By far the best day of cycling I had so far! Hard to believe I have been going from Pakse to the 4000 islands (or vice versa) at least four times, always using the Highway 13 on the eastern bank of the river.What I did today is the real deal! Great to have some advice from people reading this diary..... Before leaving Pakse I had two more duties on my list: baguette Lao style for breakfast and getting some more local currency. The baguette lady was waiting for me just round the corner and from there I went to the same moneychanger as last night right opposite the Jasmin restaurant. They do all currencies in any denomination which was great for me as I brought a bag full of "leftovers" from duty and private trips to China, UK, Indonesia and Thailand.
Quick and easy departure out of Pakse back over the Lao-Nippon bridge and then immediately left behind the highway toll booths. From there on it was just and only a dream for a cyclist. Despite this being the main arteria down to Champasak and Vatphou it was an entirely relaxed ride for me. There is no shoulder at all but I cannot recall any 4 wheeled motorist coming any closer to my panniers than 2 meters. I honestly can´t praise the Lao drivers high enough. So I did have the freedom to either look at the Mekong on my left or towards the appealing mountain range on the right.
It´s only 35 km into Champasak, about the only place I know that would have won with the touristic development over the last few years. When I came here in 2008 with my friend Schorsch this was a nice but extremely sleepy fishing village. Now it is a really nice waterfront town with plenty of good looking guesthouses and restaurants. And I am convinced I found the best restaurant myself!
After my delicious lunch I continued southbound towards Vatphou and despite the turnoff for tonight´s destination Soukhouma being 2 km before the Khmer temple I decided to continue through and have a look - would have been my third time there. When I came to the former entrance I was completely surprised how much that place has changed now. Huge carpark in front of an even larger vistor center and it is compulsory to leave your vehicle (or bicycle) outside and use the shuttle to the temple. No thank you - I was able to ride my bike up to the stairs in 2008! Plus I do not leave the bike with all my gear in an unattended parking lot. Remote area or not.
So back to the intersection where I didn´t see any sign saying Soukhoma but Ban Thou or something similar. Down that road it´s another 28 km to Soukhoma and the ride is nowhere near as nice as the morning session due the bumpy surface and the absence of the Mekong. All the same I still enjoyed it along there but was definitely less impressed when I came into Soukhouma itself. A dusty crossroad market town and the first few guesthouses I saw in the center didn´t look very inviting at all. Still being early I decided to take a right turn for the Saynang GH, roughly 1 km down that road. Jackpot! Lovely resort, great rooms (ac 90000 kip; fan 70000), great wifi and they organized food for me as well. If this place was not in the middle of nowhere I could see myself here for at least for two nights but I am very keen to finally swing in a hammock overlooking the Mekong which I missed out on up in Sangkhom...
Another great relict from the French colonial times! I only pick a baguette stand if they have a little charcoal grill with it. Nothing worse than soggy bread. This lady did anything to perfection: pate, salad, herbs. Delicious!
Coming in yesterday I missed the access to that little footpath and had been given a rough time on the bridge. The fierce headwind almost brought me to a standstill forcing the local traffic to cross the bridge in walking pace. Fair enough, I would have gone bananas too.
Artists at work - my favourite theme. Why don´t they consider the bamboo scaffolding at home? Must be less than a tenth of the weight of the iron stuff plus the key word sustainability....
And please do stop at the Homemade restaurant! The family business run by Bun Mee (who speaks excellent English) and his family prepared anything I ordered to my utter satisfaction
When I asked for a typical Lao dish he recommended this: Oua Zing Kai. Minced chicken on lemongrass dipped in egg and then deep fried..... You simply wouldn´t believe it!
