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tuk before we could leave the guesthouse khailani discovered a puncture in his front tyre so first thing first khailani brought 2 spare tubes now he would be left with one surprisingly it took us quite a while to get a tuk tuk in the early hours there were not many plying the route when one finally came we flagged it and mentioned thakek our destination to the drive he shook his head i understood it as he was not going that far we waited for about an hour before we saw another tuk tuk this time i mentioned ban loi and he nodded his head so up went the bikes on top of the tuk tuk in we went into the tuk tuk we sat ourselves amongst the passengers several gunny sacks of agricultural produce were piled on the floor lucky there were no live animals on board we smiled at the passengers they smiled back at these two characters some stretches of the journey was dusty the road was under repair we would have been covered in dust if we had cycled through guessed we missed this excitement surprisingly too the stretch to ban loi was quite scenic there were limestone hills that changed the landscape character it would have been a pleasant change than the last two days but how were we to know there would have been some hills to climb and some downhills to descend offering some hard pedalling uphill and gentle cruising downhill rewards on a tuk tuk we just watched the hills disappear mountain range in the distance and so little traffic the ride on the tuk tuk to ban loi took an hour and covered 45kms the driver knew our final destination was thakek and in ban loi he secured us the next tuk tuk to thakek roof top transfer of bikes to another tuk tuk so there was no waiting and the next journey took 1hr 50 mins covering a distance of 89kms second part of journey ban loi thakek our initial plan was to stop in thakek and visit a cave with an underground river this was suggested to us at the tourist information centre in vientiane about 20kms before reaching thakek the passengers pointed to us the friendship bridge that crosses into thailand this border crossing was so alluring that we forgot about the river in the cave as the tuk tuk rumbled on we need to make a quick decision the passengers were showing 2 fingers meaning 20 kms to thakek meaning we have to backtrack if we did not make a quick decision one of the passengers quickly shouted to the driver to stop as we paid him for the service he was uttering something in lao i guessed he was saying that we should have told him about our destination earlier now we overshot by about 2kms having journeyed relatively comfortably in a tuk tuk 2kms is absolute nothing 3rd part of the journey we cycled this portion note the border crossing across the mekong river from where we alighted from the tuk tuk we rode about 5 kms to the border the immigration building at the border crossing was rather new and impressive this border crossing was opened in late 2011 and i made this discovery from the internet hence the plan to exit through here good bye khailani looking back at laos a quick pose on the laos side today khailani had been a wee bit unlucky as we posed for some pics at the above entrance he had another puncture we pushed our bikes to a carpark in the complex again first thing first the tube was replaced and now khailani was without a spare tube that was not a good option we rode on bicycles with different tyre size and therefore i could not lend my tube we hoped that in nakhon phanom our destination in thailand today would have a bike shop that carried the 700c tube size for khailani the immigration check out on the laos side was smooth we also had nothing to declare to the customs what could we possibly carry or hide on a bicycle certainly not elephant tasks we crossed the mekong on the friendship bridge and at the middle span took some shots on the bridge on the friendship bridge before checking in at the thai immigration checkpoint a few more memorable shots khailani seems to have a soft spot for elephants so one for the road guessed he feels he is as strong as an elephant as strong as an elephant as we rode into town we saw flags of all the asean countries lining the road dividers it showed 2013 probably a gathering of the governments of asean in 2013 malaysia my country nakhon phanom was a typical big town in thailand after several days of blissful cycling minus many vehicles we now need to negotiate the streets with other vehicles we stopped at a seven eleven for some very cold cordial drinks my was it hot compared to the last 2 days of rather cool but wet ride this was rather hot because of the change of plan we now have excess laos currency and very little thai baht unfortunately for us laos currency can only be exchanged at the bangkok bank no other banks accept laos currency forget the money changer looking for the bangkok bank in this town was another matter while doing so we came across a bike shop khailani got his spare tube and that was quite a relief nakhon phanom while continuing our search for bangkok bank we came to a junction leading to the water front of the mekong we continued on and came across kong view hotel forget laos currency we checked in and paid a small premium for the river view why not kong view hotel where we stayed in nakhon phanom view from the hotel room thakek town in laos across the mekong our decision to exit into thailand was the right decision we now look forward to tomorrow s ride to sakhon nakhon posted by arz at friday august 10 2012 2 comments tuesday august 7 2012 day 2 thapabat to pak kading 9th july 2012 we had a good sleep just like yesterday we woke up to a grey sky a promise of another wet and cold day breakfast was instant nasi goreng we both agreed that this brand of instant nasi goreng will not be in our future to buy list but we shall protect the brand and we will highlight the brands we prefer we expect this day s ride to be longer than yesterday but we look forward to reaching a town called paksan roughly 50 kms away from our night stop the owner of the muslim restaurant in vientiane told us that we could find a muslim restaurant yasmin in paksan day 2 route we cycled in the slight drizzle our rain coat doubled as both a rain coat and a wind cheater traffic as always had been light the landscape of this route seems pretty monotonous apart from the usual small villages dotting the route there was really nothing much to see until the road hugs the mekong at several stretches the continuous mist and heavy clouds the mekong is on our right side as we cycled eastwards it s huge and we could see the current moving in the same direction of our cycling route if we were on a raft we could float downstream though much slower than our cycling speed a rest by the mekong river at several villages dried fish from the mekong were displayed for sale we stopped to pose but not to buy we would have no means to try out the delicacy dried fish of the mekong sold by the road side when we arrived the town paksan we trained our eyes for the promised halal lunch break you know how the mind started to build up the expectation and the stomach joined in to increase the hunger pang as we progressed into town we could not locate the promised restaurant and the town was fast making way to an empty stretch indicating that we were arriving at the outskirt of town undeterred and still hopeful we turned back and showed a hand written note in laos that says muslim restaurant the few people we asked shook their head not a good sign the information given must be wrong logic should have alerted us that there would really be no reason for a halal restaurant here there was no indication of any muslim settlement here neither did we notice any one garbed in any muslim attire why oh why did the restaurant owner in vientiane gave us such a false hope two hungry cyclists in a vain search for halal restaurant so before we reached the outskirt of town we stopped at a stall we took 2 cups of maggi mee and requested the owner to pour hot water into them before we could stop her she had poured their soup into our precious maggi mee we smiled at each other not only did the yasmin restaurant evade us we ow had to offer our two very precious instant maggi to the stall owner our halal stock is now short by two cups eat we must so out came another 2 instant maggi mee from the pannier we make sure this time the lady gave us the hot water we poured the hot water ourselves our precious instant maggi mee the weather improved as we cycled out of paksan and it was getting hot we had then covered in excess of 60kms and we came to a village and an inviting rest area such opportunity to stretch my back will not be missed a village community in this village we noticed an underground pump that provides clean water for the locals we thought it was a rather ingenious act of community responsibility free water from an underground pump while we thought we would have a dry ride the rain began to come down again and again we took shelter at a coffeeshop not long after two motorcyclists also stopped they were looking for direction to go to phonsavan two european guys one from ireland and the other from nederland bought their 150 cc motorbike in vietnam for us 250 00 each like us they were on a trip from vietnam to laos to end it later in vientiane where they hoped to sell off the bikes there they were hoping that we had a map to help them locate the diversion to phonsavan we could not help them with our map but the coffeeshop owner gave them the confidence that the diversion is behind them and they had to backtrack two mat sallehs did the faster and easier way on motorbikes we waited for the rain to clear up and continued the light lunch of instant maggi helped to subdue the hunger pang but when we came across several stalls selling maize i suggested to my ride buddy to stop while khailani pose i eat we continued on our journey and when the kilometre reading showed a distance of about 100kms we saw the signboard pak kadding our destination we cycled for another 5 kms and agreed to stop at the first guest house we came across we stopped at this guest house and gladly paid us 12 for a night for us 2 more than the earlier guest house this was better and bigger dinner was brahim s beriani with kurma ayam and eggs the chef khailani wisely bought the eggs at a shop before we checked in i did my part of the chore as the dishwasher not that there were many dishes to wash ride statistics distance 105 kms ride time 6 hrs 25 mins average speed 16 4 average temp 24 9 posted by arz at tuesday august 07 2012 2 comments saturday august 4 2012 day 1 vientiane to phabat 8th july 2012 we had been informed by well meaning friends who had toured laos that this is a rainy season when making plans for this trip we did not take this into account guessed we had been lulled into confidence that previous rides in vietnam and cambodia had been sunshine hence laos should be likewise sunny and hot yesterday s arrival into vientiane was with overcast sky but no rain without sharing my thoughts with khailani i felt we are going to have cloud covers along the route wishful thinking on my part we woke up this day to a grey and misty sky a sure warning of rain the route north east would be within 80 100 kilometres from the map i downloaded the day s destination would be a town known as thapabat actual route captured on my garmin edge 800 as we got ready to start little drops of rain started to fall no worries we had always been equipped for wet weather getting out of the city was slightly difficult because of the lack of signages but after several enquiries with the locals we were on our way out of the city a quick pose before the start of the journey as we reached the outskirts of the city it began to rain it was too heavy to continue riding a bus stop was a convenient stopover wet wet wet for the next 50 kilometers we were playing with the intermittent heavy rain three times this is indeed a rainy season as we sit out the rains i could imagine the i told you so remark coming out from my friends who had toured laos before we were not really concerned about the rain we were more concerned with the lack of communication ability with the local folks more so when almost all of them did not seem to know thapabat the town we were supposed to overnight by lunch hour we had covered about 50kms progress was slow as we stopped often we were beginning to get hungry we were munching the biscuits we carried with us but they were no substitute for the instant maggie mee we were visualizing to savor we stopped at a petrol kiosk for shelter from the rain a small cafe was conveniently at this kiosk with hot water available for our needs so out came the maggi and soon we were tucking in two hungry cyclists wet and cold from this less developed part of the world there are often observations that we malaysians can learn from the toilets at the petrol kiosks along the route could anytime beat any of our toilets found in our malaysian petrol kiosks shame on us malaysians a clean toilet common at the petrol kiosks along the route a pose at a tributary of the mekong the continuous grey sky cool but wet during one of our carbo stops we decided to stop at a hut in front of a house one usually gets a little worried of some fierce dogs coming out to protect the property from intruders with our bright colored clothings we certainly look alien to the dogs while we had encountered many dogs along the route none seemed menacing enough and we braved ourselves to use the shelter in front of a house and enjoy the longans we bought earlier the owner of the house a lady came out to greet us with sapaidi the only laos word we learned so far that s the greeting of the laotians the first time i heard this word was from the hotel maid cleaning the room in vientiane a day earlier i thought she said selamat pagi and thought she must have worked in malaysia before in a foreign land where language is a barrier the smiles became the standard international greeting and communication intermediary the lady spoke lao we spoke english both sides were clueless as what the other was saying but we smiled and laughed the only word understood by both parties is malaysia at least she knew we were from malaysia later on the son in his mid 30 s came out then the husband ever smiling came out to greet us we asked them about the town thapabat they knew and the lady showed 8 fingers when we asked kilometre in as local a sound as possible when we showed our sleeping sign they nodded meaning there would be accommodation we shared the longan and left the balance to them a group photo taken by the son was the finale as we bade goodbye and moved on the sky continued to remain dull with heavy clouds but the rain had relented we continued asking for our destination but drew blanks most of the time we passed several guest houses along the route but decided to continue on since these guest houses were...