Laos. The 11th country that I have crossed into on this trip so far, and the first country that I have passed into on my own with my bike. The border crossing was uneventful, and also relatively quick since there weren’t many people around. I was soon cycling off down the road and into the distance, ready to discover what this country has to offer.
About half an hour or so after leaving the border, I came across a signpost to the Khonephapheng Waterfall park, which I had already read about on the internet as being well worth the short detour. It really was. The waterfalls were very impressive. It was also really nice to just wander around without worrying about time or getting anywhere, since I was already well ahead of where I was planning to be due to the shortcut of getting the boat direct from Preah Rumkel. I spent a good while just sitting on the sun-warmed stones near to the mighty falls and marvelling at the incredible power in this water, which also provides the lifeforce for much of SE Asia. After an enjoyable hour or two in the waterfall park I cycled off leisurely in the afternoon sun to a guest house just 12miles down the road. After starting off with the boat trip from Preah Rumkel and tour of the planted forest, it was altogether a very enjoyable day.
The following day I had two choices – I could either carry on following the main highway on the east side of the Mekong, which I knew would be tarmacked and therefore easier riding but probably less interesting, or cross over to the quieter west side of the Mekong and take my chances with the road surfaces. I took the latter. I’m so pleased that I did. First, I crossed over a bridge to Don Khong island which sits within the Mekong and is a peaceful and pretty little island with a very laid back and friendly feel. From the other side of the island I took a ferry to the west bank of the Mekong and carried on following the river North. It was extremely pretty and very quiet – I hardly saw any other vehicles at all! As I suspected the roads were not tarmacked, but they were generally nice wide compacted sandy gravel tracks that still made for relatively good going.
In fact, the only thing that marred the lovely journey were the hoards of miniature bitey demons that seemed to lurking everywhere, especially where I chose to rest. Since setting off cycling from Phnom Penh in Cambodia it has been gradually dawning on me that ants are the spawn of Satan. I guess there are more of them over here because it is hotter (just like in hell.) I also think that I maybe come into contact with them more because I often look for a tree to lean my bike against when I stop for a rest, and ants like to crawl around on trees. Whatever the reason, they are extremely annoying. (However I still generally choose not to kill them unless I am in immediate peril.)
Once back on the main highway it was predictably slightly less interesting, but on the upside there was a much higher frequency of children calling “hello!” and “sabadee!” (hello in Laos) to keep my spirits up. (Unfortunately about the same frequency of ants.) As an aside, the word “sabadee” always reminds me of “Zebedee” from The Magic Roundabout, and always makes me smile, which I guess is never a bad thing when you are greeting people.
Today, I am in Savannahkhet after taking another slightly more circuitous route yesterday to take in some more back roads near to the Mekong on the way into town. I am enjoying all the luxuries of a being in town including posher food (green curry last night,) cider available in bars and cafe’s, and a really nice guest house which also has a laundry service. Tomorrow, I will be heading east towards Vietnam and the Ho Chi Minh road, but first, I have heard talk of dinosaurs in Savannakhet. I am off to investigate…
Dancing in the Dawn 