On Small Mountain

One other thing I did in February was a bicycle trip to Phnom Touch, or Small Mountain. (It's pronounced more like "toit" than the English "touch.") I went with a couple of teachers and a lot of students. The landscape around my province is very flat, but there's one hill that you can see from miles away. This is Phnom Touch. There is a pagoda which encircles and covers the mountain. It's a really beautiful place, and the 20-km bike ride to get there is fantastic.

I first saw the pagoda through the palm trees in an elementary school yard. It seemed very impressive.



The view from the top of the hill is amazing. The strip of green you can see is the area around the road, and then the yellow fields roll out to the horizon.



There's a temple with a huge Buddha statue about halfway up the hill. For some reason, I am a sucker for huge Buddha statues. It's amazing!



Finally, on the way home, one of the girls blew her tire, so she hopped on the back of another bike and steered her own next to her. Nervy girl.