Day 18 - A pleasant day cycling to Phonsavan - Trial by fire: new bike, first tour, first time in Asia

November 12, 2024

Day 18 - A pleasant day cycling to Phonsavan

The 53 km from Muang Kahm to Phonsavan starts with a long upgrade. It rises about 650 meters, but that is spread over 24 km, so it is only steep in a few places.

We started in the market and all the fascinating sights on offer. Sometimes when your eye is attracted to one thing, something else? becomes apparent.

Beautiful oyster mushrooms, but what are those other things? Smoked chicken embryos?

Ian thought it was green tea. But the contents were moving - green grasshoppers.

Heading up the hill out of Maun Kahm, the landscape was dry, scrubby, and overused. But as we ascended it became greener with great views of the valley below.

When we reached the top of the climb, we were surprised to see water! People were working in rice fields perched high above the deep valley.

As it turned out, it was a plateau rather than the top of the hill, which was some climb away. Winston arrived sharing the road with other beast of burden.

From here on we found gentle climbs and descents through villages and countryside.

Here was another place where fishponds had been built above a stream.

Red clay and pine trees - is this Georgia?

Lots of the land seemed scrubby and eroded, but big stands of sunchokes cheered it up.

And hedges of poinsettia and sunchokes lined the road.

Scaffolding of the day on a big building. In Vietnam it would be bamboo. Here it's branches.

Some of the livestock made me feel right at home.

And they’re growing luffa too. Ginger would appreciate this one.

Ian got hungry and stopped at a roadside eatery, calling out as I passed. The music was deafening. He thought he had crashed a party but, no, they were tables of independent revellers.

Adjacent to our table were four soldiers on a lunchtime drinking mission. Ian thought asking them for a photo was inappropriate given the number of empty cans and the four assault weapons below their table. They soon left on motorcycles! Ian photographed the table.

There were many more cans on the floor. It was lunchtime!

It was a great ride, but we were ready to stop in Phonsavan.

We booked into a guesthouse where Cora and Ian stayed in 2011. It's now for sale, if anyone's interested, and has that feel about it.

They call it the Nice Guesthouse, but apparently some of their previous guests haven’t been so nice.

Some of the decor in Phonsavan restaurants recalls a sobering history. That calls for a Beerlao in Craters Restaurant.

Ian would be happy not to ride this on the Laos roads

Today's ride: 64 km (40 miles)
Total: 869 km (540 miles)

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