"No, I don't really want a 4m python around my ne....oh, ok, nevermind"

Prepare yourselves, fair reader(s), this might be a bit of a long entry: amazing what can happen in two short days on the back of a motorbike driven by a mad man. As a famous singing nun once, err, sang; let's start at the very beginning, a very good place to start (to those of you familiar with 'The Sound of Music', I apologise for getting 'Do Re Mi' stuck in your heads)...
The second day of our motorbike tour was ram-jimmy-jammed, mainly with a mix of terror and amazement. After breakfast in the hotel, we set off on the bikes, heading for a waterfall. Our guide, Minh ("like the same as Ho Chi Minh, but without the first and second bits"), had said that we could swim in the waterfall, should the mood overwhelm us. However, he also said that it would be quite cold and not really very sunny: every inch the salesman. So, it's fair to say we were less than brimming with enthusiasm at the prospect. When we got there, it was certainly beautiful-there was water falling all over the place-and despite saying we had a choice when it came to swimming, it transpired that the choice was swim or swim, or maybe even swim. We went for the third one and had a splash around for a while-it was very 'Mysterious Girl', except with less Peter Andre and faux Jamaican rappers. Having not dried off in the slightest, we put got dressed and back on the bikes for a very breezy ride to our next stop.
The next stop was an unadvertised surprise stop, and what a hoot it was. We pulled over at the side of the road ande ta daaaa, here was a man with a couple of pythons and a load of scorpions, all for us to enjoy. Again, the choice of what to do was somewhat limited. Actually, less limited, more non-existent, and within 2 minutes I was paralysed with fear with a gigantic snake around my head. Minh spotted a photo opportunity and put the head in my hand and held it close to my mouth for a kiss. Hilarious fun for all the family. Fin wasn't let off, either, and the python was soon plonked on his shoulders. This, evidently, was simply a starter before the main course, the overture before the show, the terrible roadie before the concert: the main event was indeed a whopping great 4m snake. I can't really recall any feeling, but luckily (!), Minh got his mits on my camera and documented that milestone in a series of photos worthy of the place above the fireplace. Or in the fire itself, either way (but mainly the latter). A scorpion also joined the party, having a little crawl around on my hand, while Fin stayed a manly 1m away from the whole fandango. Minh was laughing like a drain the whole time.
We drove and stopped and drove and stopped various times until we reached our destination for the day- a small village near a place called Lak Lake-and waiting for us, two big grey elephants, poised and ready for two ignorant Europeans to climb aboard. They are big, gorgeous, wrinkly beasties (the elephants, not us) and the experience didn't disappoint. How to describe it? It was ele-PHANTASTIC! Hahahaha-I've been saving that one up, just for you. It was wonderful though, plodding around and sloshing through the water. I wanted to give mine a big hug on the head, but that would have probably not been completely normal, so I abstained and settled for rubbing it behind the ears. I'm not totally sure if that is quite correct, either, now I think about it. That night, following a cracking dinner of ALL THE MEAT, we stayed in a traditional long house and prepared ourselves for the long day ahead.
I had a lovely sleep in the hut, but Fin kept seeing spiders every time he shut his eyes, so he didn't sleep quite as well. It was an absolutely beautiful morning, so the prospect of a day on the bike was looking very attractive. We zipped off and climbed up higher and higher into the mountains: now, I'm lucky to have seen some stunning places in my years on earth thus far- Wolfsburg, Charleloi, Westen-Super-Mare to name but a few-but the landscape today just had the edge. It's hard to describe it but it was spectacular. The road, however, was not, blessed with more potholes than a teenager recovering from a severe case of acne, so it was pretty slow going for a while. Despite the resulting pain in my bum, the scenery more than made up for it and I did a lot of gaping in amazement, which also provided some extra protein for the day in the form of various small flies. On the way to Dalat, our final destination, we stopped at a Buddhist temple and a silk factory. My my, that's an interesting process (genuinely)-I had no idea how silk was made, and now I do! You're welcome for that insightful musing, by the way.
Finally, after a long old day on the bikes and a couple of near breakdowns for Fin's, we reached Dalat at around 4pm. We said our farewells to Minh, and farewell to the cash that he pretty much demanded as a tip, and collapsed into a heap on the beds. It was certainly an interesting few days and we came across some colourful characters (an old German sex tourist, for example). Now I have decided that I will learn to ride a motorbike and travel the world, swishing my hair like a foxy biker chick every time I take off my helmet. Sadly, I didn't achieve that on this trip. My hair was painfully similar to that of 14 year old boy's. Great.