Day 88, 64km: by Chris

We were roused from slumber by Amy's stealth alarm clock which is set to sound like a loud cricket, then finished the gruelling climb.

Down the other side, past hillsides thick with jungle, on several occasions I saw men on the road with semi-automatic rifles wearing nondescript kaki clothes. I hoped they were the police and did not stop to photograph them.

 We cycled down onto a flat cultivated plain dotted with towering mountains of rock rising sheer out of the valley bottom, flanked by grey cliffs and bristling with trees. I bought 4 bananas from a local woman but when i realised they cost a penny each I got 16 more. We are also enjoying much quieter roads, cleaner rivers and less littered gutters than China. Lunch was eaten on a roadside log next to a large clump of Mimosa pudica: An amazing plant which instantly folds its leaves against its stem if touched to prevent anything eating

 Magic plant with leaves open

Seconds after its been touched

 We then sped down flat, straight roads past decrepit logging trucks made from recycled army lorries and hillsides of scrub that had been deforested years ago. That night we camped in deep foliage amongst vines and wild pineapples.

Ancient logging truck