Hue to Savannakhet LAOS

Day 1: 71km, Hue - Dong Ha
Day 2: 64km, climb 675m, Dong Ha - Huong Hoa
Day 3: 65km, Huong Hoa - Sepon (Laos)
Day 4: 35km, Sepon - Muang Phin
Day 5: 94km, Muang Phin - Dong Hen
Day 8: 78km, Dong Hen - Savannakhet

With Bea still having a bit of a runny nose and Kiki being tired (lazy), we left Hue as we were looking forward to getting into Laos. The traffic picked up on the first day with lots of lorries heading for the border. Staying in two more small towns in Vietnam reminded us how much we were looking forward to a change of food and people and to a less customised pricing system, not that we did not enjoy Vietnam, it just felt like it was time to leave. Surprisingly the border crossing was quick and easy as there were no queues and they did not even search our luggage.
In Laos the scenery changed quickly and we were surrounded by nature most of the time, with the occasional small villages. There was virtually no traffic (we do not know what happened to all the trucks that we saw on the vietnamese side seemingly heading across the border) and we had the perfectly smooth roads to ourselves.
In Muang Phin we stayed in an old hotel that seemed to have had a grand past with goldframed pictures of important looking people shaking hands in the lobby, but the village seemed pretty deserted, the only attraction in town being the carcase of a downed american helicopter.
After a long cycle in the scorching heat the next day we were loured in by what at first appeared like a mirage three kilometers away from Dong Hen: THAI - GERMAN GUESTHOUSE & RESTAURANT. Curious and delirious we investigated, but after we saw Bratwurst & Kartoffel Salat on the menu we were convinced and stayed the night(although in the end we ate thai curries). The owner was a nice thai lady who had lived in Germany for over 20 years. She is responsible for most of the broken Lao we now speak as she was happy enough to sit down with us and teach us the basics.
We arrived in Savannakhet ready for a rest and a think about what to do next. It was not as large as we had been expecting but felt more like a sprawling relaxed town. With not much else to do than wander the streets we decided to jump on an overnight bus to Vientiane the next evening in order to allow us more time to explore the north of the country.

lucky children getting to swim in this heat

while we cycle-cycle-cycle

bananaracer

in search of the dinosaur footprints

'falang! falang! falang!'

yippie, ice cream vendor!

Savannakhet street works

Hue

We spent the first day in Hue covering most of the sightseeing, visiting one of the royal tomb complexes (apparently they have many), the citadel and the forbidden purple city which enabled us to spend the rest of our time within 200m of our hotel without a guilty conscience.

tomb of emperor Tu Duc

Thien Mu pagoda

Mr Tauer and his girlfriend enjoying the Hue degustation-style cuisine

emperor's reading room in the forbidden purple city

Hoi An to Hue

Day 1: 35km, Hoi An - Danang
Day 2: 41km, Danang - Lang Co
Day 3: 65km, Lang Co - Hue

We left Hoi An on the third of January and spent the next three days cycling up the coast to Hue. It felt a bit like Scotland, beautiful deserted white beaches and cloudy drizzly cold weather. We went to see the 'Marble Mountains', a group of marble hills with caves and buddhas surrounded by a village that seems to consist of marble sculptors and marble shops only, selling everything in marble one could wish (or not) for. All the vendors were shouting 'buy something!' at us, but unfortunately our bikes can not handle a seven ton marble elephant.
In Danang our hotel room was next to a monastery which gave us the privilege of witnessing the once monthly chanting that starts at 5am but we managed to block it out with our earplugs. The next day we cycled over the Hai Van pass (490m), the dividing line - in terms of weather - between north and south. We were looking forward to some hot weather but instead it was worse on the other side. It was nice having a break from the flat though and to have stunning scenery to look at (even though it was in shades of grey).
Lang Co, situated between the sea and a big lagoon, was just teasing us as it must be amazing when the weather is right, white sandy beaches, coconut trees, bla bla bla. Having dinner at a place famous for its seafood, we were the only guests in the vast resort complex, which felt a bit eery.
By the time we arrived in Hue the bad weather had given Bea a cold and we ended up spending a couple of days extra recuperating.



Cua Dai beach

Marble Mountains

asking directions to Danang

'The world's finest collection of Cham sculpture'

colourful incense sticks drying

glasgow?

getting up to the Hai Van pass

Lang Co