8. Crossing the border: into Laos 🇱🇦

Hello bloggites, a new country to report from today! First of all, I’m afraid the photos I have taken are not brilliant or, at least, don’t capture Laos exactly how I’d like. I’ve been kind of trip-focused, adapting and adjusting to a new country (which took a few days), documenting the journey has taken a

backseat. I can now say that I have been completely charmed by Laos! 💓 

(for the second time, I was also here in 2001 and carry fond memories)

The first meal in Laos was a good one - an enormous bowl of noodles with various fresh condiments and bottled sauces to get the flavour just right. This is pretty much the standard meal in Lao restaurants; if you enter a roadside establishment in a small village there’s really no choice, you’re getting a bowl of noodles. But they’re hearty and filling, great food for cyclists. And never more than £2, sometimes just £1.20. 💷

Mekong sunset, looking across to Thailand. 🇹🇭 

Leaving town in the early morning to head in country, it was surprisingly chilly and I set off with three layers on. In later days I improvised with socks as mittens and even got to wear my woolly hat! 

In this picture, monks are walking from household to household gathering alms. 

Not long into my ride, this family beckoned me over and invited me to join their breakfast. When in Rome…. 🏛️

It was dive in with your fingers, a big container of sticky rice and two dishes of spiced ‘stuff’. Being a polite soul, I helped myself with gusto while trying to size up what the ‘stuff’ was. I took a morsel from the second dish and think it was seasoned raw meat! Before I had processed the potential act of self-harm I was inflicting on myself, I’d popped it into my mouth. And instantly regretted it. “Have I just put a ticking timebomb into my stomach, ready to explode?!?” 💥 

Mercifully, there were no complaints from my stomach. I got away with it. But was mighty stressed for a few hours, working out food poisoning contingencies! (I’ve been here before…)

On a positive, the family sent me off with a big bag of sticky rice that lasted well into the next day’s ride!

Coming from Thailand, there’s no polite way of putting it, Laos seems poor. Litter is strewn pretty much everywhere, even at pleasant viewpoints like this one. 🖼️  I suppose there’s no culture of responsible waste disposal as there simply aren’t the facilities or systems to deal with waste. In fact, it’s not uncommon to ride through villages and see piles of rubbish, plastic and all, being burnt. 

Temples are fewer and farer between in Laos than Thailand and, pretty much universally, the upkeep is a lot poorer. Still, they have their own charm and own character. 🛕 

So far, so good, thanks.🙏 

A typical Lao village in the highlands. Lots of corrugated iron, mostly wood construction.🪚

The closer you get to towns, the more you’ll see brick/stone-built houses.

The first day of riding was a big one, ending in no-man’s land. So I camped. And enjoyed my bag of sticky rice. 🍚 

And, despite proximity to the road, dog-tired, I slept well. As you can see in the background, huge numbers of Chinese trucks ply the roads. They don’t go too fast so sharing the road with them is fine but I find it so unnerving that they roar past people’s houses where young kids are playing all the time. I think it’s hardwired into the kids early that trucks are a danger and they seem to self-manage this. ⚠️ 

I need to stop comparing with Thailand, it’s not fair! but, to compare with Thailand one more moment, there is a lot less farm machinery here in Laos, and a lot more manual labour. 🧑‍🌾 (look closely at the picture)

More village scenes. 

I’m guessing these plants are harvested to make brushes. 🧹

The influence of China 🇨🇳 is almost ever-present here. I get the sense that a lot of infrastructure is Chinese-funded/built. Travelling through Laos in 2001, the idea of it having a railway would have seemed pie-in-the-sky to me. Fast forward to 2025 and there is a line that connects Laos to China and carried on all the way to Bangkok. Incredibly, it cost, I believe, just $6 billion, with hundreds of bridges and tunnels bored through mountains. The UK’s ill-fated HS2 🚅 scheme, which isn’t even going up be finished, had costs ballooning to over £100 billion. What can China do that we can’t???

This was a lovely day’s ride. Uphill most of the way but a gentle grade (you can see the line of the road in the background) and I enjoyed some good podcasts and music on the way up. 🎵 

Complimentary comparison of Laos and Thailand, the crazy grades of the roads on the Mae Hong Son loop have not been in evidence here. 🚵‍♂️

Sunset in Muang Xay. This photo was staged for a group of Chinese photographers but I snuck in and got a shot. Xiexie! 🙏

A Western style cafe in Muang Xay. I’m really enjoying Laos, now I’ve adjusted to the relative paucity/lower quality of services, but to indulge myself in a cafe like this for an hour or so is always welcome. You know you’re not going to get disturbed, you can just melt into a book (still on Trollope!) and decompress from the rigours and planning that a cycle tour entails. 🚲

Distinctive Lao temple architecture with the elegant tiered roof. 

A way to go to reach the capital. 

These big lorries are a very prominent feature of my ride and, as mentioned above, generally very respectful of my space on the road. I get a lot of thumbs-ups and waves when they see me battling up an incline! 🚛 

The roads can get pretty dusty here and they kick up clouds of dust, I could do with a mask at times (many Laos ride scooters wearing masks). At the end of a 70+ mile ride, unbeknownst to me, I had panda eyes, blackened by a film of muck that had accumulated across the day. 🐼 

This has been pretty much the highlight of the ride through Laos so far, the village kids going nuts as you ride by! You are greeted - SABAIDEE - waved at, shouted at, beckoned by kids all day long! It actually gets tiring to acknowledge each and every child but I’m trying and it’s so much fun!🤩 (great for the ego too. If ever your self esteem is a little low, cycle through a Lao village, you feel famous and loved. Right now, I’d say my celebrity status is up there with, I don’t know, Elon Musk?!? 👹👺 But in a good way. Is that possible?!?).

If you stop to properly greet them they can get very shy and scarper, but the bold ones love it. And I’ve had a couple of secondary level kids practice their conversational skills with me, massive credit to them. 💬

Adults are a little less responsive to greetings but love it when they see me interacting with the children. And such an easy and rewarding way to fuel your day with positivity. 📈

Another camp, on some rough ground in the mountains. Some locals saw me from afar so I went to check they were OK with me camping. All smiles and thumbs up! 👍 

This was a particularly enjoyable bowl of morning noodles, with views of the comings and goings at the market. 🥒 

Some friendly kids at a temple, meeting Bertha. 🚲

More lovely Lao kids. This bunch were notably polite and respectful and just wonderful. Across the traffic-laden road I bellowed “My name is Daniel.” and, one by one, they all responded by telling me their names - so cute! I made sure to praise their bike riding. In fact, anyone I see on a bike, young or old, gets a big thumbs up from me. The banded skirts are part of school uniform. 🎓

The roads in Laos have generally been OK. Ish. 🛣️

However, as you can see in the photo, good surfaces often rapidly deteriorate into rocky, dusty, uneven rally tracks to be navigated with caution.

Route planning is easy because, so far, the main road is the only road to get from A to B. 

Every inch of space has value. Roadside vegetable patch. Laced with exhaust fumes, I’m not sure how palatable the produce would be! 🥬 

Nice views on the approach to Luang Prabang.

More sweet Lao kids. This bunch were especially hyper, forming a ruck to excitably shake my hand!🤚 ⚡️

If I were still a teacher, I think the ‘spirited’ young lady at the front would be one of those students who spent as much time in the corridor as the classroom! A bundle of cheeky energy!

Nam Ou River, a tributary of the Mekong. 🏞️

Made it to Luang Prabang. Coffee and pastries ahoy! 🥐

Culture shock to be among so many farang (foreigners). Nice to meet some backpackers at my hostel though and hear their stories. As much as I’m a committed convert to cycle touring these days, and readily extol the virtues of this way of travelling, I’m quick to tell them how much I loved being backpacker in my 20s/30s. It is a fantastic way to travel and to develop the way you see the world. 

It’s just that cycle touring is better! 🤣 (facetious comment, I don’t mean it. They’re just different ways of travelling. Though I did reflect today that, in Luang Prabang, there are countless tour agencies offering treks, hikes, excursions promising ‘adventure’. Pretty much every day on the bike offers some element of adventure. I love travelling this way.) ♥️

Luang Prabang is a treasure trove of…

…temples and…

…colonial architecture. It’s a beautiful town, understandably a magnet for tourists. It doesn’t have the same sleepy atmosphere I remember from 2001 but, nevertheless, it is a wonderful place to meander through at snail’s pace 🐌 and, completely gentrified, but tastefully so. 

Sun setting on day 46 of the trip. 🗓️

Time to take some rest from the pedalling and soak up the atmosphere in the old town. 🏘️

That’s all folks!

Belated picture from the last yoga class in my beloved Chiang Mai. I’m in there somewhere!