As night falls, the lights go on in Taddert’s main street.
There’s an air of expectancy as everyone waits for the busses to arrive.
The town is the favourite meal stop of people traveling over the Tizi n’Tichka pass.
From the summit of Tizi n’Tichka we took the backroad down to Aït Benhaddou.
The route is stunning, especially the contrast between the verdent green valley floor and the surrounding mountains.
Taroudant comes alive in the evening, when the heat has subsided.
From our hotel roof, we sat for hours watching the view below.
To celebrate Loi Krathong, the Thai place floating baskets in a nearby river or lake.
But to get there, they don’t just take a taxi…
Thais were gathered on the river banks, waiting for something. But we couldn’t find out what.
Then the Royal barge procession began.
Our tour boat glided slowly through Kerala’s backwaters.
We gazed out over palm trees, and life along the river banks.
Yes, we’ve seen similar scenes while pedaling. But here we didn’t have to worry about Tata trucks blasting past us.
Temple fairs are fun!
Everybody gets into the swing of things as they dance around the wat.
That morning locals emptied sacks full of flower pedals on the red carpet. It stretched for miles, through the whole town.
Then the procession started. Hundreds of monks solemnly walked past while the Thai kneeled before them.
The hike to the Annapurna sanctuary passes through traditional villages, terraced farmland and ends at Annapurna base camp with a fantastic view of the Himalayas.
It was stunning!
But… Next time we’ll wear in our hiking boots beforehand instead of buying cheap knockoffs in Kathmandu.
Still groggy with sleep, Paul pulled the hotel curtains open.
Outside – chaos, confusion, traffic anarchy!
And we soon would have to pedal through it…
What was he mixing?
No idea.
But it was an entertaining piece of street theatre.
When you meet a sacred elephant on the road, just give the handler a bit of change.
In return, he’ll thank you and pray for your safe journey.
Dhaka’s population is out on the streets, all 17 million of them.
And they’re all doing something; buying, selling, going every which way.
In the mornings, we were eager to head out and see everything.
But by evening, we were happy to be back in the peace and quiet of our hotel room.
We left Dhaka while the sun set, heading downriver to Khulna.
The next morning, we woke up to see the river covered in mist. A serene, calm landscape that was in total contrast to the chaos of Dhaka.
