Over the hills and far away…

 

After one day of relaxation we wanted to proceed southwards. Already at 7 in the morning we took our breakfast to start early. However, again one of our bicycles upset our plans: Stefans back wheel tube was flat, again. And although we checked the tube and the coat carefully we could not find any foreign object. Also we could not really clarify if the tube is really losing air… Therefore Stefan just put in the new tube and we went on.

The way back where we went some days before was less exhausting than we had feared, so we reached our destination for that day, Na Mor, already at 2 in the afternoon. On our way we had been greeted again by “Sabaidee” a lot – the people here are unbelieveably friendly! But the architecture in Laos is something we still don’t understand: wooden and bamboo cottages stand next to kind of mansions and other beautiful houses in European style. Also our guesthouse was looking pretty posh from the outside – but on the inside it was pretty un-fancy. It hadn’t been cleaned for a while, everywhere were tiny ants, small spiders, friendly geckos, some mosquitos, a few bugs and one huge grasshopper between toilet seat and lid. Stefan escorted it gently out of our window. 😉
To be on the safe side we bought some spirals against mosquitos.

 

road block, again

road block, again

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In this village we were a little attraction, as hardly any tourists might stop here. Nicely our hosts were Chinese, therefore we could have a tasty Chinese dinner. Afterwards we could sleep a little in our smoky room. The next morning we started again quite early and were greeted by a praying mantis who was just chilling beneath Stefans saddle.

 

the praying manti

the praying mantis

For breakfast we had Khao Jee, a baguette with a kind of meaty spread, vegetables and spicy sauces – a classic Lao breakfast, but a bit too spicy for us so early in the morning… But we needed the energy as our way for the day was pretty much uphill, even though it were just 50 km. The children in the villages were really happy to see us there and were yelling and waving and laughing a lot. Only when Stefan tried to give them his hand they ran away crying. 😀

 

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there was a time when Lao people had to be told to honk...

there was a time when Lao people had to be told to honk…

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Stefan with some really brave children

Stefan with some really brave children

 

Shortly after noon we arrived in Muang Xay, the capital of the province Oudomxay. There were a lot more guesthouses and therefore also a lot more tourists. Our accomodation was very clean and for Stefan there was even a Manchester United blanket. 🙂

Exhausted from too little sleep the night before and the hot weather when cycling we took a nap immediately. So we had a look at the town just shortly before sunset. There is one temple and that’s it, actually. For dinner we went to Souphailin’s restaurant which was said to be soooo amazing. It looks very basic and the hostess is cooking completely alone but freshly. On the other hand we had to wait for about one and a half hours and it really wasn’t thaaaaat good. We definitely would not recommend to come here. However, we could kill some time by playing with the hostess’ daughter who was easily entertained. 🙂

 

the Buddha statue next to the temple

the Buddha statue next to the temple

 

Although we knew that the next day would be tiring we didn’t really hurry to leave our guesthouse. Also we had to buy some breakfast and snacks for the way. Unfortunately, the weather was not that good, which is why we found ourselves in the middle of nowhere in the pouring tropical rain.  But the best thing was that there was another road block and we had to wait there in the rain. Just great. At least we had about 20 degrees.

The day was pretty tough though. The roads were often bad and full of road works, every now and then it rained, there were several road blocks and the smell of the garbage everywhere didn’t make it any better. Also the people in this part of the country were not friendly and in such a good mood. Maybe they are pissed off by the road works as well.
Around 4:30 in the afternoon we had finally reached the peak, from now on the road should mostly be downhill, yaaay! The landscape was breathtaking, like in a fairytale, every now and then Alexandra was thinking: “There is magic out there!” 😉

 

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a crab, right in the middle of the road

a crab, right in the middle of the road

break in a village

break in a village

there are a lot of hens with their little

there are a lot of hens with their little

yaaay, finally 6.000 km!

yaaay, finally 6.000 km!

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just a bit dirty

just a bit dirty

yes, they are selling things like that here...

yes, they are selling things like that here…

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