We were so relieved to be back in Laos that we didn't even let two days of unpaved road bother us. In truth, we were expecting much worse, as an American couple on a tandem had warned us that this stretch was "not even a road, just huge boulders and steep drops down a jungle ravine on the side." It turned out to be a beautiful, semi-graded dirt road with occasional softball-sized rocks that wound its way up and down through dense, thick, and unpopulated Laos jungle. The two day stretch after the border was definitely the most remote area we had encountered so far, and we deliberately took it nice and easy after realizing that it would be a really bad idea to crash out here. We only saw two or three vehicles each day, one of them being the bus that ran three times a week to the border with Vietnam. So we took our time, enjoyed the light rain and river crossings, and found ourselves sleeping in some villages that probably won't see another falang for a few months or longer.
After two days and about 100km on the dirt road we came to the village of Muong Khoua, situated on the scenic Nam Ou river. Our circle was becoming complete as this was the same river that shared its confluence with the Mekong in Luang Prabang, where we were almost a month earlier. We briefly toyed with the idea of pushing on from Muong Khoua that afternoon, but made it to a small cafe just in time for a huge thundershower and instead decided to push on through a few cups of Laos coffee and enjoy the busy river scenery. We met a Basque couple also traveling by bike, and they gave us the good news that the next 100km to Oudamxay was on a beautifully paved road and not too difficult. By this point our butts couldn't have ridden much more off road so this was a welcome relief.
The ride the next day to Oudamxay was near perfect and definitely one of the top three days of our trip. It followed the river the entire day, gradually gaining elevation through sometimes steep, never-ending rollers. There was near zero traffic and the pavement was ideal. For lunch we had one of our first truly authentic Laos meals of sticky rice and various grilled animals; jungle deer, water buffalo, and river fish. Rats and small birds were available as well, but we shied away from those. We were excited to get to Oudamxay as one of the Laos guides that worked with the American tour group we met up with lived there. We went straight to his shop and chatted a bit before making plans for dinner at 7pm. He would come by our guesthouse with his wife, and we would go to one of his favorite local restaurants.
After exploring the town a bit, we rushed home to make it back by 7 in time for Boonyang to meet us. As we sat on the front porch, our stomachs turning and legs exhausted, the time kept ticking by. 7:30....8:00....8:20....8:30... finally Mo insisted that Mat call him up. We dug up his cell phone number and found a phone, and Boonyang answered right away. Mat explained that we were tired and going to bed - Boonyang didn't seem to mind, and wasn't apologetic or didn't even acknowledge the fact that it was an hour and a half past our meeting time. He wasn't being rude - it was just another example of how relaxed and foreign Laos time can seem to our hectic western minds.
Mat was laid out sick for a day after some potentially sketchy street food that we munched on the night before. Mo used this day to make friends with the local teenagers at the restaurant next to our guesthouse and help them practice their English. When one of them was packing up to leave the restaurant, Mo inquired as to his destination, and was invited to go to their "Finance School" and sit in on the English class. Instead of sitting in she took over the whole class of students, some of which had only had three days of English lessons thus far. She was offered a Beerlao immediately on arrival, which she professionally declined, and the students were able to practice their English such as "What is your favorite Lao food?" and "What is your good name?". On her way out, they asked her if she could come back and be their teacher everyday.
Mat made a quick recovery and we headed out of Oudamxay bound for Luang Prabang. We were expecting two days and a bit more than 200km of riding through some big mountains, but were feeling strong and motivated to get back from Bangkok. As we rode out of Oudamxay and down some gradual descents we wondered if we felt especially good, or if the road was not as rigorous as we expected. After consulting a map we realized that we had missed our turn to Luang Prabang and were instead headed down the Nam Beng river to the Mekong much further north. Not willing to turn around and backtrack again, and enjoying the easy, descending rollers, we decided to change our plan and head to the town of Pak Beng, the previous site of our one-night stayover on the slow boat to Luang Prabang.
It turned out that this choice was a good one - there was hardly any traffic on the road, and we rode through some tiny weaving villages full of local colors and flavors. Mo found a few excellent shopping opportunities at markets along the way and stocked up on the beautiful local textiles, and we met two other falang (in the true sense of the word) from France that were doing a similar route on a motorcycle. We took two days to get to Pak Beng and they were incredibly enjoyable, with gorgeous scenery, easy riding, and lots of friendly people. We rolled into Pak Beng in the early afternoon, hours before the tourist boat got in, and were able to appreciate the small village for what it was without the nightly influx of Westerners clammoring for hotel rooms and food.
Our time in Asia was coming to an end and we had to get back to Bangkok. There was only one real way out from Pak Beng, and that was the slow boat on the Mekong. We hopped on and headed upriver for our third full day on the mother river, this time in a boat with only about 10 other people. The extra room was much appreciated and we actually enjoyed the scenery and the lazy trip up to Huay Xai.
We only a few days to get back to Bangkok and catch our flight, so even though we wanted to hang out in Laos some more we had to start moving back. We crossed the river back into Thailand the next day and took a bus to the city of Chiang Mai - Thailand's second largest city and a popular tourist destination that we had never quite made it to. In Chiang Mai we splurged a bit on a nice hotel with a swimming pool and enjoyed a couple of relaxing days of shopping, eating, and drinking coffee before hopping on an overnight train (another Thailand first!) back to Bangkok. A final hectic morning in BKK found us packing up our bikes, doing some last minute shopping, and then taking a cab to the airport for our flight back home.
