Day 7: Dark history lessons

Sunday, 10/27/2024

Woke up at 6:00am here in Sam Nuea, Laos.  Did the usual pack up and gear up routine.

Took the bag downstairs and put in in the pile for loading on the truck, then got stuff setup on the bike again.  I pushed the bike out and down the steps onto the parking slab as well.

Walked next door to a small café where breakfast would be.  Had a nice hot tea and simple eggs and sausage with toast breakfast.  This café was a really nice setup, and we think it is a major chain in Laos, perhaps the Starbucks of the country?

Breakfast at Yuni Coffee Co.

I then walked up the street a bit to get some photos of the small creek we passed over and just some general photos of the area as well as this awesome Toyota Land Cruiser at another hotel nearby.

Some serious rigs around this area.

Then I just sat on my bike till everyone was ready and we departed.  We did a few group photos next and then got ready to roll out.

Group photo with our Police escort Sy. (Photo by Tan or Kone?)

We started with a short backtrack down the main road, then turned off onto the highway heading further into the country. We stopped soon after leaving town to get fuel and do another group photo of the full Vietnam crew and riders at the scenic overlook across the street from the fuel stop.

Waiting our turn for petrol.

Group shot. All 7 riders, both guides and support truck driver.

Roads were not much better today, but today I stayed up with the lead guide and few others for some faster more spirited riding in the bends and hills.  I kept up better today even with the loose rough roads, though probably more from the leaders slowing down than I was speeding up.

Views this morning.

I did have a few mistimed gear changes on some hills and a few bumps that caused me to slow down, and finally after 2 near slides on some very loose stuff I let up and slowed down some more.

The bike both times had started to slide badly, and thought I might go down, but managed to keep it upright and recover both times, not sure if I got any of those on film, will only know later.

We stopped for our morning break in a very small village that had a small shop selling drinks and snacks.

I wandered up and down the road a bit, taking photos of buildings and farm animals.  Also was trying to not be around the lady at the shop that was picking up live grasshoppers from a bucket and clipping legs and wings off and would eventually roast them.

I just thought it cruel to do that before you put them down.  Did not try the already cooked ones (actually was unaware they had any), but heard Joe tried one.

Taking a break in small village on the route.

We then got going again and stopped a 2nd time for fuel as well as several other short stops for photos or a bathroom break.

Chillin at one of our short break stops. (Photo by another?)

The surprise truck when you come around a corner!

We then started to look for a lunch spot.   The guide was mainly looking for a spot that would be usable for us to prep our sandwich lunches just like the day before, guessing lunch is not a popular restaurant thing here as we saw few places and fewer were open for food service, drinks only.

We finally found a bar that had room so stopped there.  Was built right alongside a canal (or a very managed creek) and prepped our sandwiches and bought drinks from the bar.  Was also right across from our next stop, so worked out nicely.

The India Crew. (Joe, Myself and Jerry had ridden in a group in India in 2022)

Once we finished eating, we walked across the road and into the grounds of this memorial site.  A few shrines and temples along with the war memorial that prompted them to exist at all.

Reading about the history of this region.

Monument to the tragedy at this site.

This region of Laos was bombed by US forces heavily during the conflict of the 1960s.  The local farmers and people had taken to living or at least hiding when needed in local caves in the cliffs to avoid the bombings.

This particular area had a cave, Tham Piew Cave, that was the site of a tragedy in 1968.  The cave had been spotted by reconnaissance earlier and a missile was fired from a US fighter that made contact with the cave, bringing down much of the ceiling and killing nearly 400 villagers.

To get to the cave, you hike up a huge number of steps on the jungle hill side, passing the shrines at the base and some water works built sometime in the past that are still functioning today.

Buddha at temple at site (Taken with InfraRed camera).

At the top the cave opens up, the floor covered in rock debris, though much of it has now been neatly stacked in little memorial mounds which during certain times may have candles put upon them as well in honor of those who lost their lives here.

Cave Entrance and rubble from ceiling collapse.

We walked back as far as the natural light would allow, but cave then takes a 90 degree turn and heads downward, and you could not see beyond there.  Not sure how far back it goes, but looked like quite a way still, but we lacked any light sources as well as time to explore any farther.

Hiked back down a different set of stairs and then a short hike back to the memorial site, then across road to the bikes.

Stairs heading down from cave.

We headed out of the area and back onto the the main roads.  Roads were getting better, and traffic was not too bad other than the local 4 footed kind.

Rush Hour? (Photo by another?)

We then pulled off the main road and went into the center of a small village to stop at a site where the locals have used lots of left over bomb and fuel casings in various ways.  This particular place has a large fence made of spent bomb casings.

Back road to village.

Fence of bomb casings.

We got back onto the main road where we again sped up some to have more fun, but soon traffic got heavier and made that harder to do.

We soon arrived into our destination city for the night, Phonsavan, and found our hotel.

Anoulackkhenlao Hotel - Phonsavan (Taken later that night)

View from my room.

Similar, might even be my room.  I forgot to take photo, but pulled this from Google of the same hotel.

This is a nice place.  Did the usual routine and cleaned up and then walked around a bit before the dinner meet up trying to find a SIM card, but did not have any luck finding a place. Does not help that I cannot read anything here, so not even sure what the word for SIM card looks like. 😁

I will probably just wait till the next city which is a large tourist area, so more likely to have people selling them.

Later, around 7:00pm, we all walked a short distance to have a meal at another local restaurant. 

Dinner with the group.

While having our dinner, I went over to look at a large table of glass jars with stuff in them.

Kone came over and told me it was all wine that was being fermented from various items. Saw one filled with apples, another with large chunks of honeycomb, bananas, and several with what turned out to be poppy buds (as in opium poppy).  Did not sample any, but interesting all the same.

Poppy bud wine fermenting.

As we headed back, I stopped at a local shop to buy a few bottles of tea for the evening.

Again, I was unable to find a pen anywhere, so using app on phone again and will later copy this into the journal

Tomorrow is another long ride, but this time we will get to stay 2 nights at our destination as we have a day off the bikes, so that will be nice.

Will read for a bit, then head to bed.

Goodnight!