3 March @ 9pm
So we made a last minute decision to take a bus from Chiang Rai to our desired starting town in Lao - Luang Prabang. We left Sunday around noon and finally pulled into Luang Prabang bus station at 5 am this morning - about 18 hours later!
It was a pretty uneventful border crossing. The border was quite sterile and had little magic or character about it. We did regret not riding at this point as it is a cool feeling to cycle onto a new nation's soil. Immigration control was rather unremarkabe and organized. Most people on the bus were travelers around our age from all over the world, mostly Europe.
The sites changed a bit once we got to Lao. It was much more rural and underdeveloped than Thailand. We passed many villages with wooden and bamboo houses, built on stilts. Houses were all clustered together in a methodical layout. We saw many animals on small family backyard farms. Mommy pigs with their piglets. Cows, mostly babies in fields, grazing. Adult cows missing, I assume recently went to slaughter as a group. We saw many hens with their babies following behing them in driveways. It was Sunday evening at this time. We passed lots of makeshift softball and volleyball courts with children of all ages playing - no parents in sight. The children appeared happy and serious about their game. It is nice to pass through in a bus for once - as no one sees us. Unlike when we ride passed on bikes, if people notice us, they change what they are doing to watch us or tell their friends to look. It's nice to just be an unknown observer from the comfort of a bus.
Once we started climbing the mountains, I was very happy to not be on my bike. The mountains went up forever - they were all green and beautiful. The bus went slow on the windy steep roads. Joe slept soundly throughout most of the long ride. I was not so lucky, I found it nearly impossible to sleep with the abrupt accelerations and stops on the mountain passes. Then we started on a road that was gravel making it impossible to rest. We did stop for dinner and a long bathroom break which was nice to reset and get something to eat.
Lao is defintiely going to be more difficult to get around than Thailand. (No where is better than Thailand, we are learning!)
We arrived in Luang Prabang this morning at 5am. It was still very dark out and we weren't really sure what to do. Luckily the morning markets and cafes started opening at 6. We got a baquette with veggies and tofu on it, along with Lao instant coffee and hung out downtown. We were able to check in to a guesthouse around 9 so we were able to shower and have a nap.
To our disappointment, this town is very touristy and clearly not typical of Lao. We are excited to get out of here and see the real deal, tomorrow or the next day. Also! We are back to the right side of the road and the trucks/cars are left side steering which is very comforting, yet still something to readjust to on the bike.
We met up with the two Belgium bike tourers we met in Chiang Mai. They are here for a couple of days. They cycled here from the north and confirmed this town is not at all typical of Lao. They also confirmed we made a good choice in taking the bus, they said the roads were very difficult and they are now exhausted. It was nice to see familiar faces and again, exchange notes on our trips.
4 March at 1pm
The two short days in Luang Prabang were more than enough for us. Day one we walked around checking out the city museum and temples. We also ate tourist friendly baguettes and went to the night market for food (buffet for 15,000 kip per person) and a beer. We met up with our Belgian bike touring friends and got to see what they’ve been up to. I retired early as I was still tired from our night bus ride. Joe stayed out later, chatting with the Belgians and some of their other travel friends from Denver.
This area of the country is incredibly touristy and it’s clear that many local people take full advantage of foreigners when they can. Unlike anywhere else we’ve been, there is a clear price difference for visitors and locals. I don’t mind paying more than locals, after all, Lao is one of the poorest countries in the world. But there is a difference between paying more and getting nickel and dimed for every single thing you do. Everytime you use a public bathroom, you must pay - even if the bathroom is completely disgusting with no real plumbing, no TP, no sink, no soap. It’s like some person just decides to sit in front of the bathroom to collect the money, but not a cent of the money actually goes to maintaining the bathroom - the person collecting the money just decides to make this his/her job for the day. Creates this way of making money, then goes home. We’ve been told the taxi/tuk tuk/ van drivers all charge large amounts of money to take tourists to local attractions and you can’t avoid getting people in your face asking “Hello, waterfall?” desperately wanting your money to shuttle you around. Makes us so grateful that we don’t ever have to rely on these overpriced rides, we can always jump on the bikes to get where we want to go. There is also a well-known scam here where a company rents you a motorbike and then follows you, steals it when you’re not around, and then keeps your deposit when you come back with your sob story.
This may all sound familiar with traveling, and I have been to places where it’s the norm, however we have not encountered anything like it since we’ve been here. We are pretty sure it’s mostly just LP and another backpacker town called Viang Vieng. Looking forward to experiencing the real Lao once we get out of here.
Yesterday morning we got up early and took a long hilly ride to one of the local waterfalls. It was only about 16 miles away, but a long sweaty ride nonetheless. It was very hilly and a good preview of Lao terrain. When we arrived, there were two parking lots for motorbikes and vans. Then we were told we had to PAY TO PARK OUR BIKES in these parking lots. We tried to take them in to the waterfall area (there was a road where some cars/motorbikes were going), were told no bikes, we must park them in the lot. When we tried to lock to to a tree, were told no, must pay for parking. I was getting very angry because it was truly ridiculous, we’ve been leaving our bikes unlocked and unattended for 70% of this trip because no one ever touches our bikes and now we’re being told we must pay to leave them outside of the waterfall entrance so they can be watched. The amount was very cheap, about a quarter, but by this point I was fed up with the nickel and diming. So we found a temple where only locals would be going on a side dirt road and locked the bikes there. Since we were out of sight of the parking lots and waterfall park workers we were fine and of course the bikes were fine - we were back in regular SE Asia again. We paid to go to the waterfall and enjoyed the views for a couple hours. (By the way we did give a nice donation to the temple in town, in lieu of paying some guy to “watch our bikes.”) We enjoyed a picnic on the way home, sandwiches we had bought in LP before we left. The ride home was easier and very enjoyable.
We went to a buffet in the night market for dinner again and had an early night since we expected to have an early morning. I was awakened by Joe getting violently ill in the middle of the night. I guess he got another stomach bug? He had a very rough night, but was feeling better “once he got it all out.” We woke up later than we wanted to due to Joe’s bad night. We decided to cycle a little bit out of town to get away from the crazy tourist prices and annoying backpackers. I made Joe drink a lot of water and he had some fruit smoothies, he said he was feeling good enough to ride some. We cycled about 16 miles to the next town south of Luang Prabang with a guesthouse, Xiang Ngeun. We checked in to the only guesthouse in town around 1 and now Joe is sleeping. He is feeling much better but he needs complete recovery for our huge day tomorrow. It is our first taste of Lao mountains and mostly climbing - expecting a few really long climbs over the next 35 miles. No wifi here and not much food selection. It’s great to be out in the real Lao finally! It is truly beautiful, the rolling green hills all around. Lush green forest as far as the eye can see. Children on bikes riding home from school, all with wide eyes, smiles, giggles, and sometimes waves when they see us. Like I said before, Lao is poor and much less developed than Thailand. Nonetheless, the people are friendly and obviously very resilient and hard workers. We feel so lucky to be riding through their villages soaking up all the sights and sounds, observing what daily like looks like.
In the evening, we went for a beer. Well I did, Joe still recovering had Sprite. Then we rode through the village a bit and ran in to some other bike tourers, Will and Kate from England. We ended up sitting with them at a beautiful restaurant looking over the hills and river, chatting for a couple hours about our experiences while traveling. They were very fun and we really enjoyed meeting them. They also had just come from the village we are doing tomorrow so they gave us some advice - and a bit of teasing about my lack of granny gear due to the tough ride we are facing. Hope to run in to them again on the road someday.
5 March at 5pm
We finally arrived to the village of Kiukacham about 2:30 pm after an early 6am start (with the sunrise). It was a very tough day for both of us. We started with a baby climb of the first mountain - it was all uphill for 14 km straight. We felt good during this climb and passed through about 4 villages. Observed mostly women doing morning chores and tending to babies who were strapped to their backs. Many were friendly, many simply acted like they didn’t see us. Some look at us with stares like “what the hell are you doing that for?”
We stopped a few times for roadside snacks and water and then had a nice all downhill for a couple of miles.
We started up the next mountain around 10:15. It was 20 km of straight uphill. Poor Joe was not at his best due to still recovering from illness. I did okay until about the last 15 km, I was dehydrated and we never found another foodstand for water and snacks. The temperature was in the 90s most of the day, from 10am on. Next we ran out of water and were so desperate to be in a nice guesthouse resting with cold water! We only pushed the bikes a couple of times for a 100 feet or so mainly to give cycling muscles a rest. Our average speed for the day was 3-5 mph! Horrible. We were so relieved to get here and see people eating sticky rice and that the food stands are stocked with soda and regular potato chips. That is all we really wanted, and the last town was slim pickings with the snacks we find tasty and refreshing.
Looking back, I was very dehydrated as I realized I did not pee until for about 12 hours today. Not good! Joe is a real trooper and is feeling much better since he pushed himself through the ride today and has fully rehydrated.
Our guesthouse tonight is even “more basic” than last night, however the same price at 60,000 kip per night. We have shared bathrooms (ie gross squatpots and a rustic shower). It does have hot water in the shower, which I was shocked and delighted to find. Surprisingly, cycle tourers keep pouring in to this guesthouse - more than we’ve seen anywhere else in SE Asia. It’s a mix of people going north to Luang Prabang and south towards Vientiane like us.
According to Joe, this mountain peaks at around 1500 meters and we are near the top. It was a rough climb all day. But I feel great that we powered through it, even when it was really challenging. The best part was the 360 degree views. As you go up, the mountain looks massive, going on forever. There were small dirt paths we could see all over the mountain. It is really cool to see the people who live off the mountain completely, make due with what they have and have built beautiful villages. As far as we can tell, most are Hmong people (meaning no temples or signs of Buddhism anywhere in the mountains which is very odd for us as that is something our eyes have come to expect in SE Asia. Hilltribe people all have their own unique religion - more closely related to Animism.)
March 6th at 7pm
According to the information from the other cyclists at our last guesthouse, today was supposed to be a relatively easy day. This was not true for us. It was 46 miles total (and mostly downhill), however, the parts that were uphill seemed endless and steeper than yesterday. I was very sore when leaving this morning at 7am and very much looking forward to the “easy day” I was expecting.
Many of the sites and sounds were same same as yesterday, with every village we rode through having its own welcome wagon of young kids yelling and waving to us. We were much more concious of staying hydrated today and always filled up with water when we had the opportunity. We are still both decidedly dehydrated however, and have concluded it is impossible to stay hydrated while biking all day in these temperatures. We ran into a French couple on their tandem bicycle on the very end of our ride and shared a soda with them. They are on the road for over a year and went with the tandem bike so that they could conversate and be together on the ride. I find this strange, as who would want to be with someone all day on one bike? The cycled here from France and after SE Asia will cycle South America next.
We checked into a guesthouse/hot springs resort in the middle of nowhere late this afternoon. Unfortunately the hot springs are not inviting and we haven’t bothered to try them out.
Tomorrow we hope to get to Vang Vieng which is 48 miles away and supposedly mostly downhill. We plan to stay in the quieter section of town across the river and away from the masses of drunken backpackers we have heard about who flock to VV.
8 March at 5pm - we have wifi at last!
We arrived in Vang Vieng yesterday early, around 1pm. The ride was great, mostly downhill and flat. It was amazing. Once we got out of the higher mountains, the land flattened out and there were bright green fields of rice, corn, and loads of cabbages. The change in color and scenery was really pretty. Along the route, we met up with the Frenchies on the tandem, two Italian men who are cycling the world for 2 years now, and a German 19 year old girl who is cycling SE Asia alone. The German girl rode with us for the last miles to VV. She is vegan too and very sweet, much wiser than her age. We had some falafel sandwiches and then checked in to Banana Bungalow on the quieter side of the river. This town is known for backpackers to come and get wasted and float down the river on inner tubes. Lucky for us, that means lots of western food options and baguette sandwiches of course. We are happy to eat lots of food again.
We are all staying at the bungalow so it’s a nice little community. We are swapping route advice and cycle stories. Today we got some good advice from a couple who are rock climbers from Colorado. They climb in a canyon near here called Sleeping Wall and it’s next to a nice part of the river to swim and hang out. We went there all day and it was lovely. We even got to rock climb! The nice couple let us use their equipment and the guy belayed us. It is exactly like indoor climbing, just much more interesting because you can choose what holds to use instead of having artificial ones. I really liked it. As expected, my fear of heights made it scary - but still very fun.
We plan to hang out here, maybe for one more day, maybe not. Next stop, south to the capital Vientiane.
Sorry for spelling/grammar mistakes, I know my writing could use some work and I have no editor ;)
9 March
We woke up in our cute bungalow feeling annoyed at the noise level of the party going on all in the resort next to ours. We decided to pack up quick and move on to the next town south to avoid another night like this one. We were having some complimentary coffee in the middle of our bungalows when we heard a great noise of fire and heat. I said "what is that?!" and Joe said sleepily "I dunno, a hot air balloon?" I was annoyed with his apathy of the situation, but then looked up and a rainbow colored hot air balloon was flying directly over us, about 30 feet up. It was really cool! And it also confirmed my feelings about never wanting to ride in one. There is way too much fire near ones head while being high up in the air.
We said goodbye to our new friend Ann (the solo German cyclist), and headed south on 13, the "highway." We ended up at a much nicer bungalow resort in a small village about 15 miles south of VV called Nirvana Eco Resort - French owned - and exclusively French visited (except us!). We went swimming in the lake next door. Our bungalow had a nice porch with beautiful views of this lake. http://www.roughguides.com/destinations/asia/laos/vientiane-northwest/ang-nam-ngum-reservoir/
This is Joe's entry:
10th March - 8pm “What is that sound?”
We had an early start to this cloudy but still ridiculously hot day from the “Nirvana Eco Resort” where we stayed in last night. We switched from Banana Bungalow in VV to this clean and comfortable bungalow resort on the reservoir 15 miles south. It seemed quieter than the previous night, where there was an all night party going on next door consisting of many cackling asian women and a minivan with a loud stereo. *A cat just popped up into the window and is meowing at me as I type this right now.* I was able to sleep through the party but Leese was not as lucky. Early this morning the Asian music started back up for no discernible reason, so I went over to see why in the world someone would be blasting the stereo at 7 am and found a minivan with noone around. I shut off the stereo, went back to Banana Bungalow, and grabbed a cup of tea. Liesa and I hear this whooshing sound and she asks me what it could be. Then she asks again and I say it sounds like a hot air balloon. Ten seconds later a giant balloon appears about 20 feet right above us.
We are now in the town of Lak 52, a stopover on our way to Vientiane. The ride had a lot of flat sections along with some rolling hills, none of which were too strenuous. We decided to take the main road and get to Vientiane quicker, instead of taking the probably much less traveled secondary route (but more popular for cyclists) into town. A short 37 mile ride tomorrow will get us to our first stop in Vientiane: a vegetarian restaurant (possibly Jay style)! From there we’ll have to find a place to stay and then find another vegetarian place for dinner. Even though we just had good food options as recent as VV, we are still very much looking forward to the food in the capital city. I’m going to send out resumes at some point just to see if I can get some interest from some engineering/design jobs in the places we are looking to settle at when we return. Not looking forward to going back into full time employment and having an employer limit how long I can take a vacation for, so I’m leaning towards part time or contract opportunities if they are available.
Joe signing off.
10 March
We left early, before anyone else was awake and had to leave our money at the bar before heading south again towards the capital. It was a very dusty and dirty ride. We went about 50 miles and stopped in a town called Lak52. Not sure about the name? We checked into a guesthouse, only paid 50,000 kip - Joe bargained this time! (cause the woman originally asked for 70,000) For lunch, we bought 2 watermelons, 4 mangos, 2 baguettes, 2 tomatoes, 2 cucumbers, 1 bag of (small) chips, 1 soda for me, 1 beer for Joe. We went back to the room and made some sandwiches and ate, ate, ate.. It was great! It's been so hot - temps in the 90s and very very humid/muggy. That night - a thunderstorm rolled in - we were not expecting it at all because we have not seen any sign of rain since we've been in Asia. It was one of the loudest and most severe storms I've ever witnessed. We were happy to have windows with good screens so we could listen to the rain cooling off this place!
11 March at 10pm
One our way further south, we ran in to Ann at a gas station. It was a pleasant surprise. We rode with her all the way in to the capital and found a veg buffet that she had googled. We all ate so much food. It was 25,000 kip per person. The food here is not as cheap as Thailand, but this was a pretty good deal.
We checked in to a guest house that was way overpriced. Our room was on the third floor and it was unbearably hot with just a fan.
We will stay one night and head back Thailand tomorrow. One week left before we fly back home to winter!
13 (Friday!!) March at 7:45pm
We crossed the border back into Thailand at Nong Khai yesterday afternoon after having a nice lunch buffet with our German friend Ann. . (Also in the morning, we went to a shorts film screening at the Vientiane Film Festival, the movies we saw were great, however rest of the audience was middle schoolers. That made it a pretty funny and entertaining experience. http://www.vientianale.org/sabaidee/ )
Since we have been in Nong khai, we have been mostly taking it easy and doing some job application work for when we get home in less than a week. This town is pretty low key, perfect for our needs.
Bangkok is about 600 away kilometers, so we will take a night train on Tuesday to make our flight. We considered biking some of the road to Bangkok, however if we didn't make it the whole way - we might miss our flight as we can only catch the train up here. Plus! I really don't want to ride in the traffic near Bangkok - it really is a polluted mess.
