Thakek

09.01.2008 to 10.01.2008

It's been a month since the last time we updated our blog but so many things happened since then. We were either too busy or the computers we found were too slow to even attempt updating the blog from them.

So what happened next ? ........

We moved from Vientiane to Thakek using public transport, for the first time. The experience was quite interesting. We were the only foreigners on the bus and all the locals were looking at us with curiosity. Given we had missed breakfast, we were expecting to manage to buy something from the bus station, but there were no food stands there....and we soon discovered why. As soon as the bus took off we saw around seven people running towards the bus. At first we thought that they were late and running to catch the bus... but it turned out that they were street/bus vendors... and they had it all : chicken, rice, crisps, water, fruit!

The whole bus trip took around six hours including three stops :

(1) Pee stop in the bushes

(2) Lunch stop

(3) Market stop, where they unloaded the loads of vegetables which were sharing the bus with us :)

We arrived at Thakek Travel Lodge where we managed to find a good room for 50,000 kip. We spent the remainder of the day lazing out and making plans for the 'famous' LOOP.

The day after Janet spent some hours reading the Travel Lodge log book in order to get the latest information on the Loop. At the end of the day we had all the information we needed, met with Mr. Ku, a very nice man from whom we rented our bike, and studied the map. We were ready to set off the following day.....

The Loop (11.01.2008 to 14.01.2008)

The loop was an ínteresting' experience. We cannot quite say it was the maximum you can get, but looking back at it, it could have been done with so much less hassle (though we must say that it definetely served the purpose of gaining experience on a bike).

We set off from Thakek and ended up in Lak Sao the first day. This meant a twelve hour bike ride.

Our first stop was at Tam Xieng Liab cave, a small cave with water passing through. What made it nice and fun, was the fact that our guides were all young kids who knew the place blindly (have to say they were a little bit expensive as we gave them $1 each, and there was six of them). They escorted us into the cave and posed for several photos.

Our second stop was along the way... we had to stop to look for Yakof's sandals as they fell off from the bike. Luckily we managed to find them both!

Our third stop was close to Mahaxay, where we stopped to have an ice cold drink....and we definitely did get that as Yakof's drink was a can full of ice :) The kids there were great and Yakof showed them the 'finger trick'.

The roads were really heavy as there were a lot of road works going on... so basically roads full of sand, dust, big trucks and holes. Eventually we arrived in Thalang, where we were planning to spend the night at. We had to change our plans when the guesthouse owner did not turn up after we waited for an hour. At four we decided to head to Lak Sao. It would be dark until we reached the place but we had no choice. We got there at 8 o' clock at night, through some rough roads full of pot-holes and having to stop in a village to mend a punctured tyre.

Luckily we managed to find a good hotel where we could have a hot shower....after those twelve hours we had turned brown from the dust....we looked disgusting. We had dinner and collapsed in bed.

Day 2 much nicer (the road being, way better!!). The trip from Lak Sao to Nahin was very scenic... some of the nicest areas we had seen since we had been travelling. There were many small villages on the way, with kids waving out sabaidee at us.

We had two very nice stops. One was at Tha Bak, a small picturesque village where they have bomboats (boats made out of missiles). The second one was at a particular scenic point where we could see Nahin and Kong Lo... impressive! Finally we arrived at Mi Thuna where we stopped to have lunch. The food was excellent, and the place was so nice that we decided to stay there for the night. We spent the rest of the day sleeping, going for a short walk and playing with the monkeys and dogs at the guesthouse. The highlight of it all was JACKY, an amazing 5-month old puppy.

The following day, we set off to Kong Lo Cave. Again the road to the cave was not an easy one. On our way there Janet had to get off the bike as there was a small stream of mud, in which she amazingly enough, managed to slip :) We made it to the cave at midday and headed straight to our cave tour, which was impressive! The cave is 7km long and pitch black dark. The trip entailed a ride with a long boat, which stopped us every now and again to walk walk along the side, as the water level was too low to pass through with our weight on. At first we thought that 100,000 kip was a lot to hire a boat, eventually we had to change perspective, for it was a great experience and money well spent. Our plans of doing a homestay changed, and given that it was too late to get back to Thakek, we decided to stay for another night at Mi Thuna, in Na Hin. As soon as we got there we took a shower and Yakof went to wash the bike as it was full of dirt. During dinner we met Kevin, whom we had met back at Thakek Lodge. He is South African who has been living in England for the past five years. His trip started off from China and was going to end at his native country. He mainly travels with his bicycle and we were impressed that he managed to make such a long way by bike.

[ check out his blog: http://www.explorebybike.blogspot.com/ ]

That night Yakof got very sick and spent most of the night in the toilet throwing up. We everntually managed to sleep at around 4 o' clock in the morning. Though Yakof had fully recovered as yet, we set off for the 140km trip back to Thakek. With many 'drinking' stops along the way we managed to arrive at the guest house at around 15:30. Yakof dropped dead in bed and Janet updated her journal and had something to eat.

The next day we decided to take it easy as Yakof was still a bit sick. We spent most of the day on the internet, reading and relaxing. The day after we set off to our next destination....Pakse.

For pictures click here: