The first part of our drive was through one town after another–dense with trucks, scooters, and children walking to school. Eventually, we broke out of the suburbs and into the lush green hills with dirt paths winding up to the peaks, and down to dry riverbeds below. We were making great time on the AH17 up until we were actually in the mountains and had to crawl up them at an unreasonably slow pace. There were massive tractor trailers that were going up these inclines faster than my bike was, but, slow and steady, we made it to the top each time. The sun started to sink and we knew we were never going to make our original destination with all the mountains slowing us down. I imagined us going door to door in these “towns” hoping one of the villagers would let us stay with them. We drove on and miraculously ended up in a town at the bottom of a steep hill that had a few hotels. Here I was expecting to beg for our accommodation and instead we ended up staying in a decent hotel for only $10. The town only had one main road going through it with a few hardware stores, restaurants and mechanics along it. We ate some type of chicken, rice, and pickled vegetable dish for dinner and planned the next day’s drive in the hotel room.
