Due to a confluence of ineptitude between Windows, Toshiba, and Acer, this will be the third time I’m writing these next posts. Losing energy to keep writing. Will to my best to keep the oomf in the stories. Please do yourself a favor and don’t buy Acer.
September 22, 2013, Sunday, Luang Namtha-BUS
I really can’t keep track of how many times my plans have changed on this trip. Free flow traveling is a blessing and a curse all at once. When Rene mentioned that flying to Vientiane from Luang Namtha was easy, one hour, no hassle, and only $50 dollars, I had the inclination to change plans to flying instead of busing. And when the bus driver said he wanted an extra 100,000kip($13) for the bike, my plans changed to fly instead of bus. $45 dollars for a 22 hr mountain bus ride or $50 for one our of flying. Duh, I’m going to fly, even I will spend the extra $5.
Raj and I checked the airport, no ticket sellers; we checked the transportation booker, and we found tickets… for $130 dollars, and $1.50 for every kilo over twenty. Dammit Rene! We booked ourselves onto the bus leaving that afternoon. We surprised Melanie, one last time. This time, she didn’t hug us goodbye. Too many goodbyes, she really couldn’t believe which one would be real.
The bus ride was actually fine, though we had to pay for bringing bikes which really irks me when locals and other travelers are are loaded down with a ton of shit. And it’s at this point that I’m jealous of backpackers, all your shit consolidated in one bag and now matter the fact that they’re usually carrying a darned clothing store, they never get charged extra. Grr. Got on the bus, looked out the window a bit and fell asleep, no problem, the bus was slow and the road not terribly windy. One scare when our back tire popped, got my heart pounding for few seconds when I was determining if we were slowing down or not on the down slope. We did, the locals and bus driver fixed the tire in 30 minutes and we carried on back to sleep.
September 23, 2013, Monday, Vientiane
Arrived at Vientiane earlier than expected, loaded the bikes, brushed off offers for tuk tuk’s and cruised into town. Found the bike shop; it was closed. We then found a nice spot viewing the Mekong to rest and eat lunch.
We connected with our couch surfing host later that day and she graciously let us settle into her home. Jo, a UK English teacher living in Laos for the past 8 years. Has a fair amount of knowledge of Laos and of Myanmar so we had much to talk about over dinner a local Pakistani restaurant. Vientiane has a variety of cuisine options, for awesome prices. A forty or fifty dollar restaurant meal is ten to fifteen here.
September 24, 2013, Tuesday, Vientiane
I do like exploring, but shit, I’ll be honest, its nice when a local points you to their favorites spots in town. Jo’s been here eight years, her list is refined and perfected to know the best of everyone one would want. We started our day with fantastic French toast, Mango sticky rices pancakes and scrambled eggs all for a few dollars, half a kilometer down a back alley at a quiet cafe. Then applications dropped off for our Myanmar visa, twenty dollars, three photos on a white background and a simple application and boom, the process was started. Instructed to come back on Thursday. Task 1 complete
Task 2, go to Willy’s bike shop, where we fixed Raj’s loose headset thought I needed a part which he had at home, not in store.
Task 3, we successfully found a 1 liter carton of Lactasoy
Task 4, Jo practiced her next day cooking lesson, with us: eggplant, roasted tomato masaka, cheese cake and banana bonofie pie.
September 25, 2013, Wednesday, Vientiane
Returned to Willy’s, fixed the bike! Boom! Ready to hit the road again. As we sipped on liter lactasoys at the nearby convenience store I spotted someone with a full rack set up ride by. We downed our drinks and engage a pursuit catching up with a French man, Patrice who is now living/traveling/touring/retired in the region. We made tentative plans for him to join us in riding to Vang Vieng. We were fortunate to meet him, but missed a swiss couple whom he met a day earlier. Damn!
Dinner at a good French restaurant, good quality for its cheap prices, turns out its Willy’s father’s aha, a few days and we’re already running into the same people. Though Vientiane is a capital city it’s got a quaint small colonial town vibe to it; I dig it.
September 26, 2013, Thursday, Vientiane-dream 30k total: 10250km
Using Jo’s guidance, we set out on a venture out of town, riding along the river and through the fringes of Vientiane. It’s really surprising how quickly it changes from capital city back to village life. It happens within six miles. Local big brand shops turned into home front stores, clustered buildings turned into a mix of vacant lots, homes and shops and the asphalt turned into a dirt(at this time, mud) road.
We rode until a mural and small sign both reading “dreamtime” directed us to the last stop: Dreamtime eco resort, a cluster of bungalows secluded in a bit of forest outside town. The center of the eco resort is a covered, open air, deck cushions and the motto is “sit down, shut up, look at the trees” I’m not a frequent participant in a “retreat” type place, but man this place was relaxing. Sat in the lounge area, and finished one of my books, and then I utilized the property creek to go for a dip.
I wish Jo had told us to bring a change of clothes, cause Raj and I felt so settled into the place, we decided to stay the night. Good food, good people, and dinner over candle light.
September 27, 2013, Friday, Dreamtime-Vientiane 30km Total: 10280km
Morning stream-dip. Lunch. And then back to Jo’s in the afternoon. Someone absolutely cut us off when they were making a u-turn onto our side of the street. I stopped on my bike in front of her to scold her cause I was so frustrated; she looked right at me and simply ran into me, running over my foot. As frustrated as I was, it certainly wasn’t worth potentially getting injured. Luckily, so so luckily, my foot and bike are okay. As much as I wanted to, is scolding an idiot driver worth ending the trip? No. I pretty much only write this to point out that I can be an idiot sometimes. We all can be.
Made it back to Jo’s and had great dinner. A good last night in Vientiane, it is a lovely place ad Jo was fantastic company.