Nong Khai to Bueng Kan

Sun 29/12/13,140km

Woke rather late and breakfast took an age to get going so I didn't end up on the road until gone 9am. In retrospect this wasn't the best of moves.

I'd dropped into the Tourist Authority of Thailand (TAT) when I'd arrived as they generally have some quite good information such as maps and regional booklets with sights and accommodation in them. Armed with these I decided to make for Pak Khat today, around 90 km away. First 20km stretch was great but then I joined Highway 212 and hit a patch of dusty roadworks with more traffic. Quietened down after a bit though.

I got one of those devil take it moods on me where all I wanted to do was cycle. On a subconscious level I think that's why I dropped into Thailand, I know it's got the hills and terrain to let me just disengage the brain, engage the legs and drift along the road. The call was finally made at Pak Khat over a lunch of iced coffee and a 7-11 sandwich, I'd put the extra kilometres in. And very enjoyable it was too.

Got to Bueng Khan about an hour before sun down and found a room down on the Mekong for 400 baht and after the usual shower and food hit the sack tired but happy.

Nice quiet open road to cycle down

But I only have baht and dollars...

Vientiane to Nong Khai

Sat 28/12/13, 70km

Well I certainly didn't intend to go to Thailand today... Woke up with the intention of following Highway 13 East and South so after breakfast I set off to do just that.

Decided to see if I could use Google Maps to navigate me quietly out of town and avoid the first bit of the highway. This was managed, most certainly. Alas, it involved 10km of corrugated dirt road, so I was happy to get back on asphalt and heading to the highway. However, the road crossed the way to the Friendship Bridge to Thailand. When I hit the cross roads I ummed and ahhed but carried on until I hit the highway at which point I thought some more and decided, sod it, I want some easy cycling on good roads for a bit and turned the bike around. Had a nice tailwind now and it was down the bridge!

Immigration on the way out was a formality (albeit with queues) and the exchange rate at the bank was a 1% spread so a great rate. The bridge itself is about 1km long and whilst it's not been designed with bikes in mind I was comfortable enough. Thai immigration was once again heavy on the queues but easy enough.

I did the last section into town, got a hotel, local SIM, visited the TAT (Tourist Authority of Thailand) office for maps and local guides then grabbed food, took a stroll and followed this with more food, beer and bed.

View down the Mekong to the Friendship Bridge

Vientiane

26th to 28th Dec

Spent a couple of days relaxing in Vientiane. Importantly I found a very good bike shop (Chongcharoen Bike on Rue Dongpayna) which had a selection of bike computers, spare cleats and every other bike related thing you could want. They stock Trek, Giant and I also noticed a Surly Cross Check Frame as well as a Bianchi in there so if you need anything for your bike in Laos this seems to be the place.

Vientiane itself is a quite nice chilled and relaxed little city. There are a few things to do (quite enjoyed the museum), and a good selection of eating and drinking establishments. I also bumped into Cindy and Dave one last time! We had a curry and beer although they'd eaten something that disagreed with them so couldn't indulge too much.

I also got some good maps and the Lonely Planet guide for Thailand for planning purposes.

Patuxi, the Laotian Arc de Triumph (or Delhi Gate?). Also called The Vertical Runway as it was built with cement meant for the airport.

View over the Mekong to Thailand

Nam Lik to Vientiane

Weds 25/12/13, 100km

Dave dropped off a pre-breakfast Christmas treat of a big of hot water and a sachet of Nescafe 3 in 1 coffee. Very nice start to the day! Breakfast itself was at eight and was nice with homemade bread and jam. And a single egg...

So, plan for the day was to head down to Highway 10 and use that as a more quiet route into Vientiane. Daniel (Australian cyclist) had mentioned road works on one section of Highway 10, however 13 does not sound like fun as it nears the city.

First we had to get to the highway. Armed with directions we set off. Had a few kilometres of well packed dirt road with the occasional bit of tarmac as we went through villages. We sang all the Christmas songs we knew (I need to brush up on the words to Slades Merry Christmas... can you believe Cindy and Dave had never heard it?!) as we rode and I wore my Santa hat.

Shortly before we came to the highway I came a cropper on an old wooden bridge and went sprawling. This normally wouldn't warrant a mention but for the fact that when I came to unclip my sandal from my pedal a little further on it wouldn't do so... Luckily I didn't fall over and with help from Dave we managed to free the sandal. Still, a new set of cleats was now needed.

Highway 10 started quietly and remained that way for a quite a while. If you're cycling this route Tha Lat/ Thinkeo looked a good place to stop. Lots of nice looking guesthouse close to the river with a lot eating options, roughly equidistant between Vientiane and Vang Vieng. A little while onto the road I made my farewells to Cindy and Dave as I was moving a tad faster than them.

Managed to get a good speed going down the road although I broke for a slap up feed of noodle soup for Christmas lunch. The road continued to be good, although with slightly more traffic until about 23km from the capital at which point it crossed a river and was suddenly a morass of roadworks. After 3km of this I consulted Google Maps and took a chance on a road branching off to my right (all I can remember is it was good asphalt and signposted for "Garment Factory No 2"). The chance paid off and I had a lightly trafficed road for the next 10km, bit of a dog leg through the university then a navigate to the city centre. Kept me off the busy highway though!

Found a posh hotel for Christmas, went out for food and wine and made merry. I vaguely recall beer and a pina colada were involved.

Ho ho ho

Dave photoboombing like a good 'un!

Christmas lunch 

First traffic light in 15 days

The bridge of doom (and skinned knees)

Well it is Christmas!

Vang Vieng to Nam Lik

Tues 24/12/13, 90km

Plan today was to do maybe 95km on the road to Vientiane and then stop at the Vang Sang Resort (IIRC). As well as fettling the bike I'd also unpacked, washed and repacked my panniers so I was good to go as soon as I'd had breakfast!

Naturally this meant I didn't hit the road until close to 10AM. Passed a couple of hitchhikers on my way out of town and settled down for the ride on Highway 13, the road I'd been following since Luang Prabang. I kind of assumed that it was going to be a quick drop out of the hills and onto plains but this assumption was a bit like planning on being up and away early. The road looped past the top end of Ang Nam Ngum lake and then skirted round a mountain for a good few kilometres. Not exactly comparable to the more northern stretches but not as flat as I'd expected.

I finally seem to able to stop for lunch nowadays (I used to have a tendency just to cycle on through the day), which meant I ended up with a very nice noodle soup for lunch.

With about 15km to go I spotted a pair of Western cyclists coming up the and stopped to talk to them... Bit surprised when it turned out to be Dave and Cindy again! They were going to stop at the Nam Lik eco-resort but had run out of kip and had been looking for an ATM in the next dot on the map, without any joy.

Decided it'd be nice to go along with them so ended up in an "eco village". Hmmm. Nice enough however quite pricey (200000 kip for one person in a room, 300000 for two), with only two choices on the menu, vegetarian or omnivore. It was nice as a treat on Christmas eve but I wouldn't go out of my way for it. Good to swim in a river right after cycling though!

Alas, no room on my bike! Also I'd get that in Laotian script as well...

Balcony view at Nam Like. Don't get me wrong the place was nice!

Riding around Vang Vieng

Sun/Mon 22/23 Dec 2013, 50km

Spent a couple of days in Vang Vieng riding around various sites, visiting a cave and waterfall. I had expected the place to be like an Asian Ibiza such is the reputation and I'm sure there is that side however it's easy to avoid if so.

Very very beautiful countryside. Spent yesterday doing a big circuit over the river on dirt roads, just idling through rice fields with lime stone karsts looming over them. Had a bit of a fit of heebeegeebees but cured it by going into some caves and confronting my claustrophobia.

Today was spent cycling along more quiet local dirt roads, along streams and ultimately taking in some waterfalls. Oh, and bike maintenance. Happy to report the drive chain is now fully fettled, spokes and breaks checked and even the saddle has been bedubbined.

After my maintenance another cyclist rolled into the guesthouse, Ray, an English chap I'd bumped into in Nong Khiaow. Spent the rest of the day chatting over a couple of beers.

Around Vang Vieng

In the caves

Either Cuthulu or Dr Who

Clearing the entrance to a "new" cave

A moth who took a shine to my toiletries bag

Kasi to Vang Vieng

Friday 20/12/13, 55km

Not the best nights sleep, the curtains were practically nonexistent and there was a light outside. Still up at early o'clock though so I read my ridiculous book for a bit. Started making notes on the more egregious errors now (Buddha born in 553AD? Sure you don't mean BC? No, you are sure as you say 1500 years ago).

Only breakfast on offer was noodle soup with chicken so I went for the vegetarian option, a packet of coconut biscuits and a coffee. Worked for me!

Coffee slurped, biscuits munched and obligatory green tea sipped I set off. Less than a kilometer down the road I bumped into an American couple (John and Alison) cycling the other way and naturally we stopped for a quick chat. After a couple of minutes they realised they'd been following my blog on crazyguyonabike.com... you didn't know I had two blogs did you? Crazyguy is a site by and for cycle tourists, so generally I just cross post from here with a minor tweak occasionally. It's a great source of information and of course, it helps others when you post to it!

Pleasantries exchanged we headed off our separate ways on a misty morning. The sun burnt the mist off in an hour or so and I was going at a leisurely pace as it was to be a short day. Once I left the Kasi area I got one last little hill and into a valley cutting through towering limestone hills. The roadside was full of ladies selling oranges so I stopped to get a kilo (13000 kip!). Nice and welcome as I hadn't bothered to pack any food for the trip preferring to wait for lunch in Vang Vieng.

Rolled into Vang Vieng around 1pm and headed for the Jammee guesthouse, recommended to me by an Italian cyclist I'd met earlier in the day. Coincidentally it was number 2 on the TripAdvisor list for the town. Bit difficult to find but worth it, got a beautiful room with balcony and breakfast for 80000 kip.

Grabbed lunch, showered and then had a wonder around. Bit of an odd mix. Beautiful setting around a slightly shabby travellers place. Shall have to see what it's like. And talking of seeing, I saw six people I'd bumped into previously on my travels... Including James the English chap I first bumped into a month ago in Haiphong and Kirk the Belgian cyclist I met in Dien Bien Phu who's staying in Jammee's as well. Small world.

Alison and John

Orange country

Kiewkacham to Kasi

Fri 20/12/13, 100km

Had a warm enough nights sleep but by golly it was a cold start! With the toilets being Asian style and at the end of the corridor in a courtyard it took a lot to get me out of bed... Breakfast was an omelette and a stale toasted baguette with coffee and green tea. Good enough!

Looking over the balcony the clouds hung like water in the valleys below and every breathe produced it's own little cloud as well, even in the wind.

The road for the next 55km, to Phou Khoum, had it's share of ups and downs, and skirting along ridge tops. All very very beautiful. Couple of observations about the cycling over the past couple of days. Firstly, wherever the road has a level section there seems to be a Hmong village strung out along it, one house wide. Secondly, there seems to be  disproportionate number of young children... had the Specials Too Much Too Young going through my head a lot. This could be because the adults were out or (my opinion) the lag you tend to get between increased life expectancy and reduction in family size.

It took longer than I'd hoped to reach Phou Khoum and I ended up having lunch there in a greasy chopstick type transport cafe (adjust for cultural differences: a greasy spoon is a type of British cafe, very much concentrating on cheap and cheerful food) where I slurped down veg noodles whilst talking to an English lass on bus on their lunch break. If you're cycling this way you're probably better off stopping at the restaurant with a view just before town.

After lunch it was a long and beautiful descent down towards Kasi. And it really was beautiful. And long. Finally rolled into Kasi where I got a very nice room at the Somchit Guesthouse for 60000 kip. If you stop there though, get a room at the back. The curtains aren't so good and the light at the front is annoying. Oh, and was less than impressed with the food on offer so ended up strolling into Kasi itself and getting a most wonderful noodle soup.

View soon after dawn

Luang Prabang to Kiewkacham

Thurs 19/12/13, 80km

Wrench though it was to tear myself away from Luang Prabang, it had to be done. Plan was a two day hop to Phonosavan, spending the night at Phu Khoun some 130km away.

Of course, things didn't quite work out like that. The elevation profile on the map I have indicated there were two major climbs in the first 80km, the first around 700m ascent and the second around 1000m. After this there were a series of climbs and drops of varying heights for the next 50km, with the altitude staying around the 1400m mark.

So, I set off after a hearty breakfast with a bag full of peanut brittle ready for the day. Getting out of town was easy enough and I picked up a hand of apple banana on the way.

The first climb starts some 25km out of Luang Prabang and is around 15km long. I'd guess it's mostly around a 5% gradient so not too bad and very scenic. There's a nice drop back down 600m which left me needing a jumper (wind chill) then the road reaches a stream with a couple of stalls selling food before it immediately starts to climb again for about 20km of steady 5% until finally a few kilometres later the road is curling around stunning viewpoints and into Kiewkacham.

By this point it was gone 2.30 and there was no way I was going to make Phu Khoun before sundown so I got a room in the Bounthan, one of the three guesthouses there, and called it a day. None of the guesthouses were particularly inviting but this one was OK for a night. Shared squat toilets, and with a much needed hot shower  for 50000 kip (with a tad of bargaining). A nice plate of noodles with veg and egg set me back another 15000 kip which I ate whilst admiring the stunning view out of the back of the place.

After this I wandered down the road a away to find a good spot to take photos of some of the peaks. As I did so my landlady pulled up and told me there were a couple more cyclists approaching. Naturally it turned out to be Dave and Cindy. They ended up in the same place so we had a couple of beers dinner then huddled round the guesthouses owner charcoal fire for a bit: the temperature was around 3 or 4c by that point.

Pak Ou caves

Weds 18/12/13, 60km

Another day trip planned, this time to see the cave of the 500 Buddhas. Up as usual at dawn, ready to break my fast and head off. However the guest house owner has other ideas and wants me to move room first. Hmm. OK...

So, somewhat delayed it was on the road north. Another easy one to find, just head up Highway 13 until you see the sign for the caves and take the turning. I didn't use Highway 13 all the way, you can shadow it for a bit.

The road from the turn off is a dirt track but a nice cycle. After 10km I came to Pak Out village where it was time to park the bike (5000kip!) and get a boat across the Mekong (13000kip return in a shared boat, 25000 on a private boat). Now, the Mekong is pretty damn swollen after the recent rains so getting through the stream of debris was a little tense (there were trees in there!) but we made it with ease.

The caves are worth a poke about, I didn't count the Buddha's but I'll believe 500 is a good figure (saw elsewhere 1000 but I think that may just be Buddha inflation). I still want to know what the collective noun for Buddha's is.

So, a good day out followed by some planning for upcoming days, pizza and a beer and blogging before bed. Tomorrow I ride!

Looking a bit chocolatey but I don't see any Oompah Lumpahs

1,2,3...

321, 322, 323...

Four hundred and hang on! That's a Ganesha!

Kuang Si Waterfalls

Tuesday 17 Dec 2013, 65km

On occasion it's struck me that when I'm on the bike touring it can all get a bit... Linear... for want of a better word. I cycle from A to B, have a wander around maybe then set off again. I see a lot en route but generally in my little corridor. In light of this I'm trying to stop a little longer in places but then explore them on the bike, break out of that cross continental attitude.

So, a nice little trip out to a local waterfall  was in order (once I'd kicked the red wine and pina colada hangover which was as bad as it sounds).

Easy enough to find, road 2501 (use www.hobomaps.com if in doubt), tootle along. There are a couple of minor hills on the way but it's easy enough cycling. Bicycle parking in 1000kip, entry 20000kip. There's also a bear sanctuary on the way in which is good. The falls themselves are good, quite dramatic. Swimming is possible but quite frankly it's nippy at the moment and I'm a wuss!

I know how he feels

Luang Prabang

Sunday/Monday 15/16 Dec 2013, 0km

Sunday was very much a rain write off, as it bucketed it down like a bad Glastonbury. All that was left to do was to drink tea by day and wine by night (yes, wine!). I did manage to fit a visit in to the ethnographic museum and a coffee shop but that about covers.

Luckily I'm reading one of possibly the worst books I've ever read which is so bad it's constantly making me laugh out loud. Every SE Asia cliché and a plot that seems to be a supernatural version of Platoon mixed with Apocalypse Now and the worst excesses in any American Vietnam war history you may ever have read (some lifted pretty much directly from Michael Herr's Dispatches). It needs editing badly and it has been. Look here's corporal Curtis. Wait, did I say corporal Curtis? Suddenly in the next paragraph he's been busted down to private. But wait! Now he's a corporal again. And now he's been blown up by a claymore making him incorporeal I guess...

Anyway...

On Monday the rain had stopped although temperatures had dropped some 10 degrees or so. Fine opportunity to visit some Wats, do general sight seeing then drink too many pina coladas in a travellers bar.

Luang Prabang in the rain

This is where the Khmer Rogue went wrong... You need to get buy in!

National museum

Detail on a Wats wall

Pak Mong to Luang Prabang

Sat 14/12/13, 110km

May have overdone it on the Beer Laos the previous evening as I started the day with a slight hangover. In my defence there wasn't much else to do but watch Thai TV and drink beer.

Breakfast was an instant Nescafe 3 in 1 and a handful of Laotian custard creams, I couldn't really face trying to get vegetarian noodles. So with the breakfast of champions under my belt it was as early start under leaden skies. It'd been raining heavily during the night and once more I vowed to never ever leave my mudguards off again as both the bike and I got covered by a layer of mud.

The slow accretion of mud was helped by the various sections where a perfectly good section of asphalt would be interspersed with 10 meter  muddy patches. Probably pot holes that looked bigger due to the rain and mire.

Picked up a hand of apple bananas for 2000 kip to supplement the custard creams and just pushed on, making quite good time. At first I was just hoping to beat any more rain storms but after a bit the skies cleared and I started to look for a place for lunch. Found a place by the Nam Ou river around the 80km mark where I got a lacklustre fried veg and rice with a coke for 40000 kip (yes, that's quite a lot relatively). Still, it filled a hole and let me get to Luang Prabang.

In town it was time to find a cheap hotel, have a wander around to orientate myself, eat a proper meal, enjoy the night market and get another early night: conked out before 9 with nary a Beer Laos in sight that evening!