Jan 14th - Pak Khat to Bueng Kan - Kim and Glory - Cycling beyond

January 14, 2024

Jan 14th - Pak Khat to Bueng Kan

The One Hotel

Good 7:30am morning from the Mekong River. Yep, off to an early start today. I'm taking the longer scenic route along the river

Google maps showed the road ended and I should have turned, but this is too good to pass up

Just kidding. The scenic route has come to an abrupt end. And back I go....

I really enjoyed my morning ride. I made some notes too. Not many, but it's the things that make the ride enjoyable and are easy to overlook. Things like listening to a variety of chirping birds and some flying right in front of me. At one point the air was permeated with a pleasant smell. I was guessing eucalyptus trees, but I wasn't positive.

I was a bit amused by the ramshackleness (is that a word) of this house but note the satellite dish. Priorities

This is great too. A nice, paved road and scenic trees

Random boulders up in the rubber tree stands

I turned off the main road again because it looked like there was a path right along the river...with more dogs

Zoom in on this. I thought the swooping birds in this section were going to take me out!

A better photo of the recycled tires/garbage cans. They have been everywhere the last couple of days.

Hello Laos across the river. At one point, I actually heard music coming across the river!

But I'll take those bright flowers along the road any day!

So close to the banana trees that are getting overtaken by the vines.

Zoomed in of the scene up ahead. My route turned off and I didn't bother trying to get back down to the river after that.

Before I took the scenic road I made sure there was a way back to the main road. It said to turn here. See these gates, ya, I passed through someone's yard. Don't worry, after I opened the first gate, I made sure not dogs were coming to defend the home before proceeding! Damn you Google maps.

I was taking a photo of this cow's floppy ears, but apparently, he was saying something to me too!

It was a dog gauntlet today! I don't think I've every continually passed by so many

Not to be outdone by the dogs, here are some chickens crossing the road 😉 Just kidding, they were pecking at some disgusting what appeared to be entrails 🤮

It was sunny when I started out, then I hit a patch of fog and it cooled down again, before the sun returned. Here's a view of the mountains of Laos shrouded in clouds/mist

I saw some benches and an area to take a break. The sheltered part next to me was full of people. Eventually I gathered, it was "document kids' height and weight day"

See all those cans? What the heck? Are they trying to grow them? 🤔

Cute!! When I was getting ready to leave, I motioned to the lady that the scale was bad 😂

Not a great picture, but I like these hats. I sometimes see people wearing them in the fields.

This place was advertised on Google maps as "The northernmost viewpoint in the northeastern region." Hmm, not quite what I had in mind for a rest break

A rest break at a shelter. Nothing better to do than to take a picture of my bike

Well, hello there rather large water buffalo!

A few miles before town, my eye caught sight of a sign indicating a bike path. Nice to get a bit off the highway for a few miles, plus there was a bit of shade

I made my way to The One hotel, which was a nice modern business/wedding venue type hotel. I especially liked the pool. Is anyone surprised? It's next to a Lotus grocery store/mall which I really appreciated. I'll spend a rest day here because I can, because my legs are a little tired, and because I need to do some more route research!

People. Christmas is over. Send Rudolph home.

Ahhhhhhh, coca cola light, how I have missed you. None of this second class citizen Coke Zero crap today!

Today's ride: 37 miles (60 km)
Total: 592 miles (953 km)

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