Slept till 8 today with a full nights sleep. Yeeeaaaaah! Got up and decided to go out for breakfast. Found a market in Cao Bang and had a walk around. There were massive bags of spices, vegetables galore, herbs, meat, fish. And a really bad fish smell. The fish they were selling was really fresh but I'm guessing what's left at the market at the end of the day on the floor wasn't. So I moved on quickly and came across a pastry stall. I didn't know what the cakes were but they looked amazing so bought a couple. They tasted exactly as they looked with sweet fillings inside. One was coconut, the other lemon. I bought some bits for lunch too. I also bought some gloves to try and give my hands a fighting chance whilst on the bike today.
I left Cao Bang about half 10 and headed east to the Chinese border. I'd been told about an amazing waterfall that I HAD to see. The landscape on the way was very peculiar. There were mountains of course but it seemed each one rose from the ground separately like a giant rock had just been thrown there, and none of them connected. Passed through a few towns on the way. Road surfaces varied massively and I wasn't even on a road at one point according to google maps. Got there at half 12 shivering from being so cold from the journey. The gloves made a small difference. Ate my lunch and walked around to warm up. The view from the road of this waterfall was good but once I'd walked to the bottom of it the view was out of this world. I have literally never seen anything like it. Water gushed from everywhere. Once I'd walked up the side to the back of it the view from directly above highlighted how stunning it was. This waterfall is right on the border so the visitors on the opposite side of the lake are from China and the boats that leave each shore to take people to the bottom of it are banned from landing on the opposite shore. For some reason there was hardly anyone there so managed to get plenty of people free photos. I left there about 3 and decided to try and keep some of the wind off me with the use of my wet weather poncho. I'd been given it with the bike. It's a massive plastic poncho that covers the front of the bike as well but my journey from Hanoi had given it a battering and the back had already turn off and the front, although still in one piece, was only just hanging on. So I made the bold decision on the way home to buy a new one for the extortionate amount of 5 quid. I pulled into a market and luckily there was a stall on the edge selling them. I pointed at my poncho and they all pissed themselves laughing. No more needed to be said. I was surrounded by kids now and one of them actually asked me in English what my name was. They were all so cute. And all laughing and smiling. Sale made I was on my way the proud owner of a new ripstop material poncho. I was still cold though but not as much. Once back in Cao Bang I stopped at the market again to get some more pastries for breakfast and some food for dinner and headed back to the hotel room. Ate, showered, watched another movie and went to bed. Long ride tomorrow.
The first photo is the view from my hotel room BTW.
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