(written by Dave)

The mattress on our bed last night felt a little thin in terms of padding between the cover and springs so we got out the sleeping bag liners.  The thinking here was that at least the sheet and blanket would provide some padding.  This was a good call but I’m not sure it made much difference.  When you inspect a room before accepting it, especially in sweaty bike clothes, you don’t tend to lay on the bed.  A quick push on the corner is all you ever really get.  Our mattress top was so thin that in the middle of the night, after the blanket and sheet had moved a little, Nancy snagged her hand on an exposed spring.  Even with the extra padding, we could feel individual springs all night.  Probably one of the worst beds we have had on this trip.

We are a little worried of seeming like travel snobs here.  As we meet more travellers we’ve noticed that there is great pride taken in telling others about great deals that one lands.  There is also a little bit of story telling with regard to epic events, be they dodgy mattresses or run ins with man-eating tigers.  Our Dutch friends stayed in the same hotel a couple nights ago and said it was fine.  I’ll go out on a limb here and say that they probably had a different room than we did – I don’t think even a thrifty Dutchman would have said that bed was ‘fine’.  I really wanted to say something to the owner/manager in the morning (basically that the mattress should be thrown out) but couldn’t be bothered.  He would not understand me and certainly would never have refunded any money.  And in the end he would only have a bad impression of foreign travellers.  Better to just leave it and hope the bruising isn’t too bad.  We will make sure our notes in our Laos accommodation page note that this hotel should be avoided at all costs – or at least room 15 should be!  At least future bicycle travellers who look at our notes will be warned.

We were more than happy to get up and leave the guesthouse this morning.  Our faith in Laos customer service was restored only minutes later when we arrived at the Bolaven Cafe for breakfast.  We’ve eaten there so many times now, the kids all know us.  They were very welcoming and again happy to see us.  Some home-made toasted granola and a double espresso later, I’d forgotten all about “rusty spring in the back” land (our guesthouse).

We didn’t have far to go today but were out early anyway.  We wanted to make sure at we got a room in this more touristy town.  Tomorrow being a holiday could make things busy.  We had a short bit of city to navigate before reaching the friendship bridge – this one was funded by Japan.  It was just about 8AM and traffic was rush hour chaotic.  I really wish I could capture the feeling of riding here for our readers.  The biggest user of the road is the ubiquitous scooter.  They don’t seem to have any real road rules.  They drive on whatever side of the road, in whatever direction that suites them reaching their next destination.  They zip in and out of traffic with regularity and gaps between stopped cars become merely alternative traffic lanes.  Cars and trucks are better, but only because their size prevents them making the scooter moves.  Dogs, goats, cows and sometimes pigs add to the mix.  We don’t ride fast through this sort of traffic and know that we have to be very alert.  I don’t mind giving way regardless of who has the right of way, even to a goat.  Today was only a couple ks of crazy and we both found ourselves laughing out loud.  It is like we were riding inside a kaleidoscope – you know that you are one of many moving parts and you have no idea what’s coming up next, you just have to keep alert.  You really have to laugh – if it gets you stressed, you’ll end up visiting the guys in white coats pretty quickly.

Once we reached the bridge, traffic calmed down.  It was 4k to the brand new Champasak road that the Bolaven folks told us about.  We were not sure if this was 4k from the start or end of the bridge.  And the bridge is over 1 k in length so we were a bit nervous we’d miss the turn.  I never like roads that “can’t be missed” as I always miss them.  Well, this one turned out to be pretty obvious and stopping a couple times to ask locals verified that we had the right road.  Unfortunately for future riders, we are still not sure where the 4k is measured and there is no sign at the turnoff yet.  By our computers it was just under 2k from the end of the bridge (which end you may now ask!).  Not the Pakse end of the bridge, the other end.  They were in the process of putting in a traffic island at the junction so perhaps a sign is on it’s way.

The new road itself was the smoothest we’ve had in Laos and almost traffic free.  We were able to ride side by side much of the way.  On the left we had the mighty Mekong, on the right some steep hills with cliffs on top.  A slight tailwind made for a near perfect ride.

We used LP to narrow our list of possible guesthouses in the area.  The first one they suggested we look at was pretty grungy (to be fair the suggested rooms were all booked).  The second guesthouse was better but had no WiFi and still was not that nice.  We were probably a little shell-shocked from  the mattress situation last night so we decided to head down to the one really nice inn and see if we could negotiate a deal.  Of course, when we checked rooms at the Inthira Hotel, they were very attractive and for sure a place we would be comfortable – these nicer places always are.  It’s easy to convince yourself you’ve ‘earned’ a nice room after some rough days though that can get a bit hard on the budget.

We borrowed their WiFi to verify that they had an internet special and to get them to give us a room at that rate.  We’ve had some hotels make us go out in the parking lot, use our laptop and book on-line to get the special rate.  It was nice of Inthira to simply let us book at the lower rate (it is still pretty high for us!).  This is really win-win as they don’t have to pay the booking agent fee and we get a discount.  So, we now have another over budget but very comfortable room to stay in for a few days.  Pickings look slim from here to Phnom Penh so maybe some luxury now will help us get through the next few days.

Lunch was at the Inthira restaurant.  This is a sister hotel to one we ate at in Thakhet and the food just as good.  I finally got to try fish laap.  I’ve had beef, chicken and water buffalo, but fish is supposed to be THE version to eat when travelling along the Mekong.  Today was the first time I’ve been in the mood for fish and the restaurant had fish laap on the menu.  It was probably better than the chicken and much better than beef and water buffalo.  For the record, I will not be trying “rat on a stick” laap.  I’m sure that we’ll be eating a few meals at in Inthira over the next couple days.

This afternoon, I went out for a wander and to take some photos while Nancy read her book.  Champasak is a very small town, one street and very spread out.  We have the town petang court just near the guesthouse and a pretty nice wat as well.  The men playing petang were in a pre-holiday festive mode.  They offered me a shot of their “liquid lubrication” but having seen the really good bowler fake drinking his shot (spilling all of it really), I took the clue and passed.  Having only one street, there is quite a bit of traffic but most of it is either foot, scooters or bikes, with the old tuk-tuk or truck.  There is a very laid back feel compared to Pakse, which was laid back itself.  Laos overall has a very slow feel, which is quite relaxing.

That being said, we have a big day tomorrow.  We are heading for Wat Phu.  We mentioned this one a couple times but just as a reminder, it is one of the oldest religious sites in SE Asia.  Some of the relics date from the 8th century.  So it pre-dates the famous Angkor Wat by 400 years or so.  It was part of the Angkor kingdom during that period but has also been used by the relevant ruling party for more than 1200 years.  It is mostly a historic site today but there is still a small active temple.  I’m sure I’ll give the camera (and our legs) a workout.  Naturally, so as not to offend any locals, we will try being back for an afternoon siesta as well.

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