17th of May. 65 miles. 5500ft of climbing. walked down to the stream and had a wash and a swim in the morning. Packed hammock and left the jungle. 

Today was another very hard day with lots of climbing and hot. I was tired after yesterday and camping in the jungle. 

I ran out of water and had to fill my bottle from the stream running off the mountain the water looked extremely clear and I could’ve probably drank it without adding a purifying tablets but I still added the tablet. It was the first time on the trip I’ve ever run out of water it just shows how isolated you are along this section. 

The water purification tablets are out !

I was heading for a town called Phong, famous for its caves. It was a long hard ride on top of yesterday’s big day and a late night camp in the jungle added to this. I almost walked some of the last climb I was so tired. Almost shit myself on the last decent too. (Not that I was scared just the dodgy belly is back 🙂 ). I was in all sorts of trouble. Dehydrated on top of all this too. I booked into quite a nice hotel as a reward for 250Km and 12500ft of climbing over the last two days. They really were a couple of tough days. I loved it. I needed a bit of a challenge. The physical side of the trip has been ok for me so far. It was good to get a little kick up the arse. 
I stayed a few days in Phong the hotel was very nice a very very beautiful place, great Pool, a few good restaurants, tourists – but not too many. I didn’t bother going to the caves and set out two days later. 

Storm brewing.