To Laos

Reaching the Mekong

Have finally arrived in Laos after a fun 100km ride in the blistering heat and full of climbs.

Out of Chiag Rai Hawk and I rode at a wonderfully steady pace, covering a little under 60km in 2.5hours. The peddals were turning smoothly, all was flat and we had a nice little tailwind. When we hit the Mekong we stopped to find food, there was little English spoken, but eventually we managed some soup and noodles. So we recharged for a while and decided to push on for the Laos border.

Drifting Back

Hawk maitained a steady pace for the next 25+ km amd I managed to find a nice rhythm, just dropping back ever so slowly, which was fine by me as I was still not confident in my knee. Then the wind was no longer a tailwind and the flat became decidedly uphill. I felt like I must have been drifting futher back as someone had filled my bike panniers will concrete. My speed was dropping quickly from 30km down to 10-11km. Then I was faced with a big climb and my speed dropped again. Physically there was not alot left and I wasn't looking forward to the push up the hill, when I heard a voice from the trees where Hawk was perched in the shade. We stopped and recharged before commiting to the climb.

The Climb

As I watched Hawk pull away up the hill my commitment died, so I hailed a passing van with a lovely husband and wife in it. We threw my bike in the back and headed up the hill, stopping to pick up Hawk just 100m from the summit.

We contemplated continuing ourselves, only 24km from the border and facing a fabulous downhill ride, but we stayed in the truck thankfully as ahead there were two more big climbs, neither of which looked easy following our energy depletion from the heat. Once over the hills we jumped out of the van, gave the couple a little money and said our thank-yous. We could see Laos.

The rest of the day was the formalities of a border crossing, immigration and customs as well as finding a guesthouse in which to stay. No of these things are easy to achieve when tired, exhusted, dripping sweat and not understanding a word of Thai or Lao.

Sorry that there are no photos, but the internet here is slow. Later I will writeabout our trip om the Mekong where I have a few nice photos.

Cpp