Motorbike crash

People i met here, who contributed to and improved my trip: Juliana (Russia), Jim (England)

We went to visit some small villages to the north of Ban Lung on Friday, with our guide driving Jim on one motorbike and Julia on the back of mine. Like the previous day, it was just a dirt track to follow, although this time it was a lot more bumpy and hazardous. After 2 hours, i was slowing down to check with our guide which way we were heading, when we hit a pot hole and went out of control. Luckily we were not going fast and Julia jumped off the back, whilst the bike landed on my left leg, dragging it a bit and ending with some cuts and scrapes. The real pain was on my right leg, which was on the exhaust and the flesh was burning off it. Next moment of panic arrived as the engine began revving and i could see a liquid dripping, Julia thought it was my blood and i thought it was gasoline about to ignite. We managed to get the bike off my leg and it frustratingly turned out that we were basically at the first village.

After trying to wash my leg, we caught a dug out canoe for an hour long trip to visit an ethnic Cambodian village. We were greeted by the head of the village before going to look at their cemetry. They build a small roofless shrine when a person dies, then after a year go and hold a 3 day party and put a roof on top. The family then never returns to the site, meaning all the graves were in different stages of decline. It was actually quite interesting although hard to enjoy as a number of small flies were trying to land on my open wounds.

We caught the canoe back down river for some lunch before visiting a Chinese and Lao village to compare their houses and communities. Laos and Cambodian people tend to build stilt houses as protection against flooding, whilst the Chinese seemed to have a much more developed community, with shops and smarter houses.

After catching the canoe back to the starting village, it was time to get back on the bike and begin the 2 hour voyage back home. Thankfully the most interesting thing to happen on the way back was to see an elephant walking down the road (with a rider) in the middle of nowhere. Back in Ban Lung a long shower and rest was needed after a painful, exhausting day.