November 25, 2014
Life's a beach: And I was looking all bad-ass and that too
The day after our rest day in Oudumxay we were joined at breakfast in our hotel by another Brian/Bryan/Bryon (I've lost all faith in how to spell this name) who, coincidentally, also hailed from Canada. As I understood it this Brian (I'll go with this spelling so as to distinguish him from insane Bryon) now lived in Thailand and made water slides in China for a Canadian company. When he wasn't living the complicated life of a water slide dealer Brian liked to ride his bicycle around Laos. And, as a matter of fact, I soon found out that this particular Brian lurks among us as a CGOAB regular. He sat there and talked for a while about how great Crazy Guy was whilst I sat and listened. After a while I casually mentioned that I actually kept up a journal on Crazy Guy myself.
"Oh?" said Brian, "what is it called?"
"The Really Long Way Round." Was it just me, or did his eyes open a little wider.
"Oh! That's a pretty famous blog you've got there" he said. I sat back and tried to disguise my sense of satisfaction. Truth be told this was the first person that I had ever met that had ever heard of my blog, but I was very happy to finally meet a fan.
"I've never read it" he added.
Dea and I cycled away from the hotel without Brian. He was going the other way anyway, following the main road south, whilst we chose to take a different route following a tip off from yet more Crazy Guys. Suzy and Dino, that spritely young couple on their way from England to New Zealand, had passed through here just before us, and taken a road going north-east out of Oudumxay in the direction of Vietnam, stopped in Muang Khoua, and taken a boat from there to Nong Khiaw on the Nam Ou river. I felt like Dea and I should do the same, first of all because it would mean getting off the main highway which, although more closely resembling a British country lane than a major arterial route, nevertheless had a few trucks on it. Secondly it meant we could take a boat which, being allowed within the self-imposed parameters of my bizarre challenges, sounded like an excellent way to earn myself an extra rest day and some free distance. Both Dea and my tired legs were therefore equally excited about a day on the river.
But first we had to get to Muang Khoua, which was a pleasant experience in itself. The road was peaceful and quiet and, after a few initial little climbs, settled down and followed a tributary of the Nam Ou, which made for cycling that was as easy as it was scenic. It also felt like we were really getting into the heart of the real Laos. For example the main road coming from China had quite a few Chinese trucks and other vehicles on it, and so the beeping of the occasional horn had still tested my patience. This road, however, had none of that. The few vehicles that passed us did so without resorting to any beeping, honking, hooting, or toot-tooting; a fact which, if it was possible, brought Laos up even further in my estimations.
Another fact that made life even more wonderful as I cycled along on this peaceful, beautiful road alongside this wonderful and amazing girl, was that I had a new t-shirt! The day before we had gone to the market in Oudumxay and, with the help of a friendly man from the hotel named Jan, I had found myself a Barcelona replica kit for what I would consider to be the very reasonable price of three pounds. What I particularly liked about this was that the kit was a very bright shade of orange, absolutely my favourite colour, and what I think Dea particularly liked was the fact that I would no longer need to wear my very old and quite filthy orange t-shirt which was by now actually grey. And as a fan of Barcelona (the city as much as the club) I was very proud to wear the shirt, not least because, as we all know, when you wear a Barcelona shirt you get to look all bad-ass pretending to be the best football player in the world.
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That night we found an absolutely perfect spot to camp on a private little beach down by the river surrounded by green hills. I set up the tent and Dea built a great fire for us and the sun set on another fantastic day in Laos. Hidden from the rest of the world it was just the two of us. We sat and watched the fire flickering, looked up and saw the stars again, held each other and talked like nothing else mattered except for this moment. This here was true happiness, everything was just exactly the way it should be.
By the way I feel I should just apologise about the way this journal has gone in the last few entries. I realise I'm in danger of turning it into one of those nauseating journals where everything is so annoyingly perfect and filled with love and happiness and butterflies and lalala. If you are a regular reader and have come to enjoy and expect my usual updates in which I complain and whinge and moan about how I hate everything, please rest assured that normal service will most probably be resumed soon.
But, at least for now, there was happiness.
Today's ride: 33 km (20 miles)
Total: 34,224 km (21,253 miles)
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