Day 240 A nice little bike tour

Getting up today wasn't fun at all. It was cold and gloomy. So everyone hung out in the hostel for a bit. Then I decided to go on a small bike tour to a hot spring with 3 others, the perfect pastime in bad weather.

By the time everyone was ready, the sun had come out and it was getting warm again. Well, we're still going on the excursion to the hot spring. So we cycled comfortably along, passing fields and small woods. And as it could not be otherwise, also past endless little temples and pagodas. We stopped at one located on a hill and climbed up the hill. From up here, we had a beautiful view over Inlay Lake and the surrounding mountains.

The hot spring was not far away. But when we arrived, we were disappointed. The spring had been developed into a small oasis of relaxation and the entrance fee was expensive. Since it was now really hot in the sun and all the clouds had cleared, we decided to skip the spring and continue our bike tour. We had read and heard that in a village not far from the spring, you could cross the lake and on the other side there would be a "natural" swimming pool and a wine tasting. So we cycled to this village, or at least we tried. Because we took a wrong turn once and got a little lost. Well, shit happens. In the end, we found the village and also a fisherman who took us and our bikes across the lake on his boat.

The landscape presented itself from its most beautiful side during the crossing.

After lunch at a floating restaurant, we walked back to the shore on a never-ending jetty.

There, we hopped back on our bikes and rode off-road on small field paths to the natural swimming pool. And it was definitely worth it. The natural swimming pool was a small pool in the middle of the forest, fed by a stream. There were no tourists here, only a few locals who were also enjoying a cool down. While we were bathing in the cool water, the locals played guitars and sang songs.

That was one of those moments that you can't describe, you just have to experience it. In that moment, everything is just fine. It was incredible.

After cooling down, we went to the red Mountain. A small hill on which a winery was located. We left our bikes at the foot of the hill and walked up the steep path.

Once at the top, we decided to skip the wine tasting and rather enjoy the sunset from here. We ordered a bottle of house wine, sat on the terrace, and enjoyed the view along with the sunset.

The ride back to the hostel was a bit risky since we didn't have lights on our bikes. But we made it back to the hostel without any problems.