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Reunion with the Mighty Mekong

Meanwhile, we have arrived in Laos, several days have past since my last post. Let's start by continuing with where we were first! Eum... where were we again...? From Preah Vihear to Stung Treng was too long to cover in 1 day of cycling; it's about 140km, which is a lot on the heavy touring bikes in the hot climate. In fact, in all these years of tour cycling, I don't think we have ever done 140km in 1 day. So, we split it up in 2 days of riding. However, there is very little option to do so; the only place with some accommodation on that stretch is Chhaeb (the name of this town differs every time you see it written, but the most common is this way). Not that there is anything else to do in this town, but it has a guest house: Mey Mey Guest House. Very basic, badly maintained, but it does the job. They clearly abuse the situation that they're the only place in the region. We paid 15USD for a basic room, which is a lot to Cambodian standards for what you get. But again,

Back on the Bike

It's a bit more than 7 years ago since I started this blog. 223 blog posts went online over those years! Nevertheless, it had been a very long time ago (more than 3 years!) since my last story - and that one was not about cycling at all, it was about our compulsory quarantine in Malaysia upon returning from Belgium in September 2020: see here . The last bicycle trip was also in 2020: the one in Taiwan which we needed to interrupt due to the covid outbreak, and then another one in France once the borders reopened in Europe. Plus a little side trip in Belgium itself. Let's go! @Brussels Airport So anyway, more than 3 years of non-activity here. So much has happened since then. We've had the entire covid saga; almost seems like a long forgotten thing of the past meanwhile, except for the face masks that staff still wear in restaurants in Asia. We've moved back to Belgium - at least part time. I've been doing quite a bit of (project) work as well since 2021. And also,

Deep Into Isaan

After cycling several days along the Mekong, it was now time to leave this attractive river and travel more inland; deep into Isaan, indeed. Isaan is still the poorest region of Thailand, and we saw that clearly. It's all agriculture, small scale, often probably just enough for people to sustain themselves. There is no "in your face" poverty, hard to tell when just passing through though. You could also see that people were living in much more basic conditions, sometimes more shacks than houses. You'll notice from the photos as well. Nevertheless, this is the "true" Isaan, very remote, very desolate at times. Breakfast at our charming "Mediterranean style" guesthouse in Nakhon Phanom From Nakhon Phanom we started by following the incredible dedicated cycling lane for 13km, all the way until the Thai Lao Friendship Bridge (this is bridge number 3 of 4 - remember the Mukdahan bridge in my previous post ). After that pleasant, comfortable part of cyc

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