Word to the Thighs

I'm sitting here, exhausted and nearly unable to move my legs, simply from the sheer amount of biking we did today. I don't know how many kilometers we put on, and I don't want to know. All I know is that hitting the hot springs outside of town tomorrow is about the best idea possible at this point. The day started off with some breakfast then to a restaurant we ate at yesterday, where this very nice Tibetan girls taught us how to make momo's. Now I can take that special gem back to the west with me, free to spread around those delicious dumplings to the unsuspecting populace, and my stomach.

Then came the bikes. We rented bikes for the day for about three dollars. They looked good, but turned out to be completely unmaintained; I think about every second gear worked. The objective was to ride to a lake about seven kilometers out of town then ride around it and back, but when we got there we were told we couldn't ride around it, but only up the road then we could only walk the rest of the way to the lake. Weighing the options, we decided to head back, but first we wanted to stop at this adventure lodge we saw just up the road. It was still being constructed, but the owner gave us some info, telling us instead we could ride around the other side of the mountain, through some old villages. The towns turned out to be really cool, a window into old times. The craziest thing was when we stumbled upon a flock of vultures. This was the first time I've seen these birds, and of course they had to be chased. Chasing them, I realized just how huge those damn birds are. They must have eight to ten foot wingspans on them!

And that's where the coolness ends. The adventure lodge owners advice went sour, and the hour long ride he told us we were in for instantly turned into two when we hit a road being constructed. A passing motorist told us that was the way back to Shangri-La, so we proceeded to ride this rough road uphill nearly all the way, dodging dump trucks, speeding vehicles, buses, and construction workers' looks of pity. And it rained periodically. I can't wait for the hot springs tomorrow, my thighs are screaming for it. The good news out of this is that the activities of the past few days have been the most exercise I've got since Nepal.