Nice people in a beautiful country.

Firstly, the photo above is of Ludo a Belgium rider whom we had met earlier on in our tour.  Over the past couple of days we have crossed paths and during our rest stops I've got to listen to his journey through India, Iran  and Switzerland. This guy is an achiever. 

Now for yesterday's ride first.

Last night we went back to the same place for dinner, a nice Indian chicken dish with rice was exactly what I was after.  We headed back to the guesthouse and just relaxed before it was time to sleep.  The internet in room 206 was perfect at the Vayakorn Hotel in Vientiane. I fell asleep at 9pm as I needed to get up nice and early for the long ride tomorrow.  

I rolled down to the hotel Len had moved to, and met him at 6.30am. At the start of the ride I could hear this noise coming from my bike and I thought I might have a big problem.  Eventually the noise went away, but still, this is not a good sign.

We rolled out of Vientiane into the mayhem of Wednesday morning traffic coming into town. This is probably the worst traffic I've ridden in so far on the holiday.  Trucks, motorbikes, cows, dogs, pedestrians, all seem to not give a shit about me and my bike.  I had to dodge and weave my way around cars that stopped in front of me or decided to cut me off.  At one stage a van came straight out from my right and nearly collided with me.  Thankfully I saw him coming and could just sense he was on a mission and was not going to stop. At least I told him what I thought, the Australian way.

Today we had a couple of hills to climb with gentle descents on the other  side.  The problem today was the road was pretty rough in places and I was not prepared to just roar down the other side with all the traffic and pedestrians around the place.  What was surprising today was the amount of villages we passed.  I thought it would be a ride like others, you leave in the morning, see a couple of towns every 20-30kms and stop around 80kms for the day.

I really enjoyed the ride today, more so than any other thus far.  We were riding in the country side of Laos where people were waving at us as we continued through their small part of the world.  We stopped a couple of times for food and water as the temperature was starting to soar. At one stop I purchased a bread roll with some sort of meat, noodles, lettuce, and a bottle of Pepsi for $1.20 Australian.  Another bargain on tour.  

After about 60kms we were suppose to come to the town Phonsovon which had a guesthouse.  We looked and couldn’t find a thing.  We know that on this tour there was going to be one night that was going to be difficult to find accommodation and that was tonight.  We rode on for another 20kms and still couldn’t find a thing.  We had seen other guesthouses earlier on in the ride, but that was too early in the day and what the hell would you do in a town at 10am which has nothing to offer.  Absolutely nothing.  

During the ride we met Ludo again and he told us about this place about 20kms up the road and then you will turn right and go 7kms along a dirt road ending up at Eco Lodge on the river. Len and I debated about whether we push on not knowing if accommodation was ahead or go and search for Eco Lodge.  The three of us decided to turn off about 70kms from Vang Vieng and hit the dirt road.  At first the road was super slick and nice to ride on.  After about 5kms we came across road works.  Len thought we wouldn’t get through but no way was I going to turn around now,  at least I was going to go to the end and see if Eco Lodge existed.

Eventually we found it.  It was a bungalow set up right on the Nam Lik river.  I thought it was great.  Lovely secluded place with your own bungalow.  OK, it doesn’t have air con, TV or WiFi, but it does have character, and for one night I’m not complaining. The bungalow costs 25 for the night with breakfast, which isn’t that bad.  They said they’d do breakfast early for us at 6.00am as we wanted to get on the road nice and early.

As soon as I got my little bungalow which is the furthermost away from the reception, I got my smart looking costume out and went for a swim in the river.  The water was so refreshing.  Fresh water which would eventually link up with the mighty Mekong hundreds of kilometres away.  I just laid in the water cooling down for 1/2 an hour.   

The temperature today hit over 110 degrees and we cycled 90kms in total. I didn't mind having to do the extra kilometres today as we only have 70kms to do once we get back on the highway tomorrow morning.   

For the rest of the afternoon I’m going to read my new book.

Safe riding until tomorrow.  

 I took this photo of a gorgeous young lady at our coke stop.  I'm sure she'll be someone's princess when she grows up.

 The photo above is part of the 10kms we had to ride on to get to Eco Lodge.  That's Len and Ludo up the road.

 The river the boys are playing in flows directly below our lodge.  I tried to tip the little monsters out of the tire but 3 against 1 old Aussie didn't work out.  I ended up swimming on my own.

 This young lady works at the Eco Lodge with her grandmother.  Both ladies do the cooking, cleaning and looking after the money.

 This is grandmother.  A truly beautiful person.

 I took this photo this morning as we were riding out of the Eco Lodge.  Girls heading to school.

 I took this photo last night standing on the verandah deck of Eco Lodge looking down into the Nam Lik River.  This place was paradise. 

 That was my bungalow for the night.  The room was good but the noise the geckos make is amazing.  They make this noise about  5 times until they run out of breath.  About 30 minutes later they do it again.  Do you know how many times that is from 9pm to 5am, the time I was suppose to be sleeping.  Oh, I didn't mention the things that fell onto my tin roof and nearly gave me a coronary  I need more sleep.

The photo above is of a very small section of a fish market that lines both sides of the highway for about 100metres.  All selling the same fish and displayed identically.

Now for Thursday 4 April 2013.

I got out of bed at 5.30am.  Now this is something I can assure you will not happen when I return home.  Breakfast was at 6am as we needed to get on the road as soon as possible as we had a hard day ahead and it was going to get hot.

We rolled back out along the dirt road and in no time we were on the asphalt heading towards Vang Vieng.  After riding about 2kms along the road we starting climbing this hill.  It went on and on and on.  For the next 50kms the day would be hill after hill with rolling hills if that makes sense.  That means no flat sections.

We rolled in and out of beautiful little villages just like you see in Ethiopia and Sudan.  We would stop to fill our bottles and take photos of some of the children.  These people are so friendly and kind.  At one stage we stopped because the heat was up near 114 degrees, or 44 C.  Now that's hot. 

Each time we rolled out of a village we were confronted with yet another hill.  As we climbed each hill it seemed the day was getting hotter and hotter,  and I was sweating real bad.  I suffered heat exhaustion in Sudan once and I was not going to go through that again, so I made sure I was drinking plenty.

Our lunch stop today was at a small village about 25kms outside of Vang Vieng.  We had a plate of fried rice with chicken washed down with water this time.  It cost 3 dollars for the lot.  Perhaps I should have bargained to get the price down.

So we were back on the bike and now down on the plains heading towards our final destination for the day.  With children riding back to school after their lunch breaks, waving and calling out 'Sabaidee', which means 'how are you?' we would wave and smile back at them.  These children have such an infectious smile, it's contagious.  I know an area close to where I live where the children could learn something from Laos teenagers. 

Around 1.30pm we rolled into town and found the Lao Haven Hotel and Spa.  This place is rated No.1 for B&B's in TripAdvisor for Vang Vieng.  For roughly 18 dollars you get air con, TV with 2 English channels, WiFi and breakfast.  That's a bargain.

I put my bike away in the security section and then dragged my tired old body and pannier bags up 2 flights of stairs to room 303.  I was stuffed.  I threw my gear into the room and cranked up the air con.  It took me about 1/2 an hour before I could rustle up the energy to have a shower.  I just laid on my bed all afternoon watching TV and talking to Matt back home on facebook. 

By the time 4.30pm came around I was ready to fall asleep and this was too late in the day for a nanny nap.  I went downstairs to the open air restaurant and met Len and Ludo.  Ludo had found his way to the same place as us and was going to stay for 2 nights.

After chatting about today's ride and all those hills we had to climb, it was time to walk down the road and find a pizza restaurant.  We all ordered a large pizza each and devoured it like starving animals.  One person in our group was considering ordering more food.  I couldn't put another thing in my mouth after all that food. 

After dinner it was time to head back to our hotel for a peaceful night of not having to listen to every insect on this planet who thought it was cool to make noises whilst I wanted to sleep.

I arranged with the owner to go on a kayak and walking tour for tomorrow.  It's my rest day and I'm going to play tourist.

I had to post 2 days of information in one blog because my little haven at Eco Lodge had no WiFi.  That's a real shame.

In total over the past 2 days we rode 173kms with an average temperature of 35 degrees and a maximum of 44 degrees.

Until tomorrow, safe riding.