December 9, 2016
To PhetDao Heung 2 Guest house, 14 km east of Ban Keun
One random guest house to another
The guest house last night was tucked off the side of the road behind some businesses, and I thought it would be a very peaceful night. But someone came and used one of the other bungalows for a few hours, with music blaring, so I went to sleep with my earplugs in. And the lights in the compound lit up my room through the flimsy drapes, so I had my eyes covered, too. The little restaurant by the road turned out to be a little shop with tables outside. I motioned that I wanted to eat, and the shop keeper pointed at some potato chips. That was the only food they had. So I ate potato chips and drank some orange soda, and bought a coconut drink for the morning.
In the morning, I had my coconut drink as well as the baguette and banana from yesterday, and made some hot instant coffee. I would have been in a hurry to get going, but it was really foggy.
I set at at about 8 am with my tail light flashing. The hill I had anticipated was maybe 2 km long, and not too bad other than that traffic was already picking up and I was worried about visibility. Once up and over the top, I had a fun ride downhill. And everything changed! The fog disappeared. There were businesses and restaurants and gas stations, and it didn't look nearly as impoverished. I stopped at a restaurant that had a coffee stand outside that said "Original Lao Coffee" and ordered some. I got the same instant coffee I had made in my room. But like all good Lao coffee, it came with a cup of tea on the side. I also had some fresh fruit, and felt better all around.
The ride really flattened out. I turned off the main road, headed for Ban Keun. At the junction, there were some stalls set up selling baguettes, the first I've seen since Viang Vien. I picked up 2, just in case. They were 1000 kip each, as compared with the one I bought leaving Vang Vien for 3000 kip. They were also fresher. I may have been hard on Lao baguettes when I described them yesterday. They're processed white bread and don't have the good crust that French baguettes have, but they're still pretty good.
The rest of the ride was good. I skirted around the edge of a reservoir that attracts a lot of recreation, and I suppose that's one reason the area is more affluent. There were also several industrial buildings, and government offices for Vientiane district. Ban Keun is on the shore of a river. There is a toll bridge to cross the river. The girls at the toll booth waved me through, and then burst out laughing. I'm not sure why I'm so funny, as they're not the only ones who have laughed at me. It may be related to the fact that I have tied the plastic bags with my bananas and baguettes to my rear rack, Lao style. By the way, the bananas don't do too well in the heat.
There was a resort in Ban Keun I'd read about, and I thought I might splurge and have a bit of luxury there. But I couldn't find it! It was shown on my map, and I rode past where I thought it was twice. A woman at a food stall pointed up the road and told me that Vientiane was that way. I turned around and asked for the resort, making the universal sleep sign, and she pointed up the road again. So I went on. I passed a couple of guest houses of varying quality, thinking I would like to get a bit closer to Vientiane if I wasn't going to have my luxury break.
I've stopped at the last one on my map before a possible turn-off to skirt around Vientiane if I head east across Laos to get to Vietnam as planned. But I've been thinking that riding in Laos is a bit rough, and that the weather reports from Vietnam have a lot of rain and flooding, so I may change the plan. There is a border crossing back into Thailand near Vientiane, and I can cross over and follow the Mekong for a while, eventually heading to Cambodia and Siem Reap. I'll let you know what I'm doing tomorrow.
In the meantime, I'm at the Phetdao Heung 2 guesthouse. It's a lot like the one last night, but closer to the busy road. I have a room with AC and hot water for 100,000 kip. The walls and fixtures aren't especially clean, but the bed and the sheet looks okay. There isn't a restaurant in the immediate vicinity. I walked down to a food stall to try to get some fresh bananas. They had some that were really overripe, and some that were still green. The woman there found me 2 that were okay, and wouldn't take any money for them. Then I went on to a shop that had drinks and chips and all varieties of laundry soap, and bought a couple of drinks and some chips that I think may have been seaweed flavored pork rinds.
I was outside, messing with my phone, when one of the women from the guesthouse invited me for dinner. I joined them outside. Communication was a bit difficult, but I figured out that the young kid running around belonged to the woman who had shown me the room, and that she was the daughter of the older woman who seemed to be in charge. There is another woman who I think is just an employee. The conversation was about babies. I think they wanted to know about my husband and my kids, but it's best to leave it without understanding. Grandma had 5 kids, I think. The young guy hanging around was one of them. And daughter had 3 already, of which Son (his name actually sounded like "son" to me) was either the youngest or the oldest. Son was one year old in Laos, but 2 in Thailand, so he must be the youngest. There must be a different age convention. Something to look up. They were joking about sending Son back to America with me, and he was acting very shy and hiding behind his mother.
The food was a dish with sliced up vegetables that looked to me like noodles, but weren't, with fish in it. It was extremely spicy and extremely salty. They eat it with raw vegetables, sort of like noodle soup, but pick up the vegetables and ball them up, and then pick up some of the main dish with it. The raw vegetables were some leafy plant with yellow flowers. I had a bit, but couldn't eat too much because of the spiciness. The raw veggies helped tone it down, but not enough.
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Today's ride: 55 km (34 miles)
Total: 1,325 km (823 miles)
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