Not for the first time the dogs of the neighbourhood made the decision for me whether or not to stay an extra night in an accommodation. The decision for the Khong Chiam Place is "leave". Which I do regret in this particular case as I thoroughly enjoyed the hotel itself, my room, my balcony. Everything exactly the way I like it and still hard to believe a room was just 350 Baht. But I am paying a hotel to sleep and recover from my daily activities, aren´t I? Maybe the predictable short nights are the reason for their price dumping: Next door seems to be some sort of hangout for the local boozers who kept me awake until 1 am before the dogs of the neighbours on the other side of the road got going at 5 am. Horrible little barkers. Everything said....
Only 2 minutes after departing from the hotel I was cheerful again though. Because of the Khong Chiam morning market and the lady preparing joc moo and coffee Lao at a top level. Well fed for the ride that is not really worth a lot of words and was always considered to be only a"transit stage". Difficult terrain on the Thai side - flat as a pancake for the 42 km into Pakse on Lao soil. So let me have a few words on the border procedures getting into Laos instead. Visa on arrival at its easy best. Getting stamped out of Thailand takes you two minutes, the ride through the no-mans-land market another two and then you will have the Lao visa-on-arrival building on your right. Go to the counter at the head of the building, get your two forms, return them to that same counter and pay whatever amount your country is being charged. Then wait round the right hand corner until your name is called. Done!
When I arrived at that building, a group of 20 French and Belgian roadbikers on a supported tour had just got there ahead of me. Turmoil at the counter but it all calmed down rapidly. Very nice people on that well organized group who had seen me somedays ago somewhere on the road south of Khemmarat. While chatting away with them I almost missed my name being called out and I believe the whole process between checking out of Thailand and jumping back onto my bike as the proud owner of a 30-day Lao visa did not take more than 45 minutes. 30 US$ for Germany by the way.
I was saying yesterday that I am very keen to ride to the Si Phan Don (Four Thousand Islands) on the western bank of the Mekong for the first time. The most logical thing would therefore have been to not even cross the river into Pakse but take one of the two right turns to Vatphou (Wat Pho) and Champasak before the bridge. But there is another must-do stop for me in Pakse. The Jasmin Indian restaurant.... Yes, Indian restaurant! Ever since I came here first I have been there to eat and whenever I did go I was very satisfied. As tonight. My accommodation (Mary 2 Hotel) is in comparison completely irrelevant - good room, bad internet, still perfectly ok at 100000 Kip / 390 Baht / 10 €.
You know the methodology by now: If it is not just a meal but has positive impact on my whole day it will be shown here and not on the food page - Best of both worlds: Thai`s joc moo and Cafe Lao, which always comes with the thick, sweetened condensed milk at the bottom and a glass of tea. Perfect fuel for cyclists!
Once again a screw of my kickstand had broken and the Vietnamese owner of the repair shop was most interested in my helmet. This was the object he wanted to exchange as it matches with my jersey as well. Not a good enough reason I thought
And this is a good enough reason for me to go into Pakse. Others long for Pizza or other western food once they have been in South East Asia for a while. I always go for mutton curry, dhal fry, vegetable curry, nan bread and rice accompanied by all Lassi tastes available. I had three for dinner plus one beer and a second serve of rice and nan bread plus a banana roti for dessert- all together 104000 kip or 10.40 €. At some other stage I will comment why I keep mentioning those prices.
