91 km

We had a flat, speedy start to the day today. The weather is definitely starting to cool as we enter the rainy season, and it makes a huge difference in how we enjoy the cycling and the stops we make along the way. Instead of sweating before we even got going in the morning, we actually started the first few kilometers feeling refreshed, with high clouds filtering the sun’s rays. At 4, 6, and 24 kilometers into the ride today we saw additional guest houses that might interest other riders on this route.

The last 20 km or so were hilly as we approached green-coated limestone cliffs jutting up out of the Nam Song river valley ahead of us. We found a beautiful room at the Mountain Riverview Guest House right on the river, sold by the view from the second-storey balcony. The air is hazy from the smoke of so much slash-and-burning the local farmers have been doing, but the mountains still look amazing.

We went straight out to eat, finding we had three Indian food options, as well as many others appealing to Westerners (falang is the local term for foreigners used by locals). We feel OK with eating like typical backpackers when in touristy towns because in between all we eat is local food.

74 km

Since we now have less than a week of riding left on this bike tour, I find I’m thinking and planning beyond this trip as I ride. I don’t want to miss the beauty of each kilometer, but I must say I’m definitely feeling ready to move on.

This section between Vientiane and Louang Prabang is a classic cycling route that several cyclists we’ve met have told us was their favorite in Southeast Asia. I find I’m struggling to keep my mind focused on the present. This is always something I find difficult, but it is silly to be thinking of future moments when I’m here right now. I just need to re-fucus now after spending a couple of days in Vientiane, a city where you can easily insulate yourself from some of the daily frustrations of being a tourist, a mini-vacation from your vacation in a sense.

The ride today was easy but interesting, with a few rolling hills here and there near the end of the day. As we approached Phon Hong there were a couple of decent-looking guest houses on the left, but we rode a few km farther and stayed at the junction with the road that leads to the Plain of Jars. There was only one guest house here and we took it, though it could have been cleaner. I’d probably recommend one of the places on the southern outskirts instead.

12 km

We rode around and were regular tourists this morning. First we saw Wat Si Muang, the site of the city’s lak, or pillar, so it’s well-used by locals and has an active monastery. There’s also a crumbling stupa that is probably of Khmer origin, atop which a nice old stork was hanging out. It looked like he had a damaged wing, so the monks must feed and take care of him. The monks this morning were busy carving wood panels, probably for a renovation project. Behind the monks quarters there was an aviary with two huge birds, as well as a cage with two monkeys swinging and howling. I noticed a lot of the statues were of female Buddhas and other female characters, more so than at any other temple we’ve seen.

Then we rode to the Arch we saw when riding into the city yesterday. It’s called Patuxai, and was built in the 1960s with cement bought by the United States that was supposed to have been used for a new airport. Thus, some people call it the Vertical Runway.

We paid 3,000 kip each to climb to the top and had a great view of the city.

After being tourists for a while we got down to the business of shopping–grocery shopping. We have one week left of riding in Laos and we must not leave this town without peanut butter and whole-grain bread! And more, much more.

75 km

We have arrived in Vientiane, the capital of Laos! Never have we been so happy to see a city. Laos is extraordinarily beautiful and the people have been sweet and welcoming, but we needed a bit of a respite from traveling in the wee villages.

Before coming to Laos, we’d heard from other travelers that you don’t go to Laos for the food. It’s not that it’s so bad, but it’s not great either. The Lao people have been conquered, colonized, broken up and put back together by others so many times that they lack a unifying food culture. There are a handful of Lao dishes, but nothing like in other Asian countries. And more than any other country we’ve ridden so far, it is challenging to find vegetarian options. We have mostly been eating sticky rice, omelettes, fried vegetables, or vegetable fried rice.

Right away we found the vegetarian buffet listed in the Lonely Planet Laos and it was awesome. For dinner, we went straight for Indian food. We are finally feeling better and so happy to be able to eat!

88 km

We had yet another cool morning to ease us into our ride before it became hot. The rainy season must be getting started. We sure hope so. Before heading out of town we rode along the Mekong and saw a form of fishing we hadn’t seen before.

We both were going back and forth between feeling OK and not-so-great all day. Last night’s rain really cleared up a lot of the smoke we’ve been seeing in the air. Villagers use slash-and-burn on a small scale as a way to clear new fields for farming here, but we’ve also been hearing talk of how the Chinese are logging and burning huge plots in northern Laos, making money from the timber and then encouraging farmers to grow certain crops that the Chinese want to buy. We don’t know how true that is, but as we ride north we are seeing more and more smoke in the air and it’s really sad. This should be some of the cleanest air in Southeast Asia.

94 km

We felt mildly better starting out today, and we were lucky to have cooler temperatures with cloudy skies. We were still unable to eat much, but somehow we still managed to ride a solid day and make good time. I guess it’s the 4,500+ kilometers we’ve ridden so far that kept us going. Our bodies are just used to riding.

After about 30 kilometers we reached Phonsi, a small village on the Nam Kading, one of the most pristine rivers in Laos. There’s a sign announcing 1-hour boat rides to the Tat Wang Fong waterfall. Our Lonely Planet Laos book said to follow the small gravel road for a few hundred meters to the river and ask around about a boat. We got to the water’s edge and walked around for a few minutes until we saw a longboat coming down river. When a couple of fishermen got out, the driver pointed up river and said, “Waterfall?” We said yes, then found out the price was 120,000 kip, or about US$15. It sounded like a good way to take a morning break from riding and get into the wilderness a bit more, so we agreed.

It was another cool day with some good cloud cover, so the boat ride was really pleasant. We were often amazed at how shallow the water was, yet we skimmed right along in the longboat. The water level during the rainy season would be rushing well above our heads.

As we headed up river, we saw a huge strip mine on our right, an anomaly that was hard to reconcile with the pristinely forested bank of the other side of the river. Soon after, we passed the mine and were in the most wild area we’ve seen so far.

At one point, Dave and I had to get out so the boatman could run the boat up through a narrow little rapid. He got stuck the first time, but on the second try he slid right through.

After that we were at the small but rushing waterfall. We swam and snacked upstream before enjoying a smooth and scenic ride back to Phonsi.

Our destination was Pakxan, a large and industrious town on the Mekong. We found the BK Guest House mentioned in our guidebook (off the highway on the road closest to the river), and it was so cute with beautiful gardens and a lovely host that I had to mention it for those riding the same route. This was a little oasis we really appreciated. We had a fan room with a screened window by our heads, through which we enjoyed a cool breeze all night after the evening rain. For dinner, we walked about 50 meters down the street to the BK Restaurant (the sign just says “restaurant” as far as I can remember) where we had our first real meal since being sick. The food was good and clean and fresh, and the cook was very helpful with our requests for vegetarian options of the dishes. The Lao phrases we’ve learned are well understood when the cooks are this engaged in figuring it out with us.

My poor Love got sick last night and spent today sleeping. He’s exactly two days behind me in getting whatever this sickness is, but at least he doesn’t have it quite as bad. I’m still not feeling well enough to eat anything but bananas and a few crackers. We started taking antibiotics and are anxious for them to kick in.

41

I slept through the night and woke up this morning a little hungry. Dave had said it should pass in 24 hours if it was from the food, and it seemed to. I decided we should ride today. We are down to our last couple of weeks of cycling, so we now have to actually stick to a schedule. So, no cave boat ride for us. We made the short but hilly ride to the junction with 13 so that the next three days would only be moderate in length. We climbed some steep hills, and my stomach became angry, but the views were beautiful and I knew the day would be short.

We found a guest house by riding about a kilometer south on 13 and it has decent basic rooms. I couldn’t face the sights and smells of a Lao restaurant yet, so Dave went out to eat lunch, bought fruit and brought me back some rice and an omelet. I needed to be horizontal for a while so I just stayed in. I sure hope my stomach feels more solid tomorrow.

Sick

I think I must have food poisoning. I started puking last night around 1:00 and was up many times. This is the worst I’ve ever felt with any kind of stomach illness. We ate both lunch and dinner at the guest house, so I can only think it must be from that. Especially since in the middle of dinner I walked by the tiny “kitchen” in the back and saw two people squatting barefoot peeling garlic onto the bare floor. Dave is fine, thank goodness.

At about 11, Dave rode down the main road and found another guest house with cleaner, a/c rooms (we’re in a fan room with mosquito netting) for about a buck more so we decide to move. I barely made the 1 km ride to the new place but it was worth it. I spent the rest of the day sleeping and visiting the bathroom, waking only now and then when Dave would remind me to drink water or juice.

Obviously I cannot recommend our first guest house, the Xok Xai. Not only was the restaurant bad, but the rooms were over-priced considering the new room we got was far better yet only 10,000 kip more, about US$1.20.

58 km

We started the day riding through misty, foggy mountains, enjoying the cool, high-altitude air because we knew we’d be going lower today.

The road was great all day, because from the start we were on scenic Route 8. We climbed and descended to ride through several narrow green farming valleys. Tiny villages spread out along the road in these valleys, and many people could be seen walking along the road with tools for farming, with the women carrying woven baskets on cords over their shoulders. The valleys were mostly cleared of jungle forest and planted with crops like rice and corn, the higher slopes supporting rows of coffee trees.

We ended our day’s ride in Ban Na Hin. We plan to see about renting a moto tomorrow to ride the rough 40-odd kilometers to Tham Lot Kong Lo cave, where we can take a 7-kilometer boat ride through the cave. It’s been recommended to us by a few people.

Since we arrived in the early afternoon, we decided to hike in to see Tat Namsanam waterfall, which is supposed to be spectacular in the rainy season. We got to hike through the jungle forest with huge trees, vines and all the insects you can imagine. We rode about 2 km from our guesthouse (Xok Xai) up the trail and then hiked about 2 km. The second half was quite steep and rugged, and we found ourselves climbing over down trees and ducking under vines to follow the trail. When we finally arrived, the waterfall was… not spectacular, but pretty and held all the potential for spectacular come rainy season.

We ate at the guest house and enjoyed talking with a German backpacker before heading to bed.