Day 37 - Traveler's Serendipity - Trial by fire: new bike, first tour, first time in Asia

December 1, 2024

Day 37 - Traveler's Serendipity

Some days offer experiences that only come by being in the right place at the right time. Today was one of those days.

We had to collect our washing before leaving the guesthouse. Also, we wanted to take the opportunity for good coffee, while Ian needed new sunglasses, so it wasn't going to be an early departure.

La Boulange met our needs for coffee, and their baking exceeded expectations.

It's always worth checking out techniques.

Apparently there are no squatters rights here.

Fed, and errands completed, we made our departure from Pakse heading south.

We couldn't decipher the celebration but know that every large ute should wear a red skirt.

We crossed many waterways and most seemed largely free of plastic.

I found this to be a very pleasant ride. The road had rolling hills which gave occasional breaks from pedaling. It was greener than the routes of previous days, and trees lining the road gave welcome spots of shade.

Interesting things for sale on the roadside.

Ian was ahead as usual and I was loping along at my own pace when I noticed a well dressed woman in front of a pick-up appearing to flag me down. Puzzled, I stopped, thinking, if your truck is stalled there isn't much I can do to help. She spoke English well and told me that she owned a garden and would appreciate a visit by a foreigner for advice on promotion and improvements. I didn't fully understand this at the time, and it seemed so odd. But I thought that the opportunity to visit with a Lao family was too good to pass up.

I explained that my friend was riding ahead and that I would contact him (thank goodness for Lao internet service) and that she should drive ahead and wait for me at the turn-off. She easily caught up with Ian, who waited for me at the turning and we rode together down to Thidaphet Gardens.

A km ride along a country lane brought us to the front gate.

We soon realised that "garden" was the understatement of the year for this 85 hectare property. Sure, there's lots of plants but it's more like that dream place to visit for a few days.

A random child seeks an explanation for why his figure won't eat a biscuit!

The Thidaphet family wants to develop their property into a private resort and Tan figured that two foreign visitors could offer advice on promoting and publicizing it. Considering the pair of us, this seemed a bit of a laugh. What would a pair of ancient biologists know about tourism? But I think we gave her some good suggestions, based purely on commonsense. These included things like a web page, being on social media and attracting older people who would love to learn about local customs - basket weaving, music, cooking. The list is endless. Signs on the highway would be a good start!

It's so often the case that a local has no idea of what would appeal to a foreigner. These photographs show one example that includes a peculiar basket that we have seen everywhere. We just had no idea of its purpose.

Their place has such potential. But, the last thing you want are the tour groups that whip in for an hour. It can be so much more than that.

It's four km down the river to the Mekong and then the world is your oyster.

They served us an enormous lunch, including, coconut sticky rice roasted in bamboo joints. We failed to photograph the lunch other than the sticky rice.

Sticky rice. They soak the rice in water, add coconut and then pack the mixture in bamboo before baking it over the coals. They then scrape off the charred bamboo.

One of the workers wanted her photo taken.

We started some promotion by posting a positive review on google maps.

Before our departure we visited with the sheep and ostriches, never coming to understand how the latter came to be a part of the community.

Chance encounters can give some of the most memorable experiences. They happen on every trip but you never know when, where or what the experience will be. It's simply real travel. Blow with the wind and every so often it will reward you.

It was quite late when we left and the light was excellent.

It was about 30 km to a series of guesthouses to complete our day.

Ian actually cycled to a further guesthouse and met acouple of cycle tourers from Britain, but struggled to find staff. Eventually, a teenage girl appeared and said therecwas o e dounle room only. Thus, hecycled the few km back.

Still life - a very leafy broom and a turquoise wall.

Couldn't one steel post replace 100's of bricks? But then if you have 100's of Bricks that you don't need.......

We had enjoyed a large lunch so neither of us was particularly hungry. There were five restaurants near the guesthouse offering very simikar fare. Ian visited each in search of some vegetarian foid and got a blunt "No" at each. He searched one place and found sticky rice, cucumber and tomato and chopped it with, yes, a meat cleaver.

Hundreds of pieces of meat does not indicate a vegetarian restaurant.

Today's ride: 73 km (45 miles)
Total: 2,086 km (1,295 miles)

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