The Wobbling Sprocket

We got up today, walked down to the restaurant for some western style flapjacks and then hauled our luggage and our bikes down to the riverfront where we packed the same onto a couple small boats for our trip down the Nam Ou River.

The Nam Ou flows through some pretty rugged territory. There is not much on the river in this part of Laos: some water access only villages and some gold mining dredges.

As we pass an isolated village and watch a mother carrying her child down to the water, one can only wonder how quiet a live here must be…..50, maybe 60 villagers in the community and only the passing occasional boat linking you with the outside world.
The boat trip lasts 4.5 hours or so. The boatmen clearly know what they are doing. The ride is initially chilly with cloud cover, but eventually the sun breaks through and warms us up. It feels good!

This is the point when one typically falls into the daily rhythm of the tour. You’ve been away long enough and you are in a place that is foreign enough, that you set aside the things that normally occupy your thoughts and take on something more of your surroundings; you become a little more Lao. It’s not a bad thing.

We will stop at a small riverside village for lunch and then continue on for an before disembarking in Nong Khiaw. At that point we have a short 35k ride to Pak Mong. The bike ride is “Lao Flat” as Doalit, our local guide, puts it. That means rolling hills and a few short climbs…but no real mountains. At this stage everyone seems ok with “Lao Flat”.

A scenic ride down the Nam Ou. Life is Good

We rode 40k from Dien Bien Phu to Tay Tran. My chain broke on the way, but I got a lift from a local up to our van. No problem I haven’t looked at the chain yet, but I will figure something out.

We met a local bus and our Lao Guide, Daolit, at the border and moved our stuff to it. We said our good byes to Mr. Dan and Mr Hup who have been with us in Vietnam and made our way. It’s good we did not try to bike it. The road is not done and it is dusty. It would have been really hard. It takes awhile to get organized at the border and we probable would not have enough daylight to ride anyway.

We arrived in Muong Khua about 3pm. Surprise, surprise there is now some internet here. We had a nice dinner overlooking the banks of the Nam Ou River.

Tomorrow we take a small boat to Nong Khiaw and then ride our bikes 40K to Pak Mong.

This guy rode next to me for 15 minutes on the way out of Dien Bien Phu. We "talked" the whole time. That doesn't mean either of us understood much of anything. He did get that I was head to Laos and was from the US. Very friendly. It was fun.

Another 100 plus k day today.  We had a big climb out of Muong Lay, then a descent and a couple more good size climbs before heading into Dien Bien Phu.

After a hard day yesterday, these thing start to take a little bit of a toll on the old bod.

Anyway, we are staying at a nice place in DBP with a huge pool in which the water seemed reasonable clean….so I went for swim.  It was refreshing after a long day on the bike.

Mike has a cold so he took a ride in the van the whole way.  That didn’t stop him from taking a tumble on the bike.  He borrowed Kim’s and was apparently demonstrating bunny hops at a rest stop and lost it.  He put a descent gash in his leg.  Kim, being the doctor that she is, patched him up.   It just goes to show you that you never know what is going to happen.

Tomorrow we ride to Tay Tran where we cross the border into Laos.  It’s only 40k.  I think we probably will take a transfer to Muong Khu in Laos.  The road has been under construction in Laos and I’m not sure if complete yet.  The 40k ride to Muong Khu is hard enough and everyone feeling the effects of challenging rides, leetle feesh, etc etc.

The weather has been great though.  It gets a little warm after lunch, but not a drop of rain since Day 1.

Lots and lots of these around.

Think kids don't have neat stuff to play with in Vietnam. Think again. How abour a 40 ton tractor

Mike's Leg