Disclaimer: this is from 2009, my first exposure to SE Asia, my spellings of place names and my observations may be off.
Vientiane- Tha Hau Thursday April 2, 2009, 135 km (84 miles) - Total so far: 6,184 km (3,843 miles)
Up at 6:00, on the road by 7:00. I am having a bit of trouble with the early starts. Way too many days off. The ride today was all familiar as I just rode it a week or so ago. Weather was good today, as per usual, no winds, and a little bit of cloud that would provide shade for a few brief moments. The road is basically level till kilometer 83 from Vientiane. Then there is some good climbing as well as some great scenery. Lots of shops along the way so water or snacks are easy to come by. The drivers were good and traffic was never a problem. Did have a bit of cow trouble today. There were about six cows grazing in the right side ditch. When I got beside them they suddenly made a dash for the left side of the road. I hit my brakes and hoped they would miss me, at the same time I was hoping the transport truck coming from the other direction would stop soon enough to prevent making hamburger. First time thats happened to me. There are a lot of pigs, goats, chickens, kids, running onto the street so you do have to be careful. I also had a dog make a feeble attempt to chase me today. This was the first Laos dog to show any concern. The Laos dogs are really laid back and its surprising to get any sort of response from them when your cycling by. I love it. Arrived at the hotel in Tha Hau around 15:30. Not sure I have the town name right as there isn't a lot of English signage, but it's the town 135k from Vientiane with scores of booths selling dried fish. The nice thing about doing a route the second time is you know where everything is. Found my hotel right away and was sorted out in no time. I got a warm reception at the hotel and spent an evening eating and socializing with the staff.
Tha Hua- Hot Springs Friday April 3, 2009, 103 km (64 miles) - Total so far: 6,287 km (3,907 miles)
Up at 6:00 on the road at 7:00 again. I was pumped about today as I knew I would be getting right into the mountains. Just before Vang Vien the limestone mountains come into view. (last week i spent 20 minutes here and it was sufficient for me, not my kinda town) It looks so odd, flat ground all around and then one mountain juts out of the ground. It reminds me of the mountains I saw in Slovenia on a previous tour, same sort of formation I believe. I cycled past Vang Vien around 8:30, stopped had a coffee and carried on.
I believe this leg of the trip was the most beautiful scenery I have cycled through. It was stunning. Unfortunately it is currently the "burning" season, the very end of the dry season when farmers slash and burn the hills. The smoke impaired the view substantially. ( I dont understand all the burning, I saw lots of clear empty mountainsides. But I saw very little that had been replanted with banana or other crops. I dont understand how the soil will stay in place in a month when the rains come) I cycled by a large section of bamboo that was being burnt and the sound was incredible, popping and cracking and small explosions.
I came across my first Hmong village today. I was cycling slowly past the food stalls looking for lunch when something caught my eye. One lady had a cat on her table, very dead. It was twice the size of a house cat and had spots on it like a leopard. I asked her if I could take a picture of it and she quickly and firmly refused, "no, no, no". I didn't have my cook stove with me so I passed on the wild cat and got a bunch of bananas.
I found todays ride very tough. I was following a previous journal and knew there was a hotel and hot spring 103 kilometers from Tha Hau. Around 100 kilometers I am in the middle of nowhere and I start wondering about the validity of the journal I was reading. It was all uphill now, I was exhausted and was watching my odometer move incredibly slow. Seriously, down to 6.5 KPH sometimes I'd think ok only 12 more kilometers then I'd do the math, "my god thats 2 more hours!" At 102.9 kilometers, I'm thinking okay someone made a mistake, then I come around a corner and Taa Daa bungalows and hot springs. Man was I happy. Hats off to contributors for bang on info. Seems to be a favorite spot for truckers and buses passing by, the menu was odd but the food was good.
Had supper, sat in the hot spring, had supper again, slept . I highly recommend this spot the bungalows were tiny but clean, beds were comfy and the food in the restaurant was good. And free hot springs to boot, you cant beat that after a hard day in the saddle.
Hot springs- KiouKaCham Saturday April 4, 2009, 76 km (47 miles) - Total so far: 6,363 km (3,954 miles)
Wow what a great sleep! It is so nice to be somewhere where it cools down at night. Went across the road and had a nice omelette and a Laos coffee for breakfast. I was hesitant about todays ride, from reading different journals I knew today would be tough. It was. Not sure if it was fatigue, conditioning, humidity. I knew I only had 83 k to ride today but still I was hesitant about it. And I wasnt doing so good. I was down to 6.5kph quite often. I was taking 1 minute breaks every 1/2 - 1 kilometer on some of the climbs. Just enough to slow the heart down but not long enough to get lazy.
Went through lots of small villages today. The people in general were awesome, lots of waves and smiles and Sabadi. I stopped at one place for a coffee and some young fellows invited me to the back of the shop for a beer Laos. I didn't want a beer at the time but have found this is a great way to meet locals. We sat around on the floor and shared two beers between 5 of us. Then they brought out an old urn or crock. There was stuff floating on top of the liquid in the crock. One fellow stuck a hose into the crock, started siphoning and let the first bit go on the floor. Then they passed around the hose and everyone took a drink. I was quite surprised it wasn't too bad at all, pretty good actually. I guess it is like moonshine or a homemade whiskey, but very mild and smooth..... Then some young ladies come and join us and the fellows want me to pick one, at least that is what I was understanding. At that point I figured I had mingled with the locals enough. Back on the bike.
I cannot remember any level patches on todays route, it was either uphill or downhill. There'll be a magnificent 1 hr descent then 20 meters of level ground, a bridge over a river, and then back up again. I would have loved just 1 kilometer of level to make the legs feel better. Once again near the end of the day I was staring at my odometer. The bike was getting really sluggish, I kept looking at the back tire to see if it was low, kept nudging the shifter hoping one more lower gear would suddenly be available. Nope, not the bike, it's me. Head down, pound it out. Unfortunately with so much smoke in the air good scenery shots were just about impossible.
What a ugly little crossroads town… In keeping with the theme I got a really ugly hotel, with no shower just a tank of cool water and a dipper. Yet after the ride today it felt like a 5 star resort. I sat outside the hotel helping out the Laos government by drinking their state owned beer, every beer is like a small contribution, it feels good to help out. All the Toyota "silver bullet" vans would stop here for 20 minutes so the dreadlocked backpackers could stretch out and buy some mementos or some snacks. I'm looking at them wondering how they can travel like that and have fun, they're looking at me thinking the same thing.
Laung Prabang Sunday April 5, 2009, 84 km (52 miles) - Total so far: 6,447 km (4,006 miles)
Ahh the final leg! I was up at six and was quite delighted when I went outside and there was a morning market already in progress. I walked around a bit, had a nice cafe Laos, thick strong coffee poured over an ounce of condensed milk. Found a guy selling baguettes and bought one with condensed milk, must say it's the first time I ever had a condensed milk sandwich. Not so bad. There was a five minute uphill first thing and then I was at the summit. I could see I was well above the clouds , and after about 10 minutes of high speed descent i was right in the clouds. It was so "foggy" I had to slow down to 20kph just to play it safe. The descent was glorious and at the bottom there was 10 meters of level ground and then it was up, up, up again. I knew this was my final up so it wasn't so bad. And I'm sure the incline was easier than previous hills as I managed to stay in middle ring 95% of the hill. Speed was averaging 10k per hour instead of 6.5 like the previous hills. The next down hill was a screamer and great fun, it just kept going and going. The rewards were finally being reaped. After the last downhill it does pretty much level off right into Laung Prabang. The city was a very welcome site. It took about 20 minutes to find a good(cheap) hotel and I decided it would be worth it to splurge and spend $12cdn and get a room with a hot shower. Its been ages since I had a good hot shower and the room price was easily worth it just for the shower.
Chilled out and walked around for 1.5 days. The town is very nice, very laid back, and full of foreigners. The night market was the nicest I have seen and was very low pressure. You could just walk around looking at stuff without being hassled to buy.
The Buddhist new year is around the 13 of april. Part of the celebrations is the water festival in which people soak each other with water pistols or buckets of water. It is over a week away and yet I got soaked twice today! All in good fun. Some young guys got me good with a huge water pistol all over the front of my shorts. I had to walk around for an hour looking like I had an "accident".
I had a Laos wedding to attend on April 7 so I checked out quick transport back to Vientiane. Bus was 13 hours and cost $30. Airplane cost $80 and took 35 minutes. Today I was a high roller and took the plane. Air Laos was great, I didn't prep the bike at all except for deflating the tires. They never weighed my gear nor mentioned any extra charges. I arrived in Vientiane at 11:30 unfortunately my bike didn't make the flight. Air Laos staff offered to send the bike to my hotel etc, but the next flight was due in only two hours so I said I would just wait at the airport for it. I sat outside and watched the movie "Hancock" on my Ipod. When the movie was over the next plane was landing. They let me go right to the plane get my bike and all was well. Pumped up the tires(300 strokes on my mini pump-I'll never use a mini pump again) and rode into town. Incidentally the ride to the Laung Prabaung airport and Vientiane airport are both very easy rides, not worth getting transport. So its wedding time and then a few days of local rides till I start out again. next I will be heading east, or maybe south, or maybe south west hmmmmmmmm.
