73 km

It’s just hot these days. Right from the start of each day. We are here in the absolute hottest time of the year. Maybe not the best planning, but it is still worthwhile. Somehow our bodies are adapting, and as long as we start really early we are still able to get in some pretty full riding days. The last couple of days we’ve had some tailwinds, which speeds us up by a couple of km per hour and that’s helpful. As long as we are moving on our bikes we feel OK, but the instant we stop for any reason–to eat, find a bush or take a picture–we feel completely overwhelmed by the heat. And there is no stopping unless it’s in the shade. There are some great photo opportunities passing us by because it is just too darn hot to stop.

A brief morning stretch. I was unaware of the monks walking by on their way to collect food from villagers.

We had a really hard time finding lunch. This is sort of a desolate town with few restaurants, at least obvious during the day. We approached one where a woman was sweeping the empty front area. We asked if she had food and got sort of a blank stare. We asked if we could eat and what she had, and she said “Soup!” without a smile and without making a move or asking if we wanted any. She was giving us nothing, so we smiled and said thanks and moved on. We circled around and around and finally found another place. This place only served papaya salad, but they also had a fridge with yogurt, so we had some of that too. Then the woman called a friend who came and said she has a restaurant where we could eat dinner just down the road. She asked what we liked to eat, we explained our vegetarian preference, and she said she’d cook a meal for us without meat. Great!

After spending the hottest part of the afternoon in our a/c room reading and journaling, we went back out for dinner. When we arrived we were greeted with smiles and shown a table. Soon after we were served a huge platter of stir-fried vegetables, rice, some salsa-like sauce, and som tam, a fragrant and delicious fish soup with lemon-grass and mushrooms with vegetables. It was all spectacular. While we ate we talked with our hostess, Latdavanh. Everyone here is given a nickname by their parents when they’re babies in order to fool evil spirits. Latdavanh’s nickname is Terb, which means fluttering eyelids. When she was a baby, Terb’s eyelids were always fluttering in her sleep. Terb is a pharmacist and her parents are both doctors. They all work at the hospital in town. Terb also works in her sister’s restaurant to help out. In her spare time, Koung is studying English. But the only book she has is “English for Hospitality Workers,” which is simply a very long list of sentences in Lao with the English translation below each, and sometimes not a very good translation. There is no grammar, not even simple building blocks, and she has no dictionary. Despite this, she speaks really well, and we had a great time visiting with her and learning about her family, town, and culture.