Day 8 & 9 Viang Pham to Viang Thom

Yesterday we had a late start...and given the upcoming hills and kids to meet...we weren't going to cover much ground. We made a stop right away at a primary and secondary school which drew quite the audience...Cyril found himself in the middle of this large crowd and it was his cue to perform on this grand stage....We donated quite a few balls given the size of the school and I believe the kids were expecting him to execute a backflip or break dance routine...but what they got was Cyril's charisma, similar to Ray Lewis pumping up his team before the game...
昨天我们出发的比较晚，爬山，拜访孩子们，没有去太多地方，而是在一个小学和中学旁边停了下来，当然了，吸引了不少观众。Cyril陷入了大量的人群中，而且他很乐意表现自己。考虑到学校蛮大的，我们送出了不少皮球，而且我相信孩子们一定想看看Cyril来个后空翻或者一段街舞，但是他们感受到了他的魅力就像Ray Lewis赛前给球队的热身一样。

Once we left the school we made our pursuit towards our next destination Viang Thom. We were told by the teachers of the previous school that it was 60 km away, but it turned out to be 130 km and mostly hills...The riding through the villages has been stunning, but food has been difficult to find during this stretch...Cycling along these hills requires lots of fuel and after 50 km we found a little restaurant that served us rice and soup. We were told the next town is 70 km away...so we decided to stay in the village nearby which had a guesthouse one km away and the people here were incredible....
我们离开学校后就朝着下一个目标--Viang Thom冲去。前一个学校的老师告诉我们有60公里远，但是结果却有130公里，而且都是大山，骑行经过村庄很不错，然后这段路却很难找到吃的地方。在山里骑车需要补充很多食物才能有力气，一直骑了50公里才找到一个小饭店，可以提供米饭和汤菜。他们还说下一个城镇要在70公里远的地方，所以我们决定就在村庄旁边一公里外的一个小旅馆住下来，这里的人们好极了。

The owner of the guesthouse did everything in his power to make us feel at home...Food was difficult to find, but his wife which we called "Mama" gave us everything we needed to cook and get ready for the hills for the following day...we went into survival mode...There is no electricity in the village, but some families have generators to muster up a couple hours of power each night...In these parts of northern Laos textile shops are very common and the clothing is beautiful, especially given the amount effort it takes to create by hand...I enjoyed a tradition shower with buckets of water to get myself clean...I was surrounded by chickens, ducks and an old man....which was awkward...but I felt refreshed and enjoyed a fire with Cyril before heading to bed.
这个旅馆老板想方设法让我们感觉舒服一些。食物比较缺乏，但是他的太太，我们叫她“妈妈”，把所有我们需要的东西都给了我们，让我们准备好明天骑山路。我们这是进入了生存模式啊。这个村子没有通电，有些家庭有发电机可以提供几个小时的用电。老挝北部的这个地区普遍都有纺织作坊，织出的衣服也挺好看的，算是真正的纯手工制作了。我很享受地用他们传统的用木桶提水的办法洗了个澡，处在一群鸡，鸭和一个老人当中，挺尴尬的，但是洗个澡感觉好多了，睡觉前还和Cyril一起烤了烤火。

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Today we woke up at 5:00 am and started cycling right away. At the next town our next shipment of equipment was arriving and there were few villages along the way...We survived the ride with peanuts and hard boiled eggs which were prepared from the night before...I have been having stomach issues for the past five days and have been only able to eat small amounts which has been challenging at times given the terrain...but if it's not bike problems or injuries something is bound to happen that will present obstacles and this is just another one of these moments...
今天我们5点就起床出发了。我们的装备已经到达了下一个镇子，沿途会有几个村庄，我们的食物只有花生和鸡蛋，过去5天里我们的肚子问题一直是个问题，几乎没有吃饱过，而另一方面，在这一段的地形骑车消耗还非常大，但是只要不是自行车坏了或者受伤或者其他什么的，这些都不会阻碍我们前进。

Once we arrived to Viang Thom we headed straight to the bus station unsure if the equipment has arrived and sure enough it was right there. We put our faith with a gentlemen in Pak Mong to get the quipment shipped and we have been lucky to find such good people along the way....
我们一到 Viang Thom就直奔汽车站去确认装备是不是到了，谢天谢地，装备就在那搁着呢。我们在Pak Mong找到一个值得信赖的先生，请他把准备运到这里，我们很幸运，沿途都能碰到这样的好心人。

Today was Cyril's last day on the tour has he heads to Hong Kong to meet his lady. His energy and compassion was felt and enjoyed by many...and during his time through these hills he gave it his heart to push through all the elements to provide kids with laughter and something they can enjoy...Thanks for all your hard work my man...and you will be missed especially now that the trailer load has doubled on my part...haha...Being from Manitoba where hills don't exist...he proved all it takes to succeed is the right attitude and the ability to work together..Your legend out here will be remembered...and it was an absolute pleasure to take on this journey with you....couldn't of asked for a better teammate, but when it comes to football we will always be on opposite sides of the line...haha.
今天是Cyril在这次旅行中的最后一天了，因为他要去香港接他的家眷。他的热心热肠给了许多人以帮助，在山区的这段时间，他真心付出了很多，给很多孩子们带来了欢声笑语。兄弟啊，谢谢你了！谢谢你的辛苦付出，我会一直想着你的，尤其是现在，所有的装备都要装在我的一个小车里面了，哈哈。。来自Manitoba这个没山的地方，他就证明自己值得信赖，值得一起工作，你在这里的传奇将会一直流传着，能和你一起走这一段路我感觉非常高兴，可能没有比你更好的伙伴了，但是一到足球场我们却要成为对手了哈哈！

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