RIDE DAY: Phaya Meng Rai to Huai Xai, Laos

1/6/09
Day: 66.9 km
Cumulative: 668.1 km
Avg Speed: 16.3 kph
Max Speed: 40.5 kph
Ride Time: 4h 5m
Highs: Surprised/excited villagers in smaller villages, cool temperatures and high clouds, found new sandals in my size in Chiang Khong, ferry to Laos, Easy/smooth immigration to Laos
Lows: Head wind, road quality was at times very very poor, poor sleep last night left me a little grumpy on the road, Gibbon Experience booked until 1/21 (darn), tired today--need a rest day!


Good sleep is so important. I didn't get much rest last night for some reason. It left me feeling lethargic and grumpy for my ride. I think I need a good relaxing rest day or two. For this reason, I will take the slow boat to Luang Probang tomorrow. Other cyclists say to just ride there because the scenary is amazing, but I feel I'm going to need a couple days of rest and relaxation and I don't really care to do it in HuaiXia, so I'm going to boat. I'm sad that I didn't reserve a space to do the Gibbon Experience earlier (a jungle zip line camp in tree house conservation naturalist thing), but oh well. Something else to come back to Thailand/Laos with Sharon to do in the future!

Having the grumps made it at times hard to pedal and do the kms. The head wind was a little tough and my legs were feeling pretty tired. I just kept eating snacks and hydrating and got reenergized when I finally saw the Mekong. I didn't really see the scenery this day because I was too focused on making the border and getting my stamp in time--can't have blemishes on my brand new passport on the very first stamp!!!

Crossing the Mekong was so gratifying. I really wanted to ride my bike across the border and that is what I did, well, sorta. We crammed it in a small narrow boat and traveled the hundred or so yards across the river. Looking back at Thailand, I felt a little sad, because I had had such a lovely time in the country. Now, I'd have to learn a new culture/language/etc. and was looking forward to it, but really enjoying the last moments of Thailand. I'm happy to have received so many rave reviews even in the past few days about Laos from cyclists and can't wait to ride on.

I found a place along the river, nothing special. Got snacks, a new SIMM card and such and turned in for rest. Long boat ride for the next two days!