bentonchengdu

Day 46 Tue 1011 - Police Bamboo Hut Camp after Kiewkhampone Village to Phoukhoun and Camp after Viengkham Village

Today dist : 36.6 km Total : 2543.5 km
Today Temp : 23-32 C Sunny with intermittent rain
Ride time: 4 hr 24 min
Ave speed : 8.3 kmh Max : 40.5
Ave climb: 4 % Max: 12 %
Trip alti : 966 m Max: 1377 m
Today Spend: 27k Kips Total: 2710 Rmb+1948k dong+ 803k kips

Not a good day for me today as i had a fall when negotiating a sharp downhill corner when it started to rain. Though nothing serious except some scratches on my right leg and right hand,what embarrassed me most was I fell right in front of a village with many villagers looking,I quickly got myself up and pushed my bike to the side.Nothing broken not even the side mirrors but the fenders and my bottle cage mounting needs new cable tide to refasten.The terrain was almost identical to yesterday still lots of rollings up and down but generally more on climbing. We met 2 groups of cyclists, the first group was more on a supported mtb ride from USA with a minibus following. The 2nd group of 3 women and a male from Canada,England,New Zealand coming from opposite direction when we found a beautiful campsite after Viengkham. There is a house looks like abandoned with door locked but with a water tap and power supply,what is even more surprise was there is light "On" when it gets dark.We could charge up our gaggets. For consecutive 3 days,we had the same dishes for dinner: fried long beans,canned sardine and fried eggs,but tonight we cooked one pot of cabbage soup.

The distance to Phouhong and Vientiane

Village along the road

Beware of big potholes when cycling in Laos

Good tarmac can suddenly turned into gravel,so keeps eyes open always

Yellow sunflowers

Yellow sunflowers up on the mountain

Houses built at the egde of the mountain

The road we passed

Phoukoun town roundabout

Phoukoun town on the road to Vangvieng

Sunflowers and mountain view

Viengkham Village

Janet from New Zealang trying out my recumbent

The view from our camp

We met them when we about to set tent,they coming from opposite direction ,so we got some useful statics from them

Our campsite comes with power supply and 20 min running tap water

Preparing dinner

The view from our camp

There is an extra pot of cabbage soup besides the usual menu

The view from our camp

The sunset

Day 45 Mon 0911 - Banana Camp after Namming Village to Police Bamboo Hut Camp after Kiewkhampone Village

Today dist : 39.8 km Total : 2477.9 km
Today Temp : 26-32 C Hot and Sunny
Ride time: 4 hr 44 min
Ave speed : 8.3 kmh Max : 49.0
Ave climb: 4 % Max: 10 %
Trip alti : 1066 m Max: 1356 m
Today Spend: 22k Kips Total: 2710 Rmb+1948k dong+ 775dk kips

Never expected today's climb was so long and tough for 34km with only 2 short downhill in between.I bought a pineapple for 5k Kips at one of the roadside stall and it tasted so good so juicy.Lunch of simple noodles in Kiewkacham,a bigger village with 2 guesthouses and a school with many school children playing around after school hour.Today Coey wanted to cook rice by herself,so we are not staying guesthouse but camping. We met a Swiss solo cyclist after Kiewkhampone on opposite direction,he told us about road ahead of us still have some uphills before the bigger town of Phoukoun. All of us were very exhausted and hungry at this time around 3.30pm and we just asked for permission to camp with the bamboo hut at a sharp corner. Green light given and the man told us he is a policeman when we saw him carrying a machine gun on his motorbike,so don't play play with the locals cos' anyone could be an army or policeman with plain cloth. Coey is a fast learner with her well cooked rice,although with some burnt rice at the bottom,nevertheless we finished off all the rice and vegetables.

Resting under a mango tree

The local products by the road stalls

The straight road by the mountain we passed

A new house in the making

Try to read out the name of this town

The distance to Vangvieng and Vientiane

I bought the pipeapple for 5k kips taste so juicy and sweet

This is another town with long name,is different from the 1st one

This is how the Laos kids goes to school

Yellow sunflowers by the road

Mountain view

Looking at the downhill ahead

It's good that you stop before this signboard to check your brakes

The downhill ahead

Cooling pitstop

The downhill ahead

Swiss solo cyclist

The fish pond at the Police hut

The buffalos too need to cool off

The fish pond at the Police hut

Green light to pitch our tents on the hut

Hong and Coey is busy cooking the dinner

Police bamboo hut

Police bamboo hut right at the sharp corner

Our dinner

Coey is now expect in cooking camping rice

Day 44 Sun 0811 - Luang Prabang to Banana Camp after Namming Village

Today dist : 60.6 km Total : 2438.1 km
Today Temp : 26-32 C Hot and Sunny
Ride time: 5 hr 19 min
Ave speed : 11.3 kmh Max : 51.0
Ave climb: 4 % Max: 12 %
Trip alti : 1121 m Max: 1008 m
Today Spend: 28k Kips Total: 2710 Rmb+1948k dong+ 753k kips

After a good rest day in Luang Prabang,we continued our journey down southeast still on NH13 on a hot weather.Information from the guesthouse owner is we should stay in Kiewkacham,60km from here as there is guesthouse available, but our intention today is to camp as we had bought 2kg of rice in Luang Prabang market as Hong and Coey wanted to learn how to cook rice well and fast. One American retired voluntary teacher we met over the breakfast stall told us about the new road which is seldom used and did not appeared in the GPS, quiet,absolutely nothing with only one long gradual climb and a long downhill to Kasi shorter by 40km, but we still prefer the classic NH13 where we are now so used to the short roller coasters hills,the hand waving hello from the kids of many villages that we rolled passed. We came across a nice view point with traditional Laos huts where Hong fired up his newly serviced stove to cook instant noodles for lunch while i made a hot coffee with 2 bamboo rolls of sweet purple sticky rice. we rested in the hut with a panoramic view of the mountain valley and laid down for nearly an hour. We thought the road is going down but actually it went up again for a few km before a really wonderful downhill all the way to Namming, we bought some eggs,canned sardine, long beans and filled up all our bottles from the tap in search of campsite from now, unfortunately the ride is continued upward with no wide spaces on both side of the road, then the banana camp came to our rescue with just enough space for two tents and a small bamboo guided stream water across the road. I conducted a rice cooking lesson with a pot of well cooked rice and Hong was a good chef with fried eggs ,fried long beans and 2 cans of sardine as the best camp dinner so far for them.