Tuesday 19th December
Miles: 41 Climbing: 1355ft
I didn’t do much today. My accommodation was really nice, I was way ahead of schedule and I hadn’t had a rest day for a while so I decided to stay another night. I also wanted to see the Irrawaddy dolphins and Tea had told me about a spot nearby that you could see them from sometimes. He drew me a map and from his description it didn’t sound too far away so I headed off on my bike. It was a pretty uninteresting and fairly long ride for a rest day and I never got to see the dolphins anyway.
I went back to the resort for dinner to find that a large group of locals were having some kind of celebration in the restaurant. Luckily there was one table free so I sat down and ordered some food. The children appeared to find me very interesting and after repeated hellos with some of the older kids a little girl, a toddler, finally found the courage to approach me and once she had, she wouldn’t leave me alone. This restaurant was the kind where you sit on the floor so I was within easy reach for a toddler. Those of you who know me well will know that I don’t do children. I just can’t cope with them and don’t have a maternal bone in my body so you can imagine how awkward I felt. This little girl wanted to be so close to me that she kept on tripping over my knees and landing on me. The adults found this highly amusing but didn’t stop her.
Thankfully some older teenage girls eventually came over to talk to me and were able to partly distract the little girl and then drag her away kicking and screaming when my food arrived. They apologised and said “she really likes you”. Personally I think that children can smell my fear.