February 28, 2006
February 28, 2006
We left Pakxe on February 25th after spending a couple of days enjoying some good food and staying out of the heat. The town had some really good coffee that is grown in Paksong on the Bolaven Plateau. I wanted to ride my bike up the hill but just couldn’t work up the energy to ride in the heat. I think Jodi and I had become rather road weary and needed some time to gather our wits for our next adventure in Cambodia.
One night while walking back from dinner we ran into Tom and Liesbeth, the Belgium couple that we met in Bangkok. They had many stories to tell and provided some great beta about our rides further south. One particular hint about taking the car ferry instead of the passenger one was especially helpful. They were heading north for cooler temperatures around Vientiane and Lauang Probang, something Jodi and I had also considered because of the heat earlier that day. I was really glad we were able to get to know them better, I hope their travels in the north go well.
The morning of the 28th we stopped at our favorite baguette vender and ordered two stuffed with egg and visited the coffee stand for two iced coffees. We rode out of town thinking it was going to be a short day and we would arrive in our next destination before noon. At the 30km mark we were riding through a small village when Justin came riding up to the highway from the side road to Champasak. Jodi and I said "Justin" at the same time and stopped to hear his stories and journeys. He had ridden up to Paksong and said I hadn’t missed much and he also visited some of the other sights popular with backpackers but found them anticlimactic compared with the days he rode his bicycle. We told him our story and then began discussing our destination for the day. He was riding to "Four Thousand Islands" with his first stop being Muang Khong, a small village on the largest island Don Khong. We told him we were riding another 20km to Ban Thangbeng where we were told there was a guesthouse. We journeyed the next 20km together doing some more catching up. When we reached our destination we found a town that had very little to offer and the guesthouse was nothing special so we had lunch with Justin and decided to ride the additional 85km to Muang Khong. We had a tough time deciding since it was already noon and riding would have put us in at 5:00 PM meaning we would ride through the heat of the day.
It all went pretty well until the 100km point, where I seem to hit a mental barrier and the pains in my feet, shoulders and butt become more accentuated. Jodi was a trooper, she kept encouraging me and really helped me "stay in the game" during the hottest hour of 2:00 PM. We stopped in Hat Xay Khoun for a Pepsi and waited for Justin before taking the ferry to the Island. Justin came along about 30 minutes later and we all made our way to the car ferry. While waiting for the ferry we saw the most amazing sunset over the Mekong that any of us had seen. The Laos on the other hand seemed unimpressed and were wondering what all the fuss was about as we dug our cameras out of our bags. We crossed over to the river island and began the search for a guesthouse. After several attempts we found one run by a Canadian couple that was kind of pricey but it was very nice and the hospitality better.
When we checked in we originally planned on staying two nights and going south to Don Det, another river island close to the Cambodian border but things at Muang Khong were so relaxing we have had trouble getting motivated to go anywhere else. For once on this trip I am content with my current destination and didn’t feel the need to move on. For three days we have had the best food we have had in Laos, found a coffee vender who makes a really nice cup of Coffee Lao and baguettes stuffed with bananas and sweetened condensed milk and a clean guestroom. This morning the coffee lady saw us coming and started making the coffee and baguettes before we arrived.. I love this place! It is what I had hoped to find in all the "must see sights" along the way but I never thought it would be on an Island in the middle of the Mekong. Justin planned on staying two nights but he also can’t seem to work up the energy to move on. Its as if we are all caught in a "potential energy well," spinning deeper and deeper into some trance. Each day we just lay about reading, eating, talking about America, about our future plans and finally dreams and goals until we become too tired and go to sleep. The next day we do it all over again.
This morning the coffee lady shared some of her breakfast with us and we helped her with English. She has a desire to learn and can read but has exhausted the usefulness of her workbook and is hungry for something more. We taught her a few more words and she gave us a postcard for our efforts.
Tomorrow we ride. It is 85km to Strung Treng our first stop in the wild wild west country of Cambodia. Justin plans on joining us since there is safety in numbers and as my favorite school house rock song goes, "3 is a magic number." Jodi and I plan on documenting the border crossing with greater detail to help anyone reading our blog to understand what they are in for. Tomorrow is going to be interesting!
We left Pakxe on February 25th after spending a couple of days enjoying some good food and staying out of the heat. The town had some really good coffee that is grown in Paksong on the Bolaven Plateau. I wanted to ride my bike up the hill but just couldn’t work up the energy to ride in the heat. I think Jodi and I had become rather road weary and needed some time to gather our wits for our next adventure in Cambodia.
One night while walking back from dinner we ran into Tom and Liesbeth, the Belgium couple that we met in Bangkok. They had many stories to tell and provided some great beta about our rides further south. One particular hint about taking the car ferry instead of the passenger one was especially helpful. They were heading north for cooler temperatures around Vientiane and Lauang Probang, something Jodi and I had also considered because of the heat earlier that day. I was really glad we were able to get to know them better, I hope their travels in the north go well.
The morning of the 28th we stopped at our favorite baguette vender and ordered two stuffed with egg and visited the coffee stand for two iced coffees. We rode out of town thinking it was going to be a short day and we would arrive in our next destination before noon. At the 30km mark we were riding through a small village when Justin came riding up to the highway from the side road to Champasak. Jodi and I said "Justin" at the same time and stopped to hear his stories and journeys. He had ridden up to Paksong and said I hadn’t missed much and he also visited some of the other sights popular with backpackers but found them anticlimactic compared with the days he rode his bicycle. We told him our story and then began discussing our destination for the day. He was riding to "Four Thousand Islands" with his first stop being Muang Khong, a small village on the largest island Don Khong. We told him we were riding another 20km to Ban Thangbeng where we were told there was a guesthouse. We journeyed the next 20km together doing some more catching up. When we reached our destination we found a town that had very little to offer and the guesthouse was nothing special so we had lunch with Justin and decided to ride the additional 85km to Muang Khong. We had a tough time deciding since it was already noon and riding would have put us in at 5:00 PM meaning we would ride through the heat of the day.
It all went pretty well until the 100km point, where I seem to hit a mental barrier and the pains in my feet, shoulders and butt become more accentuated. Jodi was a trooper, she kept encouraging me and really helped me "stay in the game" during the hottest hour of 2:00 PM. We stopped in Hat Xay Khoun for a Pepsi and waited for Justin before taking the ferry to the Island. Justin came along about 30 minutes later and we all made our way to the car ferry. While waiting for the ferry we saw the most amazing sunset over the Mekong that any of us had seen. The Laos on the other hand seemed unimpressed and were wondering what all the fuss was about as we dug our cameras out of our bags. We crossed over to the river island and began the search for a guesthouse. After several attempts we found one run by a Canadian couple that was kind of pricey but it was very nice and the hospitality better.
When we checked in we originally planned on staying two nights and going south to Don Det, another river island close to the Cambodian border but things at Muang Khong were so relaxing we have had trouble getting motivated to go anywhere else. For once on this trip I am content with my current destination and didn’t feel the need to move on. For three days we have had the best food we have had in Laos, found a coffee vender who makes a really nice cup of Coffee Lao and baguettes stuffed with bananas and sweetened condensed milk and a clean guestroom. This morning the coffee lady saw us coming and started making the coffee and baguettes before we arrived.. I love this place! It is what I had hoped to find in all the "must see sights" along the way but I never thought it would be on an Island in the middle of the Mekong. Justin planned on staying two nights but he also can’t seem to work up the energy to move on. Its as if we are all caught in a "potential energy well," spinning deeper and deeper into some trance. Each day we just lay about reading, eating, talking about America, about our future plans and finally dreams and goals until we become too tired and go to sleep. The next day we do it all over again.
This morning the coffee lady shared some of her breakfast with us and we helped her with English. She has a desire to learn and can read but has exhausted the usefulness of her workbook and is hungry for something more. We taught her a few more words and she gave us a postcard for our efforts.
Tomorrow we ride. It is 85km to Strung Treng our first stop in the wild wild west country of Cambodia. Justin plans on joining us since there is safety in numbers and as my favorite school house rock song goes, "3 is a magic number." Jodi and I plan on documenting the border crossing with greater detail to help anyone reading our blog to understand what they are in for. Tomorrow is going to be interesting!
posted by Kirk & Jodi Roberts at 10:54 PM
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