Back to Laos: Not the paradise I remembered

January 12, 2015

On my way to the bizarre new Thai immigration building

The Laos side was still under construction. I ended up lost in a big truck park, no idea how to get into Laos

Turned out I should have gone straight here, obviously

Outside Laos immgration. Getting in again was easy.

As I collected my new 30-day visa and crossed into Laos for the second time was it too much to hope that I might see a beautiful blonde girl on a bicycle waiting for me just across the border again? Such miraculous lightening bolts rarely strike twice, it's true, although somebody must have been listening to my prayers, because I actually did meet a beautiful blonde girl on a bicycle just across the border. Unfortunately, however, the exact terms of my wishes must have been lost in translation, because she was going the other way, and what's more she was accompanied by a man that appeared to be her partner. And in any case, she was, through no fault of her own, not Dea Jacobsen.

Her name was Elena and her partner's name was David and they hailed from the fine European community of Germany. We spoke for a few minutes in the usual way that cyclists do, and they told me that they had just been down to 'Four Thousand Islands' and suggested to me that I take a smaller road on the west bank of the Mekong, rather than the main road on the east. I actually had decided to avoid going to Four Thousand Islands at all, because it seemed like a horribly touristy place that was a long way out of my way and that, from the little research I'd done, didn't even sound that good. But David and Elena raved about it, and about the great little road down there, to such an extent that I thought I'd better change my plans and go there myself. As we were chatting another cyclist pulled up, a Belgian named Phillip that David and Elena had previously already met. What was it about Laos and cycle tourists?! I'd only been back in the country for five minutes and I'd already met more than I had across the whole of Thailand!

It was a shame that I didn't meet any cyclists that were going my way though, because my first afternoon back in Laos wasn't a very good one, and I probably would have benefited from the company. Naturally returning to the country where Dea and I had spent such a great time together made me miss her more than ever. In many ways it felt like a mistake to be back in Laos, but it was in the way of Vietnam, so I kind of had to cross it again. Worse was that the road was an uninteresting main one, and the people seemed much less friendly here, with no waves or shouts of 'sabadee' from anyone. I had two theories as to why this might be. Either the people in the south of Laos were just much less friendly than they were in the north, or, perhaps more likely, on my first visit all of the shouts of 'sabadee' and cheerful smiles and waves had actually been entirely directed at Dea.

As this day of mediocre cycling was drawing towards a close and I was looking around for a place to camp I thought that I heard a cycle bell ding behind me, and looked around to finally see the promised cycle tourists going my way. This time it was two Korean men, neither of them blonde or beautiful, but at least with the easy-to-recall names of Jin and Lee. They were going faster than me and hoped to make it into the town of Pakse to find a guesthouse. Although Pakse was only ten kilometres away it would soon be dark and the road was filled with trucks that had all come through the border at the same time, making it a rather unpleasant cycling proposition in my opinion. I said I was going to go and camp as soon as I could find a good spot, and when I did I was pleased that Jin and Lee followed me.

Following Jin and Lee in the last of the day's sunlight

I'm sure Jin won't thank me for including this one, but it gives an idea of the traffic situation

We found a good spot to camp and set up our tents, and then spent a nice evening talking under the starry sky. Jin and Lee were great guys and on their tour around South East Asia they were certainly moving a bit faster than I was. In fact they had got here from Vientiane in five days. It had taken me four weeks. And they wanted to get up early in the morning and cycle the 130 kilometres to Four Thousand Islands in a single day. 'I'll leave them to it' I thought, 'bound to be another cyclist along soon.'

Today's ride: 40 km (25 miles)
Total: 35,755 km (22,204 miles)

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