Hello! Sabaidee! - Day 2
After an uneventful night, we departed early again, just after 6 AM.
The road was paved most of the way and the potholes were easily avoided.
However, there was a bit of a headwind blowing which gave Tim some headaches…
The target for today was either Thakhek or if we really wanted to stretch it, crossing the border, across another unfriendly Friendship Bridge and continuing to Nakhon Phanom.
However for now we were aiming for any shop/stall/restaurant selling baguettes and with a bit of luck coffee.
Some stretches of the road were alongside the Mekong but the sky remained gray and gloomy.
Traffic wasn’t bad, and the occasional ‘wildlife’ (cows, pigs, goats, etc.) crossing the road was fun.
However, baguettes were nowhere to be seen and finally we stopped at a roadside stall selling grilled chicken and sticky rice.
Tasty!
A little further I spotted a small place selling coffee which unfortunately turned out to be Nescafe only, but the friendly, smiling owner made up for that.
We passed through our first (& last) ‘proper’ town, Nong Bok, but even there we didn’t see anyone selling baguettes and ‘real’ coffee, pretty weird really.
Another place we passed proudly proclaimed that it was a ‘Criminal Free Village’, something I found a bit hard to believe.
Perhaps they caught any potential criminals before they could commit a crime, kind of Lao Minority Report?
Unlike good coffee and baguettes, Beer Lao was offered everywhere and we accidentally discovered how empty bottles are being reused!
I usually do take notice of street signs and shop names and was pleasantly surprised to see ’sundry shop’, something you’re more likely to see in Malaysia!
Of course no lack of temples despite Laos still being a communist country and I found one that really stood out!
Apart from temples we also passed a Christian church or at least we thought so.
Checking afterwards at home revealed that it was a Spiritist Center called Sainte Marie de Fatima!
Plenty of schools along the way too and whenever there were children around we’d be greeted with smiles and shouts of ‘hello, sabaidee’, charming really.
By now we were getting close to Thakhek and about to ride past Wat Phathat Si Khottabong (ວັດພະທາດສີໂຄດຕະບອງ).
Luckily I recognized a place next to the temple and along the Mekong which looked suspiciously like a REAL coffeeshop and indeed it was!
Although it was getting close to lunch (& beer) time, I considered it worth a visit and it didn’t take much to persuade Tim & Ray to join me.
It was the real deal, very much like the average modern airconditioned Thai coffee shop, but a rarity in this part of Laos.
During our well-deserved coffee break we discussed our options and after a few minutes decided to take it easy by staying in Thakhek and spending the rest of the day exploring the town on foot.
On the outskirts of Thakhek we found an excellent riverside restaurant where we had a very acceptable meal accompanied by several bottles of Beer Lao.
The last part of the cycling consisted of finding a place to stay and a little later we checked in the good old Mekong Hotel which offered large rooms and very acceptable prices!
A shower later we went on a walkabout, admiring old colonial-style heritage buildings and street life, but also looking for information regarding transport for crossing the blasted Friendship Bridge.
Friendly staff at Bike & Bed Hostel provided us with the necessary details; take a bus from the Thakhek International Bus Station to Nakhon Phanom, departure 4 times a day!
Although we’d been here before quite a few years ago nothing really caused flashbacks with the exception perhaps of all the activity around the 21 March 1946 Park.
There we also bumped into a large print of the 1946 French massacre (*), something none of us remembered seeing before…
Whether this was ever mentioned in French history books for students seemed highly dubious…
We ended the day with a fancy dinner at Inthira Thakhek restaurant which included a very spicy Luang Prabang curry, excellent!
Good night!
Cycling 58 km didn’t seem really that much of a distance but the main purpose of trips like these was (& is!) to see what is along the road and have a great time together!
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