Simply cycling around
Today I’ve done the biggest hill of my trip to Bangkok. After this hill the road will be quite easy normally. Last night a storm came by but fortunately I didn’t find myself in the center of it, just few rain showers. Once I’ve done that “super hill” (which is an easy climb) I enjoyed a long downhill following by a flat road. I arrived at the next Amazon Café this morning and stayed until 6pm. Finally, I’ve found a temple less than 2km away and slept in the garden.
Aie! The return of the hills! I was still okay without haha :-) But that’s fine, it was far to be the Loas style so I survived ;-) Not much interesting thing on the way today. I didn’t take much pictures neither. I was just focused on the hill. Should I do it tonight or smash it tomorrow morning? Actually if I would have done another 40km today, I would get across to hills, the second being the highest. So I’ve decided to climb the first one this evening, sleep somewhere around a village and do the second part tomorrow morning by fresh temperature. That sounds like a good compromise :-)
After nearly 2 months spent in Laos (my idea was to stay there only one month at the beginning) I’m back in Thailand for 28 days max, the length of the free VOA (Visa On Arrival). Most of the day, the road was flat and easy but I know some hills are coming soon. That’s a pretty easy day. I feel I came back to civilisation today. Laos was good, and Thailand is different.
Today is the last day on my first 30 days VOA (Visa On Arrival). I could go to the Laos embassy and ask for an extension but it costs $2USD per day. Because I want to stay another month, it’s better to go out of the country and then come back to get a second VOA. That’s why, this morning I’m cycling to Thailand where I can get a 28 days VOA for free. The simple idea is to go to Thailand, have breakfast and then turn back to Laos. Here we go, I’ve just passed the Laos immigration and I’m on my way to Thailand across the friendly bridge :-)
Big day today, I’ve done much more kilometres than expected. This morning, I’ve covered the 47km that separated me to the border. I had one gentle hill few kilometres after I started and then all the way was flat. Then, I went directly towards the immigration office. I realised that my visa ended on the 4th so I had to pay 500baht (about 13€) for this extra day. I’ve read online that for one day the immigration would let me go but that was not the case today. That’s my fault, I should I checked more carefully. Another surprise is they did not let me cycle on the bridge. I had to catch a bus and pay for that… Finally I arrived on the other side of the Mekong, organised my VOA (Visa On Arrival) and started my journey through the mountains in Laos :-)
What a waste of time today… This morning was all good. I’ve stayed with Kom and Tu’s family until 3pm. They invited me to a party organised by one of a village’s member who just finished his house. The guys nearly forced me to drink their local whisky. Then we moved to a wedding party where there was about 100 people minimum and I had to drink even more Whisky. They mix it with water so it’s not that strong but the taste still doesn’t fit me. Then, one of Kom’s friend invited us to his house to have some lunch and beer (I’m not lucky). Finally, we came back to Kom and Tu’s home so I could prepare myself and continue my trip. Those two days were nice. This family is fun. Everything was fine until, back on the road, I made the decision to use a shortcut through the forest. Well, I did not know it was through the bush. After 7km on the road I had two options: going north east across some hills or cycling around it in the valley which was longer. I’ve chosen the shorter road which revealed itself to be a path, then a track, then a dead end…
We discussed yesterday with Kom and Tu and they want to show me around. My Thai visa ends on the 5th of April so I’m still able to make it on time. Today we went to a waterfall. I think water attractions are the best during this very dry season. The kids enjoy a lot! We have spent several hours here and then came back to their home where I played with the kids to different games.