It's all over now

Rode early morning to the bus station in Lampang. Had to hassle a bit for letting them take my bike onboard, but finally ...

7½ hours later we arrived at the Northern bus terminal in Bangkok. Stupid taxi wanted 500 Baht for the 11 kms to Soi Rambuttri, so I cycled instead. Not entirely fun or safe to ride through Bangkok early evening, but eventually I got here.

Today, 22nd, I sold my bike back to the shop where I bought it 2½ months ago. He paid me half price including a couple of locks and rear view mirrors. I get to keep the Schwalbe tyres though.

I miss the bike already!
Bye bye bikie, you were a good friend!

All in all I cycled 4082 km, 53 cycling days, average 77,1 km per day. I had one flat, in Cambodia. Schwalbe Supreme tyres. No injuries, nothing stolen.


Last pic of my bike

Map Don Det-Vang Vieng

Profile Don Det-Vang Vieng

Map Luang Prabang-Lampang

Profile Luang Prabang-Lampang

A fitting finale

Lampang, Feb 19, 2011.

190 km!

A fitting finale.
My longest day ever!

I had hoped to find some place to stay about halfway, but no. So I kept going. Why are all nice restaurants and fine shops on the other side of the highway?

After many trials and errors I finally found a lunch place after 1 pm. By the time I was done it was half past two and I had another 100 kms to Lampang.
In many places in Thailand I have had good use of my GPS with its Thai maps and info that is stored with the maps. I click on an icon labeled 'accomodation' and the GPS shows me a lot of hotels and such that are in my vicinity. But there was nothing along my way today. Sometimes there are 'resorts' or such that has not yet made into Garmin maps, and I hoped something would pop up along highway #1 today. But nada.

It was definitely more downhill than up today. Overall I lost nearly 200 meters altitude. But there were nevertheless a few moderate uphills too. Anyway I started thinking that maybe I could if necessary go all the way to Lampang. Arrive way later than I prefer but still in the early evening. So I speeded up as much as I could. It was a beautiful ride through a national park for hours. Unfortunately that also meant no restaurants and no shops by the wayside. I was nearly out of water, and hungry.

I was overtaken by several big motorcycles that were probably driven by farang the way they honked and waved at me. Many truck drivers honked and waved too. And kids riding in the back of pick-up trucks waved more than Thais normally do. Later as I passed through areas where there were people along the roadside many waved and it felt as if they cheered me on. I felt as a cyclist leading a race. People shouted something at me in Thai that I did not understand but it felt as if they were shouting 'come on, you can make it, it is only another 38 kilometers, go, go, go! I was racing against time and the sunset, doing 30-35 klicks and getting ever nearer.
Eventually I had to stop and put on my bike lights. I have them with me of course but have never had to use them before on any of my three tours.

At around 7 pm I came into Lampang and was caught in some kind of street festival, I thought. I had to get off and walk the last couple of kilometers. When I arrived at Riverside Guest House they told me it was just the saturday evening market, that has become a big thing with Thais coming down en masse from Chiang Mai.

At 730 I pulled in to the guest house and got their last room. Outside bath only but I was glad they had anything available at all. I had hoped there would be a bunch of cyclists in the restaurant so I could buy them all a round of Margaritas to celebrate my long ride. But there was no one at all.
After a wonderful shower I went out and celebrated on my own. The waitress looked a bit puzzled when I ordered one large bottle ice water, one large Leo beer and one Margarita together with a chicken steak. I was so thirsty, exhausted, very hungry and very pleased with myself and that all had gone well.


Riverside

Chun. The End is Near

Chun, Feb 18, 2011.

87 km.

This morning my landlady at Phu Chom Dao Resort brought me some Thai breakfast of noodles with meat in it, probably pork. I had not expected breakfast from her and had already downed a couple of bags of chips and a small can of cold Nescafe I bought last night. I tried telling the woman that I needed no more food but would appreciate some hot coffee if she had. She did and it was great.

Wise from yesterdays ordeal in the hills I spent some time with my GPS and map trying to figure out where to go next. I decided on SW and hit the road at around 9. It was one of those glorious days with mostly just downhill through Phu Sang national park. I was low on Baht and really needed an ATM-machine. It took a few hours but then I came into Chiang Kham where money machines were one every block. And there was a 7-eleven.

Once loaded with cash and candy, belly full, I felt ready for another long ride, but soon realized that I was now out of the hills and into the lowlands. Flat and rather ugly. I then started replanning the rest of my trip. Rather than just slogging along on uninteresting roads I decided to head towards Lampang. It will take me a couple of days to get there.
Lampang is a very nice town where I stopped several days two years ago. It is also a railhead. My plan now is to stay overnight then get a train to Bangkok. In big B I will get rid of my bike, order some things and then head for the nearest beach to straighten out my funny suntan before going home.

As always it feels sad when the cycling trip nears its end. But 'se la vie', is it not. All good things must come to an end.


My room in Chun

Phu Chom Dao

Phu Chom Dao, Feb 17, 2011.

70 km

An up and down day.

Northern Laos is hilly no doubt. There are many trying hills for cyclists. They are serious hills, going up several hundred meters and then down to cross a river before heading up again. On this western side of the Mekong though hills are much shorter, and steeper. Today I have struggled on hills so steep I had to get off and push my bike going up, and then so steep down they are scary to ride.

My only map of this area is a road map with no topographic indication. Apart from aiming South I did after some time try to veer a little Westward hoping to get away from the worst hills. The GPS listed a 'resort' at a place I have now already forgotten the name of. I cycled into it at 4 pm only to find it more or less destroyed. All doors where open and the inside of the rooms full of rubbish. I could not stay there and moved on. The next nearest guest house would be way over to the East again, some 13 kms. I started pushing up a ridiculously steep hill. After a bit a young man, 16-17 or so, came downhill on his small motorbike. He stopped and offered me a ride uphill in very limited English. First I said I did not think it would be possible to take my loaded bike on his. My cycle and bags probably weighs more than 30 kgs. He insisted it could work. When I asked how much would that cost he was adamant he wanted nothing. Again I said I did not think it possible to have me and all my gear on the back of his little motorcycle.

It would have been so easy for him to accept my reluctance and drive away on his own. But he didn't. Instead he showed with gestures how he could have my panniers between his legs and I could have the bike between myself and him. We loaded up and away we went. When I saw how steep and long the hills where I grew incredibly grateful I did not have to push that on my own so late in the afternoon. Stupidly enough I had spent all my one hundred Baht notes in Wiang Kaen and now only had three one thousand bills, a fifty and some twentys. My gratitude to the young man grew with the steepness of the hill and I decided I simply had to give him a thousand Baht. But when we came to the place where he was going, which was about half of the way I needed to go to find another guest house, he insisted he wanted nothing. What a guy!

In my later years, after I started going to India, and doing a lot of meditation, I have become more helpful and generous to strangers. But I must admit that at the age of that young man I was very far from as helpful as he was. I hope Karma rewards him richly!


Sunset at Phu Chom Dao


Profile Wiang Kaen - Phu Chom Dao

Wiang Kaen

Wiang Kaen, Feb 16, 2011.

60 kms.

I had to spend the night at Huay Xai due to Thailands stupid rule about giving only a fifteen day visa exemption at the border to all arriving overland. My flight out is at 0200 on March 2nd and I do not want to risk any hassle at the airport even with only a two hour overstay. I have a lot of experince with immigration officers from all over the world and know that they are not recruited from the upper half of the IQ scale.

Once across The Mekong, for the umpteen and last time of this trip, I headed straight for roads out of Chiang Kong in a Southerly direction, aiming for Bangkok on smaller roads. As previously I had regrets about leaving Laos and decided to stay near her western borders. This took me between the river and a range of hills, a road I am sure not many farang ever goes. People stared at me more than Thais normally do. It is a beautiful area, very rural and at first smooth cycling. Eventually though I ran into uphills.


Thai countryside
With the aid of my GPS I found a guest house at Wiang Kaen and decided to cut the day short to do some laundry. For 300 Baht I got a nice little bungalow with cold water only, and a fine terrace overlooking a clean stream.


Resting
Thailand's economy seems to be in fine shape. I see farmers being busy in their fields everywhere. The already good roads are being widened and improved in many places. I pass by many good looking schools. But many Thais speak only limited, if indeed any, English. Then there are the exceptions, sometimes where you would not expect it. I stop by a small shop to buy an ice cream, and the lady there greets me with a 'good morning sir, what can I do for you?' We talk about where I have cycled and where I am going etc. Later on, in Wiang Kaen, right near my guest house, a man in his thirties has a simple half barrel grill where he barbecues meat. He asks me what I am looking for and offers directions. His English is nothing short of excellent from what I can gather from our short conversation. This is in the back of beyond and I could well be his first ever encounter with a foreigner. I praise his language skills but apart from a 'thank you sir, I am glad to hear that', he offers no explanation. He barbecues only pork and I am not having any of that. On my return back home he asks if I found what I needed and wishes me a good nights sleep. Thailand is a good place!

Huay Xai

Huay Xai, Feb 15, 2011.

75 kms.

Huay Xai has grown and changed a lot. When I was here first time, four years ago, the street outside BAP Guest House had no tarmac and there were only a few other establishments, none of them particularly attractive. Restaurants had few customers, all young backpackers waiting to go on the next days slow boat to Luang Prabang.

Now the there are several fine looking restaurants and a nice outdoors cocktail bar. The asphalted street is full of tourists strolling and shopping. I saw a Beer Lao parasol with the slogan 'The Wholehearted Peoples Beer'. Fittingly indeed!
The two sisters at BAP are aging obviously but still totally charming!

Don Chai

Don Chai, Feb 14, 2011.

55 kms.

"He is not a happy man", said my next door neighbors, two cute young English girls, of the guest house owner at Don Chai. I think they are right on the money with that analysis. Something is definitely amiss with him. It does not matter what food you order, you will be brought what he/they feels or happens to have around. The simple rooms are 30 000 kip, up by 50% since two years. Everything in his shop is much more expensive than elsewhere in Laos.

It is nice cycling from Viang Poukha. A couple of hills and some roadworks but generally fine and beautiful.


In Laos
The two girls are going on a 'Gibbon Experience' tomorrow, a three day trekking into the jungle hoping to see some of mainland Asia's only Gibbon monkeys living here. A whole group others are to join on a bus tomorrow morning.

Don Chai is a cute rural Lao village. On advice from the girls I took a quite long walk in the village, along the river. On my previous visit here I had wrongly assumed the few houses by the main road was all there is to Don Chai. But it is actually a sizable village of wooden houses. There are animals everywhere, ducks, chicken, buffalos, cats and dogs.


Tipped over trailer

Viang Poukha

Viang Poukha, Feb 13, 2011.

74 kms, of which 10 seems to have been by mistake.

When I rode into Nam Tha yesterday I was surprised to find Many Cham guest house on the right side of the road when I expected it to be on the left. But I discounted it as poor memory and thought nothing more of it. I had also been a bit surprised not to pass by the airstrip as I remembered it.

Anyway when I left Nam Tha this morning I left town the same way I had come in. After turning right at a crossroads and riding another few kilometers I came to another crossroads with a sign towards Nam Tha. I realized that I had entered town on a different road than two years ago, and now left it in an off direction. All in all that seems to have cost me an additional 10 kms.

It is a really lovely day anyway. The surrounding nature is beautiful in a Nepali way, hilly and very very nice.


The road itself is excellent and there are many small Lao villages with sweet people. I now have a nice little bungalow by a stream a few hundred metres off Viang Poukha on a dusty gravel road. I have had some fried Morning Glory and a cold Beer Lao in the village. My knees and legs feel tired and I think it will be an early evening.

Nam Tha

Nam Tha, Feb 12, 2011.

41 kms.

As soon as one leaves Na Teuy the road becomes very very good. Full Thai standard with a wide tarmac shoulder. There are a few minor hills but nothing major at all. It is nice to have short day and to be able to ride slowly, stop to eat sweet oranges and just enjoy the day.

Now at Many Cham guest house. Expensive food but not bad at all. There is free wifi here, but does not work around mid day due to no electricity. I have a few web things to do and hope it comes on before my battery runs out.


Nam Tha market

Na Teuy

Na Teuy, Feb 11, 2011.

84 kms.

Todays cycling was a bit hard, but nice anyway. There was a lot of roadworks going on where they had scaled off the top tarmac. That went on for the entire first 20 kms out of Udomxai, and then for another few kms in shorter sections. When trucks passed it became very dusty and was a bit rough riding on. There is a good uphill for a couple of hours and then a wonderfully long downhill on good road where I could really fly on serpentine roads.
I met a Norwegian guy going the other way who told me he had stayed overnight at Na Teuy. When I got there at shortly before 3 pm I decided to stay as well rather than arrive late at Nam Tha and maybe have to stay at a bad guest house.

The guest house at Na Teuy, right near the bridge, was OK at 40 000 kip. Good room, outside bathroom with good hot water. As I left next morning I saw a sign for another guest house. There are several restaurants, but nothing particularly good.

I would advice though for someone cycling the other way, from Nam Tha to Udomxai, to zip over to Na Teuy in the afternoon and thus shorten the day to Udomxai by a couple of hours. The ride is long enough as it is. There is by the way another guest house some 55 kms this side of Udomxai.

Udomxai

Udomxai, Feb 9, 2011.

87 kms.

I really suggest future cyclists between Pakmong and Udomxai take the bus. The road is bad practically all the way and there are some serious hills. I found no place for lunch.
Two years ago I came this way going the other direction. I had had a very long day Namtha - Udomxai and my thighs felt stiff and unwilling the morning after. And Udomxai did not seem to have any particular attractions warranting a whole days stay. So I turned in to the bus station and asked. Sure enough there would be a mini bus going towards Pakmong within an hour. I took off my pedals, opened the handlebar and we loaded my bike on the rooftop. I was in Pakmong ahortly after noon and continued my r & r.

This time I cycled. And it was tough going. I only arrived Udomxai shortly before six pm as dusk was falling. But now my legs feel tired againg and I must take a day off here. Don't know yet how I will spend it other than doing my journal.


River cauldron

Profile Pakmong - Udomxai
I had a lot of problems with my Gps again. It keeps turning itself off at the slightest uneveness on the road. And since I do like to have a track to attach to my journal at Crazyguy I keep turning the gps on again and again. When loading the track into my laptop I can see that I actually turned the unit on 73 times yesterday over an eight hour ride. I really don't have time for that sort when riding on rough roads in hilly country.

Pakmong

Pakmong, Feb 8, 2011.

122 kms.

It is a terrific day cycling between Pakmong and Luang Prabang, whichever way. While Luang Prabang is at about 320 m above sea level Pakmong is only at abt 360 and there are no major hills, but a few minor ups and downs nevertheless. One rides along the Nam Ou river for most of the way and the views are lovely. There are also quite a few nice villages with loads of kids waving and smilingly calling out 'Sabaidee!' Everywhere seems to be doing better finacially than I remembered from last time. There are many more houses built right near the road and practically all kids I see have their own bicycles.

It is a long day though and I did not arrive Pakmong until 1645. I was pleased to move in to the Alone guest house right at the centre of town.


Towards Pakmong


Largest butterfly I have ever seen, on my Pakmong balcony

Luang Prabang

Luang Prabang, Feb 7, 2011.

Must say I enjoyed Vang Vieng. It was quite a relief seeing the extremely noisy bars gone from Erawan Island. Now let us hope that the peaceful bars on that island come back, as they were some four years ago. In town there are still a zillion young travellers watching television in bars all day, and they walk around town mostly undressed. The guys barechested and some Australian girls in string bikinis. I personally don't mind slender chicks in bathers but I wonder how the Lao feel about it.

Apart from my tube leaking and sinking the tubing was generally almost as good as first time I did it. There are ever more bars each year and rather loud. But as long as the music is good I can live with it.
I noticed early on that my tube seemed low on air and thought I had better not stop at any more bars once I had had my starting large beer right before launching my tube trip. I was quite sure I would make it all the way despite other tubers calling to me saying what I already knew. I ran aground several times in the shallow areas and kept telling myself that the only way to go on is forward. Eventually I had to make a run for the nearest river bank though or I would have gone down midriver. When I got up on dry land my tube was practically empty of air, hanging like a dead baloon off of my arm. I walked for a bit and then accepted a tuktuk drivers offer of taking me back to VV for 10000 kip. I wanted the guys at the tube business to promise they would accept to scrap this tube altogether. I never saw where the actual leak was but the tube had about a dozen patches on it and may have leaked in several of them. The tubing guys though just threw it in a corner and did not want to promise anything. Maybe you get it next time? Check properly!

Then yesterday morning I took the bus to Luang Prabang, VIP bus at ten o'clock. We met several cyclists in the mean hills and I saw how they struggled, as I had. I am glad to have cycled these hills once but don't really feel I have to do it again. I will have enough hills riding to Pak Mong, Udomxai and Namtha.




Luang Prabang
Anyway I saw several new guest houses along the way but can not say specifics of where.

Luang Prabang seems to have three times as many tourists now as two years ago. Many are old ladies shopping like mad at the evening market. Prices in bars and restaurants are outright ridiculous by Lao standards. The best bar in town seems to be gone.

There used to be an outside bar quite high up along the main street, on its western side. I think of it as the best bar I have ever frequented, even the only real bar. It consisted of one bar with some 7 stools on each side. The bartender was at the short end. For reasons beyond me he was dressed up like a cowboy, taking orders and serving cocktails from his end of the bar.
It was a great meeting place for single travellers. Wherever you sat down you always had someone else right opposite you. It was so easy talking to people. Two years ago we came to be a regular group coming there for a cocktail somewhere around 7 pm. We talked about the drinks and who had done what during the day. Eventually someone popped the dinner question, and off we went to try out some suggestion. I could not find it all last night and fear it has disappeared altogether. Will check on some back streets tonight though, maybe it has just relocated?
........

No, sorry I never found it. I walked around a fair bit in town and was really impressed at how even the new hotels along the back river side of the peninsula were built in a beautiful old style that goes well original Luang Prabang. I think this town is destined to be Laos' main tourist attraction for many years to come.

On my second evening in Luang Prabang I had dinner at a Mekong side outdoor restaurant. The food was great but the most memorable thing with it was the young Lao woman serving. I orderded a large Beer Lao which she brought with a frozen glass and some peanuts. When I thanked her she looked me right between the eyes and said 'Enjoy!' with a smile and what seemed to be an earnest wish that I would. Had it been possible to capture that single word, that sweet smile and the radiance of her face, capture all that on video, it could have sold millions of whatever. Oh the lovely Lao!

Vang Vieng

Vang Vieng, Feb 4, 2011.

67 kms.

Right out of Hine Hoeup the hills started. Not really big but nevertheless enough to slow me down. When I have been in the saddle for a couple of hours I really don't mind getting off and walking for a bit in the uphills. My legs do feel tired on arrival after a full day, but rarely bother me while I am still cycling. It is my bum that hurts and needs a break every now and then.

I pulled in at Vang Vieng at around 0130. There has been another massive build up of hotels and guest houses over the two years since I was here last and it took me a while to find the guest house where I had stayed. Eventually found it though and at 100 000 kip it was actually cheaper than I had expected. Pretty much the same river view that I had had earlier, but with more bungalows on the island in the rivers midst.

It seems the police or some such has banned the very loud music on Erawan Island, which was very welcome to me. Tomorrow I will have a rest day and go tubing!


Vang Vieng


Tubing

Hin Hoeup

Hin Hoeup, Feb 4, 2011.

84 km. Total 3057 km


Need any Bullshit service?


Green fields
I continued on the wider gravel road leading towards NW. It was a very nice area, rice farming and nice Lao villages. I had had only some bananas and a can of cold Nescafé for breakfast. When I came upon a small shop I needed more food. The man understood no English and when I tried showing him I needed eating he brought me first a bundle of toothpicks and then a toothbrush. Finally I found bags of Mexican flavored chips. I ate four bags of them.
After some 30 km my road intersected with route 13 and I was on my way towards Vang Vieng.

At lunch stop I met a whole group of Americans cycling with a tour guide and a follow-up van carrying all luggage. They were obviously more or less on a race and had not seen any guest houses or such. Their guide knew a little more but even his info was not entirely correct. I pedalled on along mostly flat countryside.

There are obviously many sorts of cyclists here. There was an English university teacher who like me had two panniers and a handlebar bag, happy to ride abt 80 km a day. And there was a French guy who had been cycling on small roads for two months with only a mini backpack in a handlebar basket. And there were young guys intent on going all the from Vang Vieng to Vientiane in one day, and Japanese in a terrible hurry, etc.

At Hine Hoeup I moved on to a guest house I had stayed at last time I cycled here. The room and shower were fine. But the restaurant menu put me off with their offer of a soup made from "intestines of buffalo". Yach! I had a grilled chicken at a small stand by a parking lot where truck drivers stopped for food.

In the sticks

Sy Tan Guest house, Feb 2, 2011.

Two years ago when I rode from Vang Vieng towards Vientiane I made a detour to Nam Ngum dam, the artificial lake created as a water shed for Vientiane. There I found a lovely guest house to stay at. It was rather expensive but worth every penny. I had a bungalow looking like a Swiss chalet with a great terrace overlooking the lake and many islands in it. As I left Vientiane this morning I thought to go back there again. It had been a 95 km ride.


Nam Ngum Dam
But riding from the sticks into the city is one thing. Finding the way back is quite another. I had a waypoint in my Gps and thought if I only headed towards it I would eventually get there. Not quite so easy though, in a land with few road signs and with no map in the Gps. At first all went well but after some 35 kms I could no longer head straight North as I should. The road went from tarmac to dirt, but still wide and quite promising. After passing through a town of sorts it split in a Y and I took the larger one, heading a bit too much off towards NW. After some 10-12 kms in that direction, by a bridge, there were some men doing measuring and stuff. I stopped and asked if this was a good road for going to Nam Ngum. First one man said yes, then someone else said no. And eventually they agreed that I should go back a bit and take the other road. So I turned around and cycled back abt 10 kms to the Y-crossing. But quite soon on that other leg that one turned ever more off too much towards East, and eventually SE and then due South. And it became ever narrower. At about 1230 I gave up on that and turned back once again. I had seen a guest house some 33 kms from Vientiane and decided to go back to it, spend the night, load my Gps tracks so far into Garmins Mapsource and have a look.


Wide dirt road
That is where I am now. At Sy Tan guest house in somevillage. I have found food and the guest house is fine. When I fed my track into Mapsource I realized I should have gone yet another bit before turning off the road I was on. Or I could probably have continued on the first one, maybe not actually reaching Nam Ngum, but at least headed more or less in a Northerly direction. That is now my plan for tomorrow. I don't necessarily have to go to Nam Ngum. But I do want to go towards Vang Vieng. It will probably take me another two days, and then from there take a bus to Luang Prabang. Well, we'll see how it goes.

Vientiane

Vientiane, Jan 31, 2011.

33 km

I had planned since long to bring some books and toys with me from Thailand to give to children in rural Laos. When riding towards the Friendship bridge I came upon this little shop where they sold small and cheap toys, so I stopped and stocked up several things.

As I approached the bridge there were several signs indicating that bicycles where not allowed on the bridge. I continued on anyway and no one bothered me at all. The border rituals were fairly easy, and no bribes required. It felt great to be back in Laos again. Already within 50 meters into the country I stopped for a café Lao. I was brought the coffee right soon but when I wanted to pay I practically had to chase the woman down. It seems they give you what you want mostly because they are nice and feel that you really want this. But they are not business minded at all. 'Pay? Oh God, are you sure?'

Cycling into Vientiane was easy. Not that there are many roadsigns but I had a waypoint in my Gps and knew the general direction.
It is amazing how tourism has grown in Vientiane! There are so many restaurants and bars, and so much people everywhere.

But there is another big change to the city as well, one that I don't like much. They have built a levy along the Mekong, one that is so high that you don't see the river anymore from what used to be the riverfront. You see only the levy. And the area on the far side of Rue Fa Ngoum, where there used to be many nice restaurants right along the river, has now been turned into a sterile park. And beyond that the high levy. I have never been here during the Monsoon season but have heard that there have been problems with flooding. So I guess it may be necessary to have that protective levy, but it sure alters the whole face of the city. One nice thing with towns along the river is obviously that you see the river. Now you don't anymore.

Non Khai

Nong Khai, Jan 31, 2011.

It was a short and sweet ride to Nong Khai, only 52 km. I had a good tailwind and mostly cycled on small roads right next to the Mekong. I had a fine lunch at a small place where a Thai customer was very eager to help translate my order to the woman in charge. As I was about to leave a pretty Frenchwoman stopped by on a scooter asking for directions to a silk factory. Later I saw her again at the Mutmee in Nong Khai.