(written by Nancy)

We finally dragged ourselves away from the Mut Mee Guesthouse in Nong Khai this morning and made our way into our 5th country on this trip – Laos!

We left early to try to avoid the rush at the border but first stopped at a German bakery in Nong Khai for a quick pastry to see us through the morning ride.  It was only about 6-7k to the Thai end of the Friendship Bridge, where we were quickly stamped out of the country and we entered the no-man’s land on the bridge crossing the river.  The Friendship bridge was opened in 1994 and was funded by the Australian government as development aid for Laos and Thailand.  It is now called the First Friendship Bridge as there is a second one further south on the Mekong.

There were several signs on the lead up to the bridge that indicated no cycling was allowed on the bridge.  We knew, however, that many cyclists had ridden across without problem, including the tandem family that we met a few days ago in Nong Khai.  We also had no issue, the toll taker simply waiving us through without comment.  The bridge is relatively narrow with railway tracks running through the middle but there was only one vehicle that passed us on the bridge – of course just as Dave was stopping to take a picture in the middle!  Anyway, no issues getting across and after the usual form filling and payment of money we were in possession of 30-day visa stamps in our passports.

We headed toward Vientiane with one big change from our previous days of riding – we had to switch over to the other side of the road!  Yes, Laos is a right-side driving nation so we have to get used to that again.  We only had one little incident as we came into town when we instinctively turned onto the left side of the road coming off a one-way road but quickly realised that something wasn’t right!  We must remember to switch our helmet mirrors to the other side of our helmets before we head off from here.

It was about 20k or so into the city of Vientiane, the capital of Laos.  A bit dusty and busy but flat so we made it in good time.  We wandered a bit trying to find a guesthouse – several were full as there is some kind of banking conference the next couple of days, and a few did not have any safe place to store the bikes.  But, we did finally find a place with a very nice room and what is hopefully a safe locked place for the bikes.  The only downside is the room is on the fourth floor and there is no lift so we had to schlep the bags up four flights of stairs.  The guesthouse is called the Souphaphone Guesthouse and it is located in a good part of town with lots of restaurants around.  A bit more than we would like to pay but prices are always higher in the cities like this.

We got cleaned up and headed out to get some lunch and figure out the phone situation.  We found a great French bakery just nearby – one of many – and had a delicious breakfast for lunch.  We eyed the pastries in the case but held off to save those for another trip but they sure looked delicious.  As we walked to a phone shop to try to get the phone figured out we saw a tandem parked outside a restaurant and sure enough Sammy and Jesse of the Verhage tandem family were hanging out while Michael and Ciska did a run to take care of some visa arrangements.  We chatted a bit (slightly interrupting their discussions with some lovely young ladies at the next table, which I am sure they recommenced as soon as we old folks left them alone) and then made our way to a phone shop to see if we could work out how to get the phone working here.

The phone situation turned out to be much easier than anticipated.  We found a shop that sold Laos sim cards and had one that would give us internet access.  So, in less than an hour we had the phone up and running and could access email and data.  We think it will last for as long as we are here and will hopefully give us coverage once we get out of the ‘big city’ but we’ll have to wait and see.  Fair warning – don’t be too surprised if we have some delays in posting as we make our way through Laos as we will hit some pretty rural areas.

We headed back and met up with the whole Verhage family and sat and chatted for another hour or two – there is never a lack of things to talk about when cycle tourists get together!  They are here for a few days so we hope to catch up with them again while we are here.

Right now we are booked for two nights here – we will see how we feel about things and whether we stay longer.  This seems like a great little town – tons of restaurants of all different flavours that we may need to try.  And, of course, the French bakeries….  I wonder how many croissants I can eat in two days…?  Also, because of the French influence there is a bit more of a wine culture here so we should be able to get a decent glass of red here before we head out into the country.  I am sure it will be ridiculously expensive but I think we have earned a glass or two by now.

We are experiencing the usual ‘new country’ culture shock, especially with the money.  The currency here is kip and it comes in huge denominations.  Right the exchange for kip is roughly $1UD = 8000kip, so when you look at prices it is a bit of a shock to see the big huge numbers.  I need to get an easy conversion that I can use to figure out if this cup of coffee is expensive or cheap – or maybe not!  Anyway, it does require that you have these big stacks of bills which is fairly awkward but I guess we will get used to it.

Now, off to find that glass of red….

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