Tag Archives: Laos

Day 75

After 22 days of climbing and over 60 different routes, the urge to get back on the road grew strong. Plus our visas were going to expire, so we really had to move on.

Leaving Green Climber’s Home we rode into Thakhek town to exchange our Kip for Baht, as there aren’t any banks on the way to the border and you can’t exchange Kip outside of Laos. After exchanging money, we stopped at Travel Lodge to get some lunch and internet. Luckily we stopped, because soon we realized that neither of us had any information on the Thakhek/Nakhon Phanom border crossing. According to the Google Maps, there is a ferry crossing Mekong River, which offers town center to town center delivery. There is also the Third Thai-Lao Friendship Bridge 16km away from Thakhek. The ferry appeared to be the easier option. However, we quickly learned from the English-speaking staff that the ferry over the border only serves locals, and foreigners would have to take the newly constructed Friendship Bridge by bus. Weather or not our human-powered vehicles are allowed on the bridge, the staff could offer no insight. We found a cyclist’s blog and learned that they made him take a bus over the bridge. Dreading the hassle of fully disassembling our trikes and luggage to squeeze onto a bus, we began our 16 km detour towards the bridge.

We arrived at the Friendship Bridge and noticed that they only have lanes for buses and cars. Ignoring the signs, we pulled into the Laos immigration checkpoint. Our trikes again succeeded in breaking the ice for us, as the officials were amazed by them. I didn’t complain as an immigration official and a priest took turns sitting on my trike, hoping that the blessing either higher power might aid our trip. Not sure what to do with our trikes or what classification they fall under, we were waved through after they stamped our passports. We hurried off like giddy students who just realized their teacher mis-marked their exam papers and passed where they should have failed. Soon we crossed the bridge and made it to the Thai border without incident and once again our passports were stamped and we were waved through. There were no searches, x-rays or questions. This was our easiest border crossing yet.

Arriving in Thailand, the prosperity had a shocking effect on us. 7-11’s and modern conveniences are now around every corner. Pedaling along the Mekong on the west bank into Nakhon Phanom, we passed mansions and expensive cars that reminded us of wealthy western suburbs. People out jogging waved at us. The contrast was mind-boggling, as we just left a small dusty slightly ramshackle town on the other side of the river. We will certainly not complain about having more modern conveniences once again.

Day 53

Green Climber’s Home is every climber’s wet dream – affordable accommodations right next to the crags – 147 routes all within 20 minutes (at the most) of walking, but many at under a minute. Though in the middle of no where (at least 13km from town and 7km from the nearest guesthouse), Home has all your needs met as long as your wallet can afford it. Home offers the choices of private bungalows, beds in dorm rooms, rent-a-tent campsites (fixed location with extra tarp) or bring-your-own-tent campsites (wherever you choose to pitch). Compared to the majority of local restaurants, the food served in the big open lofty canteen is second to none with generous portions filled with plenty of veggies and protein.

After we pitched our tent in the woods, Chopper swept the leaves away to create a parking space for our trikes, made a path to our doors, and put up a nice taut laundry line. With our household settled, we are ready for another climbing session.

Day 52

Freshly out of the mountains, we decided to push for a long day on the flat terrain ahead of us today. Both of us were eager to get to the climbing spot Thakhek and relax till Christmas.

The gentle curves of the hills followed us all the way through. The road, though paved, was still rough and coarse. The only inspiration for the hard work was watching the number on milestone getting smaller and smaller, km by km.

Finally we found a roadside restaurant to stop for lunch, just when I lowered my expectation for food to chips from little convenient stores. Compared to the millions of little restaurants and the variety of food in China and Vietnam, the lack of either in Laos was the hardest part so far. Both of us swear that we won’t eat another bowl of Laos rice noodle again, yet that was the only choice for lunch. Laos food is heavy on the starch with few vegetables, and even fewer protein, and the overall portion is not cyclist-friendly. We often found ourselves hungry and unsatisfied after a meal, till Chopper started to order 2 servings.

Just before dark we arrived in Thakhek, the biggest town we have seen since we entered Laos. We had big hopes for our hotel tonight – finding WiFi to let our family and friends know we were still alive. After circling the town for an hour and partially being blinded by exhaustion, we didn’t see any of the guesthouses. Just before dark we settled ourselves in the grand Mekong Hotel (with WiFi and only 100,000 Kip).

Inspired by the large number of westerners we saw in town, we decided to indulge ourselves in some non-Laos food tonight, so we won’t be lying in bed hungry with images of food spinning in our head. We ended up having Laos/Thai food, serving portion as big as tapas. However, we were delighted by the fact that we didn’t have to force down another bowl of Laos rice noodles.

Day 51

No more chills and no more fever! With our chains well lubed and everything in order, once again, we were roaming on the road again ready to conquer whatever lie in front of us. I laughed at myself for almost considering taking a bus, as we steadily peddled up the zigzag road.

After one big climb, we eased into more gentle terrain. We met 2 cyclists going in the opposite direction, and stopped to exchange travel info for the road ahead. One of them started  from Bangkok, planning on going through China and eventually reaching Europe. I guessed that he would head north and cross into Yunnan, China. Growing up in Yunnan, I’m very much aware of the elevation awaiting him. Hopefully his lightweight luggage and diamond-frame bicycle will make the journey easier.

Chopper’s trike started to make an clicking noise. It sounded like it was coming from his rear cassette, or possibly the hub. Either way, it would not be fun to end up with a broken trike in Laos. We stopped several times trying to find the problem, but even after Chopper tightened the lock ring on the cassette the clicking noise still persisted.

After lunched at the Route 8 and 13 intersection, we decided to call it a day. A nap is on my agenda, and Chopper has the clicking noise mystery to solve. Hopefully we won’t need ICE to ship any replacement parts.

Day 50

I have never been so relieved to find out that I have a sore throat – when it means I just had an infection, instead of malaria. Chopper didn’t want to give up on his noodle cooking yet, and started practicing at 7am. This time, we had noodles that cooked al dente with perfect sunny side up fried eggs for breakfast.

Since we entered into Laos, I couldn’t help noticing how much responsibilities the kids are taking on. We saw kids no more than 10 year old driving motorcycles; a 5-year-old taking care of her infant sibling, without adult supervision; a group of 8 or 9-year-old children helping out with slaughtering a calf. With 90% of the Laos population working in agriculture, the reality render Child Labor Laws out of place – either you have your children to help out, or you have nothing to feed them.

Feeling much better today, I ventured into the market late in the afternoon. Expecting a closing-down market at sunset, I was surprised to find the market in full swing. The empty lot in the morning was filled with more stalls and buyers. After a stroll, I had to run back to fetch Chopper and a camera. It was a different market now than earlier. “Bushmeat” is common grocery here. Dozens of rats were neatly arranged along side with a couple of squirrels. Some unknown (to us) wild furry animals were “sleeping” peacefully on the table. We were not sure if the pretty birds were sold for meat or for their feathers. Also, there were plenty of “protein buckets” filled with tiny shrimp and fish, crawling bugs (including cockroaches) and halves of little crabs.

This new discovery cast a new light on our dinner later. Feeling adventurous early this morning, I had bought some mysterious items for lunch and dinner. We had consumed what we knew for sure were a bag of horse-radish greens, and barbecued liver for lunch. For dinner we were left with a bag of mysterious minced meat with vegetables, and 2 lumps of something wrapped tightly in banana leaves. Gingerly I unwrapped the banana leaves, bracing myself for some insect delight appearing at the end of the roll. It turned out to be pork (hopefully) skin gelatin. We never find out what was that minced meat was. With some questions that I chose not to dwell upon, we cooked up some rice noodles and stuffed our faces with mysteries before finding any answers. It was a delicious meal nevertheless.

Both of us had troubled sleeping that night. Cuddled up with our stuffed rats that we brought all the way from home as our travel companions, I wonder who are the more absurd.

Day 49

15 hours of sleep still left me with fatigue and muscle ache.Chopper busied himself with trike maintenance, which was much needed after all the mud and rain we had put them through. He made his very first adventure trip on his own into the local market to get some fresh vegetables and fruits. Like a caring mother hen, he offered to cook lunch since I was very much bed-bound. He might be a great Mexican food chef but never ask him to cook noodles or anything Asian. With my diminished appetite, the burned noodles with uncooked vegetables was very unappetizing, while Chopper inhaled the whole pot. Being an invalid, I now retain a normal and sane view on the food without being biased by hunger.

Day 48

For getting to Thakhek, we could take either the scenic Route 8 westwards or 1E southwards. After a careful study of fGoogle Maps, 1E appeared to be a better choice for our human powered vehicles as it is less mountainous than Route 8, but as we soon discovered that 1E is unpaved dirt road. We kept on hoping it would turn into concrete just around the corner, but as we toiled on for 9km it became rockier and rockier and we deemed it unbearable and backtracked.

We were very happy to be on the smooth concrete of Route 8 again. However after our 18km sidetrack, we weren’t sure if we would find a place to stay before nightfall. Instead of civilization, we were surrounded by glorious nature. After several uphills, the road started to take a toll on us and I started to have chills and muscle aches – as if I was going to get a flu. Not a good sign as we just entered into a malaria zone, and I did get bitten by mosquitoes several times before we started the malaria pills. I was all in for wild camping this morning, but now I yearned only for a hot shower and a soft bed. It appeared that 60km away from Lak Xao, there is a sizable town with the possibility of hotels. With that comforting thought, we peddled on.

Approaching another hill with a warning of steep terrain ahead, and Cher’s flu symptoms growing worse we thought about stopping at a small guesthouse. A young boy of 11 manned the gate and grabbed the keys to show us the room. The inside can only be described as a prison. Bare concrete walls covered with smears and filth, and a “bathroom” with no shower and just a large blue barrel with a plastic ladle. The price for this palace, 50,000. We politely declined and started up what we hoped would only be a short incline.

Many uphills and downhills later, only 3km from the town we were aiming for, we came across a small road side town called Ban Phonkho, with 1 guesthouse, 1 restaurant and 1 gas station. Encouraged by the size of the town we saw on Google Maps only 3km away, we decided to press on for more choices. First of all, we missed the town completely, since there was no sign of civilization. Secondly, what appeared to be a sizable town on Google Maps was no more than a group of half finished abandoned houses. The sight of the town was eerie against the sunset on a mountain-enclosed plateau. As we drove across the “town center”, we saw maybe a dozen residences living in little more than wood sheds.

We had to backtrack, once again. Back to the small road side town, we settled in the only guesthouse we saw on the way in just before dark. After a quick shower and some peanut butter on a banana, I couldn’t be happier lying in bed, even with a fever burning me up. My symptoms alarmed Chopper, as he stayed awake to keep an eye on me. When I woke from my restless sleep in the middle of the night, I found him watching me intently, with his shiny white face glowing in the dark, 2 inches away. He told me he was just making sure that I was still breathing. Such is the comfort that we travel as a pack.