Day 24 – Monday, Nov 24 – Flats and more Flats 78km - Luang Namtha to Big Hill – Flag Truck –22.1km/per hour

I planned 175km day today with what I knew would be some big climbs. I woke with the first rooster at 5:30am.  I crossed the street to the market and surveyed my breakfast options.  There was such a heavy mist; I almost thought it was rain.

I left at 7am and was looking forward to the 50km ride to Vieung Phonag (spelling).  It seemed to be smack dap in the middle of Na Ma National Park and there were plenty of sign markers indicating how many kilometers it might be.  (I was hopeful for fancy guesthouses where I’d find cappuccino and perhaps even w-fi.)

I was shaking my head a bit in exhaberation … as I didn’t manage to find a tire shop to fix my tubes yesterday. I had a big day of travel, with a few patches & no extra tubes (without punctures).

I tried to push my pace a bit … but again, found it hard to really speed. The road was terrific – and I enjoyed watching MANY kids cycling to school for the first hour of my ride. (It was sort of neat noticing … the early kids … then the later kids riding their bikes a bit more aggressively. Then later, the kids who had mopads.)

I averaged ~25 km per hour and reached Vieung Phonag (spelling) shortly after 9.

I immediately looked for a tire shop a bit more aggressively. I was told to go back to Luang Namtha. (I’m such an idiot!)

I then found the ‘coolest’ looking place where I thought I’d get coffee and some breakfast.  I tried to communicate that I would like some food. It wasn’t going so well.  I then just walked around … found two eggs, went to a lady who was cutting something that looked like a root vegetable, with some green leaves near by.  I piled it all together … then pointed to her wok … and made a stirring motion. She mixed it all up … added some spices … and it was the best damn omelette I every had!  Coffee was instant … and came with all the sugar and milk in it. Delicious!

I was on my bike again by 9:30am … and climbed and climbed. I was nearly at the top of the summit with 78Km done by 10:45. I was feeling very good about having 75+ km in by 11am … so pulled over to take in the incredible view and shoot a picture.  Along rolled Hero from Japan! 

We had a long chat about cycle touring in Asia, and life in general.  We were about to part ways  after about 75 minutes. It was hot, and I think we both sensed that we had some distance to travel. We exchanged contact info and said good-bye. At last glance, Hero noticed I had a flat on my rear wheel.  How the hell did that happen!!!!?

Hero was very kind … and tried to assist me. We patched, we pumped, we mounted the wheel … over and over again for at least an hour. Finally it seemed like the patch was holding … and we parted ways.

I rode one kilometer and sensed I was flat again. However, I noticed a few huts … and thought I would try to ride to one … perhaps get lucky and find some water and food.  (I always like to eat when stressed!)

I found a North Facing shop with food and water! I bought some buscuits and water … and just sat with this old lady and a bunch of kids for about 15 minutes. (It felt like these boys were on lunch break from school. They all had little satchels.)

After about 15 minutes of calming myself … I began the process of patching, mounting, pumping … and leaky tires again. I was exhausted.  With each time I changed a wheel … my plan of finishing this epic three day ride from Luang Prabang, Laos to Chiang Khong, Thailand was diminishing.

Here's a video I made of the day/experience - Flatting in Northern Laos

Finally, I was done.

When tubes don't hold ... you can always stick out your thumb! :-)

Shorlty after 2 pm I seen a truck approaching. I ran onto the road with bike in one hand and wheel in the other. The truck stopped quickly, and offered a ride!

Wow – What an incredible spectacular ride! The downhills were amazing … and there were still two quite significant uphills (of approx. 800m in total). There were FEW places to get food or water in this section. (It would have been epic to have finished – which … I think I could have without the long talk with Hero – and without the flats. But I would not have completed based on leaving that hill top at 2pm.)

Next time: On day 2 of this 3 day pursuit, ride from Oudonxai to Phong Viang. That way there will only be 125 km on day 3 of Great hills.

We arrived at the Thai border … and the authorities would not allow me to pass further with this trucker and his pregnant daughter. (Not much help to the tourism industry – this trucker transporting me.)

I provided them much of my remaining Kip … which they tried to refuse.

I then loaded my bike into a taxi … and asked to go downtown. He dropped me in front of the ChiangKhong Green Inn, which had Wi-fi.   There was 24 hour conceige service so I left my bike on ground level. I climbed the 5 flights of stairs to the “4^th floor” and found my tiny room with no windows. 200 Baht.  $7.14 Cdn.    (This was the first place I stayed with no towel - or ensuite bath. I used my T-shirt.)

It was a charming place with gorgeous view off the Mekong this morning. They also had 500 Baht rooms with AC … perhaps even a bathroom.

Note to future riders. Grasshoppers Cycling Tours offer an cycling itinerary from Chaing Mai or Chaing Rai throught this route to Prabang Luang and then onto Vientienn. It’s a 14 day itinerary. I’d like to do that ride someday … but perhaps in 6-8 days. I understand the ride between Luang Prabang and Vientienne is pretty sweet.

Laos = Awesome Cycling

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Hero told me about some great maps of Northern Thailand and Laos from http://www.hobomaps.com/  These would be great to have ... if ever you plan on cycling here.

I passed on this yummy looking Breakfast.

Found some incredients 50km into my ride &
Asked the lady to mix 'em together in her wok.

Trying to patch tubes -
1st go around with Hero from Japan.

Hill top Village - fixing tubes.

The road/scenery was astounding in Northern Laos - 80 km East of Hou Xai.

Friendship Bridge - the Laos / Thai border

Day 23 – Monday, November 23, 2014 – 120km – 23km/hr - Oudom Xai to Luang Namtha

Woke up feeling pretty tired … and moved slowly. Decided to ‘blog’ a bit … and tried to load some pictures. (When wifi works, it does not work well to load pictures.)

I had met Ms. Sisu last night at the street stall I had supper at. She invited me to her bakery for breakfast.

Kind of a dry egg sandwich & luke warm weak coffee.

It wasn’t the jolt I needed.  I moved slowly – spending a bit of time looking for sun screen. I saw a big ‘Chinese’ hotel with a big door, and decided to go search for a good coffee. 

I met Chic, who was very kind & spoke good English. He guided me to the restaurant, the toilette’s and later on to the market across the street. We found a wee tube of something that had a SPF factor of 50 on it. (It was a brownish cream … and was been marketed at women to ‘stay whiter’.

I started riding at 11:20am … and was planning on what I thought was 150km.

The road was spectacular with lots of ups and downs. The scenery outstanding. 12km into my ride, I was screaming down a curvy hill on a right hand turn. A bus was coming up and around the sharp curve turn (going left).  The bus was in my lane, so I hit the brakes – no problem.

However, the brakes were really weak – so I had to really turn into my corner at a pretty good speed.

I stopped shortly after.

With all the jarring and breaking of last night, I had lost a front brake pad.

Oh … I wish I had packed a better repair kit!

Chris Pountney biked from England.
He lent me some patches! :-)

I continued my ride on the ups and downs and thought, “The only way this could be better would be in a peloten.” 

You could really get some great speed with the assistance of a group of riders with similar fitness.

Only about 20km from the boarder of China, I met 3 different groups (5 people) who had cycled from England, France and Spain!)  Sunny, quite road & extremely beautiful – I stopped and had long chats with these folks, as well as stopped often at street side vendors – looking for good food. (I felt hungry).  Mostly I was only able to get biscuits, and Coke.

Chris Puntney from England - His Blog - The Really Long Way Around! Lent me some patches - I'm 100% out! (EDIT - Dec 28 ... I made an entry in Chris's blog.  So Awesome - here I get a mention & a photo about a quarter way down! :-)

I’ve been finding it difficult to maintain a high heart rate, and a good speed – for this entire bike trip.  While I’m touring, I want to have fitness gains while here.  I was so slow for the first 50km of the ride today … (with the many stops & street side observations I suppose.)

After meeting Eric and seeing his good map, I realized it was only 70 to my destination.  In 30 km, I could find some food.

I was hungry a lot ... stops looking for food were super fun!

I pushed my pace – and really enjoyed that. Still - my heart rate was around 130 and only once did it reach 150.   When riding in Alberta to ‘train’, I suspect my heart rate would rarely be lower than 140, and often at 155.

I found a guest house about 5:30pm – no wifi in this town. Pang showed me a hose where I could wash my bike & gave me a beer Lao. I was thankful I did not have to be concerned about having wifi. There was none – that was it.

Eric rode from Spain. "I hate facebook, twitter & blogging".

Day #22 - My Birthday Party - Nov 22 - 200km - 2500m of elevation - Average Speed 20km/hour

I set my alarm for 6 hours after going to bed at 11:20pm. I took my time packing up ... and rolled down the wee lane from my guest house at 6:15am.  Entering the bigger street and turning right, I was immediately met with about 20 Buddhist standing at facing the sidewalk chatting at the non-buddhist who were sitting on the side walk.
This was a specacle I did not see the day prior.
Arms giving is when the lay person provides food to the 300 or so Buddhist who walk the streets of Luang Prabang each morning.

xxxxxxx (Add picture sometime)

I went to a 'tourist' cafe where there was wi-fi. (Instead of paying ~$3 for a great breakfast, I paid $90,000Kip ($13.50) for a Great cappuccino and egg english muffin.   I felt I wanted to connect to someone.

I was able to reach Greg and Helen via Facetime.  It was awesome to have a quick visit prior to setting off on my bike at 7am.

I had spent quite a bit of time figuring out how to get out of Luang Prabang - enroute to Oudomxay. It was ambitious +200Km day with some big hills ... so I didn't want to be lost for too long.
Infact, it is the same route as where the Boat and dropped me off. I've now travelled it three times ... looking for my shoe!

Using my Suunto Ambit II ... I navigated (using the cookie crumb type path it provides) 10km out of town to where I knew the direction of the road.  Then I was able to press "Start" on my watch ... to calculate my distance for the day.  (If are a Srava Addicted Cyclist - like me ;) - you will understand that these 10km not showing on the Strava page ... kind of suck!)  I show 189km instead of 200!
... yeah ... 1st world problems.

50km into the ride I thought I saw a mopad in front of me.  ... but it was not a mopad ... I was curious. It was going so Slow I nearly hit her.  I met Gail and Charl. Wow! A couple from South Africa who are 2000 km into a bike tour around South East Asia.  They have just finished a 4000km Bike tour in Turkey.  She is 57 and he is 64.  They are fat - as they admit on their website - FreeWheelingTwo.com

(The more I ride my bike ... the more I like to ride my bike.  They are infinite number of "types' of cyclist! That the beauty. Laura Lee asked in a comment ... 'how many cyclist do you see in Racing Kit?'  So far - just me!)

The 115km to Pak Mong was lovely, easy and without incident.  I arrived at 12 noon ... and had some noodles with vegetables for $1.40. A coke, some potatoe chips and a big bottle of water increased the price another $2.50.

I enjoyed 50min in the shade, deleting photo's from Iphone ... to free up space. It seems I have little space on it ... which is a bit frustrating.

I really enjoyed the next part - and the hard part of the ride from Pak Mong to Oudomxay.
There were two big climbs ... but the road was a disaster for most of the 85km.  Potholes and Gravel. It was slowing going up ... and slow coming down - as I had to hit my brakes lots.

I passed some very cool villages. Had short encouters with smiling faces ... "Sabadee".  To my surprise ... kids occassionally chased me ... 4 boys energitically pushing me up a very steep incline.

It was 5:20pm ... and night was falling. I had another 30km to go.  I thought I'll push onto darkness (about 6pm) ... and see how I feel ... to decided if I'll flag down a truck.  (There was less and less traffic.)

Finally darkness was around me ... and I donned my lights ... and felt very safe. I had another 20km. I was enjoying the sounds around me ... and the VERY dark sky.
I flatted.
Man - it was DARK!
I found my emergency Power Bar ... got some fuel into me.
I cooly changed my back tire ... reciting steps in my head. I ended up breaking both rear break pads off when I re-inserted the wheel. I could not figure out why it would not go on. Finally this tire must not be inflated until it is set in place.  I fixed the brake pads.

... A couple kilometers later I found a nice 'restaurant' ... it was cold so I parked my bike and had a lovely bowl of noodles with a young Mom and her two kids.  Awesome.

I rolled the final 11km downhill into Oudomxay.
Beerlao time.  :-)

Navigation road side help. Like his t-shirt.

Day 20 & 21 - I had my 21st wedding anniversary & got ready for Christmas (& for my birthday party) - Luang Prabang, Laos

I 'kind off' enjoyed Day 2 of the slow boat from Peng Bak to Luang Prabang. Again, I wondered in at the last minute ... and seating was unassigned.  I got the best fucking seat on the boat!!!!
Weird how things work in Asia.

At each small stop along the river bank, I was able to assist in loading and unloading ... things like beer, cola, rice.  I got to move ... and help!   I loved that.

I got just a bit sad when I arrived at my Guesthouse in Luang Prabang. You see ... I decided to bike from the boat landing to 'downtown' in my running shoes. When I arrived ... and began to unpack ... I realized I was missing one of my bike shoes. :-(
They were strapped to the top of my panniers.

1st world problem.  (I re-traced my route with no luck. I bought 'flat' peddalls at a shop. I'll use two different shoes now.
I'm grateful to be here!  :-)
//

I got happy speaking to Shirley over "Facetime".
We are both getting used to the technology. But Hell ... the technology makes it easy to be connected.

This town is amazing ... for SE Asia.  (I say that thinking about Shirley. If I excitedly take her back here some day ... she will wonder why!)
It's just different ... and pretty cheap.  However, cheap is not my priority. (Then why am I staying at a $11 Guesthouse that sucks!!?  Well, the thing that sucks the most is the Wi-fi is broken. Then the bed is terrible.)
(We still have lots of places to see in the 1st world.)

The food is killer, pedestrian friendly, lots to do and see.  (A whack of tourist here ... sort of like downtown Banff I guess. Except AWESOME food Everywhere.)
All the tourist do sort of bug me.
/
I much prefer ... moving ... rolling ... on my bike.
//

I did all my Christmas Shopping for my East Coast Family. (I haven't done that in years ... so ya all can look forward to crappy tourist shit from SE Asia.  Really. I tried my best.  I thought I was buying silk skarfs. (They turned out to be silk and cotton.)  I got some silver stuff that looks nice to me. Hope it doesn't give rashes.  To the men - enjoy the funny t-shirts.
I paid $160 to send it to you ... which is probably twice as much as it cost.
It should be there in two weeks.  Ha!!!! (... fingers crossed it arrives.)
Assuming it doesn't ... I'll post some pics ... to show proof.
It's the fucking thought that counts.
/
I probably should not write after 7pm ... because after 7pm I'm allowed to have beer!

//
Oh yeah ... and I got ready for my Birthday Party tomorrow. I got a massage ... and found a 'flat' peddle for my bike ... so I can Roll.
(I'm not going to worry to much about Wi-Fi in the next 5 or so days ... so if you don't hear from me ... I immersed in the culture of Laos between Luan Prabang and Huaxai. Yeah right!!!  To 'get into' culture - you got to learn the language.
I can say Hello almost easy.  Thank you is coming along.

Pics to follow!xxxx (maybe)

Day 19 - I took the s-l-o-w boat.

I arrived at the slow boat about 9:20am and purchased my ticket. I was seat number 29. The boat was scheduled to leave at 11am.
Most people were piled into the boat at 10:15am.
I got in shortly before 11 ... jammed like a sardine.
At 12:30 we left.

I'm not real happy about being jammed into a slow moving boat with 40 or 50 other tourist ... while speed boats are flying past us!

Tomorrow is Shirley and my 21st anniversary.
I've had some fun today looking at old pictures. Some Great memories! Click here to see my YouTube Video - Happy Anniversary Shirley
I married an amazing women - who has allowed me to be me through all these years.

On closer examination - this seafood salad was a bit scary. Whole fish, baby crabs, shrimp.

Shirley - you would have loved this swim.

Would you believe I'm lost?! The road did get this narrow.

I wanted one bananna - but got the whole bunch for 5 bhat. I have eaten three. $0.17

Day 18 – Arrived in Huayxai, Laos - Can't wait to see you Shirl

It occurred to me that I’ve only been riding my bike in SE Asia for 5 days. It feels like much longer.

Road 60km to border. Slick and easy crossing into Laos. – Can’t wait to see Shirley

I need to learn to ask better questions.

On reflection, what would the question have been in this case?

-       Will it be easy to find the wharf for the Speed boats?

 You see – I assumed the Mekong River was busy. Huayxai is a border town with a big river running through it. I ‘guessed’ there would be husslers wanting to buy my ticket at an inflated rate and just guide me to the wharf.

I found the launch site for the fast boats. It was 10km from the border crossing. I found it after 60km of doing circles!!!  (It is stupid hidden. How is that even possible?! It’s a river. Seriously, it can’t be just me and my poor orientation skills. It was Stupid hidden.)

See this video me getting lost in Laos - but it wasn't the 1st or last time.

See my track on Strava. xxxx  - (this does not work. someday ...)

I mediated for the 2^nd time. Yesterday being ‘not quite’ the first. I tried this morning – but it didn’t work.  I tried again at my fav time of day – twilight. It ‘sort of’ worked. At least I made it to the end of the 25 minutes of the “Guided Meditation”, Tara Brach - Smile. (I only laided down once.)

Ok.

Big decision.

Do I take the fast boat tomorrow – or the slow boat?

Fast boat takes 6 hours – it’s noisy and apparently some people think it’s dangerous.

Slow boat takes 2 days. People describe it as nice, relaxing & an opportunity to meet other travelers to compare notes.

Question of the day:  Which boat will I take? Fast boat leaves at 9am and is 1 km from my guest house. Slow boat leaves at 11am (I think) and is 15km from my hotel.

Leave your vote here – by way of comment.

(Somehow I feel it is a very important decision in the “Hub” of life.)

//

On another note – I’ve been married 21 years in 2 days. Shirley is incredible in so many ways – most recently – understanding & allowing this phase of life to happen.

She allows me to me – and do all the crazy stupid stuff I do. 

I been thinking lots of Shirley … so far she would have most enjoyed the breakfast of fresh fruit, muesli & yogurt; and the swim in the Mekong today. She would love many parts of the bike ride as well.  (I’m sure if she were with me – I would be enjoying it way more. Not working so hard at ‘discovering’; looking for meaning; navel gazing.)

… but I want this.

I’ll live a fuller richer life because of this.

… and since I plan to live to be a 116 years old – this isn’t even a mid life crisis. (We can look forward to that at 58 years. Instead of buying yellow panniers for my bike at ‘nearly48’, at 58 I’ll get that red sports car.)

Can’t wait to see you Shirley.