VACATION: DAY SIX

On Saturday we rented mopeds again and went looking for this place called "The Secret Beach." I was not informed we were taking the scenic route of the ENTIRE valley and thought we were lost for 10 hours lolololol ahhhh good times. We took back roads and got to ride around completely rural areas without being disturbed by the hustle and bustle of ten million other drivers.

Didn't really think it through and wore a dress again

We pulled over at a random spot and I got to snap this beauty. ARENT THE MOUNTAINS THE COOLEST THINGS EVER? I was so mind blown by how cool they were. 

We made some friends while driving through the wilderness

I had to pee so we pulled over at this cute little algae infested creek. I peed on my shoes, snapped this picture, and then we were off on our merry little way once again.

The view of Maddi's head was wonderful (we were in the sun for so long we got some pretty great tan lines)

How lucky am I to have this very moment documented? Another off roading moped story for you.... We thought we found this really scenic spot for pictures. We thought, "oh its just around the corner!" lol no. Some girls went down the road first and the other girls decided to park their mopeds and walk down the hill because the terrain was a bit too sketchy. "NOT I!" I said. I was determined to take that downward slope like the Noorda I am! 

The road was barely that. It was a wide dirt path with far too many pot holes and crevices to count. So bumpy, our poor little moped was about to fall apart. Being the new generation, we were like, "oh let's record this!" So we pulled over, unlocked the seat to get my phone out and next thing I heard was "SHIZ! NO NO NO!" Maddi had locked the key in the seat. We were so far down the road we couldn't just walk back and we don't have working cell phones here. Maddi squeezed her hand into the seat and was able to get the key back out. It was a miracle. We continued our off roading trek in our newly bought dresses and saw our lives flash before our eyes numerous times. Thank goodness we had our life saving helmets on. Luckily we made it back and only needed a few minutes to gather our bearings before we could continue on.

We had made a complete circle around the entire valley and ended up five minutes away from our hostel and realized "the secret beach" was only a walk away from where we were staying. Apparently everyone knew we were doing that the whole day... I didn't. We parked our sick rides and walked to a little entry to the bank of the Li River (past the DO NOT SWIM HERE sign) and were begging someone to get in first. We finally got in and it was so wonderful. The water was not cold at all, but at the same time it was the most cool, refreshing feeling after a long day in the sun. Our sunburns cooled down and we got to swim around for a little while. It was unlike any experience I've ever had.

I have gotten so close with these girls and I love them more than anything (plus the girls not pictured)

This is not the most flattering picture but it shows just how lovely my sunburned tan lines were

We had two more hours left with the mopeds when we were done swimming and decided to head back up to the mountains and just cruise around. We took a new route this time so we could explore even more of the unknown. We were just cruising along when we stopped to take pictures for a couple minutes. I had put my dress in Kaylie's backpack because I was still wet and decided I wanted to get it out while we were stopped. So we unlocked the seat, I got my dress out, and next thing ya know we couldn't get the key out of the lock. It was really, really stuck. It would not come out of the lock for anyone. Believe me, we each took a pull at that dang thing. It was so stuck and we quickly became stranded. We were becoming flustered and worried and didn't really know what to do. We could not get the key out no matter what we tried. It was just stuck. We decided to say a prayer and ask for help in our desperate time of need. It was getting dark and we had no idea what we were going to do.

A cute little family of four drove past us and we flagged them down to ask for help. All four of them were piled onto one motorcycle so we felt kind of bad asking them to stop their balancing act to help us. They were so kind to us. They had two little girls were so happy and helped lighten the mood. They danced and raced around while their dad yanked and pulled at that dang key. Before we knew it practically the whole village was out there trying to help us. It was a continuous game of charades. So many people stopped to see what was going on and tried to help, but no one was able to. We were able to call the hostel and ask for help, but they were like, "Just turn it to the left and pull." HAHAHA YEAH WHY DIDNT WE TRY THAT? Seriously so annoying how unhelpful they were. Eventually we were able to get someone sent out to help us.

We had been up since 8am and hadn't eaten anything all day because we had been exploring all day and because we didn't exactly plan on being stranded all night. We sat on the side of the road and shared the three crackers Maddi had. Those crackers were the best meal I have ever had.

As we were waiting for our handy man to show up the catastrophe of all catastrophes happened. We had to poop. I am not even joking when I tell this story. Every bit of it is 100% true. Kenzie had to poop and it was as if my body heard the word poop and went into full detox mode. I had to go and I had to go RIGHT THEN. I began doing the "Oh goodnessssss, please not right now!!!" poo dance. I was frozen. It was that kind of bathroom emergency where it is such an emergency I couldn't move and take action because it was happening. You know what I mean... it was happening. I am 19 years old and almost pooped my pants. My dear friends, it was such a close call. I had angels looking over me that night. Unfortunately, I can not say the same for Kenzie. Things were not as fortunate for her. She ran over to a creek of sorts and began attempting to take her one piece bathing suit off, but did not make it in time. "I JUST SHARTED!!!!!" echoed though the valley. The Lord with his perfect timing had our handy man arrive right then and there. Kenzie panicked and pulled her pants up and ran over to us and tried to act normal for the poor man that had been thrown into our troubles. But as you can imagine, the smell reeking from her "incident" did not let anyone act as if nothing happened. We were dying laughing and somewhat shunned her because she smelt so bad. 

To make it worse, it was as if the mosquitos heard there was a human gathering and SO MANY mosquitos came for dinner. They began biting right as the sun went down and never stopped. It was beyond aggravating trying to hold my phone flash light up for the guy who had ripped the lock out of the moped and was now banging it with a wrench on the sidewalk. These were the worst bug bites I have ever had in my life. They felt like fire and didn't stop itching for DAYS. We each had scabs from scratching them so hard. Worst bites ever. I was wearing a dress so my entire legs were exposed to those dang suckers. So many bites, so little itch cream. 

As we were being eaten alive, Kenzie snuck away to clean herself up as best she could. Luckily she had a while because our Chinese handy man was taking his sweet ol time. He was banging the lock (with the key still stuck inside) on the sidewalk as if that was going to do something. He began pulling the lock off the key with a screw driver and did some more banging here and there. Eventually the key came out and we all were ecstatic (except for Kenzie who's whereabouts were far away enough not to be smelt). But what do ya know, the handy man had shredded our key! It didn't work anymore! He began banging it with a wrench yet again and then continued to scrape it on the edge of the road. I am no professional, but I do know all of the above actions would lead to a ruined key? Although he did ruin our key and hopes of ever getting home before we were eaten alive, he did bring a spare key and began installing the new wahoo's that came with that. 

As he was doing that Kenzie and her smell rejoined us because she had ran out of wipes and was literally SOL. We were beyond starving and were about to eat each other when finally the guy got our moped to turn on. Two hours later, in the pitch black of night, we were finally on our way home!

One of the mopeds didn't have lights on it so I had to drive in the front and Kaylie on the bike without lights drove in the middle and Kenzie and Maddi drove in the back. The handy man guy was kind enough to escort us back to town but was going a bit fast. I was trying to keep up with him while Kaylie was trying to not run into trees. It came to a point where Jennie and I had to stop on our moped and wait for the other girls and were beginning to get a bit worried. Just as we were about to turn around to look for them, Kaylie came around the corner and we immediately began laughing. Kaylie's hair was flying in the wind and she was holding her phone up for light while trying to drive down the bumpy road with one hand. She looked like Hagrid from Harry Potter when he is flying on his motorcycle using his wand for light. I was seriously dying people, it was hilarious. 

The guy was going so fast and we were all trying to keep up with him which caused us to get split up. Yet again, Jennie and I found ourselves on a moped split up from the rest of our group. We have officially agreed to never ride together on the way home ever again after the last two incidents. Being split up caused some strife in our group and we began to get worried as Kenzie and Maddi still hadn't shown up. A little while passed and they finally arrived. It was really obvious they were upset with us because we had gotten split up, but as Kenzie was trying to park the bike she completely obliterated a guys coconut stand. She ran that guy over. Brakes were a no go and she rammed him. As bad as the situation was, I could yet again not stop laughing because she had a poop handprint on her shorts. She had possibly broken this guys drink stand and I was laughing because of the poop on her pants. It's comical now, but she would've killed me if she saw me laughing. 

The rest of the night was dedicated to finally eating, finally showering, and laughing at how humorous our whole day had been. Longest day ever, but filled with some of the best memories of my life. Everything from scenic routes, near death off roading, swimming in a beautiful river, being stranded in China, and pooping our pants. Our day was perfect.