Feb 7: Potholes and Dust

aliceesor

Bio Bamboo HueanPhae NamOu, across the river from Pak Chek -> Nam Thouam

Distance cycled: 54.6 km
Ave: 15 km/h
Max speed: 48.1 km/h
Elevation gained: 559m

Well, well. Not our most glamorous day.

Breakfast turned out to be heaps of fried rice.
Felicity resourcefully made to-go containers for the large volume of leftovers.
Bye-bye riverfront cabin with Beerlao bike rack!
After getting the boat back to the road side of the river, we resumed riding the pothole infested road, trying to ingest as little of the dust as possible.
Flis has been hacking up a lung for the past week. The air quality isn’t helping.
We had some delightful rest stops…
… including sweet ice coffee, and fresh lychees with a view.
… and oranges and leftover fried rice (the leftovers fared just fine, but the grease from the containers unfortunately made a right mess in F’s backpack).

Some upsides have been the many animals along the road (chickens, cats, dogs, cows, buffalo!), many people industriously busy to watch (repairing motorbikes, constructing buildings, tending fields, etc), friendly children (many just want to yell hello and hear a hello back – some bolder ones angle to be on the right side of the road for a high five as we ride by) and beautiful hills.

We found another nipple mountain!
But I’ll be honest, today’s riding has been a bit rough. Potholes, giant trucks, and thick air is a yucky combo.
We’ve parked ourselves in a guesthouse triple room.

We’re the only guests here. There is a fair bit of dust. There is nowhere to hang clothes. The linens are stained.  The toilet is missing the cap for the back. The door for the bathroom is coated with roofing tin on the bottom half and grinds to a halt two inches before it can be closed, at which point it willfully swings open again. The sink drains directly onto your feet.

After venturing out for dinner, we concluded Nam Thouam is an “ugly ass town” which seems to be, for the most part, (efficiently) run by children.

Alice (with the usual input from Flis, and proofreading by Jeannie)

Leave a comment