Waiting

Well that sums it up really, I am sitting in Vientiane waiting, I could carry on down south or jump back into Thailand but what is the point, If I head south I well end up having to cross over the border further south, and have to say the next three days south there is not much to see, I could head to Bangkok but then I would just be waiting there, and really Vientiane is not to bad a place to hang out in.
Before I go on I have not just been sitting around, mostly I have been lying down or relaxing on these very nice deck chairs they have at the guest house, and I have been eating, there is not much else to do. The insurance are checking out my passed history, Medical that is, they would be worried if they checked out my passed history, mainly because they would come across all of your dodgy pasts to.
So I sit and I wait, minutes, hours days slip past and I wait. I have also been reading, and have finished a book called the stone circle, bit boring to start but it does get going in the end, and now I am reading Lords of the Bow, It’s about Genghis khan, have to say it is pretty good so far.
I have been shopping, you know how you walk the shops looking for something you don’t need but you have time so you have to do something, right. So I have been window shopping, the problem is all the shops are open front so it really invites you to just wonder in, then if you look at something for more than a milli second the shop owner is there giving you the highest price he can think of. So just for fun I have been giving to lowest price I can think of, a few times I have got the most evilest of looks with this technique. I really don’t need anything and the more I get the more I carry. I did manage to pick up a couple of t shirts cheap using this technique, saying that the shop owner still looked happy, but they were 70% cheaper than the tourist shops so thought I did well.
Had a massage the other day which was pretty good to, an hour of being slapped, poked and twisted, it was good, for something to do might have another one this afternoon. It’s only 46 c today so it’s a bit cooler then yesterday at 48 c.
Bumped into Lashana last night, she is having problems too with swollen feet, too much walking me thinks, there is only so much walking the feet can take in flip flops. Maybe I should write a book “the aliments of road touring”. What with me and my knees and her with her feet, and of cause my saddle sore, and my hands there are a few more things I am sure.
Anyway it was really good to catch up again and meet up with someone who has been going the same way and has interesting stories, Lashana is a very interesting young lady. Life is about experience and it seems on this trip she is having a lot of them. You go girl.
Just caught myself writing the same thing again, so it’s time to sign off for today, one more thing I did was wash and clean my bike today which I have not done since Malaysia, I have cleaned the chain a few time but not the whole bike, there are so many scratches on my bike now, the trailer looks like hell even though I did repaint some of it. Saying that everything on the bike is in good nick and all I really have to do is adjust the brakes a bit. So good on you specialized. The rock hopper keeps on hopping. I will stop now.bye.

Bit of a problem. Bugger.. Bangkok here I come

Was up early this morning and ready and waiting for my driver and car to turn up, it was a hospital run, bugger would have to get a new Lao Visa, the rain was pouring down, it is monsoon, my room was leaking water so moved my bed away from that area and headed down stairs to wait. Did not have to wait long before the car showed up, ford bugger hope we are going to make it. It was a fairly new one so probably not..
Jumped in and off we went into the pouring rain and the traffic, the driver was good but he did not really speak much but I did get out that he lived on the border between Lao and Vietnam throughout the war and after wards he moved into Vientiane, he was born just before the war started.
We arrived at the Lao Thai border in good time and he pretty much did everything with getting me out of Lao and into Thailand, did not take long at all, then we were on the Thai highway, duel lane easy ride, 50km to travel and it took no time at all, we made such good time we stopped for breakfast, which was really good, I think the food is better in Thailand then Lao, it was street food but had so much flavor.
Breakfast over (it’s an important meal people) we headed to the hospital, It’s a weird setup but had to go to ED for a doctor to do a 30 second poke around and then say we need a chest x-ray and ultra-sound, dude it’s not my chest. Ok let’s just go along with this, so Chest x-ray, zap zap, then had to wait maybe 30 minutes for the ultra sound, Pregnant women had to go first. I though foreigners got preference, NO just kidding, read my book so was not bothered. Pregnant women you have nine months. (sorry Cherie) Pregnant women first alright. Gepers
Got called into the office, lay on the table, the doc asked a few questions about past surgeries etc etc, we all know how this works, then started scanning my neck making notes etc etc, marked out lymph nodes and a few more questions, ok thank you, you can wait outside.
Read my book for a bit, went out told my driver I still had to see the doctor he was waiting patiently for me in reception. Back into the book, then got called into the doctors, “it’s going to be alright”. Sat down, Doc “your lymph nodes are swollen”, Me “yes", Doc “and there is a small mass, left side”, Me “O fuck, tell me something I don’t know”, Doc “we are not sure what it is but you will have to go to Bangkok for more tests as we cannot do them here”, O Bugger well that will screw with the travel plans a bit.
I am on Holiday people I don’t need this, I can tell you now I know what they think it is, but I’m not convinced it’s always worse case scenario. After this headed off to pay and then got the driver, back to border and sent everything off to insurance, hhhmmmm wonder what they will say. O bollocks.
The ride back to the border was like a bit of a dream, I’m thinking all sorts, my mind starts jumping to conclusions that it just can’t handle. Worst case scenario type of things, now I should point out that I have had lumps come up before and after biopsy they have been negative, but every time you find something new your mind always thinks the worst well for a start anyway.
We got back through the borders no problem and I am now back in Vientiane, have put myself on a dose of antibiotics as have a ulcer at the back of my mouth and I think this has caused an infection, and hence the swollen lymph nodes. So I am trying not to get worked up, once they have done a needle biopsy or something like that and tell me what is going on then I can started thinking again.
I have now sent off all the paper work to the insurance and have called my parents and let them know what’s happening, could be home for winter, have to wait until Monday to hear from insurance and see what they want to do. This is what I think will happen, one: the antibiotics I am now taking will sort the infection out and the pain and lump will go away, two: the insurance will hopefully send me to Bangkok for more tests which will be cheaper for them instead of flying me home for test that will come back negative anyway, and third is: the Lao part of my trip will be over, I may stop in at the south to do a trip on the Mekong as I really want to do one, also the south sound’s really nice and not sure if I will ride there but probably will.
I think after this I will need a holiday, maybe some diving off Ko Chang Island, bugger will have to sort out Thailand Visa, might do that tomorrow O bugger it’s the weekend well Monday is not too far away. For now it’s just a waiting game, sitting around reading and trying not to cook in the 41 degree heat outside.

The reason, the doctor

So I had headed south one: because things were not working with what I wanted to do, yes I could have just done them anyway but sometimes you just have to listen to the world around you and go with your gut feeling, and two: and the major reason is have a sore lump in my neck which I would like a doctor to have a look at, I have had it for about 5 days and it has not really improved, it has not got bigger or smaller and still hurts the same so I think it’s best to get it checked out.
Back to the day, on the bike heading for the 6:30am bus, went passed a load of locals standing around a European guy passed out on the side of the road, he moved as I went passed so he was still alive but from the state of him he won’t be up to much for the rest of the day. Just got to the main road and here comes the 6:30am bus ¼ of an hour early, lucky I was early.
On the bus, bike and trailer on the roof and horn blarring we headed down the road, picked up a few locals along the way, then it was off out of town and gone, it took 4 hours to drive what I had ridden in 10, the only real exciting bit was when we stopped for breakfast. This is not a stop were you get out of the bus, it’s a they come to the window, you throw money at them and they throw hopefully what you want back.
So in a minute of frantic buying and selling, and yes it was about a minute, I got boiled peanuts, and two lots of sweet fried bread sort of things which turned out to be pretty good. I normally would have picked something up before a bus ride but the bus had beaten me to it. Have to take the good with the bad.
Arrived in Vientiane and headed for the Aussie Embassy which I had seen on the way into Veintiane on my first day in Lao, Managed to get through security with a lot of effort, ended up having to leave half my things with them, as I have knifes, Mountain bike tools and tubes in my bag O yes and the dreaded camera. My bike got locked to a street post outside under their security cameras, with my bag chained to the trailer. Good luck if they want to steal that heavy thing, in fact here’s the keys.
Once in, I saw kangaroos and koalas and blond surf babes in bikini’s, no not really mostly just Lao people, Saw the doctor (who was a Aussie)(and just to put something else in here he thought I was Aussie to)(Aussie aussie aussie aue aue aue) and now I have to head into Thailand tomorrow for a scan of my neck, to see if they can see anything. And for all of you out there my blood pressure is perfect and my resting heart rate is 46beats/minute and I have lost a kilo in weight so will have to eat even more. O that is going to be hard work. Eat more, so it’s two banana pancakes and not one from now on.. The things I have to do.
I spent the rest of the afternoon trying to sort out my insurance, I put all my previous history on my policy so they have it all there, hopefully they don’t try and not pay it as it is rather expensive all in US dollars. Lucky I have a tent for the rest of my trip.

Bus run, sick locals and a downhill run

I was up early to catch the bus, I just was not up to riding back over those hills, my neck was still sore and it hurts to turn it so bus it was, well half of the way anyway. I arrived to find the bus did not leave for an hour so had time to kick back, I would have rather been in bed, but I had been told the wrong time never mind I was there and so was the bus.
They put my bike on the roof and my trailer in the cargo hold below, I jumped on the bus and got a set towards the front as at the back can be very bumpy. The bus headed away with a mix of farrangs and locals, there was a mother and daughter sitting across from me, after what would have had to have been maybe 5km the mum started throwing up and it was like this for the next 120km yeppy, later the kid started as well, I think more because the mum throwing up all the time than anything, as towards the end after listening to her for a few hours I was feeling sick as well.
I had decided I would go half way back to Vang Vieng and then ride the rest, I wanted to ride that downhill section. So I was very thankful when my stop came up. This time the sun was shining and it was a good day to be on the bike. I had a little uphill then it was down. Yeppy.. so exciting.
As I approach the top of the downhill section the sun was out it was completely different to the rainy peak I had ridden over a few days before. I stopped and did some photos of the now clear panoramic view and the surrounding area, then it was time for the downhill run. I passed a Minivan and a couple of trucks on the ways down, speeding through the villages the kids did not even have chance to say sawadee, I was tucked in low to reduce the wind resistance and the now more rigid trailer was following like a dream, I think even better than before.
I was pumped up for this one so I was even peddling when I started to slow, It was not long before I hit the bottom in a rush of speed that was soon wiped out by the new ascent before me. After climbing for so long on the way up I had forgotten there were a few downhill parts as well. After this it was a lot of cruising down hill, it was a pain to climb up but it was a nice easy ride down. Top gear sort of thing, slow peddling and cruising.
The rest of the day was a few up hills and more down hills, I managed to do the 103km that had taken 11 hours to ride up in 5 hours to ride down. I was feeling a little tired about 40km out and was looking for that local bus to jump on, I know it was mostly downhill but it was hellishly hot. Luckily the rains came at 20km out and cooled things down a little bit, it was heavy enough to cool me down but not heavy enough to sock me through.
I had also stopped to pick up some snacks to eat on the way back, I had grabbed some dried marinated meat, most of it was nice, can you see were this is going, I had one bit that tasted off, you know the smell of rotting flesh, well it tasted like that, so it was swallowed fast and another bit put in to remove the taste, now you’re saying to yourself why not spit it out, I knew by now my stomach juices would devour everything, the good the bad and the bloody awful. I have eaten that much crap now I think my gut is as tough as the locals, they’re the ones I eat with mostly anyway. Drink there water, yep it’s probably just a matter of time. Touch wood it won’t happen.
Vang Vieng was the same as when I left, lots of bars and boozy people, I got a room at the same place as last time it was just for one night then I was back on the bus the next day and heading to Vientiane. Dinner consisted of BBQ pork and Chicken well I think it was chicken but can’t be sure.

The English story, and monk feeding

My day was a quiet one, Got up early to feed and photograph the monks on the street, I thought because I was turning them into a show piece I should at least feed them to. Feeding the monks. So I got some banana’s and biscuits off one of the multitude of local women also taking advantage of the monk and waited by the side of the road. It’s nice to see but I felt like I was taking photos of something that I shouldn’t be. It’s like going to a zoo, you take photos of caged animals and there is not much they can do about it.
The monks all line up and walk down the road for arms, it’s pretty, all the bright monks in there orange robes wondering down the road, I had enough to feed about 15 out of the 60 or so monks that would go past, this gave me time to do some photo’s too. The lady who I had brought the monk food off came over and tried to make me force feed them so she could sell more food to me but I was not having it. So once I had feed a few it was time for photo’s.
Now I was one of maybe 40-50 foreigners snapping away, flashes firing in the early morning light. The monks seem to take it all in their stride, and on they go into another day of monking. After the photo shoot I was off back to bed for more sleep.
Later on after some breakfast at mid day I headed out to my last hope for a boat trip down the Mekong, the local barges sometimes run the river if there are things to move so there was a opportunity there. I talked to a couple of boat owners and they did say they were going but not all the way to Vientiane, so I would be on the boat for 2 days and then have a two day bike ride out. So I have given up on that idea and will do a boat trip down south.
I also ran into the English girl, Now she deserves to be named, Lashana, I have bumped into her a few times now on my rides, and she has had a really interesting time. We had bumped into each other during the day so we meet up later on.
Now I had meet up with Lashana early on the second day of the ride between Vang Vieng and Luang Phrabang, I headed away and had my big day, She had carried on up and down the hills as well, on the first of the big down hills she had got a blow out in her front tire, so for Lashana the rest of the day would be walking up the big climb. This carried on until dark when Lashana decided it was time to stop at one of the farmers little huts, from the sounds she was tired and wet from the rain earlier.
Just as she was getting ready for a night on a farmers shack the farmer came along and said there was a village a little further on, so off she went still walking up the hill, by the time she made it to the village it was well passed dark and she was really tired. Lashana stop at the first home to see if she could stay, now from the sounds of it she was by now suffering from hyperthermia. Lashana passed out, the next thing she knew she was by the fire in the middle of the house with blankets on her and the father feeding her sticky rice.
Needless to say Lashana stayed there the night, the next morning the father fixed her tire and by the time she got up the whole village had heard the story of the forrag who had passed out at their place. She was feed and watered by one of the local ladies and then after many thank yous she was off again towards Luang Phrabang, I cannot remember which but she had another blow out on the next downhill. The father from the night before came to see how she was doing and ended up carrying her bags down the hill while Lashana rode her bike with the now fixed tire down. Please correct me if I am wrong on this account Lashana. She finally made it to Luang Phrabang that afternoon.
It sounded a lot more exciting when she was telling it with all the little details. The next day I had decided to head back to Vientiane as my next which had been sore for a few days was not improving so I wanted to stop in and see a doctor.

Waterfalls, kiwis and a missed reunion

Was going to get up and see the monks doing there morning Tak bath which is when they walk the streets and people place food into their tubs, this is their meals for the day, I have seen this before in Thailand many years ago and was pretty tired again and my neck has now joined my list of other ailments it’s a bit different from normal, so just went back to sleep, tomorrows another day.
Waterfalls today, the sun was out in the morning so that was sweet, was meeting up with the guy from Israel at 11am for the Tuk tuk ride out there, as I was heading to breakfast I engaged in conversation with a tuk tuk driver about cost just to get an idea on price and what they would drop to. I said I was meeting someone so I MIGHT come back later and use him, notice the big MIGHT there.
Sat down for breakfast and this guy just sat across the road watching me the freak, I mean come on there are other people around, I did explain MIGHT come back to him. After breakfast as I was leaving there he was again, I do good price we go now, BUGGER OFF. I told him I MIGHT be back again, by this time I was thinking your way to pushy for me so I will go with someone else anyway.
Down the road to wait, 11am Israel shows up, can’t go he is sick, good, the tuk tuk driver who was next to me said he had a couple of people coming back and could take me for 50000 kips, Everyone I had talked to said around 20000 to 30000kips was the going price. I talked him into taking me for 30000 and them for 50000, so we waited, and waited, and yes waited, I was starting to get a little bit displeased by this stage.
So he said jump in and we will see if we can pick anyone up on main street, Ok you have this then I am off and I’ll find someone else to go with. Down the road and who do you think spotted me the other tuk tuk driver, which he gave me a real dirty look, as though I had just murdered his family, and slapped his mother in the face. Yep now I have to see him when I walk down the road as well.
The tuk tuk guy I was with stopped on the main street and I managed to find some more people, yes you noticed the I, well it was more me sitting in the tuk tuk and people asking if I was going to the falls, but this is my glory so I will take the credit. After a few minutes the tuk tuk guy came back, so it was that we were paying 30000kips each, which I thought was a bit high, but it was a 37km ride and then he waits for 2 hours while we play in the water, so I’ll let him off.
After we were loaded there were 5 in all, Two more Kiwis a Irish guy and another guy who I did not find out where he was from. Off we went out of town then swinging our way into the hills. Now the thing about these waterfalls is its very blue water full of minerals that make pools as the minerals build up on the rocks, well I think that is what happens.
We made it to the pools and headed off up, on the way you go past a bear sanctuary, which at the moment has about 15 bears, some of which they are getting ready for release back into the wild, the problem with Lao is they are turning a lot of the bears habitat into farm land and destroying hectares of forest. For the bears this means more contact with humans and the inevitable run ins. Poor bears. Humans have a lot to answer for.
After the bears it was up to the waterfalls, Israeli guy said take to left track so I did and it just leads all the way to the top then you have to cross back to the right to get to any of the pools, so back down the right, I took lots of photo’s as they are pretty astounding, the pools are a turquoise, really beautiful.
I bumped into the others that had come in tuk tuk with me and me and the other Kiwi’s headed down for the pools at the bottom, and a swim. Have to say the water was cold, we are in the mountains here I know, but I did go in and have a swim around. If the weather was nicer I would have stayed in longer.
At one of the swimming holes we meet a guy who is working with the bears and has been for about 4 years, they have another sanctuary down in Cambodia as well with over 150 bears in it, these places all have international funding, from the way he was talking it is the governments of these countries that cause the problems.
It was time to head back to the big city lights of Luang Phrabang and I was going to meet up with the English girl who is also cycling. We had arranged to meet at 7pm at a place called Here and Now, which I thought would have been in the lonely planet. On arrival back I stopped in for a massage, which I am heading back for another one today. There good, very good.
Later on could not find Here and Now in Lonely planet so wondered up and down the night market streets hoping to come across her but alas not to be, so brought food from the stalls and things, then after an hour and a half headed off for dinner, it’s just eat eat eat at the moment.

Welding, grinding and painting and meeting people

Right today was going to be all about getting the trailer fixed, if you have seen the picture, the trailer had broken. Up and out for breakfast, have to feed the beast first then down the road, stopped in at a couple of places but no arch welders, so on ward I rode. Before I carry on this is all Aarons fault, he changed the front connections for me before I left, so now anything that happens to the trailer is his fault. By the way Aaron the Connections work perfectly, might offer this to the guy who makes these.
Back to the story, finally found a guy in a little shack by the road, he was welding up a wheel barrow when I dropped in, so he stopped that and I showed him what I needed. Now this guy crutched down and started weld the bar back together, he was using a pair of sun glasses as protection, with flip flops on, well this is asia.
Once we had got the bar welded I got him to weld another bar across the whole thing for support so hopefully it wont happen again. I then asked him if he had a grinder, which he did and he started to grind away, now forgot to mention earlier the guy’s who’s wheel barrow it was, was still waiting. I ended up saying that I will grind and he can finish the wheel barrow.
Away I went, not his welding was probably better than I could do but was still not really the best, it should hold though. I grinded the big chunks off and just gave it a run over to get anything off that would catch and rip my bag. After this was done I had a look at what may have caused it. I wont go into detail, but I think I have solved the problem, lets hope so.
Right time for some sanding and painting, cant have it rusting, Rode around a few places but no black paint, then as I was thinking about lunch I came across a little shop on a corner with everything I needed. So I found a place to sand and paint my trailer. Sweet. As I started sanding two young girls came up selling trinkets and wanted to help, so I gave them some sand paper and away they went. They keep checking with me to make sure it was right, once this was done I did the first coat of paint, and this is when the negotiation started.
You want bracelet, you want this you want that, I negotiated them down a bit but not really that hard, they had just spent ½ an hour sanding my trailer for me. So with the negotiation finished and they were happy because they got a good deal one of the girls asked to ride my bike. These girls were around maybe 10, yep no problem, drop the seat down which was still way to high and off one of them went, down the road up the road, she stopped and the other girl had a ride, both had big smiles on their faces by the end. After this it was time for them to head away and find some other suckers.
I had done a couple of coats of paint on the trailer and will do one or two more tomorrow, I headed off for lunch and to do a blog update and bumped into the Argentinean couple from Vang Vieng so am meeting them later on, also bumped into the Aussie guy I talked to at the top of the hill so now have a contact in Phnom Penh which is great.
Chilled out for most of the afternoon then checked out the Night market in town, Ran into a German guy and French girl who I had meet in Vang Vieng, they have some photo’s of me trying to salsa which hopefully I will get to see. Meet up with a few people yesterday, heading out to the waterfall tomorrow with a guy from Israel who I had talked to with the Aussie guy up on the hill.
Last night I went out for dinner a there was a guy there who had a AJ Hackett bungy jump t shirt on, we started chatting and I said I was riding around asia, and then he goes “ Your that guy, I have heard about you”, so it seems my fame is spreading, have to not get to big a head about this.. Of cause he did say a bit later he thought I must be crazy. Meet a couple of kiwi’s last night when having some Crepes and then the french and German couple came along as well so another reunion..