Day 57 - biking around S.E Laos

So last I wrote we were just waiting for our flight to Pakse in the South-East arm of Laos, leaving the North behind. Upon disembarking the 3 hour flight, a wall of warm air slapped us in the face, and seconds later we were blasted by a light but warm rain shower. Wondering why we moved to a place the weather was fine to somewhere it was raining, we set about finding some accommodation in town. This gave us a good look at the town itself, and we quickly decided we needed to get the hell out of there (really not much to see/do), and fulfil our wish to hire bikes and do a couple of days touring the region. It wasn't easy finding bikes, but we each found a half decent machine from different sources, and booked them for 5 days.

Packing the minimal amount of gear we thought was needed into a plastic bagbungeed to the back, and stuffing the rest in the handy wire basket in the front, we set sail for a 5 day adventure in this unexplored corner of the country. We had no idea what to expect, but were hoping to find more of we'd experienced off the beat'n'track up North – the real Laos village life.

The first day didn't get off to a great start. Lukas split to do his serious photo thing that would bore poor Petr and I to tears, and we went ahead in search of waterfalls. We found one that seemed pretty nice, but one of the smaller in the area. Was no one there but us, so was nice to have the freedom to relaxingly roam.

Petr taking 'a moment' beside the falls.

Pressing forward in search of the next, larger waterfall we came across a spot of bad weather. Seems the climate is much more volatile down here – being landlocked and extremely hot this time of year, the isolated and plentiful large bodies of water (lakes and river) evaporate and rise off the dramatically shifting geography to create pockets of intense dry heat, followed by short-lived tropical rainstorms. We passed through one of these rainstorms, and got soaked again. Despite the damp, we pressed onto the town where we intended to stay in for the night.

The next morning we all stuck together from the outset, and stared to go exploring off-road, down small dirt paths in search of illusive villages. The weather was much better, and the skies started to look incredibly picturesque. We found small villages one at a time, waving at everyone we passed. Eventually we came across a small village were music was bellowing from an open door (seemed familier), with locals beckoning us in. After some persuasion they dragged us inside and started filling us with booze. From what we could gather, they were celebrating the plentiful harvest and to bless the coming year – a regular festival. They thrust Beer Laos into our hands and started putting glasses of Lao Lao Whiskey in our hands. They also began tying cotton wristbands to our arms for good luck charm, blessing a drink at the same time you had to neck. It was pretty fun, and they certainly enjoyed the experience as much as we did.

Saying our good byes, we continued on, finding village after village. Finally we found accommodation in our next stop; Sekong. Again the town wasn't much to look at, and basic resources such as restaurants were hard to find, as was a bank to withdraw money (starting to run low). Next morning we wre back on the road early. Following a similar pattern, we explored every village that came our way, snapping everything picture-worthy we could find. Didn't get invited to any parties this time, but we caused quite a stir when we entered a local bar for a drink, attempting to converse with the local drunk men (seems to be most men around here), and showing them pictures of themselves which seems to hold no-end of fascination and enjoyment. One guy was so impressed we think he was trying to get us to send him a giant print-out for his wall, guess it beats a mirror?

Again to more accommodation and a hair cur for Lukas and Petr. In the internet café now (first we've seen in days, and the slowest we've every experienced).

We really are enjoying having bikes again – it's not the same as having our own, and in some ways these new/real Honda bikes aren't as good as our Chinese copies, probably because we're not willing to fix these one's up... But it's loads of fun, and when it doesn't rain (been lucky the post two days) the weather really can be glorious.

Having a great time, and more tales of the final days of biking to come shortly. TTFN