3:32am

3:32am

It's 3:32am right now. I'm sitting on a wooden bench inside a one-room hut on the top of a mountain in The Mong village of Poutao. All 17 of my now closest friends are asleep just meters from where I am perched - boys on one side and girls on the other.

We are in a village "guesthouse" and no doubt having a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I just used my head torch to slowly make my way to the toilet and back. Last night around 9 o'clock I slid myself in-between Ian And Peter using a rolled up sweater as a pillow with just a plastic sheet separating me from the raised wooden sleeping board.

I managed to sleep for 6 hours before the cold of the night (and the symphony of snoring) woke me. The rest of the group is still somehow out like a light, which is refreshing for this tour leader. I must say that the entire group really came together this evening. Not a single person stirred as our guide Tong outlined the sleeping arrangements: limited pillows and blankets, limited space, and limited room for discussion. After 30km of cycling and a solid 10km trek almost entirely uphill, they had earned a good night of sleep and have done brilliantly considering our circumstances.

The theme of our day was doing it for the team and I can easily say that's exactly what everyone did. The first people are beginning to stir. Time to get prepped for our 6-hour trek back down the mountain!

-- Posted from my KyPhone