Ok so as usual I had only planned to do about 70km, this was mostly small hills with little ups and downs, easy day, late start about 6:30 am and off I went, really have to go to bed early again, have got some bad habits from Ko Tao. Picked up some breakfast from a little old lady selling begets as I headed out of town, and some mangos and banana’s, thought I would just eat on the run sort of thing.
Two lane road to the edge of Vientiane then single lane but very busy, lots of dust, car smoke and all sorts, not the most pleasant situation, bandana around the face helped out and it was not long till I was passed the worst of it. The roads are pretty bad two, for a main road there were pot holes bigger then my bike, dirt comes over most of the road, most of the time. You had to keep your mind on the job otherwise it could be all over.
The traffic started to ease up and the road started to go up and down in small rolling hills, I did the first 70km in four hours and was at my night stop, it really did not look that good so 23 km up the road was another potential stop. Off I went, 10 km off in the distance I could see hills, real hills, big hills, the ride was looking up. As I rode my way towards the hills I passed a lot of schools, there were lots of hello’s etc and high 5’s all the way. For some reasons kids love the high 5’s, so the ride was looking up and I was feeling pretty good, the kids are really cool. I had had my breakfast of 10 banana’s, one mango and a beget earlier and grabbed a noodle soup lunch.
So I started my first big hill climb off the plains and into ranges of central Lao, Took photo’s looking back over the plain, it was a pretty remarkable view, after crawling up the hill I had a bit of a downhill, I swept down the hill in a rush, it was exceptional the trailer and bike clung to the warmed tar like a superbike, through the sweeping S bends and then a climb up the next hill with anticipation of the next downhill spurring me on.
The hills progressively got bigger, I was on a climb up, I never seemed to drop as much as I climbed, I arrived at my next possible nights stay, riding across a dodgy one lane bridge, with children swimming in the river bellow, the waters were clear and looked very inviting, I looked out for a guest house or something as I pasted through but non popped out.
I stopped and had a drink then climbed back aboard the bike and headed off, decision had been made I would make a run for Vein Veng this was going to be my stop spot any way on what would have been my second days ride. So looked like I was in for another 160 km ride over hills, am I insane, don’t answer that.
It was still only 11:30am so plenty of day light hours left, this is where the ride got really cool, I was heading up into an area of small villages clinging to the sides of massive hills. So I am going to try and get you to picture this. You’re on your bike climbing up these big hills to the left wild forested areas to your right wild forested areas, out in front are more hills, but these have colossal lime stone cliffs rearing up out of the ground, and that’s the goal to reach those hills.
The villages that cling to the sides of these hills are the traditional raised flax and bamboo houses, old ladies are out feeding chickens, children and their mothers are asleep in the shade below, some are awake and yelling hello, or sawadee (hello in Lao), as you crest the top of the hill you have just been climbing, your MP3 player starts to crank one of your favorite songs, the world is a good place, the wind starts to rush past you, you can fell the tires gripping the road as you swing the bike into that first corner, more corners await the rush is on. The music becomes a background noise to the rushing wind, flying into the next few turns, truck driver wave out as you go rushing by, then you hit that last corner another hill awaits but so do more downhills, with a smile on your face you approach the next accent.
I probably have not really done it justice, the villages were really cool, and so were the people, waving saying hello, it was extraordinary, that’s all I can say. On one of the hill climbs I court up with a English girl on her bike, now she is hard core, she got the bike in Cambodia, so it’s not the best of bikes, her gear was strapped to the back and she had a bag on the front as well. Her front brake was non excitant, she was stopping any where she felt like it, old houses things like that, I meet her about 2pm and we were at the 50km to go mark. To tell the truth I think she is probably camped out somewhere now till tomorrow.
I had a look at her brake and we are going to meet up when she gets here which I think will be some time tomorrow, I think I can fix it for her, might help with the downhill parts. She decided in Cambodia to ride to the Chinese boarder in Lao.
I left the English lass on the next uphill it was fairly obvious that she was taking her time which in those hills I don’t really blame her. I’ll see her when she gets here and get some more of her story sound really fascinating.
The rest of the ride was pretty good until that last 20km, 10 of it was a slow uphill climb and 10 of flat riding but I got here in about 11 hours with breaks, so will just relax tomorrow and then do some tubing or kayaking down the river which is the thing to do here. O yes they have bars on the river if you need a drink, sweet.
For those of you reading who have riden the 42nd traverse in New Zealand it was like doing that twice, there and back again, a hobbits tale. My next ride is 101km of climbing, starting at 200m altitude and climbing to 1400m so have to get some energy up for that, should be fun. Will let you know how the Kayaking goes.
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