Fresh and early 7.30 a.m. on the wheels. By about 10am we were sweating buckets and had to keep stopping every few km. Stopped at a couple very nicely decorated, or should I say just being decorated, temples decked out in readiness for next Saturday’s full moon celebrations. One of the monks, we thought, has been send to talk to us. Very nice chat, although probably more in sign language than in English. Who cares, it was lovely anyway.
Back on the biked, but not for long - we had to stop. The sauna like heat had killed us both and we stopped for yet another cold drink.
10 min later we were sweating in a 16 ton tired lorry, with no aircon, heading around 70km south. The lorry driver was finishing his rice when I had asked if he wouldn`t mind giving us a lift. He initially seemed confused by the request, but then agreed.
Half way to his (and our) destination, the lorry suddenly broke and stopped. It turned out that the hydraulic system on the brakes was dead. He dragged out few prehistoric tools including a machete. An hour later, and few buckets of sweat too, he has fixed the problem using my bicycle tools and a Swiss army knife. He also cut himself using the sharp end of the knife but that was nothing for a Lao lorry driver.
I am not too sure if it wouldn’t be quicker to cycle that distance. Clocked another 15km and found a lovely 2 table road side restaurant with English (American) speaking owner (he had lived in California for three years in the 80s - god only knows how was it possible those days for him to leave the country). It was so nice to be able to skip the trouble explaining what Teresa can and can’t eat (meat being the offending item). Perfect. After a quick meal, in semi-darkness lit by a 2/3 moon, and only one front light (Teresa’s had just broken off) we found a lovely wooden hut next to a dried out river and not far from our road. We set up the tent and entered for a sauna. Hard to imagine after freezing to death in Europe not so long ago.
Back on the biked, but not for long - we had to stop. The sauna like heat had killed us both and we stopped for yet another cold drink.
10 min later we were sweating in a 16 ton tired lorry, with no aircon, heading around 70km south. The lorry driver was finishing his rice when I had asked if he wouldn`t mind giving us a lift. He initially seemed confused by the request, but then agreed.
Half way to his (and our) destination, the lorry suddenly broke and stopped. It turned out that the hydraulic system on the brakes was dead. He dragged out few prehistoric tools including a machete. An hour later, and few buckets of sweat too, he has fixed the problem using my bicycle tools and a Swiss army knife. He also cut himself using the sharp end of the knife but that was nothing for a Lao lorry driver.
I am not too sure if it wouldn’t be quicker to cycle that distance. Clocked another 15km and found a lovely 2 table road side restaurant with English (American) speaking owner (he had lived in California for three years in the 80s - god only knows how was it possible those days for him to leave the country). It was so nice to be able to skip the trouble explaining what Teresa can and can’t eat (meat being the offending item). Perfect. After a quick meal, in semi-darkness lit by a 2/3 moon, and only one front light (Teresa’s had just broken off) we found a lovely wooden hut next to a dried out river and not far from our road. We set up the tent and entered for a sauna. Hard to imagine after freezing to death in Europe not so long ago.