Dien Bien Phu -> Mường Ảng

Distance cycled: 40.6 km
Ave: 14.4 km/h
Max speed: 61.3 km/h
Elevation gained: 692m

It was a struggle day.

A 19-year-old soldier on holiday who was eager to practice his English helped us find a potential hotel option, but it was rather unclean, so we were all glad we pursued our original planned accommodations.

Beds here are consistently hard. The softest and most comfortable was in our luxury riverside stay in Nong Khiaw, and that was still much harder than any mattress I’ve had at home. The last few nights I’ve resorted to putting my air mattress on top of the bed.

A (& F & J)

PS.

These are by no means the only chickens or animals we’ve seen on 2-wheeled transport. But these chickens’ likely fate was to be plucked and boiled whole, then propped up featherless and shiny with their beaks pointing skyward on an altar ready for NYE midnight prayers