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Moon hill bike ride

After a quick shit, shower and shave (yes, really) we headed out for some brunch before a bike ride to Moon Hill.  We eat at yet another small roadside street food joint and had some kind of stir fry with rice - which was unbelievably filling and only cost 6 yuan (40p).  The street food here is generally pretty good compared to the food you get in the restaurants, so it is a much more viable option, unlike in Nanning, where I wouldn't touch the street food with someone elses tongue!

We hired some bikes for the day and headed off in the general direction of Moon Hill.  After about 5 minutes I realised that the brakes and gears on my bike didnt work and it was stuck in first gear, resulting in much pedalling for Kev (but what do you expect for 50p?).  We passed some king of butterfly cave and a big Banyan tree, but decided they werent worth the entrance fee to the parks they were in and cycled on.  About 1km from Moon Hill, we were intercepted by touts who persuaded us to go on a trip to the water caves.  We managed to barter them down to 50 yaun (3 quid 50) per person instead of the usual 90 yuan and found it quite amusing that other people were paying the extortionate prices.....not only that, the woman we paid ticked the wrong box on the tickets and so we went on the full two and a half hour tour instead of the one and a half (Brucey).  This was mainly due to the bartering abilities of our new friend Waj (who went to Warwick uni) from Sri Lanka who we met at the butterfly park.

The caves were pretty cool and they had a mud bath and water pool for anyone who wanted a dip, but unfortunately as we werent expecting to come here, I didnt have any swimming shorts.  I got much amusement from just walking behind Benny as he is the most clumsy person I have ever met and het kept whacking his head off the cave roof.  We got a bit bored towards the end and made our own way out of the caves rather stupidly (maybe they are still looking for us?!!?) and caught a bus back to the tour office.

We then cycled a further kilometre to Moon hill and had a good hike up....I was literally pissing with sweat as it was so hot and humid.  But when we got to the top the views were well worth the effort, all you could see for miles was huge limestone peaks jutting out of the earth at random angles.  I climbed up a further 4 metres on a telegraph pole in the hope of getting an even better view, but actually nearly shit myself as it was on the side of a cliff face with a sheer drop to one side.  We stayed up the top until the sun started to set and then thought it might be a good idea to head back down the hill as it would be torturous in the dark.

By the time we reached the bottom it was almost dark, so we had to cycle back in the dark, with one gear, no brakes, no lights on a busy main road frequented by many a whopping truck and tour bus.  Needless to say this wasnt much fun as I thought we were going to sie at any moment and it took us nearly an hour in total.  At least it was a bit cooler, so I didnt sweat like a peadophile in a playground any more!!

When we got back,we headed out for another cheap stir fry meal and then a few beers with Waj in tow.  It is a bit weird as both Benny and Waj dont drink - but they are a good laugh anyway.  In the bar we went to we actually saw the most drunk bar owner in the world who wanted me to teach her English - I couldnt be arsed.  She also asked me to come up to her room to drink with her...hmmm...I think not.

Heading back about midnight, I felt a bit peckish and splashed out on cuttlefish on a stick (I have no idea what I was thinking) and as a result I had stomach ache the following day. 

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