29th December – Luang Prabang to Nong Khiaw

Got up at 6.30 and packed up the bike before having breakfast as soon as it started.  I was on the road by 7.30 and fairly quickly made it out of town and heading north.  The road was better than I had hoped and there was little traffic to speak of, other than a particularly obnoxious convoy of six huge Chinese trucks that blasted along the road pushing even Lao trucks off the road.  I made good progress and was in Nong Khiaw by 11.30.  On the way I came across what was essentially a village fete, albeit in an ethnic minority mountain village.  Many of the girls were dressed in traditional costume and some of them were playing what looked to be a very boring game but may have had some ritual significance that escaped me.  They were lined up in a row facing one another, with each pair in the row throwing a tennis ball to one another.  They didn’t even look as if they were enjoying it that much.  Other people were hurling rocks at a bamboo ‘wall’ with balloons tied to it. 

Nong Khiaw when I got there was very pretty, nestled beside the beautiful Nam Ou river with a big bridge crossing it.  Children swim in the river, women wash their clothes and everyone comes to wash their hair in it.  There were quite a few more guesthouses than I had thought but, not knowing this when I arrived, I took the first one I could find which happened to be at the other end of the bridge.  I was shown into a brick-built bungalow (most are bamboo) right beside the bridge which seemed fine at 100,000kip a night (around £8).  Later, as I sat on its balcony, I did feel a bit exposed being right by the bridge, almost as if I was maintaining a toll booth.  But it was fine.  I changed into shorts and walked back across the bridge into town where I had some delicious Pad Thai at a very laidback restaurant, Coco Home, run by a German chap called Nick (who I assumed was English, having no trace of an accent after spending 20 years in the UK) and his Thai wife.  Very helpful chap.  As the afternoon wore on I felt that this was somewhere I could easily stay for a few days so walked around most of the other guesthouses around town.  However I returned to my own and negotiated to stay for a further three nights in an even nicer one further away from the bridge but still overlooking the river. 

The view from my balcony in Nong Khiaw

Sleepy relaxed place.  The only worry is that I will run out of money and there are no ATM machines anywhere near.  Nick says he may be able to change some sterling so I may have to opt for that.

28th December – Luang Prabang

The past few days have been very calm and peaceful and a nice change from all the travelling.  Christmas Day was sunny but very cold all morning, warming up by noon.  I explored town and crossed a bamboo bridge that spans the river Nam Khan, one of the many tributaries of the Mekong.   It is this river that creates the peninsular on which the old part of Luang Prabang is built.  The bamboo bridge cost 5,000kip because it was privately made by an enterprising family who must be doing quite well as a result of their investment of time. 

Back in town I bought a map and took a tuk-tuk to Phosy (pronounced pussy) market in search of the foam inner tube filler that my friend Trevor Parsons has suggested in response to all the flats I’ve been having.   Doing my best to mime what I was looking for reminded me that this would make a good topic for the Christmas charades that I am missing back home.  No foam to be found however; a bit too cutting-edge for this place.  I guess it would put an awful lot of people out of business here.  But I did find a jacket to replace the one I lost.  Not quite as warm as my old one but leatherette and looks quite cool on a motorbike.  The focus of my day was lunch at the Apsara Hotel’s restaurant where I had an amazing French-inspired Christmas lunch for 25,000kip (about £20).  Very extravagant of me but it was all presented and served so beautifully and turned out to be one of the most delicious meals I can remember eating.  Several successful Skype calls in the evening, including one to my dear friend Dingle in Jamaica, made it a lovely day.

Merry Christmas (note the hammer and sickle)

On Boxing Day I took the bike out to see the Kuang Si waterfalls, about 30k west of LP.  It was a pleasant ride in sunshine and I was in no hurry.  Lots of little stalls outside the main entrance so I bought some rice cakes, three banana fritters and a plastic cup full of fresh papaya, mango and banana.  This was lunch.  The waterfalls are extraordinarily beautiful: tiers of aquamarine pools with occasional wide but short limestone drops into the next pool.  Really quite out of this world and unlike anything I have ever seen before. 

There were relatively few tourists and none were swimming.  The water was pretty cold so I decided not to be the centre of attention and go in, but I know that if Harriet had been here she would certainly have gone in (she’s so much hardier than me).  The falls are set within a tropical rain forest park so I took a trail up through some dense jungle and then returned to sit by one of the pools, read my book and nibble at my lunch.  In the evening had a very pleasant meal and conversation with a retired American teacher, Joel, with whom we talked largely about American politics.

Yesterday I moved hotels to a rather more upmarket one on the other side of the Nam Khan river.  Beautiful new place owned by a Lao chap committed to using only Lao products.  2% of the revenues go towards supporting rural schools.  Unfortunately, due to New Year, they are fully booked up after my two days here but it would have been an ideal place to stop a while longer and actually get down to some writing.   Supper in the nice open air restaurant next door to my hotel which overlooks the river.  Each of the young staff came up to me in turn to practise their English.  Today I walked back into town, over the bamboo bridge, to withdraw some more money before my trip into the more remote north tomorrow.  When I got back I took the bike to a local mechanic to have an oil change.  He was Vietnamese and most interested in where I had been.  While waiting I bought a few things for lunch from one of the stalls, including some pork scratchings, as good as any you’d get in an English pub. 

Tomorrow I’ll set off early.  I’m just hoping I’ll find somewhere to stay in mountains.

24th December – Luang Prabang, Laos

Well it certainly doesn’t feel like Christmas here.  In LP there is almost no hint of it at all, not even a plastic Christmas tree.  So I don’t know what tomorrow will be like, maybe just like any other day.  The temperature here varies a lot.  I went out enthusiastically this morning in my shorts imagining the cloud would burn off and we’d have another scorcher.  But no, it stayed cloudy all day with a cool wind coming down the Mekong.  I’d been chatting at breakfast to this sweet middle-aged gay couple called David and David (must be confusing for their friends).  They told me where I could get a boat ride to a cave stuffed with statues of Buddha.  I feel I have already seen enough Buddhas to last a lifetime but I fancied a boat ride on the great river.  When I got to the riverbank there was a nice Singaporean man and his wife and daughter desperately looking for two more people to make up five so that we could rent a boat more cheaply.  Being on my own I wasn’t much good to him but along came three young Dutch people who made our party 7.  We spent two hours getting there and an hour getting back. 

Going upstream against the current the wind was really quite cold for all of us, including the chap steering the boat.  The cave was none too exciting we all agreed but it was pleasant to be on the river.  In celebration of Christmas I have bought myself a bottle of Australian Pinot Noir for the very reasonable price of 90,000kip (about £7) so I can’t argue with that.  I’m spending this evening reading and listening to Verdi (through my wonderful tiny portable speaker) in my cosy hotel room.  I plan to treat myself to a fancy lunch in one of the more up-market restaurants tomorrow. 

23rd December – Luang Prabang

I left my Vientiane hotel at 7.30 yesterday but it took a long time getting out of the dusty busy suburbs during rush hour.  Eventually the traffic reduced but the road was terrible.  Every couple of hundred yards there was a 50 to 100 yard patch of pot-holed rubble to drive through.  One could only brake and go through this slowly, so no possibility of getting up to speed.  Also exhausting having to hold the handle bars firmly through all the rough patches and still avoid pot-holes, dogs, pigs, cows, goats, as well as other traffic overtaking in both directions, oblivious the presence of motorcycles.  Laotian drivers are appalling.  The road went on like this all morning.  At 9.45 I felt another puncture (5^th) in the back tyre so had to push the bike all the way back to the previous village; about a kilometre.  In the process the padded jacket I’d been wearing and which I had taken off, fell off the bike. I only realised this when I got to the mechanic but by the time I got back it had gone.  Fortunately it was warm but I was heading for the mountains.  A new inner tube was put on and I was away by around 10.30 (4,000kip – about £3.30?).  The lorries were taking no prisoners as they thundered through the rough patches creating huge clouds of dust for me to drive through.  My arms and shoulders were aching again and I was absolutely covered in filth.  I stopped for some not-so-nice pho at around 12.30, shortly before getting to Vang Vieng amidst the pretty karst mountains.  I didn’t think much of Vang Vieng as I drove through; the road was extremely dusty at that point and I just wanted to keep on going.  Happily after a bit the road improved markedly and I was able to pick up speed.  But then at about 3pm, within about 10k of Kasi where I was hoping to spend the night, I had yet another puncture (6^th) in the back tyre.  This time I had to push it back to the last village through the hot afternoon sun and this was more like 2 kilometres.  I was hot, sweaty and dirty.  The mechanic mended the puncture using a different method – using a clamp and something he lit which created lots of smoke.  I imagine it was melting the patch onto the inner tube.  I got to Kasi at around 4 absolutely filthy and searched for a guesthouse  Fortunately there was one on the other end of the village, the Somchit Guesthouse, run by a no-nonsense woman who wanted my 10,000kip (£8) up front.  Perfectly all right basic room with en suite bathroom.  I was even able to take a very cool shower which was a relief.  Supper was beneath the guesthouse in the roadside café and there to my astonishment was an array of Europeans, all cyclists though not travelling together – Swiss, German, Austrian and even a chap from Luxembourg.  I sat with a couple of 40-something year old English women from York who were making their way down from Luang Prabang to somewhere in Thailand.  Not terrible exciting conversationalists but I was glad of the company after a rather gruelling day.  Somehow we had all spontaneously found this place. 

Somchit Guesthouse Cafe (from the guesthouse)

Today was a surprisingly tough day too, albeit a much more beautiful journey than yesterday.  From Kasi to Luang Prabang it is 100 miles (160k) of mountain passes, hairpin turns and a thousand gear changes.  From the moment I left Kasi at around 8.15, thinking I would have a more leisurely ride after my 213k yesterday, the scenery was stunning – lots of strikingly steep mountains (karsts) looming out of the mist and set amidst beautiful agricultural land dotted with pretty villages.  Poor villages though.  It was sobering to see so many children walking on the road, some no more than about eight, lugging plastic oil tanks full of water up to their villages.

It was a cool misty start and I put on extra layers, knowing I’d be going higher and having lost my padded jacket yesterday.  And higher I did go, making my way round one mountainside after another; no bridges or tunnels.  After about two hours I reached a beautiful lookout café surrounded by the most spectacular views, real spine-tingling stuff.  I met a lovely Australian couple there from Adelaide, also cyclists (amazingly they’d spent 11 weeks travelling from Phnom Penh and were finishing in a few days in LP.  Their names were Erin and Peter; they were so friendly and open and they kindly offered to take my picture.  I had breakfast there – an entire pineapple and a coffee.  

After that the road went higher still until I was in icy cloud.  This went on for several kilometres until I reached the zenith of the first set of mountains at Phu Khoun which is where the turn off to Phonsavan is.  At this point (around 11.30) I thought I was almost home and dry and would be heading down the mountain to LP.  But not a bit of it.  The road stayed in cloud for a long time and I got progressively colder.  It eventually did go down for a bit before rising again to the second range of mountains which had to be climbed.  Somehow it all took ages – god knows how the cyclists manage all these hills, they go on forever.  Around 2.00 I pulled over to rest and bought some banana chips.  Then it was more bends and more hills, and more potholes and lorries to be avoided.  I was getting very tired and once again my arms and shoulders were aching, not to mention feeling saddle sore.  Eventually the road descended to the point where I could feel warmer air but there was still 50k to go.  I was exhausted and was thinking twice about going back all this way to take the road to Phonsavan. 

Then with only 15k to go I had another puncture, my 7^th and the 6^th in the back tyre.  This time I had just passed through a small village so I knew which way to push the bike.  Before long a rather grumpy and reluctant man (from one of the mountain tribes) emerged from his shack in response to the calls from his children.  He got to work on it and I managed to communicate that I was getting a lot of flats from the back tyre.  So he got a torn inner tube from another job, sliced it down the middle, and created a few pieces of lining to go inside the tyre so as to protect the inner tube.  Nice of him to do this though it remains to be seen whether it works.  Once again he used the smoke and melt system of repairing the puncture but was only going to charge me 10,000 kip which is less than a quid so I gave him 20k (I would have given him more but didn’t want to embarrass him). 

 

I got into LP around 4pm and was immediately struck by how many Europeans there are here.  Architecturally it’s certainly very charming with streets of old colonial houses running parallel to the Mekong, but it does seem to be teeming with tour operators (elephant rides, waterfalls etc), souvenir shops, guesthouses and restaurants.  Not quite what I had imagined somehow.  I’ve noticed that I tend to find it harder finding anyone to talk to when there are lots of Westerners about.  Where we are in a clear minority like last night it’s much easier to break the ice.  I’m staying at the Hotel au Fils du Mekong which lives up to its name by being an old French built villa across the road from the river.  After a very welcome shower I walked about town and on the way back had a nice massage followed by dinner at Café Toui nearby which offered a set menu of a variety of Lao food.  I was surprised to be their only customer because there was a lovely look to the restaurant, and a charmingly modest owner/manager.  The food was absolutely delicious so I told the manager I would tell all the tourists about his restaurant tomorrow.

On the way to Luang Prabang

20th December – Pakxan to Vientiane (aka Viang Chan), the capital of Laos

Despite doing 190k yesterday it was a much easier ride (hardly any wind, good road, less traffic).   Mood decidedly brighter, felt refreshed and less exhausted by the journey. 

Got to Pakxan by 2.30 and met a nice American guy from Oregan, about my age, on the threshold of the Pakxan Hotel.  He and his beautiful Thai wife were not stopping but he told me they live on a farm in northern Thailand and, from the sound of it, live a pretty idyllic life.  The hotel was basic, functional but cheap.  I went for a walk around town, such as it is, and had a Beerlao at a bar on the other side of the river.  Had dinner in the hotel’s restaurant since there didn’t seem to be much else around.  The impressive-looking menu included:

Duck cooked as dog meat

Boiled beef muscle

Pig’s trotter cooked as a false dog meat dish

Steamed turtle with bananas

Pork braised as the canned one

Ear and mouth salad

Cattle stomach salad

Pork ear and mouth

Beef soup with bitter insides

Mixed fried internal organs of a chicken

Snake head fried and dipped in tomato sauce

Steamed iguana

Stir fried frogs

Steamed porcupine

And my personal favourite, Pork entrails, half cooked

Mmm, mmm.  I wonder if someone was having them on.  When I came to order I was told that everything on the menu I was pointing at was not available so it seemed to rather obviate the point of having a menu.  Anyway I ended up with chicken and rice, which probably should have been called ‘rice with bones of chicken’ for all the meat that was present.  Tasted pretty good though. 

Seeing as no breakfast was included in this very basic hotel I settled this morning for a very thick strong black tepid sweet coffee (not quite what I had in mind) before setting off at about 7.45.  Despite having put on several more layers still had to stop periodically to warm myself in the sun.  Again good driving conditions.  I stopped at a village and bought some delicious banana fritters from a very friendly warm woman who chatted away at me, despite me making it as clear as I could that I wasn’t understanding a word.  Weirdly pleasant though. 

My banana fritter lady

I got to Vientiane by 11.30 (150k) so that was pretty good going.  Vientiane is very grand compared with everything I’ve seen in Laos so far.  Very much a big city feel with lots of charming faded French villas between the tall office buildings.  Checked into the hotel I’d booked over the internet back in Thakek.  It’s great: very central, well-equipped, modern but pleasant and well laid out.  Safety deposit box in the room so don’t have to worry about leaving valuables.  Always good to have that shower after a ride on these dusty roads.  Went out into town and found the market.  Then on to two of the most important Wats in Laos: Si Saket which contains a huge number of Buddha figures set into the walls as well as larger statues around the pretty courtyard surrounding the main temple.  Virtually across the road I visited Haw Pha Kaew which was the royal temple and is now the national museum of religious art.  More Buddha statues everywhere, some really quite beautiful. 

Had dinner in a French restaurant nearby with the memorable name of That Dam Restaurant (That meaning a stupa or religious monument, Dam meaning black – the restaurant is right next to the very famous Black Stupa).  Anyway, I couldn’t resist and had a very good meal there – green garden salad, Mekong river fish steak with tamarind sauce washed down with a ½ litre carafe of (not bad) house wine.  All this for about £9.  Extravagant maybe, but nice for a change.

18th December – Thakek, Laos

Slept well, right through from 10 to 8, so felt quite refreshed.  But somehow I didn’t feel like getting up and facing another day.  A bit travel weary perhaps, a bit low in spirits.  After breakfast I discovered that my bike had been moved during the night and the lock was rammed up underneath the chassis.  Also the back tire was flat again (that’s puncture number 4 and the third for the back wheel).  Considering I only had a new inner tube put on yesterday this was rather worrying.  Fortunately the old chap I took it to round the corner was able to simply repair the puncture without having to replace the inner tube.  After this I walked around town (a beautiful warm sunny day) and eventually walked into the local Buddhist temple.  Here I met several young monks, almost all teenagers though one was only 10.  One of them was able to speak a bit of English so chatted away with me as we walked around the main temple.  They all seemed to be into football in a big way and kept asking me if I knew particular players, sadly none of which I did.  I showed them the pictures of the family which they were fascinated by.  

Had a banana milkshake on the riverside overlooking Thailand on the other bank.  The Mekong is a huge river at this point.  Still feeling rather low in spirits but can’t really explain this sudden dip.   At about 3.30 went for a Lao massage in a house by the river.  Looked like a legitimate place amidst all the restaurants. 

Good massage actually (at 50,000kip for an hour – about £4), more gentle than the rather punishing one I’d had in Saigon, though the ambience was less conducive to complete relaxation than I might have wished.  There was a television on and then a baby appeared, much to the amusement of the other masseurs.  Actually I felt in rather better mood when I emerged.  Maybe simple human touch has a therapeutic effect by counteracting loneliness at some primitive level. 

Went back to hotel for a shower (oil from the massage in what’s left of my hair), then watched the sun going down over the Mekong as I drank a BeerLao and watched a couple of women using one-woman Chinese fishing nets (without much success from what I could see).  Tomorrow I hope to get to Pakxan (193k) and the next day the capital Viang Chan (Vientiane – 147k).