The morning came fast, and rubbing my eyes and all I forced myself up to start my day. A quick breakfast later I was off to walk around the town and get my bearings of the place. Not large by any means, the place consists really of 3 very long roads that run parallel to each other and the small roads that connect them. The real reason people come here is the treking. The protected area here is a large portion of untouched forest the still contains wild tigers and elephants, aswell as all sorts of smaller critters. Part of todays plan was to check out whether or not this was going to be done and just how rigourous the trek was. While walking around I saw a neat little box that made me laugh. It was a small complaint box in front of the local police station. No idea if it stills fuctions, but all the same.....
While walking I past a very nice looking guesthouse advertising wifi as part of the room price, and this brand new place is the only place that has it. So I moved from my room and decided to camp here for the next two days. Unfortunately the wifi worked for about 1 hour before it cut out not to return. It's happened many times before here since connections are nothing great, but I was really looking forward to uploading alot.....
Belongings now tucked away in the new room, I went back down to the main road to rent a bicycle for the day to explore the outer limits of town. Having no real direction I simply turned down a back road and just kept my eyes open. Within about 5 minutes I could see a large gold temple on the top a of hill no to far away. A destination in mind I just headed my best in that direction. Reaching the winding uphill dirt roads leading to it, I was forced to walk my bike most of the uphill climb.
What a temple it was.... The hilltop complex sat atop a completely flat mountain top, much like a plateau. Approaching I noticed a elderly man shaking his hands at me in a gesture that seemed in the middle of "come here" to "get outta here" lol. Walking over he gestured me to follow me him, no words exchanging as there was no common tongue to be had here. Getting to the temple, he pointed to a paper, where the only thing I could read was the number 5000. So I handed over 5000 kip realizing he was going to let me inside the locked door. Having no idea why this man had the key to a monastic temple when there were clearly monks around, I stepped through the 4 foot door that I practically had to crawl through. Inside was quite nice, very large statues against the wall making up the shrine.
The most interesting thing inside to me was the decorations made of money with the image of Chairman mao I believe. I know I am practically on the chinese border this ar upnorth, but his image inside a temple seems rather strange.
Upon leaving, the door was once again locked behind me. This time, looking from the face of the temple, I saw a most amazing sight. The bell tower sat dead center in my line of sight tunneling the view of the town straight ahead. The complete picture was stunning and left me in awe. Looking left was great, looking right was fine, but dead straight ahead was sublime.
Heading back to town for lunch and after looking in all directions for a place to go, I decided to follow the main road as far out as I could go before tiring out. Just riding for the sake of it, I peddled away for an hour or so before realizing just how far away had gotten. Paying more attention on the return journey, passing nothing but small cabins, vast rice fields, a large gathering with women dressed to there best which really consisted of the same garments just a better material. Something I hadn't seen before, I was well inside the village life and really just doing some serious people watching. Tired after finally getting back, I stopped of at the office where the treks can be booked. Guides are a must as entrance to the protected forest is restricted from casual day trips. Group size affects price and since there where only two others looking to go the price was not happening for me, so I went back to the room to think things over. Staying here really makes no sense unless the wilderness is part of your itinerary.... Well see.
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