The heat is taking its toll.

 Firstly the photo above proves I can get out of bed early and be on the bike by 6.20am.  We had a long ride today and we knew it was going to be a scorcher.

 The photo above is at 6am as we were riding out of the city of Udon Thani.  I was amazed how big this city was.  It took a good 30 minutes to get to the outskirts and away from the mayhem of idiot drivers.

 We came across this vehicle in town which appeared slightly over loaded with goods.  You have to wander how dangerous this would be if you had to stop in a hurry or swerve to miss a child.

As we rolled out of town we had a good shoulder to ride on for the rest of the day.  Still, at times drivers would want to cut us off or pull straight out in front of us.  This happened time after time all day. 

Today was a constant headwind with rolling undulations the whole 123kms.  Today was also one of the hottest on tour.  The maximum temperature was 46 degrees, with an average temperature of 36.  It was 30 degrees when we left town at 6am.

We stopped many times today to keep our fluids up, and as the day went on we had to stop more often.  Now we've both ridden in Sudan and know exactly what to expect when riding in extreme temperature, but this is different, this has extreme humidity thrown in for good measure.

As we got about 30kms away from Khon Kaen, Len noticed a religious site which looked quite unique.  The photos depicts statues of elephants, big and small, each are facing their God.

 

If you look real closely you can make out a couple of Zebras thrown in for good measure. 

 Even the elephant is bowing to his/her god.

And finally more elephants.  Notice the big elephants in the back of the photo. I think there would have been a couple of thousand elephants on display all pointing in one direction.

After taking the photos we had to get back on the road and get today over with.  We were spending far too long out in the sun and this was not healthy for us.

As we rolled into town and made our way through all the traffic we pulled into the Khon Kaen Hotel.  The hotel is really nice and costs 850 baht for a night.  Once again the room has everything you could possibly need.  Good value for money.

After getting our gear into our rooms and taking a well earned break, it was time to head off again and get as much food into us as possible.  During dinner we discussed our options for the next couple of days.  Seriously to ride in this heat is just stupid.

I'll keep you posted with the changes to the program tomorrow.  Tomorrow we will be taking a well earned rest day.

Until tomorrow, safe riding.

Nong Khai to Undon Thani

Today was the day that Len's team played the final of the NCAA tournament in America.  Unfortunately his team lost the match by making far too many errors.

Whilst the match was going on I went upstairs to take a photo from the 9th floor of the hotel.  The best I could do is of the largest Wat in the city and the huge gold Buddha.  This was about 3kms away.  You can notice the haze which is constant all day in this part of the world.

We eventually rolled out of the hotel around 11am and it was hot already.  We had 53kms to the town of Udon Thani.  The road was excellent with a wide shoulder and the traffic was not a problem.

Due to the heat of the day which reached 47 degrees, a record for the tour, we needed to take more stops to refill our bottles and  get out of the sun.  The average temperature for the 3 hours was 42 degrees.

We rolled into town around 2pm and made our way to the Siri Grand Hotel.  It costs 20 dollars for the night with air con, ordinary WiFi and a good selection of English channels on the TV.

We didn't go back out of our rooms till the sun was set.  We needed to recover from a very intense 3 hours today. Tomorrow is a long ride and I have to be ready by 6am.  That is going to destroy me.

Until tomorrow, safe riding.

Back to Thailand.

 

Today  we left Vientiane Laos and made the trip back over the friendship bridge and into Nong Khai Thailand.  As we rode out of town we came to yet another monument that required the first photo of the day. The real reason we stopped was because could hear the children singing at school.  So we decided that a photo had to be taken. 

 The photo above is at the Vang Vieng bus terminal 2 days ago.  That's Len on the right and the other chap is another cyclist who was riding in Laos.  It was with their help that got our bikes safely back to Vientiane in one piece.

 If we were in Australia and took photos of children singing at school we'd be arrested. Thank god for civil libertarians.  These children were having the time of their lives singing and doing an exercise regime that wasn't going to cause anyone to break out in sweat.  But we had to continue on, as border controls were still about 20kms away. 

 As we entered Nong Khai we came across a great motorcycle shop.  Now this is exactly what I need for my next holiday.  Plenty of room to put my bike, luggage, paying passengers and the cook.  Now that would be a great holiday.  Who wants to come along on the next adventure?

 When we reached the Grand Paradise Hotel our accommodation for the night and were allowed to book in at 10.30am.  This gives us a full day to use the hotel and more importantly, the swimming pool.

I went for a walk of the town in the afternoon and stopped in at a local restaurant for some lunch.  Had a great meal of noodles and chicken sitting amongst the locals.  After lunch they invited me into the kitchen to take some photos of the cooks at work.  Everyone loves to have their photo taken in this place.

 One of the cooks hard at work.

This guy was another one of the cooks who called to me as I was leaving, demanding that I take his photo.  When I saw what he had in his hand, no problem, click away.  It's amazing some of the beautiful people you meet on tour.

I arrived back at the hotel around to cool down with a nice swim.  I still had work to do on my bike before tomorrow, so sitting around had to wait till later.

For dinner tonight we had to go to the 9th Floor of our hotel, and the view out across the city of Nong Khai was just amazing.  We were the only ones in the restaurant.  Tomorrow morning I'll have to go back upstairs and get some photos for you.

Tomorrow we headed to the town of Udon Thani some 55kms away.  We won't be leaving till late tomorrow because Len wants to listen to his favorite team play in the NCAA basketball tournament. The match starts at 8.30am and should last for about 2 hours.  You know what that means.  The little Aussie is sleeping in.

Until tomorrow, safe riding.

Daredevils in Vang Vieng

One would think that with all the troubles that Vang Vieng has had with young people getting seriously injured by jumping off ledges, someone might start to clamp down.  You can see from the guy in the above photo that he was not only stupid for jumping off the platform, but he went one better by diving.

On Saturday Len and I hired motorbikes and rode out to the Blue Lagoon for a swim.  The road was really terrible, rough, rutted and dusty as hell.  We did manage to go the wrong way and I'm sure Len will say in his blog that it was my fault.  We eventually made it back to the lagoon to witness the brave jump from the tree into the lagoon. 

The photo below actually shows a man in mid air jumping from the very top of the tree.  I was going to jump but remembered I shouldn't take the risk. People lined up during the hour we were there to take the leap into the blue lagoon.  We both went for a swim in a beautiful clear lagoon in chilling waters.  It also gave me a chance to have a wash after collecting a mouth full of dust on the ride to the lagoon.  I'm so happy we decided against riding the bicycles out here.  It would have been painful.

 Can you see the chap in mid air?  Great technique.

 Just another photo of the blue lagoon.  It was such a nice place to cool off and relax and keep out of the midday sun.

 Just another sign I saw at the blue lagoon.  The young ones had a problem with smoking drugs and doing stupid stunts out of the trees.  It was decided that a degree of safety had to be implemented by introducing a drug free zone.

 As I'd mentioned before, Len and I stayed at the Laos Haven Hotel and Spa in Vang Vieng.  In the photo is the owner Michael and his son Marcus.  2 truly nice people.

As we were heading back into town from the blue lagoon I stopped to take a photo of the mountains that surround Vang Vieng.  Each day the mountains are covered in a haze of either humidity or smoke from all the burn offs in the region.

Now for Sunday.

Since we had ridden to Vang Vieng, we decided to catch the mini bus back to Vientiane.  There was no reason to ride back over the same terrain.  This would also give us another free day to play with later on in the holiday.

We caught the mini van early today arriving back in the capital at 12.30pm.  It was the good trip and the driver was well behaved behind the wheel.  Usually these types of trips can be like the ride to hell.

As soon as we got our bikes and bags off the roof of the van we went back to our respective hotels.  Tomorrow we're riding back into Thailand and stopping at Nong Khai.  It's from here we start the long ride back to Cambodia.

On a side note, Len is a mad supporter of the Michigan University basketball team.  Well, his team won today to put them into the final of the NCAA tournament.  Now this is a huge tournament.  I remember one Andrew Gaze from Australia played in the NCAA tournament final in  1989 when he played for Seaton Hall university. On that occasion they played Michigan and lost.  Michigan last won the NCAA title in 1989 and this could be the 2nd time in another 2 days.  I know what Len will be doing on Tuesday morning.  I might get to sleep in whilst his listening to the grass grow.  That's listening to the basketball match.

Until tomorrow, safe riding and see you in Thailand.

Playing the tourist in Vang Vieng.

Today I got the chance to play tourist in Vang Vieng.  I'd never been to Vang Vieng before in my life and after watching 60 minutes in Australia and reading stories about people drinking too much alcohol and smoking drugs and happy pizzas, I thought I should ride a bike from Siem Reap in Cambodia all the way to Vang Vieng in Laos to check it out.  

For the princely sum of 12 dollars I went on a day tour where I was picked up at my hotel at 9am and taken with a group of young adults out of town where we would commence the day's activities.  We walked along a river and through a couple of villages to where we came to a large pool at the base of a mountain.  

It was from here that we were told to take off all our valuables and pick up a headlamp.  We each picked up an inflatable tire tube and jumped aboard.  We then made our way to the rope that would take us deep inside the cave.  For one who doesn't handle confined spaces too well, I was a little concerned.  Not scared, only concerned.

The group of about 9 people dragged themselves and their inflatable tubes along the rope that led about 200 metres inside a dark cave with the roof about 1 metre overhead.  We inched our way deeper and deeper and deeper till we could go no further.  It may have been only 200 metres inside the cave but it will be a journey I'll remember for a long time.  It was so cool to turn around and look at the trail of headlamps following in the distance.  I stayed close to the tour guide as he knew exactly what he was doing and there was no way I was going to take my light off him. 

 This photo is of more tourists turning up from China, Korea, Japan ready to enter the cave on an inflatable tube.

Now this lady was pretty brave. All she could manage was sitting her ass in the inflatable tube and going nowhere near the water.

Just another photo of activity at the entrance to the cave.

As we made our way from the river cave to the Elephant Cave we had to walk through a couple of villages.  The people always say good day to us and wave to us.  In this photo you can see the rocky outcrops which are famous around this part of Laos.  The river system and the town of Vang Vieng is surrounded by the most stunning mountains I've ever see.

 Inside the Elephant Cave is a rock formation that looks exactly like the head of an elephant.  Also inside the cave is yet another statue of Buddha.  At the entrance to the cave is a bell.  The bell is the made from the head of a bomb that never went off when the Americans dropped millions of bombs down on this part of the world.  The story behind the bell is that the local chief would ring the bell when something important needed to be said to the people of the surrounding villages. The message would go out that the chief has called a meeting and people would travel afar to hear the news.

 After leaving the Elephant Cave we got back into the jeep and made our way up stream where we would commence our 3 hours of kayaking on the river.  Once again I teamed up with the young tour leader, probably because I was the oldest in the group and he took pity on me.  During the kayaking we travelled down a beautiful river system with local children swimming out to us, people fishing and then there were the young foreigners riding the tubes. 

As we got about 1/2 way down the river we came to a jumping platform where of course people would climb and then launch themselves back into the water.  Although I had in the back of my mind the young Australian lad who lost his life doing the same thing last year, I thought this was stupid.  You jump at your own risk and I was not going to risk anything.

Around ever corner on the river the view was stunning.  With the stream meandering around each bend and people falling out of their kayaks every 10 metres I was having the time of my life being assisted by my guide.  I didn't have to paddle if I didn't want to.

 So my day ended at the the bridge over the river in the township of Vang Vieng.  All I had to do was walk up to the centre of town and I was back at my hotel.  I had the time of my life.  And I do have sore shoulders after all that paddling.Tonight we're going back to Milano's restaurant for more pizza.

Tomorrow is our 2nd rest day before we head south to Thailand.

Until tomorrow, safe riding.

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.

Len and Terry's day tour of Vientiane.

 Now isn't that a nice motorbike?

 Now that's even better than the first one.

 The first thing we did this morning was go to a nice bakery for breakfast.  It's called JoMa Bakery and they're starting to pop up everywhere in this city.  They serve great coffee and scones, but never will they be as good as the ones my Nan use to make.

Whilst having breakfast there was small motorcycle shop, selling bikes of all ages and brands.  Being a mad motorcyclist for years I had to take some photos for your pleasure.

 I did come across an interesting sign out the front of a restaurant this morning.  I was really tempted to go and have drunken noodle prawn or drunken noodle chicken, pork.  Since I don't drink, I'll leave it for Len to give it a go.

Before we headed out for a day of sightseeing we had to clean our bikes.  I gave the chain a good clean and all the cogs.  They were so dirty just after a week of riding.  I put it down to all the dust in this part of the world.  After a good clean we were on the road heading to a famous landmark of Vientiane.

The pictures below depict the monument of Patuxai.  Vientiane's Arc de Tromphe replica is an imposing if slightly incongruous sight, dominating the commercial district around.  Th Lan Xang.  Officially called Patuxai, but often called anusawali by locals, commemorates the Lao who died in prerevolutionary wars.  It was built in 1969 with cement donated by the USA for the construction of an airport: hence it's sometimes called the 'vertical runway'.  A stairway leads through two levels stuffed with souvenir shops.  I also took some photos looking down from the top.

 Looking down from the top of the Arc de Tromphe.

 Looking down from the top of the Arc de Tromphe.

After climbing up and down too many stairs it was time to head out to our final sightseeing point of the day, Pha That Luang.  The photos below are of the the Great Stupa.

Pha That Luang is the most important national monument in Laos, a symbol of the Buddhist religion and Lao sovereignty.  An image of the main stupa appears on the national seal. Legend has it that Ashokani missionaries from India erected a thaat here to enclose a piece of Buddha's breast bone as early as the 3rd century BC.  Construction of the modern thaat began in 1566, but it was destroyed by treasure seekers after the Siamese razed the city in 1828.  It was rebuilt by the French in 1900. 

A high wall cloister with tiny windows surrounds the 45metre  high stupa  The cloister measures 85 metres on each side and contains various Buddha images.

 I took this photo because Len is in it.  We were waiting for the doors to open but his lady in the brown sarong wanted to have her photo taken with every man and his dog.  Talk about hogging the camera. 

Our sightseeing is now over for Vientiane and it's time tomorrow to start the long ride north to Vang Vieng.  Vang Vieng is the most northern point of this cycling trip and then after a 2 day rest, we will turn around and commence the very long ride back to Cambodia.  Of course via a different route to the one we took to get here.

Until tomorrow, safe riding.