My Bicycling Adventure Blog

North Thailand

2014-08-01T17:10:00.001+01:00

Huay Xia to Ban Ta - 72km

We thought we had the immigration from Laos to Thailand sussed, enough Kip to cover the cost of a boat across the Mekong, a small amount of Baht for the port tax, then get enough Baht at the ATM just outside immigration to last us till Chiang Rai.

But that was all blown out of the water when we discovered that the new 'friendship bridge' to Thailand, over the Mekong, is now open. So it is no longer possible to take the boat. However, the bridge is about 10km south of Huay Xia and, more importantly, an equal distance from Chiang Khong on the Thai side where all the ATMs are. We decided to exchange $50 of our emergency cash into Baht at the exchange in Huay Xia to tide us over to the next ATM.

So it was a bit of a mystery what costs we may possibly incur crossing the border on the bridge. The ride there was strange, there are not yet any road signs on the Laos side to direct drivers to the bridge. At the Laos border we rode to the 'motorbike' lane but were re-directed to the 'pedestrian' queue. After the passports were stamped we came out into a bus queue. Only vehicles are allowed on the bridge, bikes have to go across on a bus. The ultimate insult is that this 750m bus journey over the bridge costs $25 each. A one month visa is only $35!

Coming through immigration in Thailand was straightforward but they had not installed an ATM there when we were there so we were pleased that we had exchanged some currency already. Also it is difficult to adjust to the sudden change of riding on the left.

Our plan for this first day was to head south on route 1020 as far as the turn off for Chiang Rai. The road was a newly surfaced four lane dual carriageway with a wide hard shoulder. We kept commenting on how wonderful it was to ride along a proper road at last after some horrendous roads in Laos. Even the passing fast traffic didn't bother us too much.

Victim of the road works?

After 20km the improved and widened section ended and for the next 40km it was pretty much Laos standard road again. Unsurfaced sections that were rough and dusty, and lots of noise from the road construction vehicles.

They had sprayed so much water on the unsurfaced sections to keep the dust down that they were wash-boarded and pretty uncomfortable.

Ban Ta, the town where we needed to turn off onto the 1152, seemed to consist of nothing more than a big market and a few eateries but just on the outskirts was a small 'resort' with several small cabins. There were about five staff but, in a trend that would continue through Thailand, we were the only guests.

Ban Ta to Chiang Rai - 62km
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Shady road

It was an easy, flat ride to Chiang Rai. Traffic was light and there were lots of shady trees along the road.

Adjusting to the changes between Laos and Thailand was difficult. There were no children playing on the roadsides, no shouts of 'sabaidee' and no kids riding bicycles to school. Most houses have high fences and gates and few people are about on the streets. Wide expanses of rice fields were brown and dry, awaiting the rains to be cultivated, with no-one working outside.

7/11 Heaven

On the positive side, there were 7/11's, Tesco Lotus supermarkets and air-conditioned coffee shop. So fuelled by caffeine, some delicious barbecue chicken for lunch and a smooth quiet road, progress was fast.

We had three nights in a very nice resort on the edge of the city. Our room overlooked the swimming pool, perfect for cooling off after the exertions of a long day's sightseeing.

Chiang Rai - Days off

Wat Ming Muang

Chiang Rai's main attractions are its beautiful temples which are easy to visit on bikes.

Traffic in the city was quiet during the day, more manic at night, so we travelled by tuk-tuk after dark.

Dragon steps, Ming Muang

Chiang Rai Clock Tower

Temple window carving

Chiang Rai to Suanthip Vana Resort - 75km

Early morning exercise

We left just as the sun struggled to burn off the morning mist. The old airport runway, at the back of the resort, was busy with people jogging, running and exercising.

Singha Park

The 'minor road' route that we had chosen turned into a dual carriageway, busy with morning commuters, but they were heading in the opposite direction. Soon we were on a quiet lane, through small villages and woodland. A short detour took us through the new Singha (Thai brewery) park.

After 30km of relative peace we turned onto route 118 which appeared on the 'Google' map to be a narrow country road. As the most direct route between Chiang Rai and Chiang Mai, we should obviously have expected the broad, four lane dual carriageway with fast cars, huge sleeper buses and heavy lorries. At least it was well surfaced, with a wide shoulder.

Perfect pose

Busy roads have their compensations and mid-morning we came to a resort serving coffee and cakes. In the grounds were a series of aviaries containing local birds. The peacock posed very well.

A gradual uphill climb continued all day, at first through featureless towns, but later more scenic along a wooded valley. We headed for only resort marked on our map, called Suanthip Vana.

Swimming pool

Of course it was at the top of a really steep section of climb. It was a very beautiful place on the side of a wooded hill. We had an enormous room, with a private patio, big bath and coffee machine . Outside was another lovely pool and we were the only guests.

Suanthip Vana resort to Ban Pong - 83km

Fairy tale house

Because we lingered too long over breakfast it was already hot when we set off, with lots more hill to climb and no shade. This part of the road was much quieter but the long distance buses still passed every thirty minutes.

New Resort

This strange Khmer style building at the side of the road was actually a new resort under construction.

How much further?

There was 50km to cover before the steepest section of hill began and, after two coffee stops in nice air conditioned cafes to cool us down, the sun was directly overhead.

Every 500m we had to stop, get into some shade, eat a banana and drink. At least there was a hard shoulder all the way, the road now was just two lanes.

There were no fanfares to mark the summit, not even a road sign giving the elevation (1,041m to be exact) and no views either. On the descending road there were long sections without any hard shoulder making the riding much more tense as the traffic squeezed us to the road edge.

While we ate lunch, Steve looked at the sat-nav and declared 'we're nearly there', so when it turned out to be another 15km it didn't go down well with Karen especially as there were several small climbs in the baking heat.

Finding accommodation meant turning off the 118 where there were signposts for several resorts. After searching along the narrow country lanes and asking directions we found a resort and, guess what? We were the only guests.

Ban Pong to Chiang Mai - 53km

Country lane

A determination to find a quiet route away from the main road had us starting the day on an unsurfaced, sandy lane. It was only a few kilometres but very pleasant. Riding through woodland and small orchards that had fenced and hedged fields with gates reminded us of English country estates.

There was a bit more downhill to do before the wide flat plain of the Ping river on which Chiang Mai lies. Our hotel was just inside the old walled city area. Outside the wall is a moat with a one-way road on each side, clockwise on the outside, anti-clockwise inside. It was one of the rare scary moments in Thailand, making a right turn on this very busy road.

Chiang Mai - Days Off

Buddha image Wat Pan Tao

Chiang Mai is the largest city in Northern Thailand and was once the capital of the Lanna kingdom.

City walls and moat

The historic old city is still surrounded by the old moat and parts of the original city walls.

Decorated bridge Wat Pan Tao

This virtual separation from the sprawling modern city that surrounds it means the roads are quiet and ideal for exploring on a bike.

Wat Chedi Luang

The streets have many cafes, restaurants and hotels, a liberal sprinkling of colourful and historic wats.....

Chinese temple

a few temples......

Ethnic minority market produce

and a lively market.

Night safari

In the evening we went for a 'Night Safari' at the zoo, driving around the various animal compounds in a bus with a spotlight, which was great fun.

Waiting for business

Chiang Mai to Chom Thong - 79km

Leaving early meant there were few vehicles on the road around the walls. We headed out following the general direction of the Ping river. Most of the traffic was commuters, heading into town.

The Ping river

Once out of the suburbs the road follows the banks of the gently flowing Ping, very flat with shady mature trees. Stretching across the plains on each side are even more mango orchards.


Wat Chama Thewi

We were joined by three road cyclists, who slowed down to chat with us for a few kilometres. They had ridden into Chiang Mai from Lamphung earlier and were on their way home. We followed them into Lamphung, a slight detour from the Ping, to see the historic town.

Wat Pra That Haripunchai

Lamphung is like a small version Chiang Mai. It too had a surrounding wall and moat although little of this remains today. It does have a couple of interesting wats and, more importantly, a coffee shop with cakes.

Tree with symbolic props

We continued along the Ping river for the rest of the day, heading to Chom Thung to find somewhere to stay. It is quite a large town with the very busy route 108 running through it, heavy lorries, buses and 4x4's nose to tail. The only place to stay was a motel on the edge of town. It wasn't bad and had a little cafe at the back where we could get dinner and breakfast.

Chom Thong to Li - 88km

The plan was to continue following the Ping River south along route 108. But having seen the amount of heavy traffic yesterday we changed our minds. Instead we backtracked about 7km to pick up route 1010 which follows one of the tributaries of the Ping.

Barn full of onions

There was little along the flat valley to excite. Houses line each side for most of the next 10km and beyond that are miles and miles of mango and the occasional barn full of drying red onions

Route 106 turned out to be a wide dual carriageway with fast, noisy traffic. We stopped to have a drink in the shade of a tree and a man came up to us to chat in Thai.

Roadside massage

He wasn't bothered that we didn't understand so we kept smiling, nodding and using sign language. Then he decided to give Steve's thighs a massage so Karen jumped back on the bike quickly before he decided to do hers too.

To escape the noisy traffic we turned off onto a cemented road which ran parallel to the 106. After 1km, uphill on a rough road and hassled by several packs of threatening dogs we gave up and returned to the main road. Over the next few kilometres the traffic thinned and the road went back to two lanes. Just as we were loosing hope of getting morning coffee there was a small cafe on a hill overlooking the valley. Sipping iced lattes we watched a group of agricultural workers preparing the ground for planting water melons.

Shoe seller

From there the road rolled through more mango plantations, gradually climbing into thin secondary growth forest. We kept passing men pushing trolleys loaded with shoes, selling them door to door. A very hot tiring trudge of a job.

At this time of year, the end of the dry season, everything is very dry, no flowers or green growth and a lot of the trees have no leaves yet. Along the roadsides all the undergrowth was burnt off, presumably to lower the risk of wild fires.

Chopping boards

These hills are populated by some ethnic minority groups, mostly "Karen". They make a living harvesting bamboo and using it to manufacture fencing. We stopped at a small roadside market selling local goods to try to find some lunch.

Roast birds

The questionable roast birds didn't tempt us, nor the strange dried foods. Instead we got drinks and brought a big bunch of bananas for less than 50p. Further on there was a good, cheap roadside stall with pad Thai for 60p each.

Different style of Wat

By 3pm it was so hot we had to stop again for ice-cream and drinks just before the turn off to 'Dewo's Home and Garden Resort', our planned overnight stop. Following the signposts we found this sweet little resort, owned by a German and his wife and, once again, we had it to ourselves.

Li to Thoen - 53km

Coffee shop hostess

We were in 'relaxed' mode today, lingering over breakfast and then stopping soon afterwards in Li for a coffee. The coffee shop waitress was extremely enthusiastic, taking many photos of us on her phone and getting us to sign the visitor's book.

Khruba Sri Wichai Steps

Not long after leaving Li we met another touring cyclist travelling north, the first we had seen in Thailand. The road was quiet and climbed up to the head of a valley and over a low col, topped with a memorial. The descent down the other side was beautiful, snaking through forested hills and past a small reservoir.

Haystacks

Nearer to Thoen was a long flat section of road through rice fields still waiting to be ploughed and planted, again all dry and dusty.

Thoen is a small town divided by the wide dual carriageway of highway 1, a daunting road to cross. But with the hotel on one side and the restaurants on the other there was no choice.

Thoen to Thung Saliam - 71km

Love these tree seeds

The day started with a climb over a ridge and then a slow gentle descent through a wide valley all the way to Thung Saliam. A slick, newly surfaced road for the first section was a joy to ride. Round a corner we reached the re-surfacing road works.There were no warning signs, no cones, men with flags or traffic lights. With half the road closed the Thai drivers just slowed down and found their way round the obstruction.

Gateway into Thung Saliam

In Thung Saliam we stopped in a cafe to look for accommodation on the Internet. The cafe owner told us about a hotel and gave directions to find it which led us to a back road in the middle of nowhere.

A couple in a 4WD stopped to offer help and then lifted our bikes and gear into the back and drove us to the hotel, which was on the main road about 1km from where we had stopped at the cafe.

Thung Saliam to Sukothai Historic Park - 57km

Cranes

Today was another easy, flat, featureless ride. It was too much trouble to stop and take a photo, that was how interesting it was.

Oppressive heat kept us moving quickly and a few groups of children were getting ready at the roadside with buckets, hose pipes and water pistols for the beginning of the Songkram water festival. We had booked accommodation in Old Sukothai and arrived there in time for an early lunch.

Old Sukothai - Days off

Wat Sri Sawi

Old Sukothai is home to the ruins of one of Thailand's former capital cities. Many square kilometres of ruins surround the small old town, with most of the services, restaurants and accommodation in New Sukothai, about 12km away.

Wat Mahathat

Preparations for Songkram were in full swing, with a
'water sprinkler' archway over the road to welcome us, hose pipes and water barrels ready for tomorrow.

Wat Mahathat

By getting up at 6.00am the following morning we had the ruins to ourselves for the first hour, watching the sun rise set fire to the ancient red bricks.

Sunrise glow

King Ramkhamhaeng Monument

After a couple of hours the peace was broken by a noisy Songkram parade to the King Ramkhamhaeng's memorial

Songkram Parade

Wet, wet wet

By the time we were ready to go back to the hotel for breakfast the water festival was in full flow. Nobody could, or wanted to, escape the enthusiastic water throwers.

Soaked!

From the sides of the road, backs of SUVs, hosepipes, water barrels, sprinklers the deluge was intense.

Steps to Wat Saphan Him

After changing into dry clothes we set off again in the late afternoon to see some of the more distant ruins, much more authentic, having received less intense restoration.

Going for a goal

Steve got bored with ruins and went off to play football with a young lad.

Wat Chang Lom

The next day we hired a motorbike to travel to Si Satchanalai, a similar historic park about 50km from Sukothai.

Chedi Chet Thaeo

This place is much less visited, more atmospheric and set in a beautiful tree filled valley

Phra Si Ratana Mahathat

Helping the temple busker

Back at Sukothai everyone was in party mood with water everywhere and queues of SUV's with families and friends in the open back, cruising up and down the main road throwing water.

Sukothai Historic Park to Phitsanulok - 88km

Hectic morning market

This was another long, flat ride through countryside with few scenic features. Riding on quiet country lanes we didn't see much traffic but we had to be constantly vigilant for water throwers. It was easy to spot the danger areas from a long way off as the whole width of the road was wet.

Abandoned bike

Most of the throwers were teenagers and they respected our requests to not drench us. Some daubed us with coloured flour paste instead.

Getting nowhere fast, festival mayhem

Getting into the city of Phitsanulok was a different matter. The roads were teeming with vehicles and the roadsides packed with water throwing crowds.

The Thais seem to have a belief that the volume of the music playing is a measure of how much they are enjoying themselves. So many families had set up their loudspeakers on the roadside, determined to be the ones having the best time. Deafening!

Dismounting from the bikes at the hotel, we deposited a trail of water all the way to our room. It would have been nice to visit some of the city landmarks, but the thought of a second drenching kept us hiding in the room until dusk, when it all stops for the night.

Phitsanulok to Sappraiwan Resort - 57km

We didn't sleep well, the constant noise of the hotel lift, the air-con and the fridge disturbed us but the bed was very, very comfy and it wasn't easy to find the will to get out of it. The morning was hot and very humid, following an overnight thunderstorm.

Wat Phra Si Ratana Mahathat

Before leaving the city we rode to Wat Phra Si Ratana Mahathat to experience the Thai temple vibe. Even at 8am the temple was buzzing with activity. Inside the gates was a plethora of market stalls selling temple offerings, herbal medicines, trinkets and tourist tat.

Offering bowls

There was an ancient ruined temple and a more modern one, housing one of the most revered bronze Buddha images in Thailand.

Pouring water

Throngs of people were lighting candles, offering gifts, praying, dropping coins into the begging bowls and pouring gallons of water over the religious images.

We could only spare a few minutes as the heat was already oppressive. Route 12 was our exit from the city, a six lane dual carriageway passing through endless retail outlets, shopping malls, garden centres, DIY stores and car salerooms thankfully all closed at this time in the morning. Even so, as it was the last public holiday of Songkram, the road was very busy.

Beyond the retail area the road narrowed to four lanes but the constant fast traffic had us examining the map to see if there were any minor roads to escape onto. There was just one possibility, from Wang Thong following the river for about 8km. It was a lovely, quiet, cemented country lane, through several small villages with plenty of shade and friendly locals.

Tyre swing

All too soon we reached the end and had a steep climb to get back up the the highway, contending with some quite threatening dogs on the way, and having to push up the impossibly steep last 10 meters.

Novel tyre recycling

From here the road starts a steady climb up to the Salaeng Luang national park, through low growth forest and rubber plantations. Upgrading of the road to a dual carriageway meant that from here all the way to Lamsok there were major roadworks.

Rice cooked in bamboo

By late morning the traffic was a constant stream of open backed SUV's packed with families and friends, barrels of water, buckets and water pistols. Anyone within range is a target for bucketfuls of water, with slow moving targets, i.e. cyclists and motorcycles, at particular risk.

Fish bbq

Most of the families were heading for the two waterfalls on the lower part of the river where there are market stalls and food sellers. We stopped for an early lunch of barbecue chicken and green papaya salad, deciding to give the waterfalls a miss.

There was just one small town to go through before we reached the resort. Having only received a few minor wettings during the morning, we now got absolutely drenched once again.

Feeding time

Our overnight stop was booked at Sappraiwan Resort, set in the foothills of the Thung Salaeng Luang national park on. Its grounds provide a sanctuary for ex-working elephants, which come up to the reception area each day for feeding by the guests. You'll never guess that we were the only, and very lonely, guests.

Sappraiwan Resort to Lamsok - 77km

Boulders or elephants?

Today had a bit of everything. It started with frustration as our attempts to get an early start were thwarted by slow service at breakfast and having to wait fifteen minutes to pay our room bill.

Clear blue skies meant it was going to get pretty hot later and the road was now climbing more steeply. The roadworks were a constant problem. Not that there was any actual work going on, because of the bank holiday, but the widening meant that all nearby trees had been removed so there was not a bit of shade. Sometimes there was no hard shoulder, and only one lane in each direction. In some parts we escaped onto the rough, yet to be surfaced lanes, but riding up these consumed much more energy than on the tarmac.

Today was a normal working day so there were only a few SUV's with water tossing occupants and most of the traffic was in a hurry to get somewhere. Climbing on the northern edge of the national park, the 3 road has tall forest on the south. To the north the slopes were fairly bare.

Scratch meal on broken plastic chairs

Cresting the first peak we expected to find somewhere to eat. There was nowhere except for a large hardware, building and animal foods supplier with a small food shop at the back. It reminded us so much of Cooper's in Pickering, even smelt the same.

What seemed like the top of the hill was followed by several steep down and up sections which were not fun in the midday heat. In some places the new road sections were much lower to avoid some of the steep inclines.This meant we were cycling along on the edge of the tarmac with a four meter drop on our left and traffic passing at speed on the right. On the final hill the thunderstorm which had been threatening for the past forty minutes hit and we had to dive for cover under a food stall awning.

Then came the reward for the effort with the long winding descent. Busy afternoon traffic and the constant need to avoid traffic cones and changes in road surface kept the speed down but we were cool at last. Down at 150m above sea level the air temperature was much higher for the last flat section into Lamsok where there was a fairly new and clean hotel. .

Lamsok to Pechabun - 52km

Beautiful blossom

Turning south we headed down the wide Pa Sak river valley. To the west of the river is the wide and busy Highway 21. Avoiding that we kept to quiet minor roads on the east. Along the roadside the many trees were in flower and the flat smooth roads ensured fast progress.

Tobacco pickers

Tobacco is one of the biggest crops here and the workers were just returning from the fields with the first crop of the day.

Tobacco barn

All along the roadside were huge barns, full of tobacco, with each layer at a different stage of drying. Houses along this section were noticeably more refined.But that didn't mean there was any hotels, for that we had to cross back over the river into Pechabun.

Pechabun to Bueng Sam Phan - 89km

Long, flat, straight road

We returned to the east side of the valley on a lovely quiet, rolling road with lots of shady trees and low mountains to the east.

Typical tobacco farmhouse

Tobacco was still the main crop with many small farms along the road.

Traditional water jars

All the houses here still had their traditional ceramic water pots although nowadays they mostly have a mains water supply. If only we could have got a couple in a pannier to take home.

Maybe it's just not completed yet

The villages along the road were too small to have accommodation except for this place which appeared to have a literal interpretation of the term 'Hut Stay'. So we had to go west to Highway 21 to find a guesthouse.

It was Friday evening and the first place we tried was full. At the only other place we managed to get the last room.

Bueng Sam Phan to Si Thep - 71km

Family preparing a money tree

The first 5km of today's ride was along the hard shoulder of Highway 21,with only light traffic at this time of day. This took us through a largish town with a basic hotel,which was not not even marked on the Google map. Pity we didn't know about it the night before.

Caution mud on road

We had a fried rice breakfast at a little cafe on main road followed quickly by ice cafe latte and biscuits at a coffee shop a little further down, knowing that the chance of finding any cafes away from the main road was remote.

Cassava cuttings ready for planting

Turning east onto a small lane took us into a quiet rural landscape along muddy roads and dirt tracks. Leaving tobacco behind we now cycled through vast fields of cassava and rice.

Charcoal burning

Charcoal burners along the roadside sent up clouds of smoke.

Si Thep ruins

Si Thep has a small historical park on the site of a former city.

Small mountain of a ruin

Temple carvings

Stone carvings

Si Thep to Chai Badan - 72km

'Engine refit'

Today was supposed to be a short ride, the direct distance down highway 21 was only 30km but of course we didn't want to cycle for 2 hours down the busy highway. So we went back east to the Si Thep historic park to navigate a route along the back roads.

Roadside oil well

The scenery was nothing dramatic and the roads flat and uninspiring so there was no excuse for missing a crucial turn and ending up back at highway 21. That mistake added about 15km to the 'easy' day.

Chai Badan was a frustrating city in which to try to find food on a Sunday lunchtime. All of the restaurants appeared to be closed and we covered about 5km more just looking for something to eat. Across the road from the small railway station was a very welcome food stall and starvation was once more prevented.

Chai Badan to Muak Lek - 83km

To get a really early start we purchased breakfast from the 7/11 just up the road and were off by 6.15am. The roads were really quiet at this early (for Thailand) hour and we exited the city along a couple of back roads onto the 2089. Having planned the route on Google maps we were not sure what to expect. There seemed to be no towns of any size, with few services and it was not even clear whether some parts of the route were even surfaced.

The Muak Lek valley

In fact it was a lovely and enjoyable ride along quiet rolling and smooth roads passing, but out of sight of, the large Pasak Chonlasit reservoir. Wang Muang turned out to be a modern town with wide streets and air conditioned coffee shops so we had a break and light refreshment.

Muak Lek waterfall

A little further on we turned off onto the road which follows the Muak Lek river valley, gently climbing up a scenic wooded valley. There were quite a few resorts here but they all appeared deserted. The river tumbles over several small waterfalls and the clear blue tinged water attracts crowds of bathers and picnickers.

The biggest challenge of the day was crossing Highway 2, a wide and busy dual carriageway with no traffic lights or footbridges. We stayed at the Valley Garden Resort, and got a fabulous room with four poster bed and an outdoor shower. The first night we ate in the resort restaurant as it was so far from anywhere there was little alternative.

The next day we had a relaxing day swimming in the resort pool and sunbathing. We were the only guests of course. At 7.30pm we wandered over to the restaurant to eat and found both that and reception closed and in darkness. The only person around was the night security guard and he didn't understand any English. Our carried food reserves amounted to a couple of packets of nuts and a chocolate bar. So that was our evening meal.

Muak Lek to Thao Yai - 32km

We were still feeling a bit miffed about last night as we went for breakfast. The receptionist met us at door and apologised profusely but it didn't help much. We asked her to ensure that all future guests are informed about opening hours of restaurant and given an emergency number for nighttime. There was no way we were going to stay any longer so booked into another resort not far away.

Just the head of the planned Buddha statue

One thing we have noticed all the way through Thailand is that almost every Wat seems to have building work in progress. Toady we passed one where a massive new Buddha statue was being built. It was a shock to realise it was being made from polystyrene.

Butterflies drinking

Dairy farming is the main agriculture here, the milk still being collected in steel milk churns.

Nearer to Khao Yai national park an enormous amount of building work is going on, mainly blocks of condominiums and villas as holiday homes for rich Bangkok residents. We pretended to be prospective buyers so that we could have a look at one of them.

There really is a line of bats, just below the top of the central cloud

In the late afternoon we set off to try to find a bat cave that we had read about on-line. We asked at the resort but they just tried to sell us an organised tour. We rode up and down some delightful narrow lanes looking for the cave, Just as we'd almost given up hope and the sun was setting we saw a spiralling string of them in the far distance.

Thao Yai to Prachin Buri - 64km

working elephant

After a picnic breakfast in our room at 6.00am, we were off by 6.30, passing two working elephants and their mahouts.

River near the park gate

Just 4 km down the road we arrived at the Khao Yai National Park gate and paid the 400Baht entrance fee. to NP gate, paid our 400Baht admission fee.

It was still cool and pleasant as we started the 10km to the visitor centre, climbing a smooth two lane road.

Grazing deer

Tall trees on both sides provided lots of shade, necessary on a couple of very steep sections. Most of traffic that passed us was the National Park staff on motorbikes on their way to work.

Forest trees

We didn't see any elephants but there was lots of evidence of their presence, muddy footprints, paths through the trees and huge piles of s***. A raucous screeching from the trees turned out to be a giant horn bill. It flew away above the trees before we could take a photo.

Views from 600m

Up at 800m it was slightly cooler and the road goes across an artificially created grassy plain which is an ideal habitat for deer and other grazing animals.

Cogon grass plains

Bat-shaped spider

At visitor centre we walked through the 'dry zone' forest, full of little interesting things, butterflies, insects, spiders, fungi, plants and trees.

Lizard on the path to Haew Suwat

Parking the bikes against a tree we walked over to some food stalls for early lunch. As we ate we looked across to the bikes to see a monkey stealing the Powerade bottle.

Not as impressive today

Ahead of us now was 40km of downhill through tropical forest. There were lots of waterfalls signposted off the road at regular intervals, but all the watercourses were dry. The park information assured us that Haew Suwat waterfall, the one made famous in ' The Beach' had water all year. After climbing down the 197 steps they were right but it was such a little trickle it hardly shows on the photo.

Beautiful butterfly

On the way back we met a Spanish cycling couple, on the steps. They were climbing up the hill and planning to camp at the top. With only three hours of daylight left and a 400m climb over 26km, rather them than us.

Descent to Prachin Buri

It was more downhill from here on a smoothly surfaced road to reach Prachin Buri which is on the main highway 33 from Bangkok to Cambodia. It was nose to tail lorries and coaches in both directions with a roadside night market adding to the chaos.

Prachin Buri to Nong Khae - 74km

Nice handbag

We planned to follow the back roads to avoid the busy AH1 (route33), but all the roads ran in the wrong direction, mainly north to south so the main road distance was 30km, back roads 50km. So instead we decided to do 30km on the highway to Ben Nha, then back roads for the rest.

Garden statue

The Saturday morning traffic was nowhere near as busy as the Friday evening had been. The roadside had distinct retail zones along it. First endless garden nurseries, then garden statues, then shrines and grave furnishings.

Dusty ploughing

Leaving the main road we travelled along the canal bank lanes. Mostly there was a lane on both sides, one surfaced in either concrete or tarmac and the other a rough track. Roads along the canal sides were quiet, rural and very basic houses with not a lot of shade.

Roadside shrine

Nong Khae has a strip of eating shacks on the riverside where we devoured a whole roast chicken, papaya salad and sticky rice between the two of us. There followed a long search for accommodation in yet another city dissected by the busy dual carriageway of highway1.

Pretty temple

Sent south to find hotel by tuk-tuk drivers, then tried one down the riverside which didn't exist. Ended up at AK apartments. Had restaurant so didn't have to venture out over the road in the dark.

Nong Khae to Ayutthaya - 45km

Today, our penultimate riding day in Thailand, we managed to take a course along the canal sides until the suburbs of Ayutthaya. The houses and villages were noticeably poor, just small wooden shacks with outside toilets and blocks of showers shared between several households.

Wat Phra Ram

Ayutthaya was the last 'must see historical park', another former capital of Siam. We stayed two days, using the bikes to get around the central ruins, and paid for an evening boat trip around the outskirts of the city to see the more distant ones.

Elephant tour

Wat Si Samphet

Wat Chiawatthanaram

Buddha's head encased in tree roots

Wat Mahathat

Ayutthaya to Bangkok - 103km

With our last travelling day ahead of us and quite a distance of flat riding ahead we decided that rather than plan a back road route we would take the shorter main roads, riding on the hard shoulder. Getting out of Ayutthaya was the worst bit.

We were off by 6.30am but already the traffic was heavy. The city suburbs seem to have endless hospitals and care facilities. The night staff had just finished work and were waiting at the bus stops to get home. The buses would approach at speed and then suddenly cut cross the hard shoulder just in front of us.

It soon got very hot and there was very little to take the mind off the long road and boring terrain. By 2pm we were checked in to the airport hotel with plenty of time to pack the bikes and gear ready for our lunchtime to Portugal the next day for the start of a new adventure.

Laos

2014-04-12T06:50:00.001+01:00

Getting There

Even as we got into the taxi, it was obvious that the flight to Vientiane would be delayed as it was so foggy. The airport at Vinh has two tiny terminal buildings, domestic and international with four early morning flights scheduled. They were all delayed so the place was chaotic, with passengers and luggage occupying every inch of the waiting area.

Finding that the flight was delayed by four hours we expected to get free refreshment. The small cafeteria was overwhelmed with local passengers so, as the only western passengers in the airport, we were allowed to use the 'First Class Lounge'. It was upstairs, air side, in the domestic terminal so we had to go through security screening. First Class was a very loose description. Yes, it did have some cheap armchairs but everywhere was filthy. The only' food' available was pot noodles or rice crackers and the only drink was beer.

Vientiane - Days off

Presidential Palace

Arriving in Vientiane was a little like waking up from a bad dream to find yourself in heaven. The sky was blue, the temperature in the 30's, the hotel had comfy beds with clean white sheets, and in close walking distance was every nationality of food and drink we could desire.

Bench of legs

One of the first places we visited was COPE, which provides orthotic and prosthetic aids for the many bomb injury victims in Laos.

Bomb parts sculpture

Holding the unenviable record for the most heavily bombed country, per capita, in World history, unexploded ordinance is still a major problem here and continues to cause many injuries.

Prosthetic legs

There are displays of old artificial legs, including many homemade ones, sculptures constructed of old bomb parts, and harrowing accounts of some of the young UXO victims.

There are several impressive temples, but much of the city's ancient history has been destroyed and stolen over the centuries by invading armies and bombing.

There is still an impressive display of religious objects at the various Wat sites.

Wat Si Saket

Bomb damaged Buddhas

These are just a few of the Buddha images damaged by USA bombing.

Couple in traditional costume

Haw Pha Kaeo

Wat Pha That Luang

Wat That Pha Luang

Putuxa

Vientiane has its own 'Arc de Triumph', called Patuxa, which stands on the main road. Its nickname is 'The Vertical Runway' because it was supposedly built with cement that had been donated to build a new runway.

The day before we were due to set off Steve got another D and V problem, so we had to stay another day.

Vientiane to Thalat - 94km

Planning a ride in Laos is pretty straightforward as there are few surfaced roads. Route 13, the longest continuous road in Laos, which runs from the Chinese border in the north to the Cambodian border in the south, is the one most cyclists use. There are several long unsurfaced roads through the mountains but even the motorcyclists confirm that they are 'very challenging'.

Temple flowers

Steve had not fully recovered but heroically got up and set off at 7.00am. Getting away from Vientiane was the worst part, there are so many traffic lights on the main road. The cool misty early morning soon gave way to more intense heat, with no breeze.

Pom-pom decorations on our handlebars from the COPE shop

This was the only part of the whole trip where there was a choice of road, either follow 13 north or go slightly further east and on route 10 to the south end of the huge reservoir formed by the Nam Ngun Dam. Thinking the 10 would be a quieter road we went that way.

Unbeknown to us, today was a public holiday in Laos and it seemed that everyone was heading for a day at the reservoir. Trucks, cars and buses packed with passengers streamed past the whole day.

Barbecue Pork

Workmen were installing a new sewer at the roadside and the road was being widened. Consequently the road surface was rough, potholed and dusty as well as noisy.


Fish anyone ?

Roadside stalls produced clouds of quite nauseating smoke as they cooked fish, chicken and pork, but the end results looked good. Not quite enough to tempt Steve's appetite though.

At lunchtime we neither of us could find the appetite to eat the baguette sandwiches that we had brought and just drank some pop. After more than 70km of flat, there was a 200m steep climb just as the afternoon heat hit its zenith. Steve could only manage short sections at a time with plenty of water and rests in the shade.

Thalat was not as big a town as we expected. There were several guesthouses which were all busy with weekend guests. We couldn't work out where all those guests went to eat as there appeared to be only one, scruffy place open for food and just us and one other family eating.

Thalat to Tha Heua - 77km

Dusty red road, only fit for cattle

There was nowhere serving breakfast as we left the guesthouse so we rode the 15km along route 4 to the junction with route 13. This section of road was also being widened and having sewer work.

In a lot of places it was just a wide, red earth road with passing vehicles throwing up clouds of thick dust.
Large water tankers were spraying the road surface where it passed through the small towns to make life more bearable for the residents.

Phoun Hong, the town at the road junction, had a popular roadside eating place with rice, roast pork and fried egg to set us up for the day's riding. So now we were onto route 13, and just as we had read, although it is Laos main highway, there is little traffic.

The reservoir

The surface here was in very good condition and we made fast progress over the rolling hills of bamboo and low trees.

We had planned to have a short day and overnight at a guesthouse in Hin Hoeup, but we were there by 11.00am, so carried on, hoping to find accommodation at the north end of the reservoir.

Nirvana resort

At Tha Heua there was a signpost to 'Nirvana Eco Resort'. It was a steep climb up a dirt road and an equally steep descent on the other side to a small group of basic rooms around an open restaurant area, overlooking the top of the reservoir.

Rescued young wildcat

We were the only guests that night and were introduced to the five monkeys, the kittens, a wild cat and the injured birds, all rescued and cared for by the owner.

Tha Heua to Vang Vieng - 24km

Rescued baby monkey

A short easy day today to take us to Vang Vieng, the 'Chill Out' capital of Laos. It was very misty today, a constant feature over the next couple of weeks, so the views of the towering karst mountains were always in soft focus.

Footbridge over the Nam Song

With a late start we arrived just before lunchtime. Along the riverside is the main backpacker haunt, lined with guesthouses, street stalls and cafes. Few of them have chairs, just low tables and floor cushions. Most of the younger customers were just having breakfast as we tucked into our Thai curry lunch. Most of them looked likely to stay there all afternoon, with the TV tuned into repeats of 'Friends'.

Kayaks on the river

We booked into a guest house right on the riverside and were given a ground floor room, right next to the stairs, with a balcony overlooking the river and also the next-door bar. We had fears of being kept awake all night with loud music and revelry.

But over the last two years Vang Vieng has cleaned up its act. It has transformed from a rave destination fuelled by drink and drugs to an adventure tourism centre and the nights are pretty peaceful.

Well earned beer

In the afternoon we walked down to the riverside beach bar, rented a little cabana with hammocks and cushions and drank beer watching the more energetic tubers, canoeists and swimmers in the Nam Song river.

Japanese photographers wait for sunset

As the sun set a hot air balloon floated over the distant hills. A group of Japanese tourists arrived with big fancy cameras and we featured in many of their best pictures.

Hot air balloon at dusk

Vang Vieng to Nam Ken - 78km

Dawn hot air balloon

Today began with a ride up the Nam Song valley with its green rice fields and karst rocks just visible through the morning haze.

Nam Song Valley

Fifteen kilo meters of flat riding warmed us up and we had a quick can of cola before starting to climb into the hills.

View back towards Vang Vieng

It rose in a series of steps, with some short, steep sections separated by long easy inclines. We met three other cyclists today, and swapped notes with them about accommodation and roads.

Water buffalo cooling off

The villages in the mountains are noticeably poorer than those further south. Mostly the people live outside, sitting in the shade, the adults chatting and children playing.

Sibling care

The most important part of the village is the well, with an equal quantity of clothes washers, body washers and people collecting water in plastic containers. As we ride past there is a constant barrage of 'sabaidee's' and children queueing for 'high fives'. Older siblings care for their younger brothers and sisters, often carrying them around on their backs

Road to Kasi

A long slow descent brought us into Kasi for lunch. The plan was to stay here overnight but one of the Swiss riders we had met earlier had recommended continuing a further 20km to a small hot spring with a restaurant and cabins.

Mountain views above Kasi

The town here was also receiving the 'new sewer' treatment and the whole length of road through the centre was rough and dusty. After a quick lunch we set off in the afternoon heat. It was quite a climb with no shade, but at least there was a following wind to help.

Grass broom making is a big business in the mountains. Grass is collected from the hillsides and laid out to dry in the sun on the edges of the road. Before it can be used for the broom, it has to threshed to remove all the seeds. This is also done on the roadside, an exhausting, hot and laborious process. Bunches of grass are repeatedly beaten on the road, then each head is rolled with the hands on the road to remove all the remaining seeds. Deep drifts of the tiny,pale yellow seeds line the roadside. The job seems to be allocated to aged adults or teenage girls

Typical thatched mountain house

Halfway up we were resting in the shade when a western couple went by on a motorbike and waved. At the summit they had stopped to take photos so we chatted. They were Canadian and had brought the old motorbike in Vientiane to tour Laos.

They admitted they had already had a 'few problems' with it but planned to go to Phonsovan and Luang Prabang. About five kilometres further we passed them again, pushing the bike because the gear cable had broken.


Hot spring pool and cabins

The hot spring was a bit of a muddy pool at the side of the road. The locals all came by for a bath. Warm water helped sooth our sore muscles, and the lady owner was a good cook so we ate very well.

Nam Ken to Phou Khoun - 27km

Distant mountains

Except for the first 2km, the whole of the day's ride was uphill, climbing 850m to Phou Khoun. We got an early start, the sun hardly showing through the thick morning mist.

Onions growing in raised beds

The steep mountain sides here have had most of their trees removed although there is little organised agriculture. Sections of hillside were being cleared by burning, ready for planting wet season crops such as corn and pineapple.

Fancy one of these for tea?

This area is still more aligned to 'hunter gatherer' with men setting off into the hills with wicker traps, knives and cloth bags to collect animals, birds and plants.. A group of men sat at the roadside waiting to sell their captured wild animals.


Ingredients drying at the roadside

Further along the road was a range of products, set out on racks to dry which we couldn't recognise.

Villagers selling hand embroidered products

Hardly any traffic passed us as we gradually climbed up the valley side. In one small village we pulled up outside a small shop and were immediately swamped by villagers, all desperate to sell their 'homemade' tourist trinkets.

Such small ladies

There was a young child, a pregnant mum and two elderly ladies. We ended up buying something from all of them.

Views from the restaurant

Just a little further was a restaurant with views back down the valley where all the tourist buses stopped. Haze and smoke from the burning spoilt the views again.

Then it was only a few kilometres further to Phou Khoun. This mountain top town, almost 1400m above sea level, doesn't win any awards for beauty. Just a scruffy crossroads with a handful of eating places, a couple of guesthouses, some dusty shops and a tiny market.

Phou Khoun to Nong Tang - 88km

Local lady, Phou Khoun

Phou Khoun lies at the junction of two roads. Route 13 continues north towards Luang Prabang and route 7 heads east to Phonsovan and the Vietnam border.

Before the sudden change of plan because of Karen's knee problem, we had planned to enter Laos on route 7 and visit the famous 'Plain of Jars' on the way. As we had been unable to do that we decided to turn east now and head to Phonsovan.


Novel village arch

We were woken very early by other guests leaving the guesthouse, but it was pointless getting up until it was starting to get light.

Long walk to school

As we set off down the hill out of town crowds of children were walking and riding bicycles down the road to school. The younger ones were the luckiest, as their school was just down the hill. The older children had a much longer journey and a steep hill to climb.

Hand Cart

Although there are plenty of buffalo here they are not used to pull carts. Families have big, heavy, wooden hand carts and these are used to transport anything heavy; water bottles, sacks of rice, young children, disabled relatives and the elderly and infirm, often all at at the same time.

View back to Phou Khoun

Today's ride was probably the most scenic of our rides in Laos, but pretty tough with a lot of undulating climbing and a 700m deep valley to cross. There was even less traffic on this road but also fewer services as the villages were so poor there were no shops or food stalls.

Views on the descent

The highlight of the day was the descent to Nam Chat, 700m of snaking, smooth road with some hillsides of virgin rain forest still surviving and hazy views down into the deep valleys below. The children here were all half naked and filthy, but so beautiful and so happy and we were hoarse from shouting 'sabaidee'.

At Nam Chat we had lunch at the only cafe for 88km. As we ate, another huge swathe of forested hillside was being devoured by massive flames, throwing more thick black smoke into the sky and raining large flakes of burnt bamboo leaves over the town. Once lunch was over it was up and up back to 1400m on a super, easy gradient following the river valley, followed by hairpins to the summit. Now we began descending onto the Phonsovan plain and immediately it was obvious that this is a much more prosperous area.

Cattle grazing on the rice fields

The houses were still predominately thatched and bamboo but the villages were very neat and tidy with bamboo fences along the roadside and terraced rice fields in the valleys.

Our cosy cabin

Nong Tang was just a tiny village, the 'guesthouse' was three little wood cabins on the shore of a small lake and a little restaurant. The 'bathroom' had a squat toilet and a big bucket of water. Flush the toilet with it or ladle it over your head for a wash.

The view over the lake

The bed had a mattress which felt as though it was constructed from concrete. There were two quilts so one of them went on top of the mattress to add a little softness. The pillows were like bricks and needless to say there was no air con or fan. It was going to be a long night.

Nong Tang to Phonsovan - 50km

Road to Phonsovan

This area may be called the 'Phonsovan Plain' but it is certainly not flat. The road crosses five steep sided valleys and our legs ached from yesterday's exertions.

Along the road we passed this truck having a small problem with a shifting load of chairs. Rather than spend time re-stacking them, they were trying to stop them falling off with ropes.

Phonsovan is not the most attractive town in Laos, mainly a long street lined with unattractive concrete buildings but it does have some good hotels and a couple of international restaurants.

Phonsovan - Day Off

Site one jars

In the area around Phonsovan are the remains of several thousand stone jars, of various sizes,whose makers and purpose remain a bit of a mystery.

The area was one of the most intensively bombed during the 1970's and has only recently become safe enough for tourists to visit without official guides.

Site two

There are many jar site, identified by numbers, but sites 1-3 are the most visited. To do the trip on the bicycles meant a 65km ride, mostly on unsurfaced roads, as well as a lot of walking around the sites.

Site two

So we hired a motorbike for the day. We had a detailed map of how to get to each site, and an American tourist had warned us that there were no English language signposts.

Walking to site three

Neither the speedometer or the distance clock on the motorbike were working, making our carefully measured map directions useless, but the good news was that all the sites were well signposted and it was no problem finding them.

Site three

Phonsovan to Kiukachan - 188km (bus 138km, bike 50km)

Loading the bikes

We needed to return to Phou Khoun to continue our journey to Luang Prabang, as there was no alternative route. The idea of repeating the hills was not so bad, but having to stay at the cabin at Nong Tang again was inconceivable. So we booked a ticket on one of the many mini-buses that carry locals and back-packers between the main city hubs.

An agency near the hotel sold us the tickets and we had to pay almost as much for the bikes as for ourselves.The mini-bus station was shambolic, the buses had no form of identification, passengers, drivers and staff were milling around and the 08.45 departure time was just an optimistic guess.

After a long wait the bikes and panniers were lifted onto the roof rack of one bus and tied very securely in place, together with various other pieces of luggage. Then realisation dawned that there were 13 passengers to get on the 11 seat bus. So we all had to wait while another bus was arranged and luggage re-arranged.

The journey back to Phou Khoun was just as scenic in reverse, but travelling along the winding roads in the tightly packed minibus was not as enjoyable as on the bikes. By the time we arrived it was 13.00 and we needed to have lunch before starting the ride to Kiukachan.

Climbing up to Kiukachan

By 2pm, with full stomachs we were ready for off, but the pressure was on to reach Kiukachan before dark. The first 27km was mostly downhill on smooth roads as we lost 500m of altitude.

Now we had to climb back up to 1400m and as the sun started to dip below the peaks, our slow progress uphill made the kilometres seem double the length. Just before dusk we reached the village and booked into a very basic, but cheap and clean guesthouse.

Kiukachan to Luang Prabang - 80km

Orchids in the mountains

There was a chill in the air at 6.30am, 1400m up in the mountains. Noodle soup warmed us ready for an incredible 1000m descent to start the morning. On the higher slopes there are still many mature trees, but further down most vegetation had been removed and the hillsides were blackened from burning. The road was smooth, just a scattering of pot holes, all easily avoidable.

Nam Ming River

Reaching the bottom of the valley we crossed the Nam Ming river, with simple thatched bamboo homes on its banks.

Embroidered panels

We stopped at a roadside shop for cans of coke and watched the young lady owner laboriously stitching gold thread onto a decorative panel.

High Fives

It was time for some real work now as the road started yet another 600m climb, with an easy and enjoyable gradient.

Up and up

With hardly any need to change gear and little traffic we cycled side by side and chatted all the way to the top.

Landslip

The only nervous bit was having to traverse a section where there had been a landslip. A JCB was working high above in the loose red clay soil and large lumps of clay were rolling down onto the track ahead of us.

Just as we started the next descent we passed the Canadian couple on their motorbike yet again. Actually only he was on the bike, slowly riding up the steep hill carrying the baggage. His partner was walking up as the bike was not capable of getting two people and their luggage up the gradient. None of us cared to stop, just shouted greetings and we flew off down the hill, overtaking a large heavily loaded lorry on the way down.

Roadside baskets

Traffic increased considerably on the next 25km into Luang Prabang and there was an unexpected small first gear climb in the afternoon heat to make us swear.

Luang Prabang - Days off

Luang Prabang is like no other place in Asia. It has all the charms of the east, with saffron clad monks....

.....

....ornate gilded temples.....

....and even a royal palace....

Old Luang Prabang

.....but set in an almost western standard town.

Haw Pha Bang

There is daily rubbish collection, wide, clean pavements, unobstructed by parked cars and motorbikes, minimal traffic, and lovely street cafes and gift shops in the renovated shop houses.

The Mekong, Luang Prabang

It lies at the confluence of the Mekong and the Nam Khan rivers and although one of the top destinations in Laos it never feels crowded or busy.

Tak Bat

We had three days off. The first to rest and catch up with e-mail. The next day we got up at 6.00am to experience Tak Bat, where the monks collect offerings of rice from the townspeople.

Collecting rice

Traditionally women kneel on the floor and men stand and put a small ball of sticky rice in the monk's begging bowls as the long lines of monks walk barefoot down the street.

Alms giver

Unfortunately this spectacle has become a tourist magnet and many large groups come by hotel transport to take part and take photographs, somewhat spoiling what should be a respectful, silent ceremony.

Cat after baby owls on the market

The rest of the day was spent touring the temples, royal palace and wandering round the busy market.

Colourful produce

Honey seller

Tat Kuang Si Waterfall

On the third day we hired a motorbike to go to the Tat Kuang Si waterfall. This is certainly one of the most beautiful waterfalls we have visited, and even at the end of the dry season still had lots of water.

Swimming in the river

Because of its high mineral content the water has a lovely blue tinge and most of the pools are suitable for swimming, with picnic tables and a restaurant. Surrounding it all is tall original rain forest.

Rescued bear

There is also a small bear sanctuary, housing bears that have been rescued from cruelty and captivity.

Luang Prabang to Pak Mong - 113km

Hazy sunrise

We were up at 6.00am.knowing it would be a long day. Breakfast was a croissant and coffee in a bakery on the opposite side of the road to the Tak Bat ceremony so we were able to watch it again. As we left town we brought filled baguettes and fruit, anticipating few eating places on this route.

Nam Ou river

The road runs at first along the banks of the Mekong and then turns north along the Nam Ou valley. With cloudy skies and the constant thick smoke haze it was quite cool. It was a long and tiring ride, because as usual the road was never flat so although the actual height gain over the day was only 100m we actually climbed about 800m.

For the first 50km there were fairly frequent services and a couple of hotels, but after that there was absolutely nowhere, not even a shop in the infrequent small villages.We were glad we had brought lunch before setting off.

We booked into a new looking guesthouse on the outskirts of Pak Mong. At dusk we wandered up the road to look for something to eat. There was a small, empty 'restaurant' near the bus station. The family were in the back sitting round a table loaded with empty beer bottles. They all looked and sounded drunk but managed to cook us up a plate of fried rice. Unfortunately there was no beer as they had drunk it all!

Pak Mong to Oudomxay - 84km

Collecting alms in the rain

Overnight there was a heavy thunderstorm. This could be either a blessing or a problem as it meant the dust clouds on the unsurfaced roads would not choke us but instead the sticky mud would be more tiring to ride on. Another benefit was that it cleared a lot of the haze.

As we came out of the guesthouse to get the bikes, we met another cycling couple heading south. They admitted that, having heard how awful the road was, they had travelled by bus from Oudomxay. This didn't inspire us with much confidence but we were determined to ride it.

Start of the climb

Noodle soup at a place on the market was our breakfast, and where we brought a few snacks then set off up route 13. The road was just as bad as we had been warned with only about 50% tarmac and then sections of rocky, muddy surface. There was a 900m climb to start the day and we had estimated it should take about three-four hours.

Getting steeper

But the appalling surface slowed us down so much, with the climbs up the rocky sections needing first gear and draining the energy from our legs. The other shock was the amount of heavy traffic and 4WDs using this part of the road.

The lorries at least moved slowly, also in first gear, but the 4WDs just sped over all the bumps going though the little villages with no regard for the safety of the children, animals and cyclists.

Lifesaving kebabs

Most of the hillsides here have been cleared of trees, although a few patches of virgin forest still remain in the valleys and on the hill summits. Villages along the roadside are poor and the inhabitants much less friendly.

Market at the top of the hill

After five hours of toil we got to the summit at 1,250m, where there was a small market, the only place where we could get food all day.

After devouring a whole barbecue chicken, a couple of sausages and some energy drink we continued down the first descent which, mercifully, was better surfaced. Then there was another 350m climb before beginning the descent into Oudomxay, yet another town in the middle of road widening and sewer installation so the main street was a mess.

Oudomxay to Muang Houm - 95km

Upper Beng valley

There was another heavy thunderstorm overnight so we set off out of town through big muddy puddles. Breakfast was a bowl of noodle soup for a change! We had to backtrack about 4km to the turn off for Pak Beng on route 2W. After so many long kilometres on route 13 it was like leaving a good friend.

Roadside village

2W runs south west following the Beng river valley which eventually joins the Mekong at Pak Beng. This area is more populated, with small villages at regular intervals along the road and has much more agriculture. Bananas, watermelons, maize and tobacco are the main crops.

Overturned lorry

The road was in good condition and the traffic light. After a few kilometres we passed an overturned lorry, the third one in three days. The road didn't follow the river valley much, climbing up and down the low hillsides and the surface gradually got worse.

Some of the villages were friendly places with everyone waving and greeting, while in others we were ignored. Lunchtime found us at a small market stall eating yet another bowl of noodle soup and longing for pie and chips. Except for one small guesthouse in a village with no apparent place to eat, there was no option but to continue to Muang Houn. Here we tried a guesthouse and a hotel but both were fully booked. So we had to settle for the only other guesthouse and eat fried noodles for tea.

Muang Houm to Pak Beng - 53km

Our last day of cycling in Laos and noodle soup for breakfast, perfect. This one was truly delicious but the meat was suspiciously dog like. For the first 30km the road was very hilly and had several long unsurfaced stretches. With uninspiring scenery and low cloud following another overnight thunderstorm it seemed pretty dull.

Beautiful Beng gorge

But then we started to descend into a deep forested gorge, the sun came out and the birds started singing. Towering cliffs on the left and thick virgin rain forest below, with the previously slow moving Beng river tumbling over rocks. It was beautiful.

Except, just around the corner was a large billboard advertising the construction of a new hydroelectric project, JCB's and teams of construction workers on the river bed drilling tunnels and constructing a barrage. It appeared the whole gorge would be flooded, what a shame.

Children having fun in the river

The last 20km was an enjoyable downhill all the way to the Mekong river valley and the town of Pak Beng.

This geographically isolated town currently lies at the end of the 2w road with most visitors arriving here by boat from Luang Prabang or Huay Xia, staying for just one night and then continuing their boat journey. But the nearly completed bridge over the Mekong River here will change that, creating a new road link into Thailand.

View on the Mekong from our room

We booked a room at the 'Riverside lodge', which had a balcony overlooking the river wharf. There was no need for any other entertainment. Just sitting watching the constant activity below was better than any TV.

Unloading cement

Large barges loaded with construction materials arrived from up-river to be unloaded slowly and laboriously by hand. A new tractor arrived in parts on the back of a van and was loaded into two small canoes to be taken across the river.

Passenger boat arrival

Passenger boats arrived about 5pm and the wharf would be crowded with porters, tuk-tuk drivers, hotel transport and backpackers.

From 6.30 am the process was repeated as everyone continued their two day journey between Luang Prabang and Huay Xia.

Tree climbing

In between these times the local children took over the riverside, swimming, playing on the sandy banks, fishing, balancing along the gang planks and boat edges and climbing the trees under the balcony, both to eat the fruit and to spy on us.

Elephant bath time

In the late afternoon the elephants from the small sanctuary on the other bank came down to bathe in the river.

We planned to have one day rest and then get the boat to Huay Xia. Overnight Karen got ill with a fever and a desire to stay close to a toilet so once again we had to stay another day.

Pak Beng to Huay Xia - boat

Mekong river boat

We had read all sorts of stories about the horrors of going by boat up the Mekong, overcrowded boats, uncomfortable hard benches to sit on, motorboats crashing into submerged rocks and horrific toilets.

Luxurious accommodation

But our boat was very civilised. The seats were upholstered, and only about 50% of them were occupied, there was a small stall selling drinks and the toilet was spotless. It left on time at 8.30am and we arrived 9 hours later.

Mekong Bathers

Mekong rock formations

Up the Mekong

Arriving at Hua Xia most of the mooring points along the jetty were taken. Our boat squeezed in a the end, which meant that we had to manhandle our bikes and bags up a muddy path climbing about 20 meters up the bank onto the slipway. We found the Phonevichith Guesthouse at the top of the slipway and checked in. It was a little way out of the town, but we just wanted a bed and food so it did the job.

(Note that the slow boats down the river to Pak Beng and Luang Prabang all go from this jetty, shown on Google maps as the "Barge Dock". The guesthouse that we stayed at is convenient for these boats, some of which leave early in the morning).

Tomorrow would be our last bit of riding in Laos as we headed to the border with Thailand, but that is another story...

North Vietnam

2014-03-07T13:13:00.000+00:00

Getting There

In the mountains near Dumaguete

We booked the morning flight out of Dumaguete. As the connecting flight to Hanoi did not leave till 10.30pm, we planned to leave our luggage at the airport and spend the day in Manila. The plane arrived on time and everyone was queueing up for boarding but things looked ominous when first the ground staff removed the steps, then the flight crew came off with their bags and finally they started unloading all the luggage.

A problem with the plane meant a spare part had to be flown in from Manila on the next flight, so it was a long day sitting in uncomfortable airport seats. Six hours there and a further five at Manila. We landed in Hanoi at 12.15am and found a very big queue of people waiting to collect their 'visa on arrival' meaning an hour's wait to get ours.

By the time we got to baggage collection they were switching off the lights and shutting down for the night. On the way into central Hanoi at 2am we passed many motorbikes laden with cut flowers, heading for the morning flower market. At the hotel we had to wake up the staff who were asleep on mats in the foyer.

Hanoi

Street card game

The hotel was in a great position, just at the edge of the Old Quarter but was missing one of the main facilities for which it was chosen, namely a car park. So the bikes had to stay in their bags in the foyer/breakfast room.

Chinese Lanterns

After catching up on some sleep we explored the Old Quarter, teeming with TET tourists.

Fruit seller

The narrow streets are full of life, colour and motorbikes, with each street having its own speciality: silk, tin-boxes, spices, paper lanterns, shoes, gravestones, rope, mirrors and toys to name just a few.

A crowded Hoc Bridge

Masks

There were liberal sprinklings of pagodas and markets and amazing street food and restaurants. We loved it.

Street scene

Old shop houses

Spice market

Vegetable market

Pagoda Gate

Tin Box Maker

Delicate shell tiles on pagoda roof

Making tea

North Vietnam Tour

Cai Rong Harbour

We decided to do the 'must sees' of North Vietnam on a short organised tour, rather than try to cover the large distances between them by bike.

Boarding the boat

The company we chose was 'Ethnic Travel' which specialises in small group tours and is recommended by Lonely Planet.

Boats in the harbour

There is a huge number of tour companies in Hanoi and some very worrying stories about their poor performance.

Bai Tu Long Bay

Leaving the bikes and excess luggage at the hotel we did a seven day/six night tour including Bai Tu Long Bay, Ninh Binh, Tam Coc, Cuc Phuong National Park, Mai Chau and a couple of tiny mountain villages near the Black River, travelling by mini-bus.

Dining on board

The group size changed but was never more than seven people and except for us they were all 20-30's backpackers.

Typical island house

Three nights were home stays and the other three in guesthouses. It was very well organised with short cycle rides, kayaking and 10km walk most days.

Morning market, Quan Lan

The biggest problem is that we hadn't anticipated just how cold we would get. Despite our merino underwear, down waistcoats, fleeces, jackets, gloves and hats, the nights sleeping in the long houses in the mountains were long, cold and uncomfortable.

Windswept beach, Quan Lan

Boat party Ninh Xuan

Peaceful Canal

Riding the 'Inland Ha Long'

Mountain reflections

Fish trap

Planting rice

!,000yr old tree, Cuc Phuong

Prehistoric Cave, Cuc Phuong NP

Rescued monkeys, Cuc Phuong

Primate rehabilitation centre

Rescued tortoise, Cuc Phuong

Chopstick making

Collecting firewood

Farmhouse on top of the mountain

Pig family at the home stay

Rice terraces ready for planting

Our home stay accommodation

Village school

Cooking dinner, Muong home stay

Traditional toast

Black River Reservoir

The group with our guide and the host

Hanoi to Tan Linh - 71km

Getting out of a city is never the highlight of the journey , but leaving Hanoi was surprisingly painless. Traffic volumes in the morning are much less than later in the day, and the main roads are broad and well maintained. The weather was overcast and grey and we needed long tights, wind proofs and full gloves. Heading west on a local road, number 75, the flat route was uninspiring through endless rough suburbs.

Hardwood stacks

It is depressing to travel past countless wood yards, all with massive stacks of ancient hardwood tree trunks, realising the thousands of years of growth that are being harvested to feed the huge demands for it.

An even worse sight followed as we came to the 'dog meat capital' with massive metal cages of live dogs to 'pick your own', followed by stalls loaded with whole roasted dogs, complete with heads and tails. The stench was nauseating and the buildings and road surface were coated with a black greasy slick of deposits from the ovens.We couldn't even bear to take a photo of this.

Coffin maker

Further away from the city was more agriculture in the flat river valleys, with rice and market gardening. We followed a quiet country road but in the greyness there was nothing inspiring about the ride at all.

Paper decorations

Tan Linh was just a line of tourist shops and eateries interspersed with a few guest houses along the road which runs at the side of the Ba Vi national park.

Brightest thing we saw all day

We followed some signposts to consider staying at a 'Resort and Spa', with rooms at $75 a night and a heated swimming pool. Instead we booked into a small family run guesthouse at $10 a night including an evening meal.

Tan Linh to Hoa Binh - 55km

The weather was no better and the 800m Ba Vi mountain was still invisible. During the morning we rode around three sides of it and never saw it at all.

We headed west on the 87, a well surfaced, rolling road, towards the Black River valley. Dropping down to the river bank there was a minor road along this eastern bank marked on our map. But a local man signalled to us that we couldn't get through on that road and sent us back up the hill onto another minor, unnumbered road along the upper part of the valley to Cho Moc. This eventually dropped back down to the Black River and we followed the river banks through a poor rice growing area, with many quarries and completely treeless.

Closer to Hoa Binh the riverside was prettier, with bamboo and shady trees although, with the weather, shade was not a requirement. The road was quiet with just motorbike traffic.

House boats in the mist

Arriving in the centre of Hoa Binh, which lies just below the massive Black River dam, we realised that the camera had not been out of the bag all day so took a quick misty photo from the river bridge.

The town seems destined for future expansion with a wide, hardly used, dual carriageway and half built tower blocks. It has several large, poor quality and rarely used hotels with musty, dirty bedrooms on the main road. We chose a newer one, less musty but still not wonderful.

Roadside Veg

In the evening we walked into the town in search of food. Up a side street we found a large Vietnamese restaurant. There were no other customers and the owners children peeked at us through the door while we ate our lonely meal. It was very good though.

Hoa Binh to Mai Chou - 65km

Black stemmed sugar cane

There was no changeinthe cold and misty weather the next day, and we still had to decide which route to take. We wanted to go via Mai Chau, but this was over a 800m pass and we knew we would be in the low cloud for much of the way. The alternative was to head back towards Cuc Phuong national park on the Ho Chi Minh road.

There was 30km before decision time, a nice warm up climb of about 200m on the busy and smooth highway 6, and a gentle descent on the other side to Muong Khen.

Anyone for chicken?

Now we were ready for the next climb and blow the weather. Eating places on the road were scarce and we were hungry. Seeing a couple of buses parked at a cafe, we figured that they should have a reasonable choice of freshly prepared food.

We ordered chicken and rice and got a platter of cold steamed rice, a potion of the rubberiest boiled chicken you've ever chewed, and a couple of tablespoons of peanuts.

Grass drying on the road

The climb started straight afterwards but there was no problem with overfull stomachs, most of it being still on the plate. It was a very gentle and easy climb and from 600m we were shrouded in thick cloud.

Lorries laden with gravel chugged past us and it was tempting to grab hold of the back and get towed along, except the toxic exhaust fumes would have choked us.

Kebabs

Scruffy roadside stalls near the top were selling pork kebabs and bamboo shoots, still nothing to tempt us.

It's freezing up here!!

At the top the cloud was so thick that we stopped and put on jackets and gloves, even switched on our lights expecting a cold and miserable descent.

Sun reflection in the valley

After only a couple of minutes the cloud cleared, above was blue sky, the temperature went up at least 10 degrees, and around us were beautiful tree clad slopes. It was difficult to decide whether to go slowly and appreciate the view or bomb down the lovely snaking descent.

A beer with a view

Halfway down was a small drink stall and viewing platform. The floor of the valley was a patchwork of rice paddies, all flooded ready for planting reflecting the misty golden glow of the late afternoon sun.

Planting rice

After a reviving can of Hanoi beer the rosy tints increased and we arrived in Mai Chou with broad grins across our faces. Guys on motorbikes patrol the streets here, trying to tempt tourists to their 'home stay' longhouses but we ignored them and booked into a guesthouse.

Day Off

Team work

We spent the day cycling round the narrow lanes and paths across and round the paddy fields and up the tributary valleys.

Brick kiln

Mai Chau is the closest 'ethnic village' to Hanoi and so is a popular tourist destination. It's two main products are rice and bricks.

Traditional circular pleated skirts

A lot of the traditional houses have been adapted to provide 'home stay' accommodation and the village women run craft shops, selling a mixture of locally produced products and imports.

Basket weaver

Even so it still retains much of its authentic rural identity and traditions.

Bike wash

The bikes were a muddy mess so we took them to the car wash.

Home from school

While waiting for the bikes to be spruced up we watched the crowds of children riding home from school on their bicycles......

How many towels can you get on a motorbike?

......and a motorbike linen seller.

Mai Chou to Canh Nang - 74km

Tapioca pile

It was back to grey and bleak weather this morning. We managed to get to the noodle stall just down the road today before they ran out of ' 'bun' noodles and had a delicious bowl of noodle soup.

Crossbow seller

Ten minutes out of town the rain started so the ponchos got their first airing of the trip. Ten minutes later we had to don overshoes as well to stop our feet freezing.

Road out of Mai Chau

The road, QL 15A, was narrow, slightly bumpy tarmac and very quiet. Ten kilometers of gentle climbing took us away from the wide rice paddies and into the upper Ma river valley.


Woven and thatched house

The river was much wider and the valley deeper than we had expected with a road that varied greatly in quality. In places it was completely carved up by the heavy lorries, other stretches were in much better condition, and further down a new road was being constructed.

Chopstick making

There are only two natural resources in the upper
valley, bamboo from the mountain and sand from the river. All other trees have long since disappeared.

Bamboo on river

Most people seemed to be employed in chopstick making or transportation of bamboo, either by road or river.' Hallo' and high fives for everyone were exhausting.

Further down the valley

Despite all the lorries almost blocking the roads through the upper villages there was hardly any traffic going down the river valley.


Even further down......

Down is a misleading description as there were a lot of short steep climbs and descents along the way, some of them very poorly surfaced. Around us the rocky mountain peaks and narrow, rice terraced side valleys kept the camera busy.

.......and even further

A narrow suspension bridge gave access to a small village on the other side of the river. Just wide enough for a motorbike, it had a wooden planked surface.

Who would ride a bike over a bridge like this?

Only every alternate plank was fixed in position with a metal bolt, the remainder were just loose boards resting on the metal joists, and a lot of the bolts had sheared from age. Crossing it on a heavily loaded bike was truly an act of faith.

More rice terraces, note the thick cloud

Turning onto QL 217, we continued down the river valley, and climbed the last hill into Canh Nang. At the brow of the hill a little lady was sitting frying pasties at the side of the road.

The tasty pasties

We ate three each and had some green tea to give us energy for the accommodation hunt. School children streamed past us, returning home on their bicycles. A ripple of excitement was caused by our presence, sitting quietly eating our snack. A group of eight boys, about ten years old accompanied us into town to 'help' us.

First try was a 'hotel' which comprised of two blocks of rental rooms behind a large house. We looked at several rooms but in one the bathroom floor was collapsing and the others were musty and damp. One room had obviously been used the night before and the owner just quickly re-made the bed. When we asked for clean sheets she refused. So that was a no-go.

Down the road was an even worse place where not one of the rooms had a door which closed, let alone locked, and the 'massage' sign appeared to be code for 'brothel'. So the third place had to do. It was OK but the air-con cost extra and clothes had to be washed and dried before tomorrow. The local guesthouses here are OK but but if you have problems sleeping on bedding of questionable cleanliness and drying yourself with a tea towel it is a good idea to bring a silk sleeping bag, a towel and, in hot weather, a mosquito net.

To add insult to injury our attempts to get food that evening met with the first four places we tried turning us away. Thank goodness the fifth one didn't refuse because Steve would have thumped him. The food there was pretty good too. Medicinal beer was needed to lift our spirits in this depressing town but while we drank our ears were tortured by some of the worst karaoke yet.

Canh Nang to Vinh Loc - 71km

Morning reflections

The sun shining through the window woke us up. Warmer temperatures, with a few patches of blue sky cheered us up and a good noodle soup at the same place as dinner the night before fueled the legs

BLUE SKY

For the first time we were riding in t-shirts. We continued following the Ma valley, today wider and flatter through lower hills. With no wind the flooded rice fields gave a perfect mirror image of the surrounding peaks.

By lunchtime we were at Cam Thuy where the 217 crosses the Ho Chi Minh road.

There was a popular restaurant, full of lively and noisy local tour groups and we were able to look at their food and chose what looked good. It was all fish and sea-food; eel soup, fried fish and prawns and lots of cabbage and lettuce.

Ho Citadel, north gate and wall

South of the Ho Chi Minh road was a much poorer area, with subsistence level farming, just small traditional thatched and woven houses and most of the agriculture based on sugar cane. A lot of the fields were being prepared for planting so were just bare red soil and the rest had recently been burnt off.

South Gate

About 3km from Vinh Loc the road turns sharp left, while straight ahead is a massive stone block wall and arched gateway into the Ho Citadel. This 900m square structure was built in the 1400's and originally housed a town and castle.

Now all that remains are the walls and four gates in the centre of each side.The inside of the walls are banked with soil and used by the locals for cattle grazing, while the flat central land is used for rice growing.

We were luckier with our accommodation search today, booking into the first place we tried. It was fairly new but already suffering from poor building standards, with plaster and paint falling off the walls in the bathroom. Across from our bedroom on the top floor was a large covered drying area with washing lines so we did a pile of washing and hung it out to dry before going off in search of food.

Just up the road from the guesthouse was what appeared to be the only place with food open in town. But what a place it was - a proper indoor restaurant, with smart wooden tables and chairs, wallpaper and lighting. It was owned by a Vietnamese couple who had emigrated to Canada after the war, but now returned home to care for his 99 year old mother. Once again we were the only customers and enjoyed a lovely meal.

Vinh Loc to Thanh Hoa - 47km

Vinh Loc Market

We returned to the same restaurant for our breakfast before setting off for the short ride to Thanh Hoa.

Last of the karst

After the first hour we left the karst rock hills behind and the valley was flat and wide, bounded by low hills. The roads started to get busier now.

Corn stalks

Most of the villages were growing corn and the corn heads were still drying, spread out over the ground in front of the houses. Along the sides of the roads and lanes, the corn stalks were also stacked to dry for animal fodder.

Graves in among the rice

The road condition changed constantly, sometimes a smooth dual carriageway then narrowing again and poorly surfaced. The surroundings were flat and featureless, lots of rice and corn and noisy traffic.

Thanh Hoa, like most North Vietnamese is a sprawling mass of concrete but it does have a large choice of places to stay. Using the Google map we set off on a tour of possible contenders for our custom. Five failed simply by their shabby facades, three passed muster externally but were awful inside so that left just one, a big new place called 'Quốc tế Thiên Ý.' It cost about twice as much as the others but it was worth it.

Over the road was a small pavement bar serving snacks and beer. They were very proud of their English language menu. We laughed so much at some of the translations that we nearly fell off our little stools.

Thanh Hoa to Ben Sung - 59km

On the way out of town Steve spotted a popular noodle stall where we got the best 'bun' yet: lots of noodles, thick slices of cooked pork, small pork meatballs, quails eggs, vegetables and rich spicy stock. Like bacon, eggs, sausage, baked beans, toast and a cup of tea but in a bowl.

Statue in Thanh Hoa

From Thanh Hoa the obvious route south is down highway 1, but this road is legendary for its dangerous traffic, constant horn blowing buses and terrible exhaust fumes. So we headed slightly inland to avoid it. The map showed a reservoir and national park called Ben En. There was little information on-line about it except a report of its rich bio-diversity from 1997 and a suggestion that there was a guest house there.

We left the city, cycling past the huge square with a statue of xx, whoever he was, and followed QL45. There had been some heavy rain overnight so the sides of the road were a slick of thin mud which splattered everything.

Ox Cart

There wasn't much traffic and the going was pretty flat all the way to the outskirts of Ben Sung where we spotted a signpost to the national park. It was about 11km down a narrow but well surfaced road climbing up gently towards the dam.

The Ho Sung Muc reservoir

The park offices are just beyond the dam, staffed by a few bored staff who spoke no English. The only way to access the park is by boat and as it was already 2pm in the afternoon it was a bit late.


Riding across the dam

The guesthouse was available, a very basic affair but we couldn't find out if there would be anything to eat. So we decided to head back to Ben Sung and stay there.

Ben Sung seemed to be over subscribed with guesthouse, there were at least four with each having about twenty rooms. However we appeared to be the only guests. As we carried the bags upstairs, the cleaner rushed around the room, mopping the floor. It was so cold and dank in there that it was still wet the following morning.

Ben Sung to Thai Hoa - 69km

Concrete grave ornaments

Today's was an amazing and memorable ride through some real back-country areas. It started well with a really good pho soup just down the road from the guesthouse. Not being sure quite what services there would be today we brought some fruit from a street stall before we left.

Bread baking

It was warmer and drier but still the thick, low cloud. We retraced yesterdays route for about 10km to Nong Kong and turned onto the TL505 towards the Dap Yen My reservoir.

Carving wooden furniture

It was a smooth road with hardly any traffic and almost flat all the way to the reservoir. It is a poor area with a lot of houses of woven bamboo and thatch although there were a couple of reasonable guesthouses along the 505 and one on the side of the water.

Pen of ducklings by the road

The rolling hills here are mostly bamboo and plantations of young trees for wood pulp. A lot of steep slopes are being cleared to plant sugar cane.

Dap Yen My Reservoir

As we rode along the banks of the reservoir the children were heading home for lunch on their bicycles. They were all carrying their own small red plastic stool in the handlebar basket. They stopped to have their photo taken with us on their mobiles.

The tarmac ends here

After the reservoir we took a left turn onto an unnumbered tarmac road. The tarmac ended at the head of a small valley and from there was a narrow dirt road for the next 10km.

Never looks steep on a photo

The first section was a steep uphill but the motorbikes had created a relatively smooth path and, being dry, it was ok. It would be impossible in the rainy season. There were so few people or vehicles and it was a relief to not have to constantly shout 'hello'.

Typical views

It seemed we were miles from anywhere but we still found a good lunch and later a cup of coffee as we navigated our way through many small villages that were not even marked on the map.

Children checking out the bikes

The road was very rough and stoney in places but got better as we neared Thai Hoa and crossed the Ho Chi Minh road again.

Thai Hoa is a busy town with lots of heavy traffic, many buses and lorries carrying building materials. We found a small, brand new hotel, the first place that seemed to be built to western standards with comfy beds and clean sheets, such a treat. Nest door to the hotel was a cafe, and next door to that and next door to that.... every alternate place on both sides of the road served coffee. It took us thirty minutes to find anywhere that served food!

Thai Hoa to Den Chau - 57km

Now it was time to head back to the coast and south to Vinh, before turning back north west towards the Laos border. The morning traffic was still very heavy, lots of lorries carrying sand and gravel. As they drove down the road water dripped from their loads, covering the road surface with mud.The road is in a poor state of repair so it was a matter of keeping away from the lorries, steering round the potholes and avoiding the worst of the mud.

After 12km we took the left fork onto the TL537 which was quieter and had a better road surface. This crosses highway 1 at traffic lights and we headed down towards the coast.

So many fishing boats

Using the sat nav we turned onto a narrow lane, over a couple of bridges with colourful fishing boats moored on the banks.

The Ark?

We turned onto a lane running at the side of the second river and passed a boat yard where they appeared to be building the ark. When Steve stopped to take a photo the guy chased him off, must have thought we were trying to copy his design.

The sea wall road

The lane led down to a long, straight sea wall, built about 500m from the beach. It has a smooth concrete roadway on top and the strip of land between the road and beach is planted with conifers.

The aliens are coming

With the tide was well out, the small fishermen's shelters standing on long bamboo stilts, shrouded in the low cloud, looked like the space creatures from the 'War of the Worlds' film.

Piles of rubbish on the beach

It was peaceful and quiet, with no other traffic, and could have been beautiful, but the roadsides and beach were just one mass of revolting stinking rubbish.

Rice paper

Closer to Den Chau we went through several small villages, just a narrow main street lined with houses. Everyone was working on some building project, with heaps of sand and gravel everywhere. There were glass noodles drying on poles and rice paper circles on wicker racks.

Attacking the lau

Eating places were thin on the ground in these poorer places so we arrived in Den Chau about 2pm, needing a good lunch. Our usual tactic is to search for somewhere with plenty of customers and there was a perfect place along the street serving lau, a type of Vietnamese hotpot. While we made short work of the delicious fish and vegetables.....

....... the waiter tried our bikes out for size.

Den Chau to Vinh - 53km

The buffet breakfast table had been stripped bare by the time we went down to breakfast at 8am. We scraped together the last bits of fruit and cold omelette.

The sky remained grey and it had rained a lot overnight. Outside the hotel highway 1 was heaving and noisy but we turned our backs to it as we headed towards the coast on QL7. The Google map only showed this road but when we got close to the beach we found there was another section of sea wall topped with a concrete road which runs parallel to the beach all the way to the end of the bay.

The road started promisingly enough

There was no-one around and of course it was flat all the way. The piles of rubbish along the roadsides were ugly and smelly, but not as bad as yesterday. Where the sea wall ends at the headland we continued on the minor road that follows the coast around a low, red sandstone headland.

Round the corner it turned into this

It started well with reasonable tarmac for a kilometer. After that there had been several minor landslides that had covered the road surface in thick red soil.The rain overnight had created a nice slick red mud which quickly covered the bikes and made forward progress more challenging as we skidded through the mess.

We weren't the only cyclists here. Crowds of local women had cycled down to clamber over the rocky shore, collecting shellfish. It seemed unlikely that anything living could evade their intense searching.

Bai Lu Bay

Bai Lu bay has a lovely sandy beach and appears to be earmarked for tourist development with a new road being built and several half finished and abandoned projects.

Neared to Cua Lo is a short section of dual carriageway that quickly reverts to a narrow lane.The many small houses hugging the sides of the lane will have to be demolished to complete the project.

Cua Lo is a strange beach resort about 10km from Vinh. It probably has a nice beach when the sun shines, but in the grey, miserable light it looked horrible and only the sand between low and high water levels was clear of rubbish. Along the beach road are many huge concrete government owned hotels.

We had lunch at one of the beach side seafood restaurants and as expected, were totally ripped off, but did have a good meal of prawns and calamari.

Vinh city gate

Vinh was one of the North Vietnamese cities that was almost totally destroyed in the war. In the 70's it's official population size was 0. There is nothing much special about it except a large park with a statue of Ho Chi Minh, who was born just down the road, and three of the original gates of the old citadel.

We now had seven days left on our visa and planned to have a day off then spent five days travelling north west on highway seven to cross the border into Laos at Nam Khan. It would be a difficult ride, about 230km from Vinh up the Ca river valley, culminating in a 1,200m climb to the border.

Then Karen's left knee, which had been sore for about a week, suddenly got really painful and she couldn't even walk. From experience she knew it needed at least seven days of complete rest. It was too late to extend the Vietnam visas so we had to get out of the country.

Either we had to get a bus to Vientiane in Laos, at least ten hours on a questionable quality bus, or fly, one hour and a guaranteed seat. Vietnam airlines has only just introduced this direct flight from Vinh to Vientiane. With flights booked for Monday, we had a weekend to waste in Vinh. Then Steve got a stomach bug and the change of plan seemed an even better idea.

Myanmar: Bagan to Yangon

2014-01-05T07:07:00.000+00:00

Myanmar

While cycling in the Philippines we met Kjell and Andrea and having swapped email addresses thought nothing more of it. Several months later we received an email from them asking if we would like to join them on a tour to mystical Myanmar. Life is too short to pass up such opportunities and before we knew it the planning was under way.

It would be the first time that we had ever toured with another couple so it was a new experience for us.

Myanmar really is still a wonderful place to visit, although a little more difficult for cycle touring.

Read about some of the issues when travelling there at: Bicycling Magnificent Myanmar

For clarity's sake we have divided our trip account into a number of sections:

Click on the appropriate link to take you to the account on our web site My Bicycling Adventure.com

Myanmar: Yangon to Bagan

2013-12-25T04:22:00.000+00:00

Click on the appropriate link to take you to the account on our web site My Bicycling Adventure.com

Japan: Shikoku

2013-10-29T11:21:00.003+00:00

Shikoku Bicycle Ride

The ferry took us from Saiki on the east coast Kyushu island to the small port of Sukumo on the island of Shikoku. The ride across Shikoku would take in stunning coastlines, rivers and mountain passes, hot baths and exhilarating descents before arriving on the east coast of the Island and our final ferry ride and our flight back to Manila from Osaka.

Read the full story at: Shikoku Bicycle Ride

Japan: Kyushu

2013-10-27T09:23:00.000+00:00

Kyushu Bicycle Ride

The next stage of our trip would take us from Busan and South Korea's main southerly port by ferry to Fukuoka on the northern coast of Japan's Kyushu Island. Japan intrigued us and we frankly didn't really know what to expect.

From Fukuoka we rode west and south down the western coast of Kyushu to the city of Nagasaki which was almost totally destroyed during the Second World War when the American government dropped the second deadly nuclear bomb to bring about the surrender of Japan. It was a sobering visit and we were glad that we had decided to go.

From there we crossed over the Island taking in the active volcano, Mount Aso and finishing at the easterly port of Saiki to take the ferry to the next island, Shikoku.

To read the full account visit our web site at: Kyushu Bicycle Ride

South Korea: Yeonghae to Busan

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Following a day off in the lovely coastal town of Yeonghae we continued our journey through South Korea. This time heading south west to the far corner of the peninsular to visit the picturesque Wando Island. before heading east again along the coast to Yeosu and completing the final section to Busan by bus ready for next adventure in Japan.

the ride description and has been moved to our web site along with maps and profiles of the days routes. You can read the full description by clicking the following link:

Read Full Ride Description

South Korea: Seoul to Yeonghae

2013-10-08T10:41:00.001+01:00

We arrived at Seoul's Incheon International Airport on Tuesday 8th October 2013 for the start of a three week bicycle tour of South Korea. Our arrival from Manila the capital of the Philippines was three hours late having left in a torrential rain storm. So it was that we didn-t arrive at our hotel in Seoul until gone midnight.

Our ride would take us from Seoul heading north east along the Han and Bukhan rivers to reach Chuncheon just a few miles from the North / South border. From their we passed through beautiful river valleys, deep gorges and some extreme weather before arriving on the east coast of the Korean peninsular at the little town of Yeonghae.

The full ride description has now been moved to our web site you can read it by clicking the following link.

Link to the full ride description

Taiwan West Coast and Mountains

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We had cycled the whole of Taiwan's east coast from north to south and now it was time to head north again. The west coast is more densely populated and is home to the majority of the population. So rather than work our way through this largely industrial and agricultural coast, we opted to head for the mountains and take in Taiwan's highest peak Huahuan mountain.

It would prove to be a beautiful and challenging ride crossing completely across the country from west to east before heading north again to finish in Taipei.

You can read the full story at

http://www.my-bicycling-adventure.com/Bicycle_The_Taiwan_Mountains.html

the early part of our tour along the east coast is at

http://www.my-bicycling-adventure.com/bicycle_taiwan_east_coast.html

Taiwan: East Coast

2013-08-05T14:13:00.000+01:00

Getting There

Having had three weeks of relaxation and bike preparation at our apartment in the Philippines, it was time to get back on the road. While we had been visiting friends and family in the UK, our bikes were resprayed by 'Timmy' at his workshop in Dumaguete. He did a great job,sourcing a green mat paint which was identical to the original finish. The ' Thorn' branding writing was reproduced in adhesive transfers and, as we would find out later, they would not be up to the job. So resprayed, re-fitted and lubricated, with us clad in new cycling kit, it was time to get going.

The big question was, where? The first thought was north Thailand, Laos and north Vietnam. But June is the beginning of the rainy season and we hate getting muddy. Then we thought about Indonesia but it is high season there, and difficult to extend the 30 day visa. Taiwan had never really featured on our 'to do' list until we met a group of Taiwanese living on a campsite in Tasmania. They were very enthusiastic about their beautiful homeland and encouraged us to visit. We also fancied seeing Korea and Japan so a plan began to form.

Flights to Taiwan with Cebu Pacific from Manila to Taipei were the cheapest, and it was cheaper to return to Manila and fly on to Korea than fly there direct from Taipei. From Busan in Korea there is a ferry to Fukuoka on Kyushu island (Japan). Cebu Pacific also fly from Osaka to Manila for the return.

The flight from Dumaguete boarded on time. There was a scramble to find enough space for the cabin luggage as everyone seemed to be taking big boxes of cakes home with them from the little French bakery in the Dumaguete mall. Once we were all seated the pilot informed us that there would be an hour delay in take-off due to a backlog of flights into Manila.

Luckily there was plenty of time between our two flights and no need to change terminals in Manila. Then the flight out of Manila was delayed for almost an hour waiting for a late connecting flight. We were glad we had booked a van to pick us up at Taipei airport which was a lonely place at 2am. The bikes arrived safely, packed in their new soft bags, although a little bashed around.

Taipei

The Red House

We had booked three nights in the 'Dandy Hotel' which is number 1 on Trip Adviser. It was very good, although a bit far away from the centre of the city. We spent a day exploring the city and the second day putting the bikes together and buying last minute things from a pretty good bike shop just down the road.

Feeding the birds

The best thing about Taipei is it's efficient transport system. The MRT is easy to use, with a ticketing system very similar to London underground. All the stations are announced in English as well as Mandarin.

Temple offerings

The buses are well labelled and all destinations are in two languages. There is a constantly expanding cycle path network. Most of the rivers have paths on both banks and it is easy to go from the suburbs into the city along these.

Puppet theatre

We wandered round the Peace Park, watching the children feeding the birds, did a couple of museums and temples and spent an hour watching, but not comprehending, the puppet theatre.

The following day would be the start of our Taiwan East Coast ride which would take in the whole of the east coast from the northern most tip to the southern most.

To read the full account click here: Bicycle Taiwan East Coast

Web Site Update

2013-05-06T22:03:00.001+01:00

Hi to one and all.

We have been back in the UK for since the beginning of March and about to head back out to the Philippines at the end of June.

While we have been here we have been converting our blog posts to web site pages at

http://www.my-bicycling-adventure.com

If you look under "Tours" you will see them listed by country.

So all of the old posts, apart from the last two have been cleared out of our blog.

Have a look at our web site and let us know your comments.

New blog posts to follow......

love S and K

Philippines Visaya Islands: The Central Visayas

2013-04-08T17:34:00.001+01:00

We had arrived on Cebu the main island of the Visayas, but we would also visit the smaller islands of Malapascua to dive with the glorious thresher sharks and visit the tiny Camotes islands.

From Cebu the ferry would take us to our favourite Bohol island to visit the Chocolate Hills see the amazing Tarsiers and onwards to the island of Camiguin which strictly speaking lies within Minanao rather than the Visayas.

After a total of seven weeks touring a final ferry took us back to Negros island and the sanctuary of Atmosphere Resort again.

The full tour is detailed at http://www.my-bicycling-adventure.com/central-visayas.html

Philippines Visaya Islands: Western Visayas, Romblon and Masbate

2013-02-19T06:49:00.001+00:00

Christmas Break - Atmosphere Resort


Waiting for Santa

We flew from Ho Chi Minh via Manila to Dumaguete on Negros in the Philippines. For the next three weeks we stayed with oldest son Simon, and his wife Emma at our holiday apartment at Atmosphere Resort.

The resort sponsors a soup kitchen in a nearby village. On the last day of term the children had a surprise visit from Santa and a special Christmas dinner.

Emma cooked us a wonderful Christmas dinner.

The excitement (and alcohol) was just too much for some...

The kids soon got bored with the presents and then the "big" kids took over...

New Year's eve continued in a similar vein with a lot of drinking and making merry. Everyone wanted to sample Bigs' shots.

Before we knew it it was time to be off again.

We had planned a trip around the central Philippine group of Islands referred to as the Visaya Islands or Visayas for short. The main islands forming the group are Cebu, Negros, Panay, Masbate, Bohol and Leyte, although sadly we never got to Leyte, along with a number of smaller islands.

You can learn more about the Visayas group and our route at http://www.my-bicycling-adventure.com/visayas.html

The first stage of our ride would take us around the south and west of Negros. Following a short ferry ride we would then cycle around the south and west of Panay Island before ending for a rest in the famed holiday island of Boracay.

The route is detailed at http://www.my-bicycling-adventure.com/western-visayas.html

Family and friends, Atmosphere

After a few days rest in Borocay the next stage took us to some of the smaller and more remote islands of Tablas, Sibuyan, Romblon and Masbate, considered by some to be the "wild west" of the Visayas.

Learn more about our adventures on this leg at http://www.my-bicycling-adventure.com/romblon_and_masbate.html