After the night's rain it was a bit of a misty
start to the day. Everything had had a wash,
the red dust now gone from the leaves and
the countryside looked a lot greener and
fresher. A couple of hours into the ride it
hammered down with rain. Luckily we got
into a cafe just in time. We attempted to
teach the 9 year old kid (who appeared to
be running the place) to count in English
but didn't get too far. The sun came out
and the humidity rose. The riding was
getting pretty tough. Rolling hills came and
went. They made a pleasant change. It
pissed down again and we shared a shelter
with 4 blokes on scooters who were also
hiding from the worst of it. More noodle
soup for lunch. We rode on. Hot hot hot.
Kate spotted a Wall's ice cream cabinet
in a little shop and practically ram raided
the place to get her mitts on a cornetto,
not even getting off the bike to buy it
The rain had also brought the grass
out so we enjoyed our treat on the
local village green
The day dragged on. Hot, humid,
hills, headwind. At the top of some
climbs there was so much sweat
running down into my eyes I couldn't
see for the stinging! We'd wash
our faces off with precious drinking
water, tasting the super strong salt
from our sweat. More drinks stops.
More pedalling.
Whilst riding, we play this silly game with the
distance left to ride. "60km, that's
only 3 x Guys and back". The
distance from our flat in greenwich
to guys hospital is 10km, making
the return journey 20km. Now
Kate used to do that journey on
her bike to go and get her
radiotherapy treatment so it
couldn't be that hard! Sometimes
these thoughts help, sometimes not
A big fat 4WD would blast past us,
often late model Range Rovers,
their occupants sitting on super
comfy leather seat, aircon, music...
They were missing out on the real
Laos. We were out there, doing it,
smelling it, feeling it.... Hmm, I was
having trouble convincing myself!!
What is the fascination with Manchester
United over here?
I've tried saying the football names
of the teams printed on kids shirts,
even pointing at them as I say it.
They don't seem to know what I'm
talking about. Mind you, I get that
a lot in England as well....
Why are they riding hipster faux
fixies in rural Laos? He was riding
with the umbrella up when we first
saw him but when he spotted the
camera he went into 'cool dude
from Shoreditch' mode
The scenery is picking up
(shout back "Sabadee" to the
little waving girl)
106 hard, sweaty km later we
finally arrived feeling a bit knackered.
Even our little afternoon snack
(its a baguette by the way) did little
to ease us on our way.
The shower at the guest house
was lovely. Photos available upon
special request
..
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