Marble mountain

Today was the best day yet. We headed off at 9am on an optional tour to Marble Mountain. All but three of our group attended and it was well worth the effort. We climbed about three hundred steps up the mountain, with stops at various stages to look at temples, giant Buddhas and caves. There was a lot of huffing and puffing but everyone was taken with how spectacular it was. The little cave entrance pictured below is the entrance to the "gate to heaven" after climbing up two of the three stages in there I suspect that the name refers to the possibility that you are half dead by the time you get to the top. I piked at the last hurdle ( too steep) but the boys all went up and said it was great. We then went down some stairs into a huge cave about 10 stories high with more shrines and a giant stone Buddha. It was a cross between Indianna Jones and tomb Raider. The last stop was a little temple where the monks were chanting and low slow a bell was chiming. The boys were still full of energy and climbed up to the little pagoda you see below. Just a side note - regular risers and treads were clearly not a feature of 17th century building.

The trek down again (a different path) was just as pretty and a little less difficult.

We were all hot and sweaty at the bottom, so after a quick bus ride to the marble shop, Drew and Tony bought us all ice creams. The rest of the day was "on your own" time so Flynn, Campbell and I headed back into the old town to pick up the tailored dress I was measured for yesterday (love it!) and to buy souvenirs. While we were out, our laundry was delivered to our room. I wish I had taken a photo - it was expertly folders and packed into sealed clear plastic bags - it looked like we had purchased a duffle bag of new clothing.

The guides organised a rousing game of capture the flag on the beach and our newly clean clothing was spoiled by the addition of three wet sandy sets of tshirt and board shorts. The boys had a ball though and will sleep well. The day finished with a BBQ dinner out in the beach area.