I thought maybe we'd be in for a bit of a break after how difficult the last couple days in Thailand were, but things only got more difficult (read: more awesome!) in Laos. Roads deteriorated, villages were fewer and further between, cell phone signal got weaker, and it rained a lot more. We still managed to have a good time though.
We spent the first couple nights in a tiny border town called Muang Nguen (don't ask me how to pronounce that), and all decided that one of our guesthouse's staff, Sit (not that ugly guy wearing the red "staff" shirt) was super cool. I think she and Minseong kind of fell in love a little bit too. Thanks for finding my sock amongst all the guesthouse laundry, Sit!
There is lots of this kind of thing on the roads in Laos. Otherwise incredible scenery, spoiled (or perhaps only made more contemplative?) by huge piles of smelly trash. This is basically the waste disposal infrastructure here. All the more reason to avoid plastic bottles and bags and such as much as possible; it all just ends up here.
We made it all the way to Hongsa before we were rained in for 3 days. The roads were muddy and wet, and we want to live to ride another day. So during one of the dry moments, we jogged across the street to a local primary school, and went head to head in Ultimate Frisbee with a pack of 20 7 year olds. Needless to say, they won. Joe, pictured above, happened to live on the same street as our guesthouse, and showed off his new puppy to us on the way home.
Above: A rainy evening well-spent.
The rain passed, and we're again on our way. This is one of the better roads in Laos.
I could post pretty landscape pics all day long.
One thing that is so surprising about traveling through Laos, is just how many children and young families there are everywhere. Every time I ride through a village, small children run out from behind trees, buildings, out of school, and giggle and wave at me as I ride by. I'm pretty sure the age distribution in Laos is something like 50% under 15 years old, 25% between 16 aand 30, 20% between 30 and 40, and 10% over 40.
You'll see toddlers taking care of newborns, elementary school kids running restaurants, and guys who look not much older than me with what appear to be grandkids.
About halfway to Luang Prabang, we got to cross this big fancy new bridge over the Mekong River! I'm going to pretend we were the first cyclists to go over it.
Unfortunately, the next 60 kilometers or so were under construction. That meant Che Guevera-loving construction workers (above), and brutally dusty roads.
And then there was this! I guess there are two kinds of cute kids in Laos. If the image below doesn't make your day, you're probably a grumpy person.
More cute kids. I can't believe I made the newbie photog mistake of cutting off that toddler's feet. It will never happen again.
Time to clock out! Everyone's on their way home from the farm, ready to settle down with their families to an awesome home-cooked meal of sticky rice and curry, or soup, or whatever. Except for us :(. Time to find a place to pitch our tents!
How do I still look this happy? Is it the considerable man-boobage?
