3rd January 2018
Ban Kuen – Vientiane (61.7km)
Woke up early this morning, went to the cafe of the guesthouse beside Nam Ngum River, wanted to make a coffee, saw this beautiful morning moon reflected on the river, a beautiful picture of double moon.
Today will be the last day of our ride, once reach Vientiane, that ends our ride in Laos.
Out from guesthouse, we rode to the salt factory which is 15km away, to explore how the salt is made in this inland country.
The underground water of Vientiane is rich of Potassium, the water was pumped from underground to the filter tank that built high up on a structure, then through a pipe, lead to the cooking sink and boiled until the water evaporated, the left over is salt. (I guess this is how it works…)
After the salt factory, we forwarded to Vientiane. No more mountain climbing, just little slopes and flat road. Soon we reached our guesthouse at Vientiane.
Vientiane street scenes.
Vientiane Square and Mekong River, also a place for night market and dinner.
Wondered around Vientiane.
Vientiane is at the border of Thailand, so the next day, we rented an SUV to cross this Friendship Bridge, crossed border to tour at one of the little town at North Thailand, Nongkai.
Scene at Nongkai border, little quiet town, beside trucks, we hardly see any private vehicles on the road.
Nongkai is quite a boring town, only a market place to strolled. Nevertheless, it’s a huge market and selling almost everything. From arts to weapons, expensive food and street food, silks products…etc…
Behind the market, a look out point along Mekong River.
The flow of the river is calm, good place to relax at night.
History Pier along the Mekong River. This pier was a post office during don’t know how many tears ago, below showed some of the shops those days.
Finally at day 11, it’s time to go back…
Reached airport early in the morning and… Holy Cow!!!… The airport yet to open for service. This is the second airport I experienced that isn’t operates 24 hours…
The rides in Laos allowed us to experienced the “good and evil”. The evil of climbing hill, the fun of rolling down, the good food and cheap sweet beers, the friendly and kind people; and excited kids whenever they saw cyclist past by, the good and trusted friends that made this journey sweet.
Crazy Old Horse 