Pretty landscape on the first stretch

The only downside of wanting to see the caves of Vieng Xai was that we now were in the far eastern regions of Laos, nearly in Vietnam, while our preferred border crossing back into Thailand is on the far western edge. A lot of distance needs to be covered so we thought we should start on it today. With a 320km chunk. On the bad Laotian roads.

Flo and I actually thought we wouldn’t be able to make it as we left Sam Neua too late. Our communication played up again and we had to figure out what’s wrong, find a place that sells cables and buy a replacement before leaving. However, the cable was crucial to being able to listen to an audio book so the time was well spent.

Picture I snatched when the ladies weren’t looking

Going back through the weaver’s village, we, of course, didn’t see nearly as many women weaving as on the way in. I still tried to snatch a picture but the ladies weren’t that keen to be photographed.

While the scenery was stunning, the road was a disaster. Big patches were missing, reminding us again of Timor-Leste. Riding was hard work rather than a pleasant activity. So really, we just kept going the whole morning. At some point, the road got better again. As we stopped for lunch, the GPS told us that Nong Khiaw is 160km away. Somehow, despite our late start, we had managed to ride half of the distance before lunch. Thus, we might actually reach Nong Khiew…though probably late in the day.

These looked fascinating

Just keep riding, just keep riding…at 4.30pm we arrived in the tiny town of Nong Khiew which, to our eyes, was filled to burst with white tourists. The town’s setting on a river with steep cliffs to either side is spectacular but we were just through with this day.

Amazing Indian food saved us from an empty stomach, even if we had to wait for it for a long time, before we snobed the views again to go back into our room to collapse.