Big hills, big climbs and a broken trailer

Bit tired this morning and the banging from the market woke me at 5am, tried to stay asleep but that just made it worse when I did try and get up, through everything in my bag and headed down stairs for Omelet and sticky rice, felt the need to feed before another day of cranking up the hills, had a look at the map and the days plan was for some small up and down to start with then drop down to 1000m and back up to 1400m then the big drop of 1000m down to 400m and then the climb of 800m and the final drop back to around 300m. What a day at the office.
So started with a bit of a downhill which was good but then the climbing started again, at this point I ran into the English girl again, she had made it up the hill and stayed in a place just at the top, which I thought was pretty good considering she was walking up the hills. So after a quick chat I was off again and away, cranking up the hill again, it went down 100m and up 100m a lot to start off with. That is vertical meters not distance covered, some of these hills climbed for quite some time.
So my speed was around 5-10km/h on the up hills and pretty quick on the down hills, I finally did the first big drop around 10:30, 500 vertical meters equated to a 5 minute downhill ride over, swing my way through the bends along the sides of some pretty steep hill country. Stopped at the bottom and had a drink and got some fried meat strips which were pretty good I must say. They dry and marinade the meat then fry it to warm it through, I think this must have been marinaded in a fish sauce.
The only problem with going down is not I had a 500 meter vertical climb back up to 1400m, so the slow hall begins, on the way up the hills I came across an old guy walking down carrying a large amount of leaves, for a start I thought he was doing the finger at me, but it was the thumbs up, he must have arthritis in his hands because his index finger was sticking out. Well he still could have been giving me the finger but I like to think otherwise, he was smiling too.
So the ride goes on and on the never ending up hills, I arrived at Kiu Kacham at around 1ish and had some lunch at an overpriced restaurant, well for what it was anyway, sticky rice and boiled chicken, my favorite, It seemed like I had been eating lots of sticky rice lately. As I finished my lunch a Minivan full of tourists pulled in so I got one of the guys to do some photo’s of me riding by and we had a bit of a chat, then it was time for off, a bit of climbing the a big down hill run.
The downhill, 15km with a vertical drop of 1000m, it was magnificent, I passed motorbikes, trucks I only had one car pass me and that was at the top, I swung down through the never ending corners, brakes on for the sharp ones, cutting through other corner to keep a straight fast line, came into one corner a bit fast, came out a bit wide to see a truck crawling up the hill, manage to get back on my side of the road before I flew passed the truck. I would say around the 15-18km mark my arms got a bit tired from braking and holding the bike straight, but I managed to battle on and keep the same momentum going.
After what seemed like an age I made it to the bottom, now it was time for the last big climb of the day, because I had lost so much altitude the temperature had climbed as well, so not only was it going to be a 600m vertical climb over 15km it was also going to be hot, I cranked on the paddles and started my ascent. About 10minutes into the ascent the guys I was talking to at the top passed me by with yells of encouragement and then they were gone in a cloud of diesel smoke.
For the next 3 hours I climbed, sweet dripping, legs cranking, slowly winding my way up the hill, trucks past bellowing there smoke, cans and motor bikes raced passed and I crawled up the hill, always moving forward just very slowly. As I crawled, you’re getting the theme here I hope, slow going, a big black scorpion crawled across the road passed me, it was about 3 inches long , sent a shiver up me spine.
As I approached the summit I took some photo’s of the road I had just travelled, off in the distance you could see part of the road I had come down as well, at the photo stop I noticed that a bar on my trailer had broken, thanks Phillips trailers you could have made it a bit stronger, so I tried it up so hopefully it would not stress other parts of the trailer and cause a major break down. First problem in 2500km or there abouts.
As I finally got to the top the clouds had come in and were turning black over bill mothers, or for Lao Viengs mothers. The thunder started to crackle in the distance and I could see rain moving down the valley where I was heading, I’m going to get wet again. Down the hill again, another good run and then racing passed small villages and on towards my goal of Luang Phrabang, I thought from the map it was mostly downhill and lucky for me it was, by now my legs were shattered and did not have much left in them. I had to walk up a few hills as I could no longer ride, lucky with this town the last 10km was down hill so I rode into town.
My right knee had swollen up and my left knee was complaining by the time I arrived in town but I was here at last, the rain I had mentioned earlier had court up and I was soaked by the time I found my guest house, but I was there and that is all that mattered. Food and sleep is what I needed anything else could wait till tomorrow.

One bloody big hill

So it was a 5:30 wake up, I had not slept very well at all, in fact my sleeps were not the best in Vang Vieng at all. So I was a little tired, was on the bike at 6am and off down the road, I thought I would get breakfast before I left so stopped by the local bus station and had a omelet and sticky rice. As I was eating my breakfast an Aussie guy walked in. We started chatting and he has been mapping the Mekong river and putting in marker buoys so ships can navigate it easily. Hhhmmm an idea was forming in my head.
He also gave me some rehydration salts as he was heading back to Aussie as his job was finished. So my idea is as I don’t really like having to go back on myself is I get a boat down the Mekong from Luang Phrabang back to Veintiane and the carry on south, well have to check if this is possible.
After I left the Aussie guy I started what would be the longest up hill in my life, You start climbing straight away, just a slow hill but it goes from 250m altitude in Vang Vieng to 650m over the first pass, well you go from one valley in to another, so I have been riding up and over 3 valleys and passes.
The first one was not to bad and I had done 60km it the usual 3 hours so stopped for second breakfast, I thought it was only going to get worse from here on out and I was so right. After I had cleared the next valley which was not really that bad at all I had the final ascent to do, this was from 600m to 1400m over 38 km. Now you know how I have been going on about road signs, well Lao what they have done is put all different places on the signs so you never know when your sign will be coming up.
The start of the climb was not too bad the road is in pretty good condition so I was cruising away and making what I thought was good time, moving up the hill doing photo’s on the way, absolutely marvelous country side, the road winds its way up the edge of the valley, massive limestone mountains on the other side of the valley, cloud covered peaks looming way above me. It was very imposing.
To get you in the feel of things, most of the road was a bend after bend, like the bruce road at Whakapapa, (NZ), for the English like the roads through the Lake District. So after the first climb I was feeling like I had got places when a sign pops it little head up and I had only done 3km, it was going to be a long day. The only thing to do was carry on, and keep going up and up and up, you get the picture. After about an hour of uphill the road flattened out for a bit and then started to go down a bit, this was not good I was losing Altitude, it’s the worst thing.
At least the downhill did not last very long before the climbing started again. I had been going some two hours now climbing when the road crossed into the next valley, now we have all had this happen to us were you get to what you think is the top and no it’s not still more to go. By the third hour of climbing I was starting to wonder when it was going to end, I could see a bit more down the valley and it was still going up, there was a village further on so I thought that would be a good place to stop and have a break.
I came across the coolest thing in this village, a guy was playing a flute type instrument, it was really wicked, the sound was incredible, the perfect music for the scenery, I think he was using it to put the baby he had strapped to his back to sleep. After some photo’s I was off again, the village had not restaurant or shop so I just carried on.
It was now coming up to 3 ½ hours of climbing, I had been using my granny gear a bit but on the stuff that was not really steep I used higher gears. I had just come through yet another village clinging to the side of the road an thought after this village I would stop and eat my Mangos that I had got earlier, saw the perfect place to stop on a corner up the road, it looked right back down the valley that I was climbing. As I got to the corner I saw the English girl again. I yelled out and asked if she wanted a mango.
We both sat on this corner looking down the valley with the limestone cliffs on both sides and the little village just below us clinging to the road side. And the mangos were beautiful too. We stopped and had a chat for 20minutes which was a great break, then carried on up the hill, I left her behind as she was walking and carried on up, after another 30minutes I came to where we crossed over the spine of the ridge into the valley next door, and that’s when I saw it, I could see right up the valley, it was what looked to be the top. I still had a lot to go but it was a point of focus, I had my goal to make it to the shed at the top.
Now the road at this point got steep, it was granny gear all the way, at a crawl, at some point I even had to stand up on the peddles to keep going. My legs were starting to ache, my body was not feeling the best, this was way worse than 160km on the flat, this was hell on a bike. I had my goal so I kept on going, at one point I had to push my bike just to use some different muscles. I kept moving up winding my way up the valley, the big trucks were not going much faster than me.
I came out of one set of turns and the top seemed not so far away, but then you dip back into the little valleys that the road follows and it soon takes a lot longer. I must have been close to 500m from the top when the clouds came in and the rain started, I was hoping to get my photo looking down the valley but it was not meant to be. The clouds around me got thicker and it became like riding through Pea soup, my legs were still screaming for rest and the rain started to come down thick and fast. I could not hide anywhere so just kept on going.
At 5pm after starting the big climb around 11:30 I came to my point that I had focused on, I was now soaked from rain and sweet, the sweet was running off my head into my eyes and the hill carried on, my focus point was not the top, I was not sure I could carry on, I was already on my 12th or 13th wind and was running out of the go juice. I am not sure from where it came but I just knew I had to push on.
So it was that at 5:15pm after climbing all day, and a steep climb for the last 6 hour straight I reached the top and finally started my decent, it was still poring with rain, I was wet and cold but I was going down, then I saw the sign 8km to go, 8 bloody 8km what the F#&K. I had thought maybe the village would be at the top, No such luck. I was just about beaten, the road flatten off, climbed up and down a bit more but was relatively easy to ride compared with what I had been riding.
The next sign which came up pretty quick said 2km to go and the rain was slowing up, around a few more corner and at 5:30pm I had made it to Phou Khoun, my goal for the day, so I have found a room in this little village at the top of the hill, tomorrow I have 127km to go, most downhill thank the gods, do have one 600m vertical climb but that’s it. One thing the ride down the hill I just came up would be a hell of a ride, probably need new brake pads at the bottom though..

Boats, bars and booze

I booked my kayaking for the 13th, a days trip down the river Nam Song, we started the day waiting for people in the Mini van, when I was picked up there were going to be 4 people on the trip then we merged with another group to be 11 + 3 guides, so we had 1 Aussie girl, an Argentinean couple, French guy, American couple, Canada guy with his Thai girlfriend, English guy, a Norwegian Girl and 3 Lao Guides and Me, so we had a good covering of Nations.
After everyone had arrived we all piled into the back of the Minivan and headed off, the journey up the road took about 15 minutes and then we arrived at our first stop, Elephant cave and cave tubing. There were a couple of groups ahead of us doing the tubing so we went to the elephant cave first. Not really much of a cave, but our guide did tell us the never ending story. It went on for quite some time, everyone was doing the old leg shuffle by the end. You know where you move from leg to leg, try and stretch a bit, but you don’t want to walk around as that would be rude.
The story was about a bird, and why you should not lie, I could tell you it but the you’d just stop reading so I wont, count your selves lucky. After this it was off to the cave and tubes, the cave is about 200 meters long, it’s fairly open and easy to navigate, we were given these head lamps attached to a motorbike battery for light, they worked well enough but it was a drag with the big battery hanging around my neck.
We boarded our tubes, and headed into the cave, ropes have been slug up for the first 20m then it was paddle power. Have to say the water was pretty cold, There were stalagmites (well which ever hang from the roof, Mites, tities) and some smaller cave off to the side. As we paddled our way deeper into the cave our guide started singing a Lao song, it sounded very beautiful as it echoed through the cave. Quite a horn ting melody. I found out later it was a Lao pop song. Still it added an extra aspect to journey.
It was a there and back again cave, and it was nice when we got back out into the sun, our lunch had been prepared for us while we were in the cave, so we filled ourselves on Fried rice, Kebabs and Bananas. After this it was back to the minivan and down the road a bit for the Kayaking side of the day. After our river briefing it was in the boats and off. This time of year the river is running fairly low so we had to negotiate a few small rapids, I was on a boat with one of the guides so we had no problems. On the first rapid, which really was not much at all, in fact rapid is a overstatement for what it was, still a few of the boats got stuck and one boat flipped over. Had to happen.
With everyone back on their boats and off the rocks we headed off down the scenery is spectacular, and because I was with one of the guides I could relax a bit with my paddling and enjoy the view. We made our way down the river with people having problems at most rapids, I really, come on people it was not that bad. All you had to do was follow the course of the water.
After 30 minutes we began to hear the sound of music off in the distance and after a few more bends we came across it’s source, bars lined the river bank with all types of swings and flying foxes, we paddled passed a few and then pulled in were our guides get commission. We all had a jump of our bars swing. With the swings you climb up a dodgy wooden frame swing out over the river and of cause let go. At full swing height I would say you were maybe 6 meters above the water. It was good fun.
Now have to tell you about the bar, you can get anything you want, from bars and whiskey to all sorts of drugs, I am really amazed more people don’t die here, saying that they have a couple of tourists die each year. Now at this stage I was still planning on riding the next day, so just sat on 1 beer. Soft I know but you really would not want to ride hung over, well I wouldn’t anyway.
A few from our group decided to partake in the Mushroom and Banana Shake, those are the magic mushrooms, so it was going to be a interesting afternoon for them. After a few hours of drinking and chatting we were ushered back onto our kayaks for the final leg of the trip. The youngest of our group who had drunk the most mushroom shake was well gone and the others who had partaken were pretty jovial to.
It took our guides ½ an hour to round everyone up and get the boats back in the water and get us underway, once on the water our progress was fairly slow, we passed lots of people on tubes floating down the river in different states of disorder. It was a pretty funny trip home with conversation talking on whole new dimensions .
Our guide was telling me it takes about 2 hours to float down the river from the last bar to the town of Veng Vieng, it was about 6:30pm by the time we paddled back into town so not sure what time the rest of the people at the bars got back. After the group photo’s we decided to meet up at one of the bars, and because I had not been drinking I had to take change. It became a dictatorship.
We meet up at a bar it town, and I had a beer there and that progressed to another one under pair pressure, and after my third the ride the next day was off. We had a pretty good night with the Argentinean couple teaching me how to salsa. Good night but was feeling a little under the weather this morning. Not up to much so it does not really matter.
On another note I have a sore tooth, will have to see how it goes if it gets worse may have to do a run to Bangkok and a dentist, time will tell.

O my god what a country

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.

Road rider, wats and more

Had a good sleep last night even though my bed mattress is paper thin with a massive roll together, I hear you all saying lucky it’s just you then, well it is. In this case. Lets work case by case. Ha breakfast at the Scandinavian bakery, which was lovely, now I realize were all my money is going, started chatting to a guy who rolled up on his road bike. We chatted about the roads etc and I got a good bit of info out of him.
He also showed me where the local bike shop was, which was closed, but looking through the window I did notice he had specialized bikes and giants, older models but if I need spares I can at least find some. He dropped me off at a monument and headed off, I spent the rest of the day cycling around looking at mooks, wats and more. There are so many wats and they all look the same, wat here wat there wat everywhere.
My next few days might be a ride up and then back down the same road, I had an idea of coming back a different way but my plans maybe washed out by the monsoon. The course I was going to take runs some small back roads, which I have been told are not that good in the wet and can sometimes be closed. The monsoon has also just started to hit the north. O yes it would have been 144 km on the back roads. Will have to see.
So it will be up early tomorrow with a 70km ride along the flat, I don’t really hit the hills till after Vang Vieng then I climb up to about 1400m, Up the hill, down the hill then back up the same hill and down. At least I will know what I am in for.

Friendship bridge, Wrong side and red dust

Had a good sleep last night probably due to the concussion, the train trip was pretty good, I think I must have been pretty tired as slept right through the night. So woke up fresh and ready to go. The train arrived at Nong Khai 30minutes late so not to bad at all, I got my bike back from the luggage compartment and was ready for the border. Now at borders there are always local people ready to tell you the best way to do things. This tok tok driver wanted to show me the place to do it. The only problem was they charge you. No thanks but I did get dragged down the road behind the tok tok. The easy life.
Thai border was pretty easy as I was leaving, so stamp stamp and away I went. There is a train that runs across the border these days and I had timed it perfect to be just behind the train. Now the train runs over the middle of the bridge so they close it to all traffic except me and the train. Having got the bridge mostly to myself I took the opportunity to take a few photos right in the middle. No mans land.
The Loas border was a bit crazy with all the forangs trying to get there visa’s and get back to their bus for the trip to Vientiane. I took my time and and just breezed through. Jumped on my bike looked lost for a few seconds got pointed in the right direction and off I went. So much for customs I could have had forty kilo’s of opium in my bag.
Off to Vientiane, O bugger they drive on the other side how inconvenient, signs looking for signs, no signs, how the hell am I supposed to find my way. Ok the buses are going right so right it is, this could get real fun out in the wilds of Loa. I’m on the road again. 20 km easy ride into town, chatted to a American Girl who was riding down the road, found guest house, got room, jumped in shower, I was covered in red dust, from head to toe. The cars and trucks kick up the dust and it just sticks to you. So for the rest of Loa I could be doing a lot of washing.
Vientiane is a nice enough city, the tourist area is overpriced for what it really is. At the moment it is on par with Thailand, or maybe more. Not that I am worried about money, it always gets cheaper on the road. I had to face a wind storm last night to head out for dinner and then took the wrong street to back to the guesthouse and got a bit confused, luckily my guest house is by a tennis court so just did the Charades sign for tennis and got sent in the right direction, it ended out I was only two blocks away.

Trains, bikes and rickshaw

I had a 13km ride to the station and stopped at the 7 eleven for breakfast and water refill. The train station was just down the road, excellent, arrived there and was told there was a train just about to arrive that was heading to Bangkok, so it was perfect timing. Headed around to the ticket office, no train to Bangkok only Than buri, so how far from Bangkok, he kept going on about a night train to Bangkok no day train.
Bugger, headed off talked to the guy who said there was a train to Bangkok coming, now this is where it get interesting, Than Buri is a suburb of Bangkok, it’s right in the middle and it is the end of the Southern line, so after my friendly Taxi man explained this I headed back around for round two. Yes Train now to Than Buri I want to take, No Bangkok to night, No I take this train, which had just pulled up.
This could have gone on all day but someone else came up and said I wanted this train and so with a bit of rush because the train wanted to leave, the bike was lifted through a window with the trailer and I jumped on. Round three, I’m on the train now, heading to my bike, ticket man comes up to me were are you going Thon Buri, see I’m learning, OK 90 baht for you, 100 baht for bike. Ok. Money please, money with bike, ok money please. Right out the way money with bike. Paid. You sit here, great so I paid for the cheap wooden bench seat. 9 hours on a arse breaker.
But I was on the train, my goal was to get to Bangkok and jump straight on the northern line and up to the border then it would be back on the bike. So the train rattled it’s way out of the station, I relaxed back it seems it was just me and ticket men in this car. Drop the window open and enjoyed the view as we headed off. Flat rice paddy fields and limestone hills, I was just about to call them mountains, not that big.
With all the windows down it the car, it was a pretty dusty place at times. I worked out we were doing about 60 km hour with stops so that was a 7-8 hour trip. I had got some breakfast snacks at 7 eleven so had a bit of a supply of food. By lunch time I had cleaned through my supply and was looking for more, I think it was boredom I just wanted to eat all the time.
I had seen a food lady earlier so headed off in search of her. I went up through 6 packed cars ahead of mine before I caught up to her. I got a couple of meals of luke warm pork and stick rice, it was lovely, probably kill me but it was good. But from walking through the cars I could see even though I had a wood bench to sit on I had the better deal.
The rest of the trip was moving to a different part of my arse till it went numb and move again. I seem to be talking a lot about my arse don’t I, I have to say it’s pretty toned now. Jealous much.. The arrival it Thon Buri was a bit of a anti climax then a rush to get everything off the train to head to the next station.
I got directions off a tok tok driver and headed off, as I turned onto one of the main roads a tok tok driver pulled alongside and indicated to hold on, so I grabbed the side of the Tok Tok much to the amusement of his paying customers and he dragged me up the road and over the bridge, at the next intersection he went one way I went the other.
I got lost and had to ask for directions a couple of times and in the ended paid someone to take me there, he got a good deal as I was only two blocks away in the end, an’t that the way of it. So I got to the next train station and got my ticket for the 8pm night train to Nong Khai, got some food then smashed my head into a metal bar, splitting my head open, and had blood running down my face, but I was at the station.
So after stopping the leakage from my head, I realized how dirty I was, with all the dust from the day I was disgusting. I got the bike on the train and found my booth for the night, Wet one of my bandanas and had a quick clean up before other people started to arrive. My heads got a good lump and I think I have blood in my hair, but I am on the train and we are moving so have to sort the rest of it out tomorrow.