South to Savannakhet…

After a full week in Vientiane, three days of which was spent watching the rain fall outside my window, I was itching to move on…

The Big Fella had received a number of running repairs and I was eager to get moving so that I could get used to the bike’s new set-up…

The evening before, I left the city; I had invited Fritz out for a farewell beer at an open air restaurant around the corner from our hotel… He was preparing to leave Vientiane in a few days himself, and would be taking the overnight train to Bangkok and from there back to Canada…

Fritz and I share a beer before my departure for Southern Laos...

He had spent a portion of the afternoon running me around town on his scooter to look for the post office, a spare battery for my camera, an external hard drive for my laptop, and some small bags that I wanted to tie to the lids of my panniers… Although we found the post office and the camera battery, I baulked at the $140 price tag for the hard drive, and could not find suitable bags for the panniers…

As the sun went down over the Mekong, we sat sipping our beers and discussing our plans for the future…

Fritz had been very helpful during my stay in Vientiane and went even further by inviting me to stay with him when I passed through Canada…  It would most likely be in the height of the berry-picking season, and I looked forward to seeing the various processes that went into making his wines…

The main road running south towards Cambodia is in good condition, a far cry from those in the north of the country...

At 8.30am the next morning, I was on the road…

I wanted to stop at Buddha Park to take some photographs of the many statues that stand there, but must have missed the turnoff while overtaking the many buses and trucks I came across in the first section of the ride…

Thakhek was where I was headed, initially planning to spend the night there...

Route 13 ran northeast, following the Mekong River all the way to Pakxan and on to Pak Kading, before turning southeast on the run to Thakhet…

There was no much traffic about, and with the road in very good condition, we were able to skip along at a healthy speed of over 100 km/h for much of the way south…

The bike felt a lot stiffer than it had in a long time, although it handled very well… I would have liked to take many of the corners flatter and faster, but the condition of tyres made me err on the side of caution…

I had been in touch with the Michelin agents in Bangkok, and they had promised to put a set of Anakee 2’s aside for me… Until then, it would have to be a case of “gently, gently” through the corners…

For the first part of the ride, the road ran adjacent to the Mekong River...

Sliced Maan (a potato-like vegetable) lies drying in the sun on the roadside near Phon Soung...

I found an ATM in Thakhet, were I drew what I hoped would be enough funds to get me to the Cambodia border, and seeing that I had made such good time to that point, I decided to push on for Savannakhet, rather than overnight in Thakhet…

We refueled in the village of Na Pon, and then did some low-flying, zooming through Khok Kang Khan and on to Nadeng and Lao Fai…

The wind picked up suddenly, and blew strongly all the way to Xeno, buffeting us when we crossed open areas where the trees had been felled to make way for rice paddies and vegetable plots…

With Thakhek less than an hour way, we were making good time, and I decided to make the most of the weather and aim for Savannakhet...

The road passes over a number of canals in this area, and the bridges are short and rise sharply up and over the canals… On a few occasions, I hit these bridges going too fast, and felt the front wheel come off the ground…!!

On the outskirts of Savannakhet, the Big Fella celebrates 100 000 km...!!

I slowed down on the final thirty kilometre run to Savannakhet on Route 9, watching the speedo ticking over…

A few kilometres short of the town, I pulled over and stopped in the shade of a large tree…

It was a special moment for the Big Fella, and I thought it best to treat him with the respect that the moment deserved…

His speedo read 100 000 km…!!

I sat thinking about all those kilometres we had covered together…

Our first big trip, when with just 3 000 km on the clock, we had set off on a 17 000 km journey that took in ten Southern African countries and allowed me to dream of something even bigger…

The 8 000 km trip we took through six provinces of South Africa, as well as Lesotho, with Debbie riding pillion… We rode all the high passes in the Cape; including the notorious Prince Albert’s Pass…

Debbie and I somewhere on the Prince Albert's Pass, Western Cape, South Africa... The Big Fella has undergone a few "cosmetic" changes since then...!!

And then my mind drifted back to our current little trip, and the last 60 000 km we had ridden together, through 73 countries and some rather testing conditions…

It was hard to believe that I had done this all on this very same bike…!! And there was a lot more to come…!!

Near the old ferry station on the Mekong, I watched as boats made the crossing over to Thailand...

I rode on into Savannakhet, and worked my way down to the street that ran along the Mekong…

I could see Thailand across the river, and watched a few boats carrying passengers across to the far side… Just upstream from where we stood, I could see the bridge that spanned the Mekong ans was completed only a few years ago…

I wondered why people would bother with a boat when they could have crossed over to Thailand using a vehicle…

It had taken barely five and a half hours of riding to cover the 475 km from Vientiane, and I was still “pumped” from our ride…

“Should we try and make Pakxe…??” I wondered…

Just then a waitress from the little restaurant across the road called out to me…

Lunch on the banks of the Mekong, where the waitress was more than friendly...!!

“Sabai di, mister…!! You come drink beer here…!!”

She held up a large bottle of Lao Beer for me to see…

“It is after all lunch time…!!” I reminded myself, so rode up into the driveway of the restaurant and parked…

I ordered some fried rice and chicken and sipped on a soda instead of the beer she had offered…

The waitress was unlike any other I have ever been served by…!! On one occasion she walked past my table, stopped, and then took a sip of my soda, before walking on to serve somebody else…!! I stared disbelievingly at my can of Fanta for a while, not sure if I had been hallucinating…

When it came time to pay, she surprised me again… I asked how much I owed for the lunch, and she grabbed a large calculator and punched in a number before passing it over to me…

“500 000 Kip…!! I think you’ve punched in a few too many zero’s there…!!” I said, handing it back to her…

She shook her head as she came around the counter, and then put an arm around my waist and laid her head on my shoulder, then pointed to the calculator again…!!

“Whoa, Nellie…!!” I said, quickly realizing what she meant…!!

I was used to the blatant sexuality on display in Thailand, but this was Laos, where this sort of thing is strictly forbidden…!!

Needless to say, I left the restaurant in a hurry, bemused by the strange girl, who clearly thought little of the conventions governing modesty in Laos society…!!

At $75 a night, the only decent hotel in Savannakhet was a budget buster...!!

I was told that the only hotel that had internet in its rooms was further down the road and was by far the best in Savannakhet… On entering the large parking area, I immediately knew that this place would be expensive… The guy in jacket and tie that held the door open for me, confirmed my suspicions…

I was sweetly informed by the receptionist that a single room would cost a mere $75.00 a night, three times as much as I had paid in the capital…!!

“And a very good day to you too…!!” I said as I headed for the door…

So I settled for the Unprounouncable Guest House for $6.50 instead...

It stands on the main road running through the town, and has secure parking...and that's about all worth recommending...!!

I cruised around town, looking for a likely place to stay and eventually stopped and opened the guide book that Willi had given me…

The Xayamoungkhoun Guest House was recommended as a cheap and cheerful kind of place, and was one the main street near the Catholic Church…

The landlady greeted me in English, and offered me a room on the ground floor, close to the inner courtyard where I could park my bike…

There was no internet available, but the price of less than $10.00 had me unloading the bike in a jiffy…

They say you get what you pay for…

Peeling paint and mattresses that made me consider sleeping on the floor instead...

This run-down old house is popular with travelers crossing over from Thailand, who then head north on their travels through Laos…

The rooms are large, but in dire need of maintenance…

Paint was peeling off the walls and the smell of damp all pervading… The mattresses must date back to when the French were kicked out of Laos in the 60’s…

The noise made by the fridge can only be drowned out by turning up the sound on the tiny television set…

In spite of the above, the friendly landlady and her extended family made me feel welcome, and I decided to stick it out… In view of the expense of traveling through Australia and North America, that still awaited me, I figured it was time to start counting the pennies anyway…!!

As the sun began to set, I took the Big Fella out to find the “Treat Yourself” restaurant that the guide book suggested…

Parked outside the restaurant, where I paid twice the cost of my hotel room, for a salad and a boxlw of ice cream...!!

The Daosavan is touted as the best restaurant in town, and charges accordingly...!!

It was the best looking restaurant by far in the town, and the price list on the menu confirmed this…!!

The main courses were twice what I was paying for my room at the guest house…!!

I ordered a salad, a small bowl of ice cream and a cup of coffee, and got no change form 100 000 Kip….!!

I have to admit though that the service was as good as any I have received in any top restaurant… It was clear that the waiters had been properly trained, as apposed to most of those in Laos that tend to make you feel that they are doing you a huge favour by serving you…

After my frugal meal, I rode around the busy streets in the dark, and spotted an internet café, where I updated my Trip Stats and the Google Map on my website, checked my mail, and then went back to my room to watch a movie on my laptop…

For the first time in ages, I was asleep before the bewitching hour…

©GBWT 2011