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| Beautiful Buddha |
Our rest day completed; four new tires on our buggy, it's time to hit the road early on Valentine's Day.
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| Beautiful Monastery on our Day 11 Route |
Our early morning departure took us north and into the Highlands. As we climbed we could look down at grand agricultural plains....green and growing. The route included a ride on a local car ferry that took us across a large mountain lake. The early morning starts are very pleasant and the temperatures are moderate in the morning. After noon the temperature rose to the high 90's and the forecasts say that it will stay like that for the next week or so......and sticky to boot.
Our first test of the day was a 5 km Regularity Stage, straight up a mountain. Keeping the car at 50 kph on this steep course that required mostly 1st or 2nd gear to get around sharp turns proved difficult. We finished 2 seconds slow which was a relatively good score.
Our lunch stop was at a beautiful and serene monastery......quiet, soothing and cool.
Our second Stage was a 4.5 km Speed Stage through a corn field. A very fast course on gravel. Again, we did well.
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| The streets are decorated for the Lunar (Chines) New Year. Here's a Dragon |
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| Brant with the local Police Captain on our ferry ride across a lake |
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| Many signs like this warning of wild elephants, but alas no elephants |
Observations:
Many towns and villages we passed through are decorated for Lunar (Chinese) New Year.....lanterns, street decorations, presents, public food parties, and most importantly, a time when adult children return to their family homes to pay respect to their parents. While many adult children move from the countryside to urban areas to improve their work opportunities, they always return to their family homes at New Year.