Trip Dates - October 22 - Nov 2, 2014.
Part 3, Bike trip to Laos.
Again, the general idea of the route we took was-
North from Bangkok, North-East across the border in Nan province, East, then South to Xayabouri, then North-East to Luang Prabang, turned South after reaching Luang Prabang, down through Vang Vieng, to the Laos capital of Vientiene, then continued South through North-Eastern Thailand (Esaan) towards Bangkok.
Xayabouri.
The town that has its name spelled at least 4 different ways, don’t be confused; theres only one big town in the area. I saw Saignabouli, Sainabouri, and Xayabuli, there may be more. This area of Laos is not very populated… ok pretty much everywhere in Laos is not very populated. Its a great country, its fairly small, extremely relaxed culture… but very deep! Laos has a long history, and actually many traditions in Thailand are from Laos (but try to get a Thai to admit this! :) )
Pronounciation Note: Xaynabouri, Sai-Nya-Boo-Ree
Laos is a great country to visit for any reason, but specifically a great country in which to plan a bike ride. Laos has 17 provinces, and in the far North of Laos, the province of Phongsali has 22 recognized ethnic groups! That's what's recognized by the government, but a friend who works in Laos told me there are over 40! Just the 1 province! Laos only has 6 million people, so think of how diverse that area must be! Laos isn’t keeping the native people there to preserve them and their ways, its just that the area is far away, quite remote, and will cost too much to develop.
Laos just isn’t ready yet, but the time is coming soon enough (as we saw by the HUGE power plant nearly complete in the town of Hongsa (100km North of Xayabouri)) that other countries just might start to move in on whatever resources may be found there. So - if you’re in the area and love cycling, or, a bit less common but equally rewarding, if you happen to be an anthropologist who lives in the area and somehow does not know about this amazingly diverse area nearby… go visit! Take a trip!
And if you’re wondering which countries might be looking to “develop” remote areas for the Laos government, look again at the statistics on those pictures from the new Hongsa plant. It produces 1,600 megawatts of power, 1,450 megawatts of which will head to Thailand… One of my good friends in Thailand, someone much more knowledgeable than I on such matters, told me that Laos’ number 1 export is actually electricity. Eastern Myanmar exports much of its electricity to Western Thailand…
 |
| "Kop Jai Ti Taan Baw Soop Ya" (Thank you for not smoking, Laos Language) |
Ok, back to biking.
Riding up this stretch from Xayabouri to Luang Prabang was lovely, specifically when crossing over the Mae Nam Kong river (link below). This huge river is the 7th largest river in the world (12th longest in the world), coming down from China, through Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam.
I have had the good fortune of seeing this river now in several different places, and much appreciate the chance to just sit beside it, again and again, and consider the huge number of years that people have survived off of the fish that live in its waters. These fisherman have conducted trade . In the Thai province of Chiang Rai, in Laos in Pak Beng, in Vang Vieng, back in Thailand in Nakon Panom, further on in Mukdahan, in Ubon Ratchatani (another bike trip, article coming soon!), and then all the way down in Southern Vietnam where the Mae Kong river delta creates the means of sustenance for tens of millions of Vietnamese farmers and fisherman. This river is amazing, and even as far north as Luang Prabang, this river is massive!
 |
| A buffalo enjoying the long grasses besides the Mekong, as its ancestors have done for millennia :) |
The waters look low, the rains did not come as heavy as usual this year, but 5 years ago I took a boat up this same stretch of river (from Luang Prabang to Huay Xay, amazing trip! Oh yeah, it was my first visa run and my first SE Asian travel experience with Mark Wiens just 3 weeks after coming to Thailand in August 2009 actually…). I can take this time to notice how I STILL feel so lucky, every day, to still be here. Not only that, to still LOVE being here!
Unfortunately, after finally reaching the Mae Kong, I realized that my cycling partner just wasn’t going to make it. He felt that Luang Prabang was the end of the trip, and for me it was only halfway (we still needed to ride back of course!). We got to Luang Prabang just a bit after dark, and he went and bought a bus ticket for he and his back all the way back to Bangkok. The bus by the way, goes through the border with the province of Loei, not Nongkai! I am not sure if foreigners are allowed to cross here, my friend is Thai however, and has the right to use any border crossing of course. He didn’t say that there were any non-Thais on the bus with him).
For reference, the ticket was 1,800 Baht including his bicycle. 20 hour ride all the way to BKK and I was hanging out in Laos alone. I usually come to Laos alone, but I wanted to do this trip as a pair! I was a bit disappointed, and I myself took a bus down to Vang Vieng later that morning. That ticket cost 400 Baht, including the bike, and it took 5 hours. The way was intense, the hills we went down were crazy, but I was already kicking myself when I saw the unbelievably jagged and unbelievably awesome looking Pu Si (sometimes spelled Phu See, or Pou Si) jutting out of the hills all around. This area was SO green, so beautiful, just like the North of Nan province, and I guess I just need to go back sometime and complete this section of the trip.
Pronounciation Note: Vang Vieng is pronounced Wang Wee-ang. The 'a' in Wang sounds like the 'u' in Bun, Hair Bun, and the same for the 'a' in Wee-ang, like the 'u' in the word 'hung.' Wee-ang, might also be spelled Wieng, and it means "City" in Laos language. The Lao use the V instead of a W, but it will actually be a W sound 100% of the time as there is no V sound in the Laos language. Finally, the country and people are both Lao, no 's.' The 's' is silent, Laos was colonized by the French, thus the country name, but the Lao people have been there for quite some time...
When I left Thailand, I was picturing this section from Luang Prabang to Vang Vieng specifically as the highlight of the trip, and I guess I just let it get to me that my friend didn’t want to continue. To any other bikers though, this section would be glorious! Challenging for sure, super steep hills, but wow. So beautiful. I was looking at my GPS just before starting the descent to Vang Vieng and it was around 1,050m above sea level. I did notice a few home stays with just the most perfect of views of the ultra-craggy peak of Pu Si, and I think I have to come back and stay a night or two just to have a few more hours to stare at this crazy cool mountain!
 |
| Stopped to refill on water, this was the view from behind the shop. Somewhere near Vang Vieng... |
The Finnish couple I mentioned in part 2, it was in this minibus to Vang Vieng that we met, and we reached VV at about 3pm. I immediately started cycling, and started enjoying myself again as well. It was hard not to - this area was, yet again, gorgeous. I can’t get tired of saying how pretty the scenery is here, and even though it is SO popular with the backpacker scene, has been so for about 10 years now, there are reasons why places like this hit it big. The relaxed atmosphere, the wild natural beauty, the cheap cost of the local lifestyle, it is just a perfect attraction to set up a few bungalows… although now there are probably a few hundred bungalows. I won’t go into the details of Vang Vieng, but I will just say that nearly every backpacker I have met in Thailand talks about the fun they had there.
I had my first bike trouble in the early evening, I guess it was not a good idea in the first place to try and make it all the way to Meuang Pon Honge in just 3 hours, but hey - I got helped out in the end, I made it through, and its a learning experience after all.
I saw a beautiful temple off to the side of the road, very inviting feel to it, no one around, but the way up to the temple was just a small grassy slope. Its never the best idea to ride off road in unknown areas, especially on a road bike, and I guess I ran over a nail. The tire blew out from the side, and I didn’t bring any tools to change the tire. I had a spare inner tube, but nothing else to help in such a situation. I was annoyed at myself, kinda still annoyed that I was alone, annoyed that it was dark and there was no one to blame for this but myself… ah. Not the best situation.
Luckily, there was a family nearby who were all lining up to laugh and stare, and eventually I got over my pride and went to hang out with them. They helped me wave down a truck, and I had a 3 hour basic conversation in Laos with the young man driving. He was alone, so he seemed happy to pick me up, and in the end he actually stopped (without asking me :) ) at his brothers house first to have dinner. They were all able to understand me, but they were still surprised to see that I could eat their food. This particular bit never ceases to make me chuckle, because I think Thai-Laos food is the best food in the world, I could never get bored of it, Im excited every day when I wake up here because I have the chance to eat more! but still, every time, “Can you eat this? Wow, how bout this? No way, haha, a foreigner likes fermented fish! Mom come and look at this!…”
But really, I literally cannot count the number of times over the past 5 years that I have been invited to share a meal with someone, with a group of friends, or with an entire family, that I just met 5 minutes ago. Parents of students in my own town, people I meet at the market riding through other towns, people I meet on the bus, just wherever I go, I seem to blessed with great cultural-with-regard-to-food-experiences wherever I go.
These people are so friendly, so welcoming, it is hard to sit down at the end of the day and think that I really have anything to teach them. Think about that. I come from a culture that is judged by this world to be “advanced,” to be “developed,” but what really is the point? I am seen to be coming to live in SE Asia to teach them English, and to share my experience of the greater world around.
Sure, talking about technology, about finances, about business strategies, then yes- the Western world has done quite well, and SE Asia could be seen as lacking in such areas by comparison. But, in my mind, I have to take a verse from my favorite book of the Bible here, Ecclesiastes. Solomon, a very wise dude, says that he finds no goal more worthwhile than to enjoy daily food and drink, to work hard and be happy doing it, and then to rest content at the close of each day. I have visited just a fraction of the nations and countries in our world, but of the experiences I have had, I must say that the Thai-Laos people live more closely to Solomon’s words than any other culture I have had the chance to know.
Its true that I usually smile, I probably don’t look very threatening being a white foreigner walking (or in this case biking) around alone, and yes I do fairly well using the local languages, but it is impossible to deny the overwhelming friendliness of these people. Laos people (and Thai as well), are extremely welcoming, extremely easy-going, and I have been blessed with yet another chance to get to know how a few more humans in this world go through each day.
 |
| The Mekong River in all its glory... |
We sat down to a meal of Laos style boiled vegetables (grown behind the house), a fried fish (caught by one of this guy’s brothers), the varying but ever-present fiery hot mashed chili paste (Nam Prik), and heaping plates of white rice. The whole meal could be bought quite cheaply, but I don’t think that any money was used to purchase it at all! Laos is very poor on paper, but actually most people eat things that they grow locally. I didn’t ask where the rice came from, but if I eat my own town’s rice in Chumpuang, then it could have easily been this families own rice we ate that evening.
This guy and I drove on, and after understanding that I couldn’t really do anything further with my bike, he just took me all the way into the capital of Vientiene. He worked a bit outside of town, but as it was already 9pm, he took me to where he thought I’d have a chance to fix my bike. I saw a shop, stayed in a cheap place nearby, and bought a new tire bright and early in time for the morning ride into town.
Further note, watch this (coming soon) video for an experience getting somewhat stuck in the only traffic anywhere in the whole country of Laos :)
The ride across the border was uneventful, but I did notice an extremely expensive car parked outside a very small local barber shop. I guess the barber must have had some crazy skills to attract the driver of a Bentley!! I rode through the intense mid-day heat in order to have time to cross the border, have dinner, and make the train from the Nongkai station back in Thailand.
So as not to make this run on to another article (although I could really still talk about many more details over the two remaining days), I will keep this part brief.
I took the train to Kon Kaen, stayed with some of my oldest and closest Thai friends in Ban Bpet, and had some stunning Esaan dishes at an exposition put on by the Art faculty from the huge University of Kon Kaen. I took some photos with some artists, friends of my friends, and enjoyed two different kinds of not-so-common Som Tam; Som Tam made with unripe bananas (Tam Gluay), and, my new favorite, Som Tam made with barely ripe Tamarind. Thailand has both sweet tamarind and sour, and the sour is used mainly in flavoring the sour soups such as Tom Saep/Tom Yam, or in making the amazing Southern style Nam Prik Makam, a hot and sour chili mash eaten as a side with fresh vegetables. I had never had this fruit as a Som Tam, and man is it awesome! The food culture here is just so great, and it is really common to find both fruits and vegetables used in both their raw and ripened states. For example, before moving here I would never think to eat a green mango right from the tree, but now Som Tam Ma Muang (Spicy Papaya salad made with shredded mango instead of shredded papaya) is one of my favorite things on earth!
The next day I took a break from the bike, hung out with my friends, and of course had some more amazing Esaan meals including the long awaited Tam Makaam! (Thats Som Tam made with barely ripe Tamarind instead of Green Papaya) Almost worth another article in itself, the variety of Som Tams in Northern Esaan is wild! I don’t know if they would want to hear about my recipe for Durian Som Tam, but they probably have one for every other fruit and plant here! Tam Dong Dang uses noodles, but different than the noodles used in Tam Sua :) Ok, yes I need to make another article on all the types I have come across…
So a final stretch, this time all on known roads, taking the local highways (but in Thailand local highways are usually quite nicely paved and accessible), and I was back at my house in Chumpuang.
After finishing a trip like this, whether one has traveled by bike, by car, by bus, (by foot would have been the best but wow, that might have taken 4 months?) it is just amazing to sit down with a map and re-think just how far one has come. To have just cycled a decent portion of 2 entire countries… the amount of memories preserved inside our heads from any trip, let alone a trip of pretty much all new sights and sounds, can give someone food for thought for literally years to come. I have to quote Camus here, a favorite book of mine, The Stranger. A very weird story, but very smart nonetheless… he says that while sitting in jail he realizes that through focusing the memory, “any free man need only live but a day to entertain himself in solitude for 100 years with just the memories of that single day.”
If you have any recommendations for further things to see in Laos, other ideas for cycling trips or trips that you have taken, please! I would love to hear about them! Write me a message.
Have a great day! Thanks for reading. Take care, and look next week to read about another Thai cycling-cultural-food adventure.
-Joel
Full details of the route -
Day
1 - Phrae Train Station to
Wat Pra Tat Cho Hae (Easy 39km), A. Mae Lai to A. Rong Kwang (19km)
riding on Route 1022,
then to A. Mae Lai - (Easy 23km) (Hitched due to Rain)
2 - Rong Kwang into J. Nan, on to A. Wieng Sa (Medium 36km)
A. Wieng Sa, turn North towards M. Nan (Easy 26km)
Route 101, from Intersection to M. Nan - (Easy 26km)
3 - M. Nan to T. Pa Leo Luang, (Easy 22km) T. Pa to A. Santisuk (Crazy! 10km)
then A. Santisuk via Route 1169 (Hitched due to Injury)
to A. Pua via route Route 1081 (Medium 37km)
4 - A. Pua to A. Tung Chang (Medium 39km),
on to T. Pon (Medium 12km). T. Pon to A. Chalerm Pra Kiet (Crazy! 16km)
(Hitched due to lack of ability to climb SUCH hills :) )
A. Chalerm Pra Kiet over into LAOS,
Finally, border to M. Chieng Ngen (Medium 7km)
5 - M. Chieng Ngen to N. Hongsa (Hard 24km),
then Hongsa to M. Na Poong (Crazy! 18km) M. Na Poong to Xayabouri (Crazy! 90km)
(Hitched due to lack of ability, but really personal safety!)
6 - Xayabouri to M. Nan (**Laos Nan!**) (Medium 55km),
riding up Route 4,
then ahead to Luang Prabang (Hard 60km). (Took a bus due to my partner throwing in the towel…)
7 - Luang Prabang to Kasi (Hard X km),
taking Asia Route 13,
then continue South to Vang Vieng (Hard X km). (Riding alone from LPB onwards)
8 - Vang Vieng to Meuang Pon Honge (Easy 55 km)
still on Route 14,
then onwards to Vientiene (Easy X km). (Hitched due to flat tire in the dark, absolutely no shops around)
9 - Vientiene to Nongkai (Easy 33km),
approximately 30 minute wait at the border (There are not many trains per day, 3 I think…see times above)
then train from Nongkai to Khon Kaen. (Train distance 150km, passes Udon Tani, takes 3 hours).
10 - Break in Kon Kaen, no riding today.
11 - Kon Kaen to Ban Pai on Thai Highway 2 (Easy X km)
then on to Non Sila by Local Highway 2301 (Easy X km),
through to Nong Song Hong on Highway 207 (Easy X km),
and finally to Pratai. (Easy X km).
12 - Pratai to Chumpuang, by way of Local 2285 - Home (Easy 24km).
 |
| Back Home in Chum Phuang! |
No comments:
Post a Comment