Vang Vieng

We found a beautiful friendly guest house on the opposite side of town across the river. Then we were lucky again that out of 15 bungalows we got the nicest one, situated under a huge pomelo tree, with the best view to the cliffs. Every night we would go to bed praying for the great wise pomelo to hear our calls and sometimes, if we had been good, we would wake up in the middle of the night from a great big crash as a pomelo the size of a watermelon landed on our roof.

One day we cycled a loop near the mountains on dirt roads where we saw the most beautiful scenery as well as many chubby pigs at the small villages. We stopped at one of the caves which was huge inside and the dark room seemed even bigger with our tiny inadequate torchs. Back outside we enjoyed a splash in the turquoise lagoon and a Beerlao on the riverbank before having to do the rest of the loop in a bit of a hurry to get back before dark.

We managed to rent a rope and go climbing for a day too, which almost justifies having carried our climbing shoes and harnassed around with us for the last 3000km. Not really long enough to get back into it but there was not much else that we could climb in the area anyway so a day was enough.

We also spent a day tubing, which is floating down a river at 2km an hour in a tractor tire innertube getting a cold bum. It was very exciting, but there seemed to be lots of shit floating down too (backpackers). Bea went on a very high swing and after not wanting to let go for a while, managed to fall in very gracefully.

We spent the last day at our bungalow cleaning our bikes as they had gotten extremely dusty on the dirt roads. And we got impatient with the big wise pomelo too, so Kiki climbed the tree and we set off the next morning with heavier panniers than usual.


view from our bungalow

Tham Phu Kham cave

one of many bars along the river

view from the top of a climbing route

ready for some fast and furious tubing action

Bea launching her swing

... and falling into the river with much style

Vientiane to Vang Vieng

Day 1: 109km, Vientiane - Phon Hong
Day 2: 90km, climb 67m, Phon Hong - Vang Vieng

It was hard to leave the comfort of Vientiane, but we did eventually set off. On the outskirts of the city we passed a French Swiss-Spanish cyclist. He had stopped to buy some water, we would not have passed him had he been moving. We cycled the next two days together and it was nice to have some new company for a short time. He kept us at a decent speed and we slowed him down.
On the first day we were caught out by a nasty little steep hill near the end which gave us a wee taste of things to come. It was mostly flat, pleasant cycling and the scenery was pretty. The first night we stayed in a bit of a dump (again a taste of things to come), stealing the last room from an australian cyclist who had a shit day, but there was a nice restaurant so we ate dinner together before he went off to sleep in the brothel.
The second day cycling was nice too and the scenery started getting even more dramatic towards the end of the day. The setting of Vang Vieng is beautiful and had it not been for the town it would be perfect.

elegant umbrellycling

arrival at Vang Vieng pancake stall

Vientiane

We arrived bright and early in Vientiane and had the fortune to observe the 6am aerobics lesson by the Mekong. Not feeling quite up to it after our overnight bus journey we quickly ran away to look for a bed (without even taking a picture).
The next few days were spent not sight seeing. Vientiane was very nice and relaxing, apart from Kiki getting ill and having to spend a few days in The most uncomfortable bed in the world ©, after we ate our first home cooked meal in 3 months (although the two things are not related). While Kiki was bedridden Bea went out to eat a Wiener Schnitzel by herself, which Kiki will never forget and always think of as the best missed meal in the whole wide world (it was not even that great, but how do you explain that to someone who has the perfect Schnitzel fantasy in his head?)
All we can really say about Vientiane is that the food was great and that the hotel we stayed in might either soon fall down or be renovated.

dining by the Mekong

breakfast at the cheerful riceporridge stall, where is wally?

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