Today, after much faffing with bike and scooter hire, we went out on bikes and scooters for a little explore round the local countryside. Some felt more comfortable on bikes, some on scooters, so we had a mix of both.
We initially were all going to cycle. But trying to find child sized bikes was near impossible, and actual toddler seats for the backs of bikes did prove impossible.
They offered a cushion and rope to tie her to the back of the push bike 😂. I could just see her dangling by a leg with her being dragged along the road and none of us noticing. So that was a no.
Then the chain on the bike they had for Rai fell off before we’d even left and we thought – nah.
So after that we decided to do a mix of both bikes and scooters, and got a scooter for Ollie (we already had one) and decided Bo and Rai would switch on the back of the scooter, and both do a bit of cycling with the one suitably sized bike
Ol, Tim and Soph had all had a go on the scooter we hired on our first day, with Jonathan giving them some lessons. Ol and Tim took to it and enjoyed it. Soph didn’t, which is why she cycled.
The scooters rode at the front and rear, and the cyclists in between. We kept at the pace of the cyclists and made sure everyone was well tucked in to the outside away from traffic. At one point we were on the highway, and everyone did absolutely amazing.
Unfortunately Tim was still feeling a bit dicky and stayed at home in bed. He missed a brilliant day.
First up was The duck stop. Who knew ducks could be so entertaining! Everyone now wants ducks as pets and trying to plan where to put a pond in the garden.
We spent a bit of time with the big ones 🦆
The ducklings 🐥
And Donald Trump the water buffalo 🐃
After that we rode to the ‘Pub with cold beer’, a place in the countryside, which serves food, drink and has a pool. Famous for its bbq chicken. It’s part of the Bong Lai Valley loop which people cycle or scooter round.
After a good few hours chilling here, food eaten, hammocks lain in, pool swum in, we headed home.
But not before I’d spotted a suspension bridge in the distance that we absolutely had to go and investigate. It was the opposite direction, but looked cool so off we went. I think I have a thing for bridges…
This was Jonathan’s least favourite part of the day – what with being afraid of heights – and he absolutely bricked it. We all rode over, and back, just for the craic. He’s a good egg.
Then we had a rather lovely ride back home, through the rice fields and then along the river, stopping to give out sweets on the way.
Afterwards, we all went in to town for a well deserved massage, which was a calamity.
They wrote down what everyone wanted (full body, facial, leg and hand massage etc) but managed to accidentally muddle everyone’s request up, so almost everyone got the wrong thing. Except me.
Oliver spent an hour having hair washed and blow dried, after Jonathan had jokingly requested it (not having hair) and them clearly not getting the joke.
Soph ended up with Jonathan’s leg massage and not a back massage, and Jonathan ended up with a facial and back massage when he wanted legs and hands.
Crickett was very happy with her mani/pedi and Bo got his nails done too.
Anyway, once everyone came out (after an hour) we were all chatting about what we had, and discovered half of the group had received completely the wrong thing. So I just sent them all back in for the things they’d actually ordered and everyone was happy.
We didn’t realise the time, by this time 11pm, and almost all the restaurants had closed. We ended up in Vietnamese pizzeria hybrid for yet another late dinner.
On returning back to the hotel, I heard a ‘Daaaaaan come here” from Jonathan (who is sharing with Crickett because she just doesn’t sleep for me) and there was a massive 4 inch cockroach on his bed.
Much deet was sprayed, it ran, it hid, time was spent. We never found it. He went to sleep!! Urgh 🪳
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