1-26-08
Here we are again, crammed like sardines into a van heading north to Thakhek. We fear Bici is at the bottom of a growing pile of parcels, luggage and bags of produce. The Lao people cover their nose when someone lights a cigarette, move to allow yet another rider to squeeze in (18 people in a 12 seat van), ignore the music set at one billion decibels (at least)! No one ever complains, just accepts whatever complacently. If we had to travel like this too often rather than riding the bike where we exert some control, we’d need to find alternative transport such as the more expensive long distance air conditioned buses.
1. Bici on top again - to Thakhet
2. Selling chicken on a stick
3. Painting a school - OSHA? |
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The villages we are passing through are dirty with plastic litter and are rather shabby and colorless under today’s overcast sky. Today is the antithesis to last nights’ dinner in Savannakhet. We met a lovely Dutch couple, Anna and William, who are on a two month biking holiday. The four of us went to the loveliest French restaurant, Dao Savanh, on the square in a newly renovated French Colonial building. The meal of tender and rare rib eye steak was accompanied by good wine and lively conversation about world travel by bicycle.
1-30-08
We secured a lovely, large room at the Thakhek Travel Lodge, a great place with much outdoor seating and an evening fire ring! After perusing the log books at the lodge and reading of several attractions in the area, we rented a motor scooter thinking it would be much easier on Art’s bottom (saddle sores and all).
The next morning 1/27, we hurried, anxious to get on our way to ride the “crescent moon”. Thakhek is the base for visiting a great area of karst formations filled with caves and much natural beauty, national parks and quaint Lao villages. We decided to do only two legs of the “loop” (hence the “crescent moon”) to avoid a road that is under construction, deep dust and gravel plus congestion. Traveling clockwise, our destination today is 146 km to Na Hin.
The roadside vistas were lush and green unlike the road from Savannahket and the limestone formations rose on the horizon like dragon’s teeth. We were gob smacked when we stopped at the view-point on route 8 to gaze over a karst landscape like no other we had ever seen before!
The next morning we moved to another guest house (Mi Tuna) which we thought would be better than the Xio Xan guesthouse we stayed in last night. In reality, both had hot water, were cool and fairly clean – each with their own drawbacks, but comfortable, nonetheless. After settling our luggage we headed down the dirt road to Khon Lo Cave. They are paving this road and access will make visiting easier, but also create a greater demand on the already busy tourist site.
The cave is described as being threaded by a 7km long river, accessible by local boat. When we arrived, we were the only ones. We paid $10 for a boat and $1.50 for admission, were taken by a guide down to a picturesque lake, up and over to the cave mouth. He took great care in helping us aboard the small, flat bottom boat. Are we getting special treatment because we are grey haired? The guide sat in front and our boat driver sat in the rear steering by the typical engine with long tail propeller. The cave was DARK. We all had head lamps to view the wondrous stalactites and stalagmites. The immense size swallowed much of the light. Periodically, we all got out of the boat and waded through the shallow places. At one point, our guide ushered us up the banks and into a grotto of wondrous formations. By the time we left, motorcycles were arriving - at least a dozen more tourists!
The spectacular scenery warranted a short drive up the opposite side of the valley and down into another, viewing the dividing range between Laos and Vietnam before returning to Mi Tuna for dinner. The next day we hopped on the motor scooter for an uneventful and pleasant journey back to Thakhek. However, as we pulled onto the highway, we realized our rear tire was flat, so we pushed the motorbike to a garage about 1km down the road. The mechanic took one look a the rear wheel and was more alarmed at the wobbly wheel than the flat tire. He and two assistants took the wheel off and while one repaired the tube, the mechanic rebuilt the rear axel, using tin cans to create shims for the bearings. As we watched, the sky opened up and rained. By the time the mechanic had completed his magic, the clouds had parted and we then indeed, had a pleasant ride back to the Travel Lodge
1.Scootering past tobacco fields
2. Harvesting tobacco
3.. Harvesting
4. Into the 7km cave
5. Exploring the cave
6. Fixing our scooter wheel
7. Cremation casket
8. Cremation Procession
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2-5-08
A lot has happened in the past several days. We took a lovely air conditioned VIP bus to Vientiane, the capital city of Laos. Art’s saddle sores were not improving so drastic measures needed to be taken: Off the bike for several weeks!!
We arrived to a city with no vacancies in most of the guest houses or hotel rooms! After hours of looking we settled on a terrible place and diligently set out to find an apartment to rent. We managed to set up an appointment for 9:30 the next morning with Toi, a lovely landlady, who picked us up in her Mercedes and took us to view a one bedroom apartment in a building of eight apartments complete with swimming pool and a grand 100 year old traditional Lao house serving as office and storage building. At $500 p/m we took it and after Toi dropped us off at our miserable guest house we packed and were back at our new home within an hour!
We are beginning to get settled here. We have located a good bike shop, most of the grocery stores that stock western items, and the location of the Hash House Harrier runs! Now we are meeting locals, learning of things to see and do. We will need to extend our Laos visa and to acquire a visa for China while we spend time here. We also have credit card issues again, so we can settle that out during our long stay. This is going to be a great holiday spot!
