This is probably the nicest part of the entire route - a gleaming white sand beach that stretches for miles. You'll see a similar stretch tomorrow, but the sand on this one is far and away the best. The bikepath is also extremely well constructed if not so well maintained (read "swept") in places...

I've long since grown accustomed to seeing rice paddies right by the sea - I don't think about where they're getting the water to grow anything (but it's obviously not from the ground). But along this stretch you see numerous enclosed compounds like this, which seem designed to grow something - not right beside the beach but right ON the beach. Forget water - where are they getting the soil? In Egypt, you see similar enclosures, but there the thatch is to protect against sandstorms, and right inside it is someone's home: tent, kids, domesticated animals and so on.