A Brit and Mexican Walk into a Pub: You win some...

January 30, 2014

… and you lose some. We had several amazing days of biking through Laos (as the pics will show), before we picked a road that ended in failure. We made a good try of biking out of Oudom Xai, but eventually we had to give up between the endless dirt roads and the lush valleys full of burning rubbish smoke. We took a 6 hour bus ride over truly, the worst road I have ever been on in my life, before arriving in Luang Prabang to meet up with our besties, Jim and Wendy.

We met, Wat, a local bike enthusiast who helped us plan our roads and route for the next few weeks.

After our first night in Laos on the border town of Houay Xai, we boarded a slow boat to head up the Mekong River to Pak Beng.

If you look closely you can see our bikes on top of our boat!

This was before the boat was packed full of other travelers headed east, but you can see the seats were a mix of old car seats . . . not screwed to the floor.

Just some scenery as we enjoyed the 6 hour boat ride up the river.

Here was our guest house in the town of Pak Beng.

And the bustling town itself as we headed out the next morning.

It was hot and dusty at times, but the scenery was beautiful.

Yeah bike touring!

I have a note in Laos that says I am a vegetarian and won’t eat eggs or fish sauce, etc. I hand it to restaurants who read it, nod to themselves, and then disappear. I never know what I am going to get, but they always return with delicious vegis and rice.

These were our guest house owners, night 2, in the town of Muang Beng. They let me share their family fire with them, which I could only manage for a few mins as it was fueled by plastic bags. :( 81 km to get here and 1300 meters of climbing.

We set off early to beat the afternoon heat only to discover a lack of paved roads. hmm . . .

Fallen tree? Not quite - the locals were using this blockade to stop vehicles and earn a few bucks before letting them on their way. They waved us through though free of charge.

Scenery shot! This was nearing the end of our second day of riding in Laos as we heading into Oudom Xai - 65 km and 1300 meters of climbing - again!

We left Oudom Xai heading towards Muang La, hoping for a short, easy day. We certainly got it. The roads were so bad we had to call it quits just 10km into the ride. Thankfully this lorry was driving by and came to our rescue. Back to Oudom Xai to make new plans.

Our new plan was a bus to Luang Prabang as the road there wasn’t road bike friendly. It wasn’t friendly at all. The number one worst road I have been on in all my life. It took us 2 hours to go 80 km because of the bumps, not because of the twists. You know it’s bad when the locals cry out in pain.