I've arrived back in Thakhek after finishing the loop.
At the first place I stayed, where I last posted from, a lot of people arrived. Everyone sat around the fire and the hosts cooked a massive all you can eat BBQ. The owner was quite flamboyant and he definitely loved his job. He'd pass out beers and you somehow were expected to remember how many you had the following morning when it was time to pay.
The next morning I joined a group I'd met the night before. There was a yank named Jeremy; two Norwegians, Peter and Eric; an Italian named Sam and an Aussie, Rick.
Day 2 didn't have a whole lot of stops, but the road through the mountains was amazing with a lot of nice views. It sucks that phone cameras really don't do the views justice. Rick had a proper camera so I'll try to pinch his photos. Rick also rides bikes in Australia so he would do things with these scooters that they really weren't designed for.
Not long after we set off we decided to stop by the lake. There were groups of people fishing. They had these long poles that branched off into an X shape at the end with a net slung across it. They'd lower the net into the water and wait a few seconds. Fish would swim over the top and they'd raise the net and catch the fish. There was also a family eating some weird fruit that they dipped into a paste. They offered me some. The fruit was ok, but the paste was disgusting and probably the spiciest thing I've eaten so far. They loved it when I spat it out. One of the kids wanted to get a photo with me, so I got a photo as well.
We continued over the mountain and stopped at some carvings in the rock then stopped again on the descent at a view point, which it seems I didn't event take a photo of. I did get some footage of Rick doing donuts on his scooter.
I'm not sure if this YouTube link will work...
https://youtu.be/Q6DJOWKkiU4
We stopped at Lax Sao for a long lunch. The people serving us didn't seem to understand how a restaurant worked, or what we were saying. The menu was in both languages but I think perhaps they left off the meat in their language, so we had to make sounds if we wanted moo, oink oink or brk brk.
The next stop was a Cool Spring. It lived up to its name, it was really cold. There were a lot of locals there getting totally hammered and singing bad bad karaoke on their portable karaoke machines. There was also a bunch of locals washing their hair in the spring, which struck me as weird. But it looked really pristine, so it can probably use a few chemicals. We acquired another American, Taylor, at the cool springs.
After the cool spring we went up and over another mountain and stopped at another viewpoint overlooking a beautiful valley. We waited there to watch the sunset, but it wasn't too impressive.
That night we stayed in Nahin at the San Hak Guesthouse. It was very cheap and very nice with amazing food.
The following day we set off for the Konglor Cave. It is the main event. We made the 40km dash fairly quickly. The cave is enormous, with a stream running through it. We hired some boats and headlamps and set off. You really only sit in the boat. There is one spot where you walk up through the karst formations. The mountain we were travelling under is 439 metres high.
https://youtu.be/pobnBbCDsGI
After the cave we went swimming then went back to San Hak. We acquired a French girl, Marion, at San Hak taking our group up to 8. Yesterday, which was the final day, we had to return along the highway. It isn't like the highway at home though. There wasn't much traffic and still a lot of cows, pigs, chickens and goats. The road was good so we could zoom along relatively safely.
It was when we turned off to visit the Blue Lagoon that it all went pear shaped. Taylor, Marion and I got separated from the everyone else. We thought they were ahead but they were actually behind. Marion knew where the turn to the Blue Lagoon was so she was leading. I was following behind thinking she was setting a cracking pace. I was actually thinking I don't think I can go that fast around these corners when Marion confirmed it for me. She hit some gravel, the bike slid out from under her and she rolled down the road. No arms or legs flailing, she was like a log. The bike ended up in a ditch on the side of the road and she ended up face down, motionless. I stopped and went over to her and she sat up and started shaking her hands.
The locals came from everywhere to help out. They retrieved the bike and made a place for her in the shade. She had an awesome first aid kit but the locals also ran off and got the only thing that they had that could help - aloe vera.
She had a lot of scratches and cuts but none were too deep. Her hand, ankles, elbows, hips and arms were all cut up. She also hurt her thumb and her knee, which could be more serious in the long run. She was really shaken up so Taylor and I started busting the funnies. Laughter is the best medicine right. For how bad the crash was she was really lucky. And now that she is ok I'll admit it was a hilarious stack to watch.
We decided Taylor would take her back to Thakhek and I'd continue to the lagoon. We were also worried that Jeremy hadn't gone past. He also crashed earlier in the day but managed to slide along on his hand and ankles with only a small graze on his ankle. I went down this awful road for 24km and everyone was already there. They had actually been behind us and somehow gone past without seeing us after the crash.
The lagoon was nice, but you couldn't swim in it. There was a little stream you could swim in, which was lined with locals blaring techno music and getting drunk. When a lady rocked up to brush her teeth in the stream we decided to leave.
Now I'm in Thakhek again. Some of the guys left late last night and the others left early this morning. I did bump into Alex, who I'd met in Bangkok, totally randomly here as well. Small world.
Taylor is teaching English in Thailand and we have a loose plan to get a flat together in Hanoi toward the end of the year or maybe next year to work.
Tonight I'm going to get a sleeper bus to Vientiane then maybe head up to Luang Prabang. It leaves at 1am so at the moment I'm laying up in my big green lounge for as many hours as possible.
At the first place I stayed, where I last posted from, a lot of people arrived. Everyone sat around the fire and the hosts cooked a massive all you can eat BBQ. The owner was quite flamboyant and he definitely loved his job. He'd pass out beers and you somehow were expected to remember how many you had the following morning when it was time to pay.
The next morning I joined a group I'd met the night before. There was a yank named Jeremy; two Norwegians, Peter and Eric; an Italian named Sam and an Aussie, Rick.
Day 2 didn't have a whole lot of stops, but the road through the mountains was amazing with a lot of nice views. It sucks that phone cameras really don't do the views justice. Rick had a proper camera so I'll try to pinch his photos. Rick also rides bikes in Australia so he would do things with these scooters that they really weren't designed for.
Not long after we set off we decided to stop by the lake. There were groups of people fishing. They had these long poles that branched off into an X shape at the end with a net slung across it. They'd lower the net into the water and wait a few seconds. Fish would swim over the top and they'd raise the net and catch the fish. There was also a family eating some weird fruit that they dipped into a paste. They offered me some. The fruit was ok, but the paste was disgusting and probably the spiciest thing I've eaten so far. They loved it when I spat it out. One of the kids wanted to get a photo with me, so I got a photo as well.
We continued over the mountain and stopped at some carvings in the rock then stopped again on the descent at a view point, which it seems I didn't event take a photo of. I did get some footage of Rick doing donuts on his scooter.
I'm not sure if this YouTube link will work...
https://youtu.be/Q6DJOWKkiU4
We stopped at Lax Sao for a long lunch. The people serving us didn't seem to understand how a restaurant worked, or what we were saying. The menu was in both languages but I think perhaps they left off the meat in their language, so we had to make sounds if we wanted moo, oink oink or brk brk.
The next stop was a Cool Spring. It lived up to its name, it was really cold. There were a lot of locals there getting totally hammered and singing bad bad karaoke on their portable karaoke machines. There was also a bunch of locals washing their hair in the spring, which struck me as weird. But it looked really pristine, so it can probably use a few chemicals. We acquired another American, Taylor, at the cool springs.
After the cool spring we went up and over another mountain and stopped at another viewpoint overlooking a beautiful valley. We waited there to watch the sunset, but it wasn't too impressive.
That night we stayed in Nahin at the San Hak Guesthouse. It was very cheap and very nice with amazing food.
The following day we set off for the Konglor Cave. It is the main event. We made the 40km dash fairly quickly. The cave is enormous, with a stream running through it. We hired some boats and headlamps and set off. You really only sit in the boat. There is one spot where you walk up through the karst formations. The mountain we were travelling under is 439 metres high.
https://youtu.be/pobnBbCDsGI
After the cave we went swimming then went back to San Hak. We acquired a French girl, Marion, at San Hak taking our group up to 8. Yesterday, which was the final day, we had to return along the highway. It isn't like the highway at home though. There wasn't much traffic and still a lot of cows, pigs, chickens and goats. The road was good so we could zoom along relatively safely.
It was when we turned off to visit the Blue Lagoon that it all went pear shaped. Taylor, Marion and I got separated from the everyone else. We thought they were ahead but they were actually behind. Marion knew where the turn to the Blue Lagoon was so she was leading. I was following behind thinking she was setting a cracking pace. I was actually thinking I don't think I can go that fast around these corners when Marion confirmed it for me. She hit some gravel, the bike slid out from under her and she rolled down the road. No arms or legs flailing, she was like a log. The bike ended up in a ditch on the side of the road and she ended up face down, motionless. I stopped and went over to her and she sat up and started shaking her hands.
The locals came from everywhere to help out. They retrieved the bike and made a place for her in the shade. She had an awesome first aid kit but the locals also ran off and got the only thing that they had that could help - aloe vera.
She had a lot of scratches and cuts but none were too deep. Her hand, ankles, elbows, hips and arms were all cut up. She also hurt her thumb and her knee, which could be more serious in the long run. She was really shaken up so Taylor and I started busting the funnies. Laughter is the best medicine right. For how bad the crash was she was really lucky. And now that she is ok I'll admit it was a hilarious stack to watch.
We decided Taylor would take her back to Thakhek and I'd continue to the lagoon. We were also worried that Jeremy hadn't gone past. He also crashed earlier in the day but managed to slide along on his hand and ankles with only a small graze on his ankle. I went down this awful road for 24km and everyone was already there. They had actually been behind us and somehow gone past without seeing us after the crash.
The lagoon was nice, but you couldn't swim in it. There was a little stream you could swim in, which was lined with locals blaring techno music and getting drunk. When a lady rocked up to brush her teeth in the stream we decided to leave.
Now I'm in Thakhek again. Some of the guys left late last night and the others left early this morning. I did bump into Alex, who I'd met in Bangkok, totally randomly here as well. Small world.
Taylor is teaching English in Thailand and we have a loose plan to get a flat together in Hanoi toward the end of the year or maybe next year to work.
Tonight I'm going to get a sleeper bus to Vientiane then maybe head up to Luang Prabang. It leaves at 1am so at the moment I'm laying up in my big green lounge for as many hours as possible.
Sounds like a great trip. Cave looks pretty sweet. I did a few multi-day scooter trips too and that was my favourite part of travelling. Glad to hear Marion's crash wasn't too serious.
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