Hi Folks
Laos Laos Laos... Whew, that was a ride. We started from sunny Savannakhet, where we had spent two nights for preparing and settling in Laos. Orientation was easy enough, as there is just one road southwards. Easypeasy we thought. Nice weather, enough food and water in our backpacks, well rested and ready to skate. And then we hit the road out of town. Uuuh. Surface structure like a cheese grater. Every push gave you a nice massage for your feet and body, and shaked you up to your head. And as soon as you stopped pushing, you immediately stopped. Judge for jour self, I have attached some pictures of the roads, I call them "Painful pavement pictures". So this wasn't gonna be easy, but hey, we aren't easily scared of roads. So we stubbornly pushed on, through beautiful landscapes which reminded us a little of Africa, while the sun was rising higher and higher and it was getting hotter and hotter. Sweat started to flow, and it wouldn't stop for a long time. In the evening we started to look for a camp spot and asked some locals if we could camp in their field. No problemo. So we put up our tent, watched a kitsch sunset and ate some serious pasta. Everything looked calm, some cows grazing nearby, some chicken running around, the glow of a huge garbage fire behind a close range of hills. A good night of sleep. Until the moment when we realised that we were not alone in our tent anymore. Not a thief like in Russia had entered the tent, but termites. Thousands of them. They had chewed holes in both the bottom and the moskito net the size of big coins. And then they were attacking the cookies we stupidly left in Kyras backpack on her side of the tent, and the rubber of the bike lock on my side. And some of the brave ones went to explore our sleeping bags. Which in turn woke us up, because termite bites hurt a lot. So we got up in the middle of the night and packed our stuff in order to escape the angry termites. On the other hand we were up and on the road really early this day. The skateboarding then was the same as the day before. Painful crawling along the road with glacial speed, all while being roasted by the scorching sun. But we kept up, had some lengthy lunch breaks in the shadow and pushed on. In the evening again the quest for a camp spot. A little worried because of termites now. Luckily the locals we asked invited us into their home for the night, so no worrying about termites. A nice place, three houses/families with joined backjards, where all sorts of farm animals where poking around. Plus a water well where we could wash of the dust from the road with fresh water. Later we were invited for dinner by them, which unfortunately sounds more exciting than it was. In their honest effort of being good hosts, they assumed that their food would be to spicy for us, so they cooked us some rice and a omelete, while they ate the deliciously looking local food. Shortly after dinner, everybody said goodnight and went to bed. This was maybe around 9pm, but as sunset is around 5.30pm and at 6pm its pitch dark, it feels a lot later. Next day after morning coffee we took our goodbyes and continued on the cheese grater. By now we had already discovered that the very rough, sharp edged pavement, combined with the shaking, had started taking its toll on our boards. The wheels had started to chip, and the delaminations on my board had spread, completely covering (well, separating) the tail and new the nose of the board aswell. Uh oh, I hope this thing last until the next Skateshop. The day continued like the last two, horrible skating in wonderful landscape, with vast plains of yellow rice fields, dotted by huge trees, and from time to time a refreshing looking river. And we learned that it is illegal in Laos to take photographies of bridges and to skate in the middle of the road. In the evening finding a place to camp was difficult, but with the help of a crazy guy from Finland in a Jeep we found a decent guesthouse in the end. Then remaining distance to the next town was a little to much for one day, and not enough to split in two days. So we thought we'll just try. On the way we met some cyclists from Polland, coming from the other direction, from Cambodia, which had very bad news for us. Apparently the road gets worse after the next town, and detoriates further the closer to the Cambodian border you get. Hm. We continued until we ran out of time shortly before the town of Pakse, and opted for flagging down a local bus for the last kilometers into town. When poking around town in search for a guesthouse, we soon met some nice dudes from Switzerland and the USA and joined them for their guesthouse. Which was a lucky strike, as Basil, the Swiss guys proved to know the area really well. Plus the guesthouse was very cute, right at the riverside with a sunset view terace and hammocks. After two nights and meeting a lot of nice people, we left Pakse to skate on a sideroad to Champasak, and for half a day we had really nice roads. We couldn't stop in Champasak, because we had forgotten to search an ATM in Pakse and had ran out of money. Well, after a ferry ride to the other side of the river, we continued direction main road, and as soon as we hit it, the road surface turned unskateable. OK, hitchhiking from here. Two rides, one broken down car and one ferry later, we are on Don Det island, at the very south of Laos. Very cozy this island. We rented a super basic riverside bungalow and relaxed for a day. That's about it of what you can do here, but I liked the quiet atmosphere very much. Oh and we cut each others hair, so watch out for the new style in future pictures. Speaking of pictures, they will be delivered in separate posts due to technical reasons. Sooo, and right now we are already in Cambodia, having hitchhiked here to the town of Stung Treng today. From here we will plan future adventures and post some pictures in the next days.
Cheers
Robert
Laos Laos Laos... Whew, that was a ride. We started from sunny Savannakhet, where we had spent two nights for preparing and settling in Laos. Orientation was easy enough, as there is just one road southwards. Easypeasy we thought. Nice weather, enough food and water in our backpacks, well rested and ready to skate. And then we hit the road out of town. Uuuh. Surface structure like a cheese grater. Every push gave you a nice massage for your feet and body, and shaked you up to your head. And as soon as you stopped pushing, you immediately stopped. Judge for jour self, I have attached some pictures of the roads, I call them "Painful pavement pictures". So this wasn't gonna be easy, but hey, we aren't easily scared of roads. So we stubbornly pushed on, through beautiful landscapes which reminded us a little of Africa, while the sun was rising higher and higher and it was getting hotter and hotter. Sweat started to flow, and it wouldn't stop for a long time. In the evening we started to look for a camp spot and asked some locals if we could camp in their field. No problemo. So we put up our tent, watched a kitsch sunset and ate some serious pasta. Everything looked calm, some cows grazing nearby, some chicken running around, the glow of a huge garbage fire behind a close range of hills. A good night of sleep. Until the moment when we realised that we were not alone in our tent anymore. Not a thief like in Russia had entered the tent, but termites. Thousands of them. They had chewed holes in both the bottom and the moskito net the size of big coins. And then they were attacking the cookies we stupidly left in Kyras backpack on her side of the tent, and the rubber of the bike lock on my side. And some of the brave ones went to explore our sleeping bags. Which in turn woke us up, because termite bites hurt a lot. So we got up in the middle of the night and packed our stuff in order to escape the angry termites. On the other hand we were up and on the road really early this day. The skateboarding then was the same as the day before. Painful crawling along the road with glacial speed, all while being roasted by the scorching sun. But we kept up, had some lengthy lunch breaks in the shadow and pushed on. In the evening again the quest for a camp spot. A little worried because of termites now. Luckily the locals we asked invited us into their home for the night, so no worrying about termites. A nice place, three houses/families with joined backjards, where all sorts of farm animals where poking around. Plus a water well where we could wash of the dust from the road with fresh water. Later we were invited for dinner by them, which unfortunately sounds more exciting than it was. In their honest effort of being good hosts, they assumed that their food would be to spicy for us, so they cooked us some rice and a omelete, while they ate the deliciously looking local food. Shortly after dinner, everybody said goodnight and went to bed. This was maybe around 9pm, but as sunset is around 5.30pm and at 6pm its pitch dark, it feels a lot later. Next day after morning coffee we took our goodbyes and continued on the cheese grater. By now we had already discovered that the very rough, sharp edged pavement, combined with the shaking, had started taking its toll on our boards. The wheels had started to chip, and the delaminations on my board had spread, completely covering (well, separating) the tail and new the nose of the board aswell. Uh oh, I hope this thing last until the next Skateshop. The day continued like the last two, horrible skating in wonderful landscape, with vast plains of yellow rice fields, dotted by huge trees, and from time to time a refreshing looking river. And we learned that it is illegal in Laos to take photographies of bridges and to skate in the middle of the road. In the evening finding a place to camp was difficult, but with the help of a crazy guy from Finland in a Jeep we found a decent guesthouse in the end. Then remaining distance to the next town was a little to much for one day, and not enough to split in two days. So we thought we'll just try. On the way we met some cyclists from Polland, coming from the other direction, from Cambodia, which had very bad news for us. Apparently the road gets worse after the next town, and detoriates further the closer to the Cambodian border you get. Hm. We continued until we ran out of time shortly before the town of Pakse, and opted for flagging down a local bus for the last kilometers into town. When poking around town in search for a guesthouse, we soon met some nice dudes from Switzerland and the USA and joined them for their guesthouse. Which was a lucky strike, as Basil, the Swiss guys proved to know the area really well. Plus the guesthouse was very cute, right at the riverside with a sunset view terace and hammocks. After two nights and meeting a lot of nice people, we left Pakse to skate on a sideroad to Champasak, and for half a day we had really nice roads. We couldn't stop in Champasak, because we had forgotten to search an ATM in Pakse and had ran out of money. Well, after a ferry ride to the other side of the river, we continued direction main road, and as soon as we hit it, the road surface turned unskateable. OK, hitchhiking from here. Two rides, one broken down car and one ferry later, we are on Don Det island, at the very south of Laos. Very cozy this island. We rented a super basic riverside bungalow and relaxed for a day. That's about it of what you can do here, but I liked the quiet atmosphere very much. Oh and we cut each others hair, so watch out for the new style in future pictures. Speaking of pictures, they will be delivered in separate posts due to technical reasons. Sooo, and right now we are already in Cambodia, having hitchhiked here to the town of Stung Treng today. From here we will plan future adventures and post some pictures in the next days.
Cheers
Robert
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