Houn to Beng

What a fantastic day today. We started in pakbeng, Northern Laos, and cycled away from civilisation towards Luang Prabang, a journey that we expect to take a week. We climbed gradually away from Pakbeng and were overwhelmed by the response of the locals. It seemed like all children had been told that we were coming! They all shouted “sabaidee!” whenever they saw us and hundreds held our their hands for ‘low’ fives as we cycled past. I can’t deny it felt very emotional to receive these greetings from kids of all ages whose faces were filled with excitement. Not only kids, but adults, men and women waved and greeted us as we passed them. Great stuff. We arrived in Houn and found what we initially thought was a very average hotel. Well, it was, but when we returned from our evening meal we were invited to the owner’s family party. I was wrong. She was not a sour puss as I had initially thought. She was brilliant and we ended up being hosted as special guests!
We also met up with a Dutch couple, Martin and Carla for lunch. Great people. We were the only tourists in the town!
Overall, a memorable day. Never to be forgotten. Hopefully more to come.