Tag Archives: women weaving

Day 216 – To the East

The "crater" cafe ... at least they have not lost their sense of humor

The “crater” cafe … at least they have not lost their sense of humor

From Phonsavan to Sam Neua, our next destination, you have to ride 230km. This constitutes a “long riding day” for us in Laos. It’s mostly important to be mentally prepared that you won’t be doing much else than riding today but we also try to be on the road early.

Cranky-T, the lovely cafe where we had dinner last night, was not open for breakfast so we moved three doors down and across the street to “Craters” which was open. The breakfast was satisfying as it included a lot of fruit and some yummy yogurt. Looking out of the window, the cafe’s fence was rather disturbing though: Made out of bomb shells rammed into the ground.

Not the greatest rendering depth in the morning

Not the greatest rendering depth in the morning

Today started out rather chilly. Being 1100 meters above sea level, Phonsavan and the subsequent roads all vanished in thick clouds. Without the sun to drive away the night’s chill, Flo and I were cold on the bike despite an extra fleece layer. But we won’t complain; sleeping is so much better in the mountainous regions when it actually cools down significantly for the night and you can snuggle into a duvet.

At about 10am, the sun finally won and started burning away the clouds. Immediately, it got warmer but the clouds still lingered in the valleys which made for some beautiful views from the road. For quite a while we also rode through an area where every single tree was snapped off at the top like twigs. We were unsure if it was man-made or maybe from a storm? Because…who would do such a thing? And to what purpose? The effected area was immense though so if it was really due to a storm…that must have been a bad one.

A scene like from any village on the road

A scene like from any village on the road

Going through the mountain villages, children at the roadside always wave at you enthusiastically. I always feel bad if I miss a group because I can hear them shouting to get attention but by the time I turn around, we are much further and I usually can’t spot anyone anymore. Oh, if you haven’t guessed, I am the official waving-back person. 🙂

The last village before we arrived in Sam Neua was amazing. It seemed like all of the women were sitting at their looms, weaving cloth with traditional patterns. Unfortunately, we didn’t take any pictures which might have been a mistake as it is Sunday today and we have no way of knowing if they will all have time for weaving on our way back…on a week day.

Sam Neua was a mixed bag for us. On the way in, we were raced by a family of three on a single scooter, mostly because the boy was super excited about our bike. When we arrived at the guest house though, the owner looked at our motorbike and decided to not give us a room. He didn’t speak English but his gestures seemed to say that our motorbike was too wide to fit in the hallway; something that we hadn’t planned on anyway. He remained adamant though and we had to ride to a different guest house. This one was happy to have us so we booked in for two nights to have tomorrow free for tourist things.

tastes vary - but unfortunately these are dying out due to over hunting

tastes vary – but unfortunately these are dying out due to over hunting

Food was also not that easy. Sam Neua does not see a lot of white tourists that much is for sure. The market is almost completely for the locals. Ingrediences yes, take-away food no. Despite being one of the cleanest markets we have seen in Asia so far, I felt really bad moving through the stalls. So many dead fluffy animals on display! Not to speak of the dead rats or random entrails. Not a very nice place to be for a vegetarian.