Day 33 - a fine ride ending at a country estate - Trial by fire: new bike, first tour, first time in Asia

November 27, 2024

Day 33 - a fine ride ending at a country estate

Yesterday's ride was bleak in many ways. The sky was bleak and the landscape was rather mundane. Thus, we felt that we had worked up credit with the cycling gods and today they paid some dividends.

After tucking into bread and bananas at the guesthouse, I met Winston around the corner where he had indulged in a Nescafe, thinking he was getting something else. I tossed down a banh my, did a bit of writing and then followed Winston down the Mekong.

A fine breakfast spot on the banks of the Mekong.

We should judge the quality of a road for cycling by the attitudes of its resident dogs.

It wasn't long before the road petered out and entered a wat. But wats typically have several entrances.

A quick tour of the wat, with pleasantries exchanged with a monk, took me back to the road.

Riding along the Mekong seemed fine until the road deteriorated.

Perhaps the most unusual Buddha I have seen

It was a false alarm - bridge construction. In fact, the road today was reasonable other than for a couple of km of roadworks and the occasional dodgy bridge.

A long pile of gravel ready for spreading

The road sliced ready for removal - a tricky ride

Unlike yesterday, there were many people living along the road in many fine houses.

Likewise, there was a lot of interesting 0stuff to see.

Imagine saying that you attend the "Lao-Vietnam friendship secondary vocational model school"!

We aimed for a guesthouse in the middle of nowhere on the small road to Sammarkhet. I got there first and discovered a place locked up and deserted. Winston and I discussed what to do and we decided that he would meet me here. We had been battling a headwind and by turning towards Sammarkhet it became a tailwind that made for very easy cycling.

A disadvantage of the internet is that things often do not get taken down. This guesthouse is closed but there's still that little bed on Google Maps.

Ten km further we came to another guesthouse. The long driveway and expansive gardens implied luxury. I eventually located a human, an old woman who had chewed a lot of betel nut, and got two rooms for 100,000 each. The one disadvantage is that we had to cycle two km each way for dinner. But, what's that for a night at a country estate?

Today's ride: 107 km (66 miles)
Total: 1,737 km (1,079 miles)

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