4 April 2010 - Day Out!

---

After breakfast, it’s a swim in the pool. Riks gets out of the pool, sits on his new sunglasses and another pair is demolished within a few hours of possession - it's lucky that the glasses aren't costing much! After lunch I arrange for a moto driver to take me for some local sightseeing (it involves a fair amount of walking so Rik won’t be up to it). The driver drops me at the first stop, the fairy stream, which I follow to reach the waterfall. I am walking through the stream when a young boy joins me. He seems friendly enough but then I realise that he wants money for ‘guiding’ me to the waterfall. I tell him I do not want a guide and have no money and let's just say he's not that pleased! I manage to shake him off eventually and soon realise that the stream is a hotbed for young kids wanting to guide you and make money. I have learnt my lesson, however, and each time a kid approaches me I just say ‘no guide’ and it does the trick.

Our next stop is the Lotus Lake and the white sand dunes, which are stunning. It is quite a walk in the heat to get to the top but lots of fun running back down them. (You can also rent plastic slides to slide down them). After a visit to the Red Canyon (which is not as impressive as I was expecting it to be) we go to the red sand dunes. I don’t find them as beautiful as the white sand dunes but they are still worth a visit. I finish off the day watching the sun set at the fishing village and then return to the hotel, where Rik has had a chilled out afternoon.

We visit a tour company and arrange an excursion to Takou Mountain for tomorrow on ‘easy rider’ bikes. We book with the guy who owns the place, who will also be one of the drivers. He is in he middle of a drinking session and already pretty drunk but assures us that he will be okay to drive tomorrow. Fingers crossed ...

---