Day 11: Smooth roads and Buddhas

Thursday, 10/31/2024

Happy Halloween!

I woke up reluctantly at 6:00am.  First night I did not sleep well for some reason.  I was up every hour to piss, and the bed was one of the hardest yet, so both I am sure played a part.

Got ready, then walked over to the restaurant again for breakfast.  Eggs, more eggs, and a bit of bacon.  (And the usual yogurt.)

Went back to the hotel, took a few photos of the fog shrouded Mekong River, and then pushed my bike up to the front of the hotel and got it ready for the ride.  I then finished packing, dropped the bag at the truck and checked out of the room.

Foggy morning over the Mekong.

We got rolling at 8:00am, headed out of town on the rough crappy surface for about 15 minutes, then it got a bit better.

A few miles on we turned to cross a large bridge over the Mekong and suddenly found a beautiful stretch of tarmac in front of us!

This amazing road was wider, mostly smooth, with very few surface issues or bad spots.   It was also more level and only gradual curves, except for a small pass we crossed early on after the bridge.

At the top or the pass, we stopped to look back over the Mekong River valley and the river was draped in a layer of cloud, but rest of the area was clear.  Amazing view.

The area of cloud is over the Mekong river.

For some bizarre reason though, now that we had great roads that were perfect for riding, we were poking along at a slow pace, much slower than we had done on the much worse, and much more dangerous roads the day before.  No logic in this unless they were trying to avoid arriving too early in town, but why not just make a few extra scenic stops?

Better roads today!

We did stop for fuel and a at few spots to stretch our legs.

We later stopped for a bit when we reached the point where the river curved and became the border with Thailand.

The Mekong, opposite bank is Thailand.

Pit stop to take some photos and take care of bladder needs.

We soon entered the edge of Vientiane, the capital.  We stopped again for fuel; I am guessing to save some time in the morning as we still had more than half a tank left.

Arriving on the edge of Vietiane.

We then moved toward the center of town and as expected, the traffic became insane.

Traffic within the city.

Been over a week since we saw a stop light!

We arrived at our hotel, again sitting near the Mekong River with Thailand on the opposite bank.  Too bad we do not have multi-entry visas for Laos, could make a quick walk across the border and say I was in Thailand.

At the hotel it was too early to check in, but the plan was to eat at the onsite Thai restaurant.  Once done, we will get back on the bikes for the short ride to the museum which is only 4km (2.5 miles) away.

Lunch was okay, but not amazing.  Walked around a bit while everyone finished up and then we took the bikes over to the museum in heavy traffic.

We arrived at the complex and parked in a bike only parking structure.

This facility is COPE.

The campus is dedicated to medical treatments and mobility assistance for those injured and missing limbs due to Unexploded Ordinance (UXO) activity in the country.  The charity raises money to assist those with mobility issues and works to manufacture and provide prosthetic limbs for those in need at no charge to the individual.  They also help others that are not victims of UXO as well.

The museum on the campus was where we were going.  They also had workshops and design areas, a physical therapy location for diagnosis of issues, and manufacturing as well.

Many local farmers tend to be victims of UXO either working fields, clearing areas for new fields, or in many cases looking for and retrieving left over materials to recycle into other things, like the fuel tank that had been turned into a boat they had on display near the museum.

A disposable fuel tank converted to a canoe.

There was also a small gift shop at the front of the museum selling things to help fund the charity.

The museum was a small building divided into several sections beyond the gift shop.

Area 1 was a display on the bombing of Laos during the 1960s conflict.  Lots of info boards and bomb relics showing what was done to the country.

Area 2 was on the people who lived in the area and their stories and experiences with the bombings and later the UXO related accidents.

Area 3 was all about the design and creation of the prosthetics and several examples of work over the years.

They also had a small theater showing a 15-minute film about the people behind COPE, and talking with several of the UXO victims about how it had helped improve their lives.

I took around 10 minutes to view the main room as I did not spend time to read every board or sign, was fairly obvious what the stories were saying, and then we all watched the film together.

On our way out, I donated $100 at the gift shop as well.

Back out in the garage I asked Tan about the Buddha Park I wanted to go to.  He looked at the map and said it would not be on our route tomorrow, but he was okay with me taking the bike over there on my own.  No one else had any interest though, so was going to be a solo trip.

It was a 35km (21 mile) ride, and should take about 40 minutes in traffic.  I pulled out of the COPE facility and immediately missed my first turn!  But the road seemed to go in same direction and luckily it actually connects to the road I had wanted to find.

Thankfully the phones GPS still finds my position, it just cannot do any routing without having internet access.  I should have setup the offline maps earlier, but oh well.  I had viewed the area enough that the maps were at least cached on the phone with enough detail to find my way.

I did stop every 10 minutes to check my progress and make sure I knew what exit to take on the roundabouts and gauge how far I still had to go before reaching my destination.

I eventually arrived at the site and parked the bike in the lot along the far edge with all the other bikes.  A young guy sitting on a chair under a tree gave me a ticket for the parking and I pulled off my gear and walked over to the main entrance. 

I figured out where the ticket window was and bought my admission ticket ($3) then worked my way through a throng of Chinese tourists where I saw a guy waving me over to the turnstile to enter the park.  He punched my ticket and I was inside.

I stopped along a short wall to get all 3 cameras out and ready, and to sort my gear which I unfortunately would have to carry with me the whole route (jacket, helmet, and tank bag).

The Buddha Park was a local site of large statues of both Buddhist and Hindu imagery.  While the stuff looked old, I found out later that day that most of it was created only in the 1950s and was mostly made of concrete, just done and aged in such a way to make them look a few hundred years old.

The creator was fascinated by the various gods and images and just wanted to create a place for others to enjoy them, but it was not a holy site or official temple of any sort.

The artwork was quite complex on many and while 60 years of aging had worn them some, was amazed at the detail level some of the works had.  The structures were mostly very large sized, including a very long reclining Buddha that was at least 30 meters (100 feet) long.  A few small objects might be mixed in with a group of larger figures though.  A large round building and another large tower were also on the grounds.

A stone path worked its way around the structures and it was all surrounded by green trees, plants and small grass patches.  Very peaceful looking, and not too busy, though did have a few crowds of mostly noisy people around (I think many were part of the Chinese group I saw at the beginning).

I would say there was at least 50 large statues and double that of smaller works throughout the grounds.  One had fallen down and was roped off, but rest were in decent condition.

Took a lot of photos and enjoyed the visit, though it was very hot and humid, which made hiking around in heavy gear while carrying more gear the less enjoyable part of the experience.

(taken with InfraRed camera)

(taken with InfraRed camera)

I spent maybe 30 minutes walking the grounds to see most of it and the figured I should probably start heading back as I did not want to get caught out after dark in the city as that would make riding more risky and harder to find my way back to the hotel with just a pin on the map and limited GPS functions.

I stopped at the restroom, and then bought a cold Coke to drink while sitting at a table and packing up all the camera gear.  I then left the site through the main gate and back over to the bike.

I paid the parking guy the fee (25 cents) and loaded up the bike.

Got back on the road and started to retrace my route.  But when I reached a roundabout, I took the wrong exit.

I eventually noticed during one of my map reference stops that I was on the wrong road, but was still a main road ran parallel to the road I wanted, and would get me close to where I needed to be.  Then could take a smaller side road over to that road to reach the hotel.

Turns out there were 2 roundabouts on my route, but I had only remembered seeing 1.  The 2nd one, the one I made the mistake at, was a 3 way intersection.  So when I came from the other direction, it had looked like a slight curve, and not a roundabout.

What I did not know, was this was taking me into the heart of the city, and the traffic was absolutely insane.  There were not any major roads crossing over to the other main road, so I had to zig zag down several smaller roads.

In the city center, the traffic backed up quite badly.  But the advantage of being on 2 wheels is the ability to filter between the cars and move past the congestion.  It was quite tight at times on the larger motorcycle, but managed to make it without hitting anything.

A few one-way streets messed me up a bit, but finally found my way back to the hotel and arrived just as Long was securing the bikes for the night, so was able to just hand if off to him to park.  He also called Tan to find out where I could get my key as I was not sure if registration had it, or Tan had it.

Seasons Riverside Hotel - Vientiane (Taken during lunch stop)

It was still at the front desk and they told me my bag had been taken to the 3rd floor landing, which I was a bit concerned about.  I got up to the 3rd floor and sure enough, my bag was sitting in the middle of the hallway with nothing else around. Anyone could have taken it, but thankfully it was locked so could not have been opened.

Found my room at end of the hallway and did the usual unpack, sort and charge routine.  Then it was time for a nice long shower to clean off the day’s sweat!

Room for the night.

I got on the wi-fi for a bit, then walked over to a store across the street, that I had seen from my small balcony. to buy some drinks (and pet a nice little doggy).  Bought several teas and a can of Pepsi that I will drink (reluctantly), and then take the empty can back for my mothers Pepsi collection, assuming it survives the rest of the trip undamaged.

Happy doggy.

Back at the hotel I got in the elevator, hit the 3rd floor button and after it started to move it seemed to slow down and stop suddenly, and the door did not open either.

I had been looking out the glass wall to the outside, so thought I was at my floor, but when I looked, the indicator said we were still moving from 2 to 3?

I could feel the very slow movement, probably about 3cm (1 inch) every 3-4 seconds.  But then the elevator did not stop at 3, it started to move to 4?  I tried every button on the panel, but nothing seemed to make a difference.

We finally stopped at the 4th floor (took about 2 minutes to get there) and slowly the doors opened.  WTF!

I got out and found myself on a rooftop terrace, so walked out of the elevator lobby to check it out and ended up getting some great sunset shots from the roof, looking out over the river. So while a bit unnerving, my elevator fiasco put me in a cool spot at the right time.

Sunset over the Mekong (and Thailand) from the roof top terrace.

I then took the stairs back down to the 3rd floor.  Unlikely to use the elevator again!

Back in the room I chugged that nasty Pepsi so I could rinse the can and let it dry out overnight.  I then sat down with one of the teas after putting the rest in the fridge, and wrote the days events into the journal.

With about 30 minutes to dinner, I just relaxed in the room.

On the way down to dinner I stopped to admire the really cool art pieces in the hallway.  Besides some nice wall art they had a table filled with wooden elephants that was really cool.

Elephants, each just a bit smaller.

Most of us met in the lobby at 7:00pm to walk over to dinner. 

Mark had offered via the WhatsApp group to buy dinner for anyone that wanted to go get some burgers at a place he found and had already headed over to.

Most of us were getting tired of Asian food by now.  I thought about it, but decided to stick with the trip choices for now, and I had technically paid for them, so why pay for different food?

It was just Pierre, Tammy, myself, and all the staff that went out that night.  Joe, Jerry, and Atti had gone to join Mark.

We walked 1 block over to eat at an outdoor restaurant on the banks of the river.  Mostly the same types of food, but the seafood was fresh.  They even had fresh fish, and other seafood, sitting in ice that you could buy to have cooked or to take home.

I had water to drink as they did not have Coke as usual nor anything else I wanted to try.

Sitting down for dinner.

However, I did do a single shot of Amaretto with the group.  Tammy had bought it earlier and brought it to dinner to share.

Joe, Jerry, Atti, and Mark joined us a bit later as they were back from their own meal and had seen us in the restaurant.  Then Jerry, Atti and Mark left to explore the street market that was down the road a bit, and Joe hung out with us.

After we were finished eating, Pierre, Tammy, Joe, and myself decided to also check out the market.  It was about 1km (2/3 of a mile) down the road and the market itself was probably another 1km long, mostly setup on the paths and plazas along the river bank.

Here we found a lot of knock off clothing and cheap mass-produced Chinese trinkets.

Street Market. This gets setup and pulled down every night.

I did find a small kitty carved from wood with a bell on it that I bought for $4.  It was a hard choice between the little kitty or the big carved penis with testicles! (Not really, but yes, that was actually there, quite a few of them).

Wooden kitty.

The others each bought something they were looking for and then we all decided to take one of the local tuk tuk motorbike taxis back to the hotel.

Our ride back to the hotel.

We split the cost, but I paid for Joe as I still owed him for the drink he bought, and it was the same cost.

It took about 5 minutes to get back to the hotel, saving us a 2km (1.5 mile) walk back.

Back in the room I sorted a few things to pack up the new kitty and finished off the day in the journal.

I will drink another tea and read for a bit, maybe check social media, and then off to bed.  We have a 300km (186 mile) ride tomorrow which could take up to 8 hours.  Tomorrow I will also need to do sink laundry as I am out of clothes, and we will likely be there late enough to be unable to get laundry from hotel, but will see.

Goodnight!