Another slow morning to wake and wonder down to the sumptuous breakfast. Followed shortly after with a visit to the fitness center for some exercise so we can continue this decadent lifestyle of food, oh and so we can sustain the coming 600 or so KMs in Laos.
Our pick up at the hotel was almost an hour late. We found out afterwards they got lost looking for the Le Meridien hotel! We met our 2 cycling companions. Chris from Sydney, and Sandy from the UK both traveling alone. We also met our Lao guide Chit. We then had a 2 hour journey north to Chiang Kong in the air-conditioned mini van. The township is right on the border of Thailand and Laos on the mighty majestic Mekong River. With a single road through the centre of the village all traffic to and from Laos crosses the river by one of the many barges, even huge trucks cross.
We check into our rustic guest house and are pleasantly surprised at the quality of the room and the great view of the river from our balcony! One that deserves a beer and nibbles as we watch the passing boats along the river, and the bikes and locals wondering along the river. So peaceful.
We ventured out to get some late lunch. Settling on a small cafe who made to order noodle soup, fried rice, pad Thai... All of which was very tasty and cost $5 for all 3 dishes and drinks. We wondered up the road and found a store that sold the local Thai beer Chiang so stocked up for happy hour. Surprisingly how many coffees shops were in the village all with real coffee machines and local grown Thai beans!
It felt a little more humid in Chiang Kong and the sun was shining so it took no time for the body to start sweating. Oh memories of my years in Singapore!
We retired to our room and took in the view from the balcony and enjoyed the sounds of the cicadas as they wound up for dusk. A very pleasant place to start our adventure and enjoy a beer and chips prior to dinner.
Just as we were walking to dinner in the guest house dining room the heavens opened up and a rain storm passed over for about 30 or so minutes. Very heavy rain, wind, thunder and lightening cooled the temperature and created a very nice breeze as we enjoyed dinner. We had 2 choices if Tom yum soup. One farang version (no chilli) and the hot spicy version which was reasonably mild. We enjoyed green curry chicken, chilli, cashew chicken and fresh stir fry vegetables with steamed rice. It was quite a spread just for the 5 of us all washed down with Singha beer, another local Thai beer.
An early night was in order as we were heading out by 8am the next morning.
Moans and groans were heard from both of us as we lay on our mattresses, which felt more like slab of concrete compared to our den of luxury from the previous 2 nights! Fortunately the pillows were soft and added a good balance.. Oh so not a seasoned traveller!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
No comments:
Post a Comment