for commercial lumber.
Safety: This is our major concern. We’ve debated camping near some towns but judging by the look or feel of the town decided against it. Some towns are quite friendly and safe, but others not so much. From the amount of attention we draw even just stopping briefly, the prospect having a crowd of audience right before bed would not make for a good night sleep.
Water: There is barely any natural water that we would consider safe even with our double water purification systems. Toilets run directly into rivers, and the rivers are filled with garbage. Pig and poultry farms are right on the edge of reservoirs. Run-off from fields sprayed with pesticides and fertilized with chemicals and human manure makes all water suspect. We have not seen anyone swimming in any body of water that we have passed. Not even wading. We need at least 5 liters of water to camp (making dinner and breakfast, plus drinking water). Unless we continually refill along the way, we are not prepared if we happen to find a spot.
Enjoyment: Perhaps the most important of all. After a sweaty dusty day on the road, nothing is more satisfying than a shower. One thing that we didn’t expect is how insanely filthy cycling can be. Hiking for 1 week in the forest leaves you cleaner than 1 day of cycling on a dusty busy road under the tropical sun. Our goal is to travel, not to unnecessarily test our ability to endure discomfort. We’re sure that we’ll find plenty of opportunity for that in the coming months.