Let’s go cycling

Day 20-21 : a slow boat to Thailand

We checked out early from the lovely “On the Mekong” accomm, and they kindly took us and our bikes to the boat station.

Off we go for the next bit of our adventure. Still not exactly sure where we’ll fly out from but we decided to head to Thailand. Neil was a bit keen to ride but a small win for me with a two day boat trip to get us to the border… and coincidentally(!!) also bypassing the massive elevation we would have had to face if we’d attempted to traverse by bicycle 💪😄

First day on the boat is to Pak Beng- a long and tiresome journey, the views are awesome but there’s only so long you can sit and watch it all go by. Kindle is good!

We (Neil) started getting a little worried in the late afternoon when it looked like there was still quite a way to go, estimated 25 km and darkness threatening to beat us there. He was expecting to sleep on the boat I think… but we made it to Pak Beng just before the sun set.

Pak Beng is clearly set up for the boat stopover trade, with plenty of guest houses, restaurants and places offering a packed lunch for the next day. They’ve also figured out the art of touting quite well and we may have been a little too soft or swayed or guilted or something when we got off the boat- ended up at a pretty ordinary place up the hill but at $12au for a room for the night, who’s to complain.

Found a nice eating place up the road, enjoyed a curry and a beerlao, and counted our money anxiously as we’d realised we didn’t have enough Lao Kip for the onward boat journey 😳

I had visions of having to ride the 2500m climb and 140on the bikes instead (and it is possible I may have accused Neil of planning this…) but we had enough US$ so decided to risk that they would accept these.

All good and back on the river for another day of sitting watching the scenery go by… or writing our blog when there’s a snippet of internet!

Got into the border town of Huay Xai somewhere around 5:30, in pelting rain. By the the time we got our bikes put the steps and reloaded we decided to stay on the Laos side for one more night rather than ride the 16ish kms to the friendship bridge to cross into Thailand. That’ll be tomorrow!