Mon Mar 21, 2011
March 21st. We rent a motorbike. This time it’s semi-automatic, with 4 gears. Left foot to change gears, right foot for brakes. First time I use a bike with gears, so I practice in our street first. First we drive to the monkey mountain. Beautiful coast with empty beaches. We see a huge statue and various temples, I believe Buddhist.
Later we enjoy driving kilometers under the sun with almost no traffic, the beach on our left. We reach Marble Mountain. I enjoy the feeling of exploration. No indications about where you can or can not go. No signs about minding your head or about slippery surfaces. We are on our own, in caves you hardly go through, or climbing hundreds of superhuman sized steps. Amazing views from high places and misterious dark caves with Buddha carved in stone. At times it reminds me of images of Avatar, the movie. And outside, like in the movie, hundreds of businesses transforming material extracted from this area, in this case it’s marmor that becomes statues of lions, dragons, Buddhas or other white creatures. It makes me wonder of sustainability.
Walk in the beach, A swims, night bike ride and dinner at nice fish restaurant were all employees are around us observing and laughing about what two strange tourists do.