How to turn 60 into 96

The title is promising, I guess! But I won't give it away immediately - it'll come later. Stay tuned...

Yesterday we left the little paradise on Don Det, to start our ride direction north. We were not in a hurry in the morning, not a 7am departure as usual. First take our time for breakfast at the guest house, then another fantastic coffee at Jay's. Until just before we set off, we were going to cycle the common way - meaning: take the ferry back to Nakasong and then onto route 13 north. However I then wondered if we could cycle on the islands, going from island to island as far as possible, asked Jay from the coffee house, and he confirmed it was fine by bicycle. So last minute we decided to go that way.

First ferry, from Don Det to Don Som

Riding on pleasant trails through the rice paddies

Village house on Don Som

And what a great decision that was!!! We took a short boat ride across to Don Som, and immediately found ourselves in a different world. No more tourists at all, no more restaurants and bars - fascinating how the tourism business from Don Det - just 2' across by boat - doesn't move over to Don Som at all. Don Som is truly a very authentic and also pretty primitive Lao world. No roads at all, just trails, no cars, hardly any motorbikes even. Wow, truly fantastic cycling (note: it could be a different, muddy and slippery story in the rainy season though). People live from farming and fishing, and are probably mostly self sufficient. Don Som: 14km wonderful offroad cycling, until the next little ferry.

Next ferry, to Don Khong

Before continuing: get some money from the ATM. We're millionaires again!

The road on Don Khong

From Don Som we crossed to Don Khong, and what a difference that made! Don Khong has a bridge to connect it with the "mainland", and a good road around the island. Suddenly, we found ourselves in a relatively modern world, with bigger and more modern houses, a road, cars, motorbikes, the lot. Still very nice for cycling, still very friendly, but what a contrast with the poor, rural and remote Don Som! I guess it shows the impact of opening up a place to more traffic, to mobility: it develops.

Family on the tractor on Don Khong

From Don Khong we took another ferry, this time across to the mainland, on the west side of the Mekong. It brought us to still rural and remote Laos, and a good gravel road to ride on. After a short while we were in a small town, where we had lunch. Interestingly, some kind of festival or so seemed to be going on, the whole town was clearly celebrating something. We continued for another 20km or so, until we reached Veung Khem - the intended end of the day's cycling. In Veung Khem, very similar festivities were happening: lots of stalls selling things, lots of (loud) music, lots of food stalls, and lots of people drinking. We knew there was a nice coffee shop, and went there immediately before checking out the guest houses - we needed a cold drink. The Khamsouk coffee shop was indeed nice, it had an airconditioned part which we enjoyed a lot to cool down, and we had 2 ice cold, nice and sweet drinks. I asked the lady if there was a nice guest house in town, and she said yes but probably they are all full. That's what I feared with the party thing going on, and sure enough: we checked, and they were all full!

After Don Khong, on the mainland, this kind of gravel road is nice for cycling, possibly also very muddy in the rainy season though.

Beautiful scenery

So here we were: 60km done, 3.30pm, no place to stay for the night and the next town with some accommodation is... at least 30km away! 2 options: either we head to one of the temples and ask to sleep there, which is always an option - but would probably be uncomfortable and also noisy due to the event. Or: get on our bike and cycle another 30 to 40km before it gets dark (it's dark before 6pm). So, without further delay, we got onto our bicycles and started pedalling - still more than enough energy in those legs. The road was fine for the first 10km. Then it became dirt road, at times smooth, at times (mostly) with stones and potholes - so definitely not always the most pleasant surface to ride on. The good thing: as it was late afternoon, it was getting a bit cooler. After 30km we found the first guest house, but it was not attractive and there seemed to be no restaurants or anything nearby. So we continued another 7km, until we reached Soukhouma (in the dark by then), with a good selection of guest houses. We found a very nice place to stay, Saynang Guest House, 8,5 USD per night for a good, big and comfortable room! A good shower - we were very very (very!) sweaty, sticky, smelly and dusty - then a good dinner and lots of drinks (we were really dehydrated!), and what a day this was!!! All in all, a really fantastic day, despite the unexpected kilometers and the sometimes challenging riding, but it was beautiful, rewarding, pleasant, and there were so many friendly people on our way!

Side river of the Mekong

Bumpy and very dusty riding

Late and low sunshine, beautiful light during golden hour, helps to see the potholes better...

So there you go, that is how 60 becomes 96!!! I was going to write a bit about how we plan, and now you know: it is very difficult to really plan ahead. You might not feel like going far, or to the contrary, while you're on your way you might want to continue a bit longer. Or maybe there is a strong headwind, so you make less progress than you'd want. Or you meet nice people, find a nice place, so you stick around for a while. Or - rara - there are some festivities going on in your end town, and you can't find a place to stay. While cycling, you always need to keep in mind that things can go different than expected, and plans need to change.

Dust, anyone?

Getting ready for another day!

Our guest house had a coffee shop as well, perfect place for a breakfast with a view.

Our plan was: Veung Khem yesterday, Champasak today, stay for the night, cycle a little bit back to visit the Wat Phou historic site, then continue to Pakse. This changed too: we visited Wat Phou on our way, as we got there already after 28km of cycling and it was still early enough (equals: not too hot) to visit. From there, it was just a short push to Champasak, where we are now - a town with a very pleasant atmosphere. We checked in to a slightly better hotel this time (Nakorn View Guesthouse) with a fantastic view on the Mekong, had a great coffee in Boupha Coffee House, a cozy place in a hundred year old traditional house, enjoyed a relaxing foot massage and are now getting ready for dinner.

Much better roads today, and mountains as a backdrop is always nice

At Wat Phou, a World Heritage site. It is a Khmer Hindu temple ruins site, almost 1000 years old, and one of the oldest places of worship in South East Asia!

Wat Phou main complex

We have another plan that is maybe changing. We were going to cycle at least another week in Laos before crossing into Thailand, but now it seems that the only feasible route option the next days is not so nice for cycling. This, while we know it's great cycling across the border, in Thailand. What shall we do?...