Day 12 - Crossing the border into Laos - Trial by fire: new bike, first tour, first time in Asia

November 6, 2024

Day 12 - Crossing the border into Laos

It's worth thinking before crossing borders

The rain stopped overnight and we awoke to a misty morning in Na Loc.

Everywhere you look someone has put in a plot of veggies.

Knowing that we were crossing a border, we should have stocked up on supplies and got cracking because you don't know what's up ahead. But at 9.30 we were having breakfast. I did buy some bread rolls for which I would be grateful. It was over breakfast and in the last Vietnamese town that we should have done some thinking. It was up to me and I just didn't lead!

It was a pretty hard 26 km to the border with serious hills. Again, harvesting and processing bamboo was in full swing.

There was always a hill but also excellent scenery.

As we approached the border, there was the usual scatter of trucks doing who-knows-what.

We stopped just before the border for an expensive meal. We were ripped off! Then a fellow hung around keen to change US$ at a poor rate. Our focus changed to crossing the border.

The exit from Vietnam and entry to Laos was smooth. Winston didn't want to know anything about the election. I looked at the border and saw Trump on top. Unbelievable! The Laotian border official asked something I didn't understand. He translated it on his phone: "do you like Mr Tramp or Mrs Harry". Mrs Harry, I replied.

We rode 100 m to take our celebratory photo and were surrounded by mud. It turned out to be from earthmoving gear clearing landslides left, right and centre. A short way up a side road was a guest house - the one we told the immigration official we would stay in tonight! We made one good move in exchanging 500,000 D for 420,000 kip. We had money.

A red tie photo on the Laos side of the border.

The first couple of km were quagmire.

There was carnage. Tens of trucks removed red dirt and consequently covered tarmac in red dirt.

Things settled down and we got easier cycling and our first look at Laos.

Winston had mentioned guesthouses 40 km away and so I put my head down and got going. I took little notice of the villages we passed. The going was easy until a massive hill. I climbed some right hand bends on the LHS. I checked my phone - zero internet. Look on the internet and you will find that Viettel sim works in Laos and Cambodia. It did at the border!

A wind blew on top of the hill, I was drenched from the climb and soon needed to change clothes.

My last photograph for the day - somewhere up that hill

When Winston caught up, in the dark, and thoroughly exhausted after pushing his bike up the steep bits, he told me that I cycled past a couple of guesthouses. What more could I do than apologize?

I had stuffed up. We half heartedly tried to hitch hike but let golden opportunities pass. One mistake leads to a cascade of mistakes.

It was late, we had nowhere to stay, no internet and a paucity of food and perhaps just enough water. It seemed sensible to don headtorches and run down the hill, me in the lead. Parts were 12%. In a few km we reached a village and asked where we could sleep. A couple of fellows offered us a barn but, with no means to cover the dirt floor, anything was better. They then took us to the local school and showed us a concrete verandah. Perfect! Four to five star concrete.

It might be a hard night but we both had some food and water and had eaten a large meal at the border. If we thought we were doing it tough then we needed to have a good look in the mirror!

Today's ride: 58 km (36 miles)
Total: 562 km (349 miles)

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