Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Team Malaria - April 6

We had breakfast in our room at the hotel – didn’t manage to eat much though I didn’t feel too bad – just my stomach still felt funny. We got a taxi back to camp and then Scott took his tent down. We were pretty much the last to leave. When the truck left Scott was still packing away as was Bastiaan. Finally six of us left together – they called us Team Malaria – in honour of myself and Bram (also confirmed with malaria) – and included the other Bram, James, Bastiaan and Scott. A good group – all strong riders – the 6 of us worked well together. We took a slow but steady pace and slowly caught a few people up along the way. It was a smooth decent road with rolling hills as it took us towards the border – not a lot to see – just a few small villages. We stopped for snacks along the way. I didn’t manage to eat much at the lunch stop and after that our group was split as people went their separate ways. At 110 km there was a village where we had been advised to spend our remaining currency – which we did. Then we continued to the border at 122 km – we had expected the entry visa to cost $150 but it was only $50 – so that was a good result! It took a while to get through but without all the harassment from last time.

After a little way out of the village I noticed some loggers at the side of the road. they had a tree propped up and they were cutting panels - like 1 inch wide boards from the 6 inch wide tree - so I checked my bike down, ran over there and had a little go. It was a massive saw - it was awesome. I will send the video over for you to see!!

There was still 20 km to go after that but Bastiaan, Scott and myself stopped at a little village a little further on where we ended up sitting for ages enjoying cheese sandwiches and coffee. Eventually we rode the last 8 km into camp. I felt it had been a decent day overall – I didn’t struggle too much with the riding - although I had felt really sick this morning and hadn’t managed to eat much during the day. The trouble is I just have no energy – no power at all.

It was a really nice Overlander camp and even though we were late we managed to get a room for Scott and myself to share. It was a great room with a huge bathroom! Just then it started to rain so we were really pleased we didn’t have to worry about our tents. After the rain Bastiaan’s stuff had got soaked so we managed to sneak him into our room to dry off! It was a good dinner – lasagna – and I got really excited at the thought of being able to eat well – unfortunately this didn’t happen. I still felt sick. Anyway we then watched some TV and had a good night’s sleep in a decent bed!

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