Hello! Sabaidee! - Day 1
Our first Mekong biking trip in 2022 was scheduled to go straight from Mukdahan to Savannakhet, Laos, by cycling across the Friendship Bridge.
Upon the sudden discovery that this bridge was very unfriendly to anything with less than four wheels we discarded the Lao part and cycled to Nakhon Phanom and back instead. (*)
Since then we (= Ray, Tim, & yours truly) have cycled several stretches along the Mekong!
But the original idea kept coming back and we finally decided to give it a try, no matter how frustrating it was to put our bikes on a pickup and let ourselves drive across that blasted unfriendly bridge to Savannakhet.
As a result, I boarded a night bus earlier this month to Mukdahan where I arrived at 5 AM the next morning.
I met Tim and Ray at a (supposedly boutique) hotel near the bus station where I had a quick shower.
As soon as the sun started breaking through we said goodbye to the sleeping staff at the hotel’s reception and cycled off towards the damned bridge.
But first things first, a coffee stop, which we found at Punthai (**), a very decent Thai coffee chain.
Loaded up on caffeine we reached the bridge where Tim called our driver as arranged by his wife.
Next, we went through Thai Immigration and got stamped out.
A little later our transport arrived and a friendly driver helped us load our bikes upon the back of his pickup.
While we waited at the other side of the Immigration (no man’s land) the driver started his Immigration procedures or at least so we hoped.
Luckily he didn’t return to Mukdahan to sell our bikes at the Indochina Market but instead picked us up and drove us to Lao Immigration, good job!
After going through Lao Immigration our passports were all a full-page Visa sticker richer, but at least the entrance stamps were placed upon already almost full pages.
The Lao visa upon arrival nowadays costs 1,800 thb.
Cycling away from Immigration we almost missed the road that would lead us to the Mekong as I hadn’t expected it to be a dirt track…
As usual Tim started muttering curses about my guiding skills, but indeed that particular bumpy track led us to a better (paved) road alongside the river.
Following a quick photo stop Ray announced our next target; a place for breakfast with baguettes!
Tim and I readily agreed and 5 min later were pleasantly surprised by finding a basic food stall selling exactly those delicious breads.
Say what you want about French colonialism, but at least they introduced that!
Apart from that we all agreed that in general most French people are best avoided like the plague…
The friendly baguette lady waved us out and off we went, adventure was awaiting!
Cycling along a not-too-busy B-road with an occasional pothole wasn’t that bad and friendly locals shouting ‘hello, sabaidee’ to us, made for a pleasant ride.
The challenge awaiting us was coming soon, we could either continue pottering about on the main road to Keng Kabao (which was quite a much more inland detour) OR try a more direct shortcut of which Mr. Google had serious doubts, as a part of the road just disappeared into nothingness…
At the junction where we had to decide, we asked a local who assured us that the main road was the only way of getting to Keng Kabao!
As this was rather disappointing, we checked with another local who assured us that the other road would get us there as well, but he did mention the word ธรรมชาติ which means ‘nature’, which I translated as dirt-track…
Unfortunately, this turned out to be correct it got pretty rough at places, we even went through what seemed like a dry creekbed across stones and pebbles which didn’t improve Tim’s opinion about my guiding skills.
Of course, I pretended to be full of confidence and onwards we hobbled along, I don’t think my B-Twin bike ever was so mistreated!
We passed through some hovels where I asked if this was the way to Keng Kabao and every time (to my surprise I must admit) got a positive reply.
Finally, we reached the uncharted territory where dragons roam and Google Maps doesn’t exist, but even that stretch went without a hitch.
During the last part, we sometimes cycled along semi-paved roads and finally reached our destination: a lunch place along the Mekong called ແກ້ງກະເບົາ.
Here we devoured fried chicken with sticky rice and somtam (Thai style!) while gulping down a few tin cans of Beer Lao, one of the best brews in this part of South East Asia.
To call it a restaurant was a bit much as the place consisted of several food stalls/shacks on a rocky outcrop plus a few bamboo sitting areas just above the water.
One of the ladies told me that especially during weekends this place was booming due to its well-known location: the Keng Kabao Rapids!
Well-fed and fully revived we mounted our bikes again and paddled off, the idea being to find a place to crash down in a relatively short time.
That turned out to be tricky as the number of guesthouses (as well as coffee shops!) along the road was close to zero…
At least the paved B-road was decent enough to ride without any mishaps.
Tim had his mind focused on a place called Tiger-Lion Namesake Guest House in Ban Dan, which turned out to be a bit hidden from the main road.
Worse, it looked like one of those failed halfway projects with several unfinished buildings.
Despite one of the finished bungalows having a car in front, knocking on the door didn’t result in any action, therefore we gave up on that dump.
We were back on the road and discussed what to do next as Mr. Google wasn’t helpful at all in showing us nearby hotels…
To our surprise Ray started chatting (despite him barely speaking any Thai or Lao) with a lady at a food stand who told him that there was a ‘ban pak’ nearby!
She asked another woman on a motorcycle to lead us to บ้านพัก3ชาย & ดอกคูณ, which to be honest didn’t look great, but other options were non-existent…
A few minutes later we’d checked in, dumped our luggage, and walked to a surprisingly nice-looking restaurant for Ray’s favorite ‘cleansing ale’ and some food.
Their fridge showed a large assortment of Beer Lao; Dark, Weisen, IPA, Gold, etc. which we took as a good sign!
As service was a bit ramshackle I decided to go to the ‘kitchen’ and tried to order some food.
Options were extremely limited and I settled for fried pork, somtam Thai, and sticky rice.
When it was put on our table our smiles disappeared quickly, the somtam was fully Lao style (with fermented fish sauce and crab), the pork had little meat with plenty of unidentifiable things, at least the sticky rice was fine.
Our dinner was mainly liquid but we all agreed that our first day - despite Tim’s misgivings during some parts - was a success.
We cycled about 50+ km through non-touristy rural areas way off the well-trodden track!
As for the lousy dinner, it was a very local restaurant whose Lao clientele probably considered such dishes perfectly acceptable.
Our accommodation was as local and basic as it gets, but the owner(?) brought us an extra chair when he noticed us having a final beer in Tim and Ray’s room, good service!
To be continued!
At the start
Excellent tour description! One bridge is shown twice. Would put the "damned bridge" at the staet where it was referred to. Otherwise, enthralling!