Walking into Laos

At the Chinese side of the border the doctor at the Health office looks at the forms we have just filled in and he points at Raymonds forehead with a white pen. It measures 32 degrees, that must be the cold sweat drops. Well, whatever is wrong with Raymonds body temperature, it can not be SARS causing it, which will give you a fever. And so the doctor stamps the form and we can go off to the Laos side of the border crossing.

We cycle three kilometres through no-mans land across the jungle. At the office, that must be the Laos border, we fill in some forms again. The health form asks us for an address where we can be found in the next 14 days, I guess this is the SARS incubation time. We fill in ‘hotel Vientiane’ which likely exists in Vientiane. Just before we are ready to cross the official borderline, an officer in the watch tower on the left starts screaming at us. Because we can not understand Lao, one of his watching colleagues from the office helps us out. ‘You must walk’ he says. ‘Till where!?!’ is our reply. We get of our bicycles and start walking. Five meters further down the road there is a line drawn across the road. On the left side of the road, exactly at the edge of the line, is a hand-written sign saying ‘STOP’, but we can only read it after we have crossed the line since it is facing in the opposite direction. We look back at the watch tower and scream ‘cycle?!’. It’s clear now, from here we may continue.

"Big Red Road" "Big White Guy" "Big Yellow Guy"

The village chief

In Luang Nam Tha we and Josh, an American we met yesterday evening, join an organised two day Kayak safari over the Nam tha river (http://www.wildside-laos.com). The river flows through an ancient rain forest and forms one of the many national parks in Laos with several minority villages along the river. Halfway the first day we visit a village where the Lanten minority group lives. First things first, we have to meet the village chief. After introducing our names and repeating the chief’s name (one you still can not remember after he said it three times), our guide says to us; 'now you may ask your questions to the chief'. Here we are, in the spotlight of some villagers and their chief, and all three of us have no questions at all. It's not such an inspiring environment and the villagers are very poor.

We have just landed at the village after two hours pedalling and haven't seen anything of the village yet. So now we have to come up with an intelligent question? All sorts of 'how do you do?'.

We leave the village and pedal on. In the evening we stay over at another minority village and again we are introduced to the village chief. Before we meet the village chief we are taken around trough the village. When we are passing a woman who is sitting on her porch, we are asked by the woman if we have medicines with us that we can donate. We understand from our guide that a tree fell on her foot yesterday and she is now not able to help in the rice fields. Before we entered the village we were requested by the organisation not to donate money, candies or medicines to the villagers. Part of the money we paid for the trip goes into a fund to support the villages. The village is about 30km from Luang Nam Tha, with a small dirt road going to the village and the villagers don't have money to go to Luang Nam Tha hospital.

The next day we peddle on to the point where we will be picked up. The Tuk Tuk takes us back 60km over the dirt road that is not in use during the rain season. We realize that these people are really cut of from the rest of the world. It's very rare that a villager owns a bicycle, without thinking about any motorized vehicles.

This time we are prepared when the guide says we can ask our questions to the village chief now. Luckily the setting is a bit different than this afternoon. In the corner of this house is a fire were our diner was cooked, and we are positioned in the middle of the room around a carpet were our diner is served. Several villagers joined us and the Lao Lao (strong liquor) is passed around. Raymond asks what the main problems are in his village for the village chief. The translation takes about 3 minutes but the answer is twofold. The current draught effects the rice production and Malaria. Last year two of the villagers died from malaria. After this we could have expected it….. singing! The chief and his assistant promises to sing a song after we sang a local song. So start of with the Dutch national anthem followed by a song from a local Dutch band. Our singing is guided by the drumming of spoons on the floor and bottle of Lao Lao, clapping and anything that can make some noise.

Josh keeps silent, although we warmly encourage him.

Nam Tha to Luang Prabang

01/11/2003. Maybe we didn't need an organised kayak tour through the jungle; we are already cycling through it since we entered Laos. This morning we have left Udomxai by daylight and are cycling over a brand new asphalted road. The information board states that this road had to be finished only three months ago. The road is definitely under construction there the traffic signs, directions and village names have been removed from the side of the road. We know road 13 should be in good shape and all the other roads not, so why bather to ask questions. But never the less you need to be sure, so during our noodle soup break we ask if this is the right road. Yes, we are cycling in the right direction. There is some discussion about which place we mean, but it seams not to bother anybody. At 75km we both notice an old road sign next to the road which is left there, at concrete pole with a red top (you also see in France). We both give it any further attention, because it's an old road sign

We quickly buy some bananas and water and tie them on the backside of Raymond's bicycle. Unfortunately 20km (after 135km cycling) before Packmen it starts getting dark and we realise this is not really the type of road you want to be cycling in the dark with a light on your head. The Tuck that passes by might come in handy. We pull it over and ask if they are heading for Packmen, funny question since there is only one way to one more village. There is hardly any space between the disco speakers and the stereo. Is Packmen preparing for its first nightclub? We lift our bicycles on the roof and put ourselves at the back of the Tuck, standing on a metal carrier holding tight for all the bumps and potholes and trying to miss the overhanging branches.

Luang Prabang to Vientiane.

The boat to Luang Prabang mainly transports tourists, meaning, only tourist. We stop halfway to pick up some local Lao and their kilos of rice from a jungle village along the Mekong shore. This is their only transportation option to anywhere out of their villages.

Two years ago, we were also taking this waterway but then in the opposite direction. We cycled from Vientiane-Luang Prabang-Chiang Mai and took the speedboat from Luang Prabang to Chiang Kong (Thai border village). The speedboat pier is located outside of Luang Prabang, and by hearing the noise (now from the slow boat) we can imagine why. The speedboat is an 8-person boat (seated 4x2) where you (definitely) need to wear a life jacket, a helmet and ear plugs. The only thing was that we brought then one set of earplugs and Raymond tried to use some toilet paper.

The slow boat takes two days from Luang Prabang to Chiang Kong and you stay overnight in Pakbeng, while the speedboat does the complete trip in 6 hours and lunches in Pakbeng.

Of all 50 people on the slow boat probably nobody recognises us from yesterday evening, when we sat at a restaurant table, still sweating in clothes that all had adapted themselves to the colour of the dirt road. As I think of it, cyclists are like chameleons, we rain in the rain forests and we hide by washing our clothes in the dirt.

Luang Prabang changed a lot since our visit nearly two years ago. But in a good way, you can still feel that's you are in Laos, only with more facilities (travel agencies, internet access and guesthouses). Vang Vieng, on the way to Vientiane, on the other hand changed dramatically. It was already a village taken over by backpackers, but now it changed into 'what movie would you like to see with your pizza' (thinking that in every pizzeria you can watch a movie). Even if you would like to, it is no longer possible to have an intelligent conversation over a home made Lao sticky rice dish. The DVD's simply play too loud and everyone is too interested in 'Face off', 'Harry Potter' and Laura Craft in Tomb Raider II.

"Prabo Vangvieng" "Prabo Vangvieng" "Prabang"

"Vangvieng"

The road to Vang Vieng is spectacular. The road leads through a mountainous area with several nice climbs (starting off in Luang Prabang with 2 climbs of 20km) and descents that provide beautiful views. We are very aware that these are our last climbs and descents and so we enjoy it even more. The rest of Laos, Cambodia , Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia will be flat till the horizon. The road between Luang Prabang is also the road where last year two Swiss cyclists were shot while a group of rebels were hijacking a bus. This is the road were a lot of military are stationed with their families to guarantee the safety in the area. Maybe the bombs in Vientiane and Savanaket in the last couple of months have also put them on a higher alert, there we see definitely more weapons then last time we cycled this road.

"Vientiane Tat Luang"

Laos or Thailand.

The alarm clock on our world receiver start beeping at 5 am, Raymond's biorhythm clock did this already an hour earlier. 'I have been thinking about this for an hour', he says immediately when I open my eyes for just a second, 'why don't we go via Thailand to Cambodia and try the new border crossing we just read in the Bangkok Post?’ I think he just wants an extra hour of sleep since the border is only open at 8 am and not more the 30km from here (Vientiane). After 4 months of poverty it feels about right to enjoy a small break in Thailand. We have not had one in 4 months. And so we head of for the Friendship bridge over the Mekong, which marks the border crossing between these countries. Just after we have passed the formalities on the Lao side, a clear sign says it is not allowed to walk or cycle over the bridge. Just in front of us a pick-up truck is waiting for his passport stamps and approval to cross the bridge. Since we have heard from other cyclists that you have to load your bicycles on anything motorised, we ask the driver. From the back we hear somebody whistling, an official makes the international cycling movement with his arms. Thanks to all the cyclists who crossed this bridge already, we may cycle!

We look back at the shuttle busses for pedestrians. Those who built the bridge in 1990 have never thought of tourists that travel by such a thing as a bicycle. Passing the tollgate, two traffic lights and a crossing guide us to the left hand side of the bridge. Welcome to Thailand.