From Thailand to Laos: Across the Friendship Bridge

Thursday November 6, 2008, 34 km (21 miles) – Total so far: 34 km (21 miles)

Old Nong Khai

After a heavy rainstorm last night that threatened to blow off all the roofs in Nong Khai, we awoke to beautiful clear blue skies and intense UV. Messing about with sunblock was a small price to pay for a great day out with the camera and our short ride into Vientiane. Last night’s rain was the first and only wet weather we had on this trip. Bring on the blue skies and sunshine, Laos. We managed 10 kms seeing the town, plus the 24 or so kms into Vientiane.

Then there’s the bridge, built with Aussie help ie. funds, and opened by then PM, Paul Keating in April 1994. The bridge, all 1200 metres of it, is narrow. Cars overtaking bicycles are OK. Trouble is, though Laos being the fourth poorest country on earth, has increasing numbers of Hummers, Land Cruisers and other large SUVs. Thais travel in huge vans and buses across the bridge. The rail line in the center of the bridge now extends into Lao territory, and is set to operate by March 09.

Official policy on cycling across the bridge is confusing at best. Mostly ‘NO’ if you ask. The Lao side has bicycle lanes at it’s immigration. The Thai side doesn’t, and many a cyclist have been frowned upon entering the Thai side of the bridge by bike. We hustle across Thai immigration and customs and make a run for it passing by some Thai customs ladies tucking into lunch. The one that wasn’t eating raised her voice. We smile and keep pedaling. I’m on official duty taking pictures for CGOAB and bike on a bus is not an option.

Sharing a romantic evening with Lonely Planet finds by a fountain

We get into town for a late lunch at Joma Bakery. Heavenly mushroom quiche and iced cappuccino freeze. Met up with Joma’s country manager, Miss Nang, a Bangkok native who made bookings on our behalf on Lao Airlines, for the next day’s flight to Luang Prabang.

Most of the town’s hotels were full, seeing that Nov 12 was the date for the week long That Luang festival at the country’s most revered temple, That Luang.

KG kept an eye on our bikes parked outside. Alvin took care of the air tickets, while I rode off to find a room for the night. Errands done in 40 minutes or so.

Lao Airlines does accept on line bookings, when their website is working, and Alvin has Church contacts with Joma’s CEO owner. We are well connected, and by the end of the trip I have 7 Joma reciepts in my wallet. www.joma.biz

We check into the Mali Namphu guesthouse whose rates have inflated 75% in 20 months. Alvin remembers it best for an episode in which his friend lost a helmet whilst the bike was locked in the hotel’s elegant Parisian inspired courtyard.

‘Aggro Paul’ or easily aggravated Paul, now a sheep breeder in Queensland, Australia kicked up such a ruckus at the lobby until a sheepish (pun intended) hotel employee brought out the said bike helmet and placed it back onto it’s rightful owner’s handlebar. Though it was just a $20 knock off Giro helmet, the lesson to be learnt here is, not to mess around with all 6 ft 2 inches of Aggro Paul.

Prologue : Singapore – Bangkok – Udon Thani – Nong Khai: Getting there is half the fun

Wednesday November 5, 2008

Or half the torture, if you like multiple take offs and landings and have a burning desire to see Bangkok’s massive new airport, Suvarnabhumi (one of many spellings) I’d rather something easier to remember, like Swamp Bunny.

Flying on a low cost airline like Air Asia also meant going through immigration and checking out our bike boxes and repeating the same but opposite process on each and every sector. Thankfully we’re doing this only twice in a day, at the start and end of our trip. 3 and 6 hour layovers to and fro left us quite frazzled and no amount of fake red lipped smiles from tightly outfitted stewardesses could ease the drudgery of killing time in a busy airport. I Pod to the rescue.

My partners in grime for this foray in to Laos are Alvin and his University of Hawaii and Oregon buddy Koh Gay, henceforth referred to as KG for short. We quickly found some solace in a small eatery where the airport employees hang out, eating almost real Thai food at almost real Thai prices. Like us they played refugees from the many fancy and relatively expensive restaurants where first time arrivals don’t know better, and splurge out on crappy $10 hamburgers or tasteless pseudo ‘Asian’ wanton noodles. Now if you’re really in a pinch, and that can happen on the final day of your trip, there’s no shame in heading for the freezers of 7/11 or Family Mart to try out a host of Thai style TV dinners. Microwaved on the spot with a smile. Tasty spicy stuff when you dont want to fill up too much before flying.

And I suppose studying in Hawaii has it’s dreamlike tropical perks. Us guys are also from the Hawaii Five-O and Magnum PI era. What’s there in Oregon you ask? Well for starters, there’s BIke Friday, and a host of other bike companies, which at that time, to my pal Alvin, was as alien a concept as cycle touring in Laos. Of course, we know better now.

By the time we landed in Udon Thani, 60 kms from the Mekong River and into Laos, it’s late. 6 pm late and dark. An info counter selling bus tickets to Nong Khai or even Vientiane is just past customs to make your life easier. A fixed 200 Thai Baht per passenger in a VIP minibus to the border. Seeing big bike boxes, the helpful grandma and grandpa manning it, make a few quick calls. To hasten things, we reluctantly add another 100 Baht for each box. Udon is my favourite Thai provincial airport. I spot a Lao Airline poster advertising direct flights from Udon to Luang Prabang just a week ago.

A quick 45 minute ride in a twin cab Hilux pick up brings us to Nong Khai town, right on the river. My previous ride to Nong Khai was at 8 am, last January in very foggy conditions. I am destined not to see the countryside on both occasioins.

We check in to the Ruan Thai guesthouse’s Bungalow D, a great deal for 2 huge beds that sleeps 4 in a teakwood house at Thb 1000. My regular place next door, the Khiang Khong was booked out, even with email and phone reservations guaranteeing 2 rooms. Darn TIT! meaning short for, This Is Thailand. What were you thinking?

Reservations in these parts work when the rooms are empty the day before you arrive. If there’s a guest in your so called reserved room who is a long stayer, maybe more than 3 days, most proprietors are loath to ask that guest to move out. Since we arrived at the ‘agreed’ time of 6 – 7 pm, there was this excuse that we were late ! TIT logic rearing it’s ugly head.

Frienddhip Bridge at sunset

Nong Khai: What’s another night?

Pop : 60,000

new entrance to NK

My slow start in Laos was literally brought over to Thailand as I played tourist and rode about 40 kms sightseeing around the nicest of border towns. And yes there was good Vietnamese food here too. The touristy Indochina Market which was a covered alleyway of small shops reminded me of the markets at Mai Sai, another Thai Myanmar border town in the Thai north.

As luck would have it, I also got the last available room at the new Khing Khong guesthouse, minutes beforre a pick up pulled in, it’s American driver and Thai family wanting a room. The owner profusely apologised saying that the guy on a bicycle took it a minute ago.

The town proper is just 3 parallel streets running about 3 kms by the river. Ride more than 3 kms and you’re out in the boondocks again, dirt trails by fishing and shrimp ponds, vegetable plots and even a ‘silk producing station’ some 15 kms away. Nong Khai’s railway station just out of town is also the northernmost stop for the Thai railways’ sleeper starting from Bangkok.

Like Udon Thani 55 kms south, these places have little pockets of retirement central. Udon was a major US air force base during the Vietnam war and still sees joint military training with the Thais and US army in the surrounding countryside of Issan. No shortage of passable western food which was a nice change from Thai. Convenient visa renewal runs into Laos and back in a matter of hours. No shortage of noisy pubs, bars and sleaze which had the same ol guys in the same seats from morning till night.

In defence of the large Chinese population in both towns, there’s no shortage of gold shops too. Look out for huge red shop fronts, with gold jewellery and sales people behind steel and glass cages.

I was also lucky to meet Michael Yamashita, a Nat Geo photographer who was in the area, scouting for location shots on the Mekong and a new TV documentary ’9 Days In the Kingdom’ No pictures though, what with copyright and internet abuse issues.

Buddha Park in Nong Khai

Sang Khom to Chiang Khan was  along but leisurely 120 kms along the scenic Mekong River.

All the eating and slouching in Vientiane paid off today. The ride was just small undulating hills, a nice change from the dead flat road out of Nong Khai. As with all small undulations it was easy to ride and crest the top of a hill and coast down the other side with enough momentum to clear three quarters of the next ‘bump’ easily, my rhythm broken only because of photo stops. On some straights I could even see the tops of 3 or 4 hills.

I was about to call it quits after 70 effortless kms, due in part to a front wheel washout, skid and crash on some errant gravel. Nothing major except for a scraped right knee.

Pulling into Pak Chom a small crossroads town, all towns seem to be small here, I peeked into a couple of flea bag places to stay and decided, what’s another 50 kms of rolling country roads to Chiang Khan? Smooth, scenic, traffic free roads in the low evening light with the river on one side and green hills on the other. Oops, that was how I crashed earlier, distracted by the scenery and too powerful a front brake.

The decider was when I bought a drink and interuppted a young girl’s daytime soap opera on TV. No wonder the fridge had a padlock, just in case thieving hands conspire to interuppt her viewing again. Finding the key to the padlock, that’s another episode…..and zero internet in Pak Chom, that sealed it. I’m riding into the sunset with coagulating blood.

Giant clay jars store rain water in the dry season

Bouy’s guest house is somewhat of an institution in these parts. A small sign leads to some neighbour’s property before reaching it. Looking for it after sundown on an unlit street is near impossible. That’s was why I found it in the morning. The owners live in a huge rambling bungalow while the huts for hire lie on a land spit on the river, accessible by a small wooden bridge over some vegetable plots. Views across to Laos are dreamlike and people do stay for days on end.

“I keep it simple” said the owner, a small northern Thai lady. The only maintenance for years has been cleaning and sweeping.

“No need to make it fancy, as the tourists like it simple and clean. See the old broken wood and thatched roof. They like that. Where you stay?”

Oops, down the road, er the new place.

“You pay 700 baht?!. They crazy, just thinking of money and money. No care for tourists!”

I detected a slight tinge of jealousy. The owners of all the new flashy homes in town were Hmong migrants with US passports. To rub salt into the wound, some are from across the river in Laos. Big Californian ranch style homes with cottages and half opened restaurants attached to make some money.

But your business plan is better, I told her. Cheap rooms at Thb 200, and a food and drinks bill per couple for 2 nights at Thb 800! She let out a hearty laugh before handing me a few name cards and said, “Tell your friends to stay here!” She went back to cleaning a hut. “This is booked for 3 night” I couldnt downgrade, even if I wanted to.

Not wanting to spend a whole 1.5 grand of baht (a whole $40) on an out of town resort, I headed for Sam’s guesthouse. A savings of $25 got me the best room in the house with a balcony facing the river and an all night disco booming across the border. Seeing minimal light on the horizon, it could just be someone with a thing for Lao rap music. Happens in these parts, the louder your hi fi, the higher your standing….in the village.

I left my bike on the ground floor next to the lady owner’s mountain bike. “Oh, I like cycling too, but just for going to the market” That was good to know as I needed my khao thom or rice porridge fix for breakfast tomorrow. And her mascara was on the heavy side too.

Mekong sunrise at Sang Khom

Vientiane 2007: A slow start

Cycling the unbeaten path in North East Thailand.     15 days from May 1, 2005 to May 15, 2005

Vientiane 2007: A slow start

Pop : 200,000

Anyone who’s lived in Singapore will tell you that everything runs like clockwork, so it was a refreshing change that I found myself early one foggy January morning at Udon Thani airport in north east Thailand, where expectations and schedules are just complicated English words.

The airport is spanking new, well about six months old without an international flight. Till today, 11th Jan 07. That’ll be the one I flew in on. It’s one of those airports where everything is switched off when a flight takes off, or after passengers are merrily on their way in buses or taxis.

At immigration, furniture was still wrapped in plastic covers, while a petite Thai lady in a smart uniform was looking for her tools of her trade. An ink pad and chop to stamp into my passport. That was after we had waited 10 minutes at 3 empty immigration booths.

On to a counter to buy bus tickets to Nong Khai, 60 kms away. It was really foggy and waking at 4 this morning was not conducive for a long ride. After some 30 minutes, a Nissan Sunny pulls up. Not enough ‘bus’ passengers it seems, so someone’s car will have to do. 3 passengers and a bike box half stuffed into the boot.

I had the whole day to decide which country to cycle to. North to Laos or east towards idyllic Issan, prairie country of Thailand. I’ll do both.

Tempted by the Lao capital’s proximity to NE Thailand, I cycled across the Frendship Bridge and 22 flat kms later, I found myself in a brand new hotel, aptly named the Riverside. A 5 minute walk away lies the Mekong River and Thailand on the opposite bank.

Vientiane is more like a large sprawled out town than a capital ‘city’ Well any place in Laos with more than a main street, traffic lights and cluster buildings is a city. A majority of visitors end up in Vientiane after some ‘hardship’ travel in other parts of Laos. Cleaner bed sheets, better food and nightlife, imported wine and cheese in the stores.

If starting out of Vientiane, be prepared to rough it out a bit. Long hours on the road and basic facilities at crossroads towns. Better still bring a touring bike and take on the 400 km mountain road that is Rte 13 (nice number) to the former capital of Luang Prabang.

Some stretches of this road in the mountains are still deemed rebel territory by the Lao government. Ethnic Hmong minority villagers claim the violence and attacks on passers by are the work of Lao soldiers. Not wanting to scare off tourists, most long distance buses have a private guard on board. That will be the guy in fatigues with an AK 47 or M-16 next to the driver.

An extract from Time Mag (Apr 2003) ;

***The Hmong say they are too ill-equipped to strike back. Most of their fighters are armed with ancient M-16s and AK-47s, and the heaviest weapons at their disposal are two geriatric M-79 grenade launchers. Ammunition is mostly dug up from former U.S. air bases. According to Moua, only a third of the rounds are actually live, negating Hmong chances of launching a viable offensive. As for the Lao government, which declined to talk to TIME, it denies allegations that it is decimating Hmong rebels and blames them for much of the unrest in the country. It insists that Hmong are doubling as bandits.

In February an ambush on a bus traveling the busy Highway 13 in the north left 12 people dead, including two Swiss cyclists. A calling card pinned to one of the corpses indicated the deaths were the work of Hmong rebels. And on April 20, gunmen opened fire on a passenger bus, killing at least 13 people. Eyewitnesses to this massacre say the gunmen spoke to one another in the Hmong language. Vang Pao angrily denies claims that his men are responsible for attacks on civilians.

“In the past there have been several events like this that have taken place and been blamed on the ULLF,” he says. “But it was not us. We believe it was organized by the government using Hmong people who serve in the Lao army.” For his part, Moua portrays the Hmong as helpless innocents. “We only defend and run,” he says. “If the Lao troops launch an assault, our ammo won?t even last an hour.”***

I wasnt really planning to be in Vientiane, but a 30 day visa FREE entry for good neighbours like Singapore does help, as my plan was to cycle Route 211 along the Thai side of the river.

It used to be that bicycles were not allowed and had to be bused the 1.24 kms across the bridge. That’s 99% history now. Thai/Lao customs and immigration have their hands full just coping with other traffic. I rode up into a lane for cars and was out in 2 minutes. If you dont like queues, get a visa at a Lao embassy elsewhere. The bridge’s quite narrow, so watch out for the turbo charged and fancy airbrushed luxury buses. I had a close shave or two. The no man’s land is in betweeen the signboards as is the railway tracks which end right in the middle of the road, near the minibus.

Most of Vientiane, if not Laos seem to be undergoing major infrastructure surgery. A lot of aid/money is pouring in from Thailand, China, Japan and dozens, dozens of well meaning NGOs. Ditches being dug up, roads widened, paved and lighted. In the far north,whole hillsides and forests are being felled, to be replanted with rubber trees, presumably to feed China’s insatiable demand for rubber and it’s auto industry.