Update March 2018

Countries visited: Thailand, Laos, Vietnam

Cycled mileage in March: 1,575.6km
Cycled mileage per country: 512.6km Thailand, 793.4km Laos, 269.6km Vietnam
Total cycled mileage incl. March: 33,481.4km
March mileage not cycled 433.5km (Boat, Bus, Walking)

Days per country: 13d - Thailand, 15d - Laos, 3d - Vietnam
Days cycling: 17d

Technical failures: N/A

Link to this month's route

We finished last month in Hod, one day short of Chiang Mai. Simon felt rather ropey and so the 90 kilometres into Chiang Mai were a struggle. We checked in to our cosy hotel a bit outside the city centre. Even though Simon didn't feel too well we had a mission: we had been craving pizza for a while now and there was no stopping us from having one!

Pizza!!!

The next morning we received a message from Alex, the British cyclist we had met some days earlier. He had arrived in Chiang Mai yesterday. We arranged to meet for dinner and some beers. The rest of the day was mostly spent on admin stuff. Also we quickly cycled to Nu from Triple Cat Cycles. Nu had built a new rear wheel for Dominik last month and he had offered to check the spoke tension once we would be back in Chiang Mai. We happily accepted that offer! In the evening we met with Alex in the old town. Some French backpackers Alex shared the dorm with joined us. It was a fun night exploring the night markets, exchanging stories and having too many beers.

Night out in Chiang Mai

The next morning we had planned to finish the admin stuff we had begun yesterday but realised soon that our laptop was starting to fail – once more. We had had it fixed back in Bangkok two months earlier but seemingly there was more wrong with it. We explored the choice of computer stores and repair shops in a nearby mall but didn't come to a conclusion on what to do. Instead we spent the evening indulging in Thai food at Kad Manee night market. We shall admit there might have been another pizza among some great Thai food ;-)
While we had breakfast the next morning Duncan texted us, the other British cyclist we had cycled with for 1.5 days last month. We met with him in the evening and went straight to the Sunday night market. The whole thing was a rather touristy affair with lots of souvenirs and a serious lack of food stalls. We quickly decided to go to another night market instead to get some food. When we still felt hungry after some snacks and massive portions of Pad Thai we went on to Kad Manee night market and had one more round of food.

Visiting the Sunday Night Market with Duncan

The next day we again met with Duncan in the old town for some sightseeing. Probably all three of us were rather tired of temples, Buddha statues and tourists. After visiting two temples we decided to call it a day and to turn to food and beer instead. No need to mention that we treated ourselves to another pizza!

Sightseeing...

...in Chiang Mai...

...and a pizza!

During breakfast the next morning we finally made the decision to buy a new laptop. Buying the laptop, setting it up and recovering files from the old laptop costed us almost two days. Eventually we had mostly everything up and running and arranged to meet with Duncan in the morning to cycle towards the Laotian border together. It was a short ride out of the hectic city traffic to the shores of the Mae Kuang Reservoir. With a small ferry we crossed the reservoir and after a steep ascent and some more riding through jungle-like forest we reached a secondary road that took us all the way to Phrao. We found a nice hotel in a traditional wooden house and went out for dinner together.

Ferry across the Mae Kuang Reservoir

On the way to Phrao

When 3 hungry cyclists demolish their food...

The next day we continued following back roads. Some of these roads were awfully steep but the views were rewarding and there was hardly any traffic. On the crest of the last hill Duncan suddenly stopped. His left pedal had come off the spindle. One of the bearings had virtually evaporated. With some random fibre washers and a lot of grease we somewhat fixed the thing. A quick look on the map showed there was a bicycle shop in Fang about 30 kilometres from where we were. We reassessed our plans to include a stop at that shop. With no solid food since a rice soup for breakfast we included another detour to a highway rest stop first. We had the best waffles we ever found in Thailand and we ran into a group of four American cyclists who were going the other way. We spent way too much time chatting but made it to the bicycle shop by 4.30PM. They didn't have the right bearings and so Duncan bought a pair of cheapish plastic pedals instead. Just after sunset we reached Tha Ton where we found a nice resort right at the river. We were all so hungry we went to dinner straight after dumping our bags. The food was mediocre at best but some cold beers back in the hotel made up for it.

Somewhere north of Phrao

Riding through a peaceful valley on the way to Fang

Some more dirt roads after Fang

The next morning we had a lazy start. We had planned to visit Mae Salong, a Chinese enclave about 50 kilometres from Tha Ton. The way there would have been super hilly plus it would have been well off our planned route. Long story short - after breakfast and some more coffee we caught a bus to Mae Salong. Once the city was famous for opium production but nowadays they grow organic tea instead. We strolled around the small main street for a bit, explored a tea shop and a warehouse before we did some tea tasting in a nice restaurant. Frankly, we spent most of our time in Mae Salong at a food stall where they served outstanding noodle soup. When we went back to where the bus had dropped us there was no bus back. We weren't quite sure whether we had missed the last bus back to Tha Ton or whether it would leave at a different point further down the road. We decided to walk to the other potential bus stop. When we got there, there was still no bus. We passed the time tasting locally grown pistachios and chocolate flavoured almonds. Delicious! Apparently we had actually missed the last bus to Tha Ton but after an hour waiting another bus back to a village aside the highway arrived. We took our chance and hopped on hoping we could find a bus from that village back to Tha Ton. We were wrong. There was no bus from there back to our hotel. We walked to a police checkpoint and managed to explain our situation even though none of the officers spoke any English. After a short waiting time a police man flagged down a pick-up and directed us to take seat. Simon took the front seat and Duncan and Dominik jumped on the back of the car. It was a crazy ride at 120kph but we were back at our hotel much faster than ever expected!

Bus to Mae Salong

Tea processing in Mae Salong

Main street in Mae Salong

Back to Tha Ton @120kph

The next morning we left early. We followed the Kok River towards Chiang Rai on back roads that soon turned into dirt tracks. The tracks were barely rideable on a fully loaded touring bike and we were relieved when we finally crossed the river and found a mostly sealed road. We unexpectedly stumbled across some hot springs and decided to stop there. The concrete pool wasn't particularly clean but the heat was super relaxing for our sore legs! From the hot springs we rode straight to the famous White Temple some 15 kilometres south-west of Chiang Rai. The temple was a weird collection of morbid and comic-like statues and sculptures. The small detour was definitely worth it! From the temple we continued to Chiang Rai, found ourselves a nice hostel and went to the night market instantly. We had another evening with way too much food.

Dirt track along the Kok River

Crossing the river to get back to a sealed road!

White Temple near Chiang Rai

Morbid decoration...

...and comic-like sculptures

The next morning we had breakfast together with Duncan and then went our own ways for the rest of the day. Duncan tried to find bearings for his pedals while we spent the best part of the day recovering the remaining data from the old laptop and preparing everything to sell it. No need to mention that the whole process took way longer than expected. When we were ready to check out the local pawn shops to get rid of the old computer they were already closed for the day. Bugger! Duncan was equally unsuccessful. None of us really liked Chiang Rai and so we decided to leave the next day anyway. The pawn shops would open between 9 and 10AM and Duncan decided to buy proper new pedals at the largest bike shop on the way out of town tomorrow. We spent the rest of the evening on the night market where we treated ourselves to a hot pot dinner.

Hot pot dinner on Chiang Rai's night market

The next morning started off well. We managed to sell the old laptop for the equivalent of 65USD – much more than we had expected. Duncan found some decent-looking Chinese platform pedals for a reasonable price.
The rest of the day went by uneventfully. Despite the late start we had bashed out the 120 kilometres to the Thai border town Chiang Khon before sunset. We could have crossed the border immediately but we decided to have a last dinner (and a last beer) on the Thai side first. Well after sunset and after some amazing food we eventually reached the border. We were swiftly stamped out of Thailand. When we wanted to cycle across the bridge to the Lao border post we were told that walking and cycling wasn't allowed on the Thai-Laos Friendship Bridge. Instead we were forced to push our bikes on a bus. At least Lao immigration was quick and hassle-free. In pitch-black night we then cycled the ten or so kilometres to the Lao border town of Huayxai. We found a nice hotel in the centre and Simon and Duncan went out for dinner. Dominik had felt nauseous for the last few hours and the food before the border crossing hadn't helped matters. It was a short night. Simon and Duncan stayed out until late and Dominik spent most of the time in the bathroom.

On the way to the Laotian border

Last dinner on the Thai side

The next morning Dominik felt a bit better and we two went to the ticket office for the slow boat to Luang Prabang. The boat would take 2 days and would stop in Pakbeng for the night. Duncan had decided to cycle to Pakbeng within one day and to meet us on the slow boat the next day. Soon we had tickets, the bikes were strapped to the roof of the boat and we had found ourselves some reasonably comfortable seats. Dominik popped a anti-nausea pill and slept for most of the day while Simon chatted to other travellers and enjoyed the scenery along the Mekong. By 5PM we reached Pakbeng. It was quite a pain to carry bikes and bags up the steep stairs from the pier to the main street. We followed one of the numerous touts to a guesthouse and agreed on a reasonable price for a room.
We hadn't heard from Duncan but when we returned to the boat the next morning he was there. Apparently it had been a pretty adventurous ride to Pakbeng and he had arrived late last night. We all took our seats on the boat and leaned back. The time went by rather uneventfully. We all chatted with other travellers and admired the scenery along the Mekong. By 4PM we arrived at a pier in the outskirts of Luang Prabang. While all the backpackers boarded the waiting taxis we carried our bikes to the road and cycled into town. We found a nice guesthouse and dumped our bags before we went to the night market. The selection and quality of the food was rather underwhelming but we all were so hungry it didn't really matter. On the way back to the guesthouse we passed a cafe and someone was shouting our names. It was Jenny and her daughter Emma. We had sat next to them on the slow boat for the last two days. Jenny was having a beer and we happily joined her. While we sat and chatted we saw Alex walking by, the British cyclist we had last seen in Chiang Mai. He too joined us. Apparently he had arrived in Lao much earlier than we but on the way to Luang Prabang he contracted a food poisoning and had spent the last couple of days recovering. We learned that it would be his birthday tomorrow and so it was decided to meet again to celebrate his birthday at a pizza place that had been recommended to Duncan.

Boarding the slow boat to Luang Prabang

The loooong boat ride...

...on the Mekong...

...from Huayxi to Luang Prabang

The next day was a lazy day. We helped Duncan preparing his visa application for China but other than that we didn't do anything really for most of the day. In the evening we went to that pizza place and coincidently we ran into Gilbert, another British cyclist we had briefly met at Triple Cat Cycles in Chiang Mai. Gilbert too joined us at the 'Secret Pizza' restaurant and we had a great night out celebrating Alex' birthday, eating too much authentic Italian pizza and drinking too much Italian wine.

At 'Secret Pizza' in Luang Prabang

The next day we finally did some sightseeing but there was a certain lack of motivation and so we declared Indigo Cafe and the excellent food there to be a sight and spent half of the afternoon there.

Sightseeing in Luang Prabang

Good food is a sight - right?!

At 4.45AM the next morning we got up to see the daily alms giving procession of the local Buddhist monks. Back in the days it might have been a spiritual experience but as things stood it was just sad. Three dozen or so Chinese tourists were virtually hunting the monks with their cameras and flashlights. Disgusted we returned to the guesthouse and tried to get a bit more sleep before breakfast. The rest of the day was mostly spent on admin stuff. In the evening we went out with Alex and Gilbert once more. Alex would have the same way like ourselves and Duncan decided to join us until Vang Vieng while his visa application for China was pending.

Alms giving procession

We all met at our guesthouse the next morning. Duncan had left a bit earlier to drop his visa application at the Chinese consulate. Of course things don't go too smoothly when you apply for a visa on a Monday morning and it wasn't until midday that Duncan was finally back and ready to start. 20 kilometres later Duncan noticed that his bottom bracket had developed so much play that he couldn't sensibly cycle on with us. He decided to return to Luang Prabang and to have his bike fixed there. We said our farewells and carried on together with Alex. We had hoped to make 130 kilometres that day but with the late start we had to reassess our plans, particularly as northern Laos is extremely hilly. At 4.30PM we had made 65 kilometres, mostly uphill, and called it a day when we unexpectedly found a guesthouse in the middle of nowhere.

'Forward Ever - Backward Never' 'Upward Ever - Downward Never'

Some more uphill

Guesthouse in the middle of nowhere

Except for more hills the next day went by rather uneventfully. We had planned to get to Phoukun from where Alex would turn east towards the Vietnamese border while we would cycle a bit further in southern direction. A few kilometres before Phoukun we met a French couple which was going the other direction. They told us there were 3 more cyclists in front of us. We didn't get to see these other cyclists until we had reached Phoukun and had checked in to a hotel. When we went out to grab some food we met them and agreed to have some beers later in the evening. While we had our dinner a German cyclist arrived and a bit later an Italian cyclist. What an unlikely and random meeting of cyclists and what a fun evening!

Cycling with Alex

Random cyclists' meeting in Phoukun

We had breakfast separately and then we all met again. Alex and most of the other cyclists would go to the Vietnamese border while Viktoria, the German cyclist, would join us on the way to Vang Vieng. After the endless uphills the days before we finally had some loooooong descents and made it to Vang Vieng by mid afternoon. We had cycled together with Viktoria for most of the day but for the last bit we separated. Coincidentally we met again later in the evening when we two were looking for food while Viktoria was on her way to a massage appointment. We agreed to meet for dinner the next day as we all had opted for a day off in Vang Vieng.

Early start from Phoukun

Fascinating landscape near Vang Vieng

The next day we finally finished the application for the Vietnamese e-visa, did some research for the route ahead and spent a fortune in various bakeries and cafes. In the evening we met with Viktoria and Tak, a Japanese backpacker she had made friends with. It was a fun evening and we figured that we would likely meet Viktoria again in a couple of days on the way to the Vietnamese border near Laksao. In the meantime we would take different routes.

Day off in Vang Vieng

The next 2 days of cycling were rather boring. We had been to Vientiane last year so we bypassed the Laotian capital this time around. Still the traffic got more and more the further south we got. At least the last bit before we joined busy highway 13 was nearly traffic-free but in return we had to cycle an unfinished, extremely dusty road for 20 kilometres or so. In the afternoon we reached Thabok. Nothing special about this town but funnily it was the same place and the same guesthouse where we had stayed last year. Just when we decided to go out for dinner we received a message from Viktoria – she hadn't liked Vientiane either and was only a few kilometres short of Thabok! A bit later she arrived and we had dinner together.

Bypassing Vientiane

The last bit of road was rather dusty!

The next morning we left a bit before Viktoria but she caught up to us when we stopped for a snack break. Together we cycled into Pakkading and found what was apparently the only functioning guesthouse in town. It was a bit of a struggle to find the owner but eventually an elderly lady turned up and we were able to check in.
Like so often we were faffing about the next morning and didn't leave until 9.30AM. Viktoria had left much earlier and we only met her when we reached Nahin. We had dinner together and made plans for the next day. From Nahin it is only about 45 kilometres to Konglor Cave, a 7 kilometres long cave that is fully navigable by boat. Last year we didn't have the time to go there so we decided to explore Konglor Cave this time around. Viktoria wanted to go as well.

Karst mountains on the way to Nahin

After breakfast we set off. It felt so good to ride the 45 kilometres to Konglor Cave without any luggage, we virtually flew there! After buying a ticket we had only just time to change our cycling shoes for sandals before a young man turned up and led us to the cave entrance. We took our seats on a small boat and off we went. We all used our torches to light up the darkness but still the visibility was rather limited. That obviously wasn't a reason for our captain to choose a sensible speed! We came very close to some of the rocks in the riverbed and a couple of times we felt the boat slipping over loose stones where the water was shallow. Soon we got to a bank where we disembarked and wandered through some stalactites and stalagmites before we got back to the boat a few hundred meters upstream. After some more time speeding through pitch-black darkness we reached the end of the cave. We were dropped at a small village and strolled around while our captain turned the boat for the journey back to the cave entrance. The way back went by in a similar manner. Speeding through complete darkness. Definitely Type II fun! Back at the cave entrance we picked up our bikes and in the afternoon we were back in Nahin. After dinner we said our farewells. Viktoria would leave much earlier the next morning to get across the Vietnamese border within one day. We had decided to split that stretch into two days and planned to make a lazy 60 kilometres day tomorrow.

Pitch-black darkness in Konglor Cave

Stalactites and stalagmites

Approaching the cave exit

Back at the cave entrance

The ride to Laksao, just short of the Vietnamese border, was rather uneventful. We quickly made it across some last hills and rolled into Laksao in the early afternoon. We concluded our last evening in Laos watching TV on the laptop and drinking beer.

Last evening in Laos

We set off early the next morning and rode the 30 kilometres to the Vietnamese border. Getting our exit stamp was a matter of minutes. The Vietnamese side was less pleasant. A rude officer made us push the bikes into the brand new terminal building where another officer shouted at us because we dared pushing our bikes in. We stayed calm and played stupid tourists while we watched how a total of 6 helpless-looking officers gathered to examine our e-visas – a process that should be well established more than a year after the introduction of e-visas! Not so at this border crossing seemingly. Waiting for almost an hour at least gave us the opportunity to meet a Dutch touring cyclist who lives in Mongolia. We might meet him there in a couple of months. How cool is that?! Eventually we were stamped in and left the border post. The road hadn't been in great condition on the Laotian side but it was even worse on Vietnamese side. Even though it was a 30 kilometres long downhill the riding wasn't anywhere near enjoyable. Luckily there was hardly and traffic. We made it to Pho Chau by 3PM and found a nice hotel. For the rest of the day we hung around in a nearby cafe and did some more research for the route ahead. Back at the hotel we ran into two German travellers on their motorbikes. They had had their bikes fixed at a nearby repair shop and wanted to take the owner and his wife out for dinner. Thang, the receptionist, suggested to join the group and so we did. The Germans kindly offered us a lift on their bikes and Thang led all of us to a restaurant where we ordered a hot pot dinner. It was a fun evening and a good start to our second visit to Vietnam!

Shortly after the Vietnamese border

After a late start the next morning we got on the famous Ho Chi Minh Highway. The riding was pretty enjoyable with little traffic and nice scenery. For the next two days we stayed on the highway. We finished March in a small town called Yen Cat, about 300 kilometres south-west of Halong bay. The ride there will be a story for the April update...

Cycling the Ho Chi Minh Highway