Friday, 11/1/2024
Woke at 6:00am and took a shower and got geared up. Took the bag down to the lobby and put the stuff on the bike which had already been moved to the front of the hotel area. Then I went to have breakfast at the hotel buffet which consisted of eggs and sausage mostly.
I went back up to the room to do one last check and use the restroom, then I grabbed the little instant coffee packs that are complimentary as Tammy had asked if I had used mine. I guess she really likes this coffee.
Checked out of the room and went outside, dropped off the coffee and then waited with the bike. When it came time to go, the bike would not start!
Thankfully the rest were just lined up on the street, so was able to get Long’s attention and he came back over to look at it. He took the side panel off and pulled around on a few wires and then it started. Put it back together and we got on the road.
We zigged and zagged through the city center streets, almost like we were lost again, fighting heavy traffic, but trying to avoid even worse traffic.
We finally reached a highway and headed out of town, but again on a road that was a bit beat up.
Stopped early for a break and fuel for my bike as I had used more than the others with my solo trip yesterday.
We got back on the road and eventually it became a nice road again.
We stopped later for our morning break at a nice coffee shop and shopping area. While using the restroom I noticed a small kitty at the house behind the main shop building lounging on the walk way. I tried to go to it, but it spooked and ran behind some bushes, but I was able to see it enough to get a photo. Also saw another black kitty, but it ran away too fast.
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| Kitty hiding in the bushes. |
At the coffee shop I had a cold Lemon Tea which took forever to arrive, but was very good.
We got back on the bikes and just as I was pulling onto the highway the bike died on me and would not start again. It was the same issue as this morning and at the fuel stop earlier.
The fix was to bang on the side of the bike where the battery was and it would eventually start. Something has to be loose under there, hopefully they can fix it tonight.
The road here was not anything special, nothing really scenic, but we were making good time at least.
Our lunch stop was in a village at another coffee shop. Picnic sandwiches again. We did get drinks from the shop though as they were open for business.
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| Patio at our lunch stop. Maybe I should get a set of those chairs :) |
While I was eating, a kitty came strolling out from the back room and when I called for it, it came running over and let me pet it! It meowed at me and sniffed around at the bread flakes on the floor from my sandwich. I gave it a small piece of salami from my sandwich.
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| Kitty wants more food! |
There was also a poor stray dog out on the patio that did not appear to be in good health. Very sad, but not much one can do, cannot take it with us and nobody local that can help it.
Likely a community dog that is ignored by most people. While it was not starved, it did look sick, doubt it will make it through the next season.
A few had tossed it a bite to eat, which it did do, but they tried to let it drink water from small dish or even the ground and it did not want to drink.
We got back on the bikes and moved onward toward our destination. At one point we stopped along the road where a large number of road side stalls were selling various items, but mostly either fish related stuff, knives, or farm tools.
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| Need a knife or machete? |
We eventually turned off onto another highway, heading away from the river and border, and into the mountains again. The views improved and the road became a bit more fun, and was still in decent condition.
At the top of the pass we stopped at a lookout and café/bar located alongside the highway. The view over the surrounding rocks was amazing with the distant, jagged ridges and all the lush greenery in the valley.
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| (taken with InfraRed camera) |
This place is also an adventure stop with zip lines and other canopy-based obstacles you could see in the distance along the rocks and trees. I walked up to the top level for better views from the bar area.
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| The upper level bar (taken with InfraRed camera) |
I had a Coke there as well. They had a very nice selection of beverages here based on some others reactions as well, mainly beers they were surprised to see.
I walked around a bit and noticed a butterfly that had flown into the building, but was now just moving up and down the glass instead of going over a bit to the side to fly out the open wall. I tried to chase it over, but it kept going back to the corner where it was trapped. I did manage to grab it and take it outside. Hopefully did not hurt it much, they are so fragile in the wings.
We went back down to the bikes and had a great ride down the other side of the pass, other than a short section trying to get around a big truck, and reached the village at the base.
Here we turned off onto another back road. We first tried to stop for fuel, but station was out. They did say the place farther down the road would have it though, so we continued onward.
We found and stopped at that station and again the bike would not start. Same slapping fixed it, but it’s taking more slaps and happening nearly every time I try to start it now.
We rode on down the large valley, going through a few small villages until the valley narrowed a bit and we neared the hills on one side.
Here we turned off onto a small dirt road and rode the 1 km (2/3 of a mile) over to the resort we would be staying at tonight.
We parked the bikes under this small covered area and once they were all shut off, we could hear an ear-piercing noise. It sounded like a fan belt going bad. Turns out it was the cicadas in the jungle around us. I hope they do not go on all night, very annoying sound.
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| View at resort parking, why do I suddenly want a fedora and a bullwhip? |
We entered the small gate and onto an elevated wooden pathway above the ground and walked a bit of distance over to the main building. This was the reception/restaurant/bar area.
They asked us to just leave our bags for the moment and go over to a large deck for a welcome drink, which was some kind of tea (I liked it).
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| Welcome drink on deck over looking the river. |
We talked amongst ourselves, and with the staff member hanging with us for a bit, then took a few photos of the group. We then went over to get our room keys. The staff then walked Joe, Pierre, Tammy, and myself over to our bungalows.
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| Having our welcome drink. (photo by Tan) |
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| My bungalow [SpringRiver Resort & Restaurant] (taken next morning in better light.) |
These were small, single room huts, also elevated, setup along a stretch of the walkway. All the rooms were along this path, I think. The huts were barely big enough to hold the bed, and two very small tables on each side. The front wall had lots of small shelves on it, and lots of hooks around the walls, and barely enough room to walk on any side of the bed.
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| My Room - 4 walls and a bed, who needs any floor space. |
The next thing I noticed, is that like our first night’s stay, the walls are made of reed, and not totally sealed off, so no AC in the huts, just a big fan. Might be a hot sticky night.
Then I notice there is no bathroom. The toilets and showers are in a separate building behind the row of bungalows, which is a 90-120 meter (300–400 foot) walk down and around to reach them. 3 Showers and 3 Bathrooms. All shared by 8-10 huts with roughly 2 people in each. This is going to be annoying!
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| The walkways (taken bit later in evening) |
I got out of my gear and put on my shorts, grabbed a towel and walked in bare feet on the uneven wood surface over to the showers. There was only 1 shower open, and that was because the person had just walked out of it. So it was still wet and steam filed. Yep, very annoying.
Will suck with my habit of pissing 3 times in a night, which will take time, and wake you up fully as well. Could be a long night, and make tomorrow a long day. I may just find myself pissing over the railing of the porch into the bushes below!
Did my usual routine after the shower of charging batteries and sorting gear.
I am going to skip the sink laundry idea and just wear dirty clothes tomorrow. Not going to drag all my clothes over to wash them, then lug them back wet, with little space to hang them and only a fan to dry them in this humidity, would never work.
I finished dressing and walked over to the restaurant/bar to use the table there to write in the journal. Some of the others were already having drinks and talking with some girl from the Netherlands who was here just for the bar and was staying down the road.
I had actually already bumped into her as she was walking to the restrooms when I was walking over in nothing but shorts to shower. She thought it was crazy we had no bathroom in our rooms for what the place probably cost.
As we all arrived, we moved over to a large table in the room where our dinner would be served and the girl, Michelle, joined us after several of us invited her to do so.
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| Getting seated for dinner. |
After dinner I suppose we will just hang out in this area, or return to our rooms.
We mostly hung out in the bar till about 9:00pm when a few decided to go to their rooms, and the rest of us thought we would move over to the firepit which had been lit earlier that evening. There were plenty of chairs around it it, and according to the sign, it was open for another hour.
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| Mark, mysef, Michelle, and Atti around the firepit. |
Atti wanted to get another beer, but oddly the bar was closed already at 9:00pm. Tan, who was in our little group went to see if he could do anything, and Kone, our Laos guide took the truck into the village to buy beer for the group.
Atti, Mark, Tan, Michelle, and myself were joined by Joe for a bit. He left soon after though, then Mark, and bit later Tan left.
Atti, Michelle and I continued to talk, losing track of time until we realized it was close to 1:30am. Michelle went off to the restroom, and while she was away, Atti just got up and went off to bed, so I waited around till she came back to make sure she grabbed her backpack and knew her way out.
When she returned, we got out on the wood walkway and continued to talk. We exchanged WhatsApp numbers to stay in touch and then she went one way and I went to the restroom before heading to my cabin.
As I approached my cabin I found her again. She had gotten lost in the walkways, trying to find the exit. I walked her down past the huts where I thought it was and we could see the exit gate. She left and I went in my room and soon heard her scooter fire up for the ride back to her place (I hope she had not drunk too much tonight).
I spent 20 minutes updating the journal and then went to sleep, will be a short night, and tomorrow will be a long day.
Goodnight!
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