Up into the Hills!

13/6/2011

Today I got a small taste of the pain to come, the hills of Northern Laos.  Following some directions from another cyclists web page – “77km north of Vang Vieng is a nice a guesthouse and hot spring” I thought I’d aim for that.  Only thing as I found out is that it’s perched near the top of a hill.  Vang Vieng 360m alt. and guesthouse 760m alt. with a few ups and downs in between, I was very happy to see it!!  (I tripped 80km from Vang Vieng and thought I had passed it as I began to descend down the hill I thought it was on top of but it was a wee down/undulating and it would be hard to miss with the sign and restaurant.)  The hot pool unfortunately was not its normal hot self due to the recent downpours but I thought the temp was perfect after sweltering away in the heat during the day.  Hot spring, accommodation and restaurant set in a spectacular mountain pass – you can’t ask for much more!!  I would love a fat, juicy eye fillet steak though.

Man anyone that passes through here has to stop at this place.  Although the room may be cosy it’s cool, the food is fantastic (noodle soup with vegetables and beef with ginger – written on a semi English menu – there are French pried if you want), the hot spring or warm spring if it has been raining and the scenery.  Well I reckon this place is pretty sic bix!

Stomach finally feeling better today I managed to eat some lunch!!  And stuffed myself for dinner – a good feeling especially with what lies ahead.

Phou Khoun - Arrived 14/6/2011

A mountain village on my up the big daddy hill

View from near the top.
Background in Phou Khoun Mountain

Well I climbed ‘the hill’, wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be.  It was steep and long but the top (more or less) just appeared all of a sudden.  I was keen to keep heading along after reaching Phou Khoun early but very unsure of finding somewhere to stay along the way so I just made it a short day today and anyway it’s pretty cool staying up this high.  The guesthouse is 1320m alt. and it’s still warm enough to get around in a tee and shorts – maybe it will drop below 25 overnight?!  My box/room, that I realise I paid too much for, has a wicked view when it’s not raining.

3:30am rooster starts going.  5am is starts up again.  5:30am most of the town is getting up. 7am some loud speaker radio broadcast starts.  I just want to sleep in peace.  You can’t even do it at 1300m alt.!

Not too far to go on 140km of hills

The morning leaving Phou Khoun.
Think I was still the only  one wearing shorts and  a tee
and finding the temperature pleasant