Days 83 & 84, Rest Days at Phonsavan:

Phonsaven is known for 2 things: 

1. It is home to the "Mysterious Plain of Jars". The whole area is scattered with massive carved out stone jars. Nobody knows what they were for but the best guess at the moment is that they were funeral urns. 

 

 

2. It is the centre of the most bombed province in the most bombed country in the world.

During the Vietnam war the Americans dropped more than 270million cluster bombs over Laos (despite the fact that Laos was neutral) between 1963 and 1974. Unfortunately 30% never detonated, meaning farming or even walking around in the countryside here is a hazardous business. 

As well as much chilling and eating we spent the first day here exploring a site of jars. We then spent the second day visiting the MAG (mines advisory group) centre learning about the secret war. Check out:

http://www.maginternational.org/where-mag-works/laos/#.UoJCx2Qayc0

Who put it far more eloquently than I could. The guy working at the centre was from a local village and had been trained to do bomb disposal, working in the fields for over a year. Pretty harrowing stuff. 

We also visited the Quality of Life Association which is a charity that helps with medical bills for those injured by bombs and helps rehabilitate them.

Day 82, 73km: by Chris

After more uphill Amy's rear innertube valve failed for a second time this trip. This time it looked like the valve had just come away from the tube. Luckily I'd managed to replace our spare in Luang-Prabang so in it went leaving us without a spare innertube for the second time. We descended to a cultivated plateau, sparse of trees and full of rice paddies and perfectly domed haystacks. Sitting in a grassy roadside meadow we ate a very pleasant but limited lunch in the sun. We were running low on food and the village shops are worse than those in China. They sell crab or salmon flavoured Crisps and inflated packets containing mostly air which cushions a small crumb of unknown food. Nothing substantial. On the road again and with 25km still to go, bafflingly, Amy's rear innertube valve burst again. This was a challenge now because I could not fix it and we had no spares. I tried to fix an older valve and glue it onto the failed tube but this was in vain. The solution was to cannibalise Amy's trailer, using its wheel on the front of her bike (leaving her without a front brake) and the innertube from her front wheel in the rear tyre. I carried the panniers and Amy's front wheel on the top of my trailer and the frame of Amy's trailer was balanced on top of her rack. We eventually limped into Phonsavan town at 18:00 as thick grey clouds bloomed in the sky and dusk was setting in. Looking at the place I was doubtful I would be able to find the specific Presta valve innertubes we need for Amy's rims here. That evening after hours of mulling and puzzling I came to the conclusion the tyre must be slipping on the rim, pulling the innertube with it and ripping the valve off which gets left in the hole. Luckily my bike is capable of taking car tyre valves which are easily obtainable here so I will swap to these and Amy can have my presta valve innertubes. This gives us a spare again so fingers crossed. Although this was good news, the bad news came from BBC news online when we found out typhoon Haiyan is heading our way.

Amy's trailer saves the day

Day 81, 68km: by Amy

The hills were less ferocious today but the views were still fantastic over the hazy green mountains. For most of the morning the road undulated along a ridge top through little villages. All these places had 'World Vision' sponsored taps which are well used. Each village also has a shop selling sweets and drinks and a little wooden shack petrol station. We cycle through dodging a menagerie of animals on the road and returning Sabadee's (hellos) to the children who all wave and greet us enthusiastically.

That evening Chris found a camp spot behind tall grass right by the road. It was on the switch back of a climb so you could hear the traffic a long way off. It was weird being so close to people and yet totally invisible but the views of the valley were awesome and we slept like babies.

the petrol pumps in rural Laos

Day 80, 68km: by Chris

Amy passed me all our equipment piece by piece down a steep earthen bank we'd climbed to get to our campsite then we cycled up through the morning mist into the sunshine, looking down on cloud filled valleys

. We passed bushes bright with yellow flowers and long lines of local women selling vegetables from bamboo huts. Amy was suffering from lack of caffeine but a Pepsi at the top of the hill rejuvenated her. An unexpected big climb and an extra 3km more than the roadside markers had promised us meant we only just got to our planned town before nightfall. With the help of a friendly Australian who was exploring Asia on a moped we found a guesthouse that was happy for me to put our bikes in the room (after some firm negotiation).

Day 79, 65km: by Amy

We left with a hug each from the optimistic elderly guesthouse owner who felt we could do the 250km to Phonsaven in a couple of days.

After a short flat section the road began some serious climbing which in our delicate and somewhat dehydrated condition was tough work. I spotted a live version of the huge squashed centipedes we'd seen by the side of the road. Apparently they eat rodents and lizards!

We crested the pass as school finished. All the school kids were wielding machetes but thankfully they were friendly and even offered to give me a push to get me up the last bit of the hill. 

Unfortunately we decended as far as we'd climbed (2000ft) and then were faced with the prospect of another 20km 2000ft climb to a village with a guesthouse. With 2 hrs of light left we realised we couldn't make it. 

Instead Chris found a perfect camp spot on a disused path in the jungle. The only downside being that some jungle insect ate lots of tiny holes in the groundsheet overnight.

Days 74, 75, 76, 77 & 78, Rest Days in Luang-Prabang:

The first day was spent sitting in a bakery eating baguettes and milkshakes. This place is a utopia for me as Laos was once colonial French so retains some French cuisine

 

. We quickly learnt about two tourist attractions here that are totally blown out if all proportion: A waterfall and a cave. if, regrettably, you might forget to visit one of these, help is on hand because the tuktuk drivers provide a comprehensive reminder service. The waterfall was a series of idyllic turquoise bathing pools in the jungle above a cascade of water and next to a spacious asiatic bear sanctuary full of happy rescued bears. The cave was a long boring boat ride up the brown Mekong to see two indentations in the side of a cliff full of dusty little gold Buddhas and a toilet that cost 30p to use. All things considered, the waterfall was better.

 

 

After the caves i lazed around and fixed small bicycle glitches while Amy visited Buddhist temples and spent the afternoon chatting to a novice monk who wanted to practice his English. The day got much worse though - by evening and into the night we were both violently emptying our upper and lower intestinal tracts from food poisoning. During this horrendous time somehow I managed to lock us out of the bathroom which was hugely regrettable. The whole ordeal left us feeling rather fragile on the fourth day when we visited a elephant rescue sanctuary to learn how to be a mammut (elephant driver). for lunch an all you can eat buffet was laid on for us but tragically neither Amy or I were in any fit state to abuse it.

74, 116km: by Amy

Thankfully the mozzie net kept our bathroom friend away overnight. The lovely guesthouse owner brewed us a cup of fresh Lao coffee each before we left. Chris was fascinated by the man's Mina bird which had learnt to replicate all the sounds of the bus station- creaking door, horns, squeaky breaks and laughter (as well as 'hello' in 3 languages). The day was hot, sunny and predominantly flat along the river so we made amazing time.

Chris found a lunch spot but I struggled to find him. Our speedos were different because I had stopped to take pictures and our two-way radios were being temperamental due to the thick jungle. I was getting hot and hungry (=grumpy) looking for him. At that moment 2 Canadian cycle tourists cycled past. They were really nice and we chatted for a while. They were puzzled as to why Chris and I don't cycle together (a fact I was lamenting at the time) but our paces are so different it just doesn't work. I'd bought some random eggs that had been drained, mixed with some sort of stock then put back in the shells to be boiled. They tasted good but one was a bit raw. Chris avoided them entirely. The afternoon was incredibly hot, made tolerable only by soaking my shirt and headscarf in a stream. We ploughed on, arriving at Luang Probang in the final moments of daylight.