6.6.15

One of the problems I have been experiencing while on the road is how predictive text seems to mess up what I write – it omits some words, introduces others that I haven’t thought of and occasionally keeps repeating letters, for example I want to type ‘the average temperature here is’, I end up with ‘ttttttttthhhhhhhheeeeeee aaaaaaaaaavvvvvvvvveeeeeeerrrrrrrrraaaaaaaaagggggggggeeeeeeee tttttttttyytteeeeeeeeemmmmmmmmmmmpppppppppeeeeeeerrrrrrrraaaaaaaaaatttttttttyuuuuuuurrrrrrttteeeeeeeer iiiiiiiiiiisssss’ , so you get the idea how frustrating it is to have to deal with. It sends one bananas.
Talking about bananas yesterday I engaged in an epic walk to Banana Mountain locally known as Ko Lin Yan. It is the site of the largest Buddha in Myanmar. In fact there are four of them sitting back to back and reaching over 60 feet above the ground.
It was a two hour hard slog to get here from Ye. Now I had to face the return journey. I had been heading south for almost an hour when a young guy rode past. He waved then carried on a short distance before turning around. 
He asked where I was heading and as soon as I said Ye he beckoned me to climb on the back which was easier said than done due to two large woven rattan baskets full of the noxious durian fruit being mounted on the pillion.
I struggled to get on but eventually coaxed my body into position.He engaged gear and we sped off. I couldn’ t believe how far I’d walked, it took an age to reach town even on the speeding bike. We roared into town, slalomed around a dozen cars and trucks before disappearing down the dismal back streets and finally halting outside a Thai restaurant. 
I was hungry having only eaten a little mango before breakfast.I chose the Tom Yam soup, hot and spicy, delicately flavoured with lemon grass. A young lady came over and sat opposite me. She works for the World Health Organisation on a project to reduce malaria. I asked her if it was a big problem in this area.”Oh, yes” she replied, “It is a very big problem.” I thought it best not to mention the fact I am not taking antimalarials. She took my Facebook address and went back to work.