Saturday 5th December. Another beautiful day. Very hot but much more pleasant by lunchtime. The road is quiet and perfect cycling conditions albeit the road quality is deteriorating. We cycled only a short distance today. Tomorrow is quite long and a few more steep climbs so we are ‘pacing’ ourselves. We stopped for a few minutes on the outskirts of a small village and decided it was time for a sugar boosting coca cola. However we were invited to join another party of young lads and ladies who offered us their food. We drank our bottle of coke then we ‘had’ to drink some Lao firewater! My wife may recall me doing this before, in Vietnam. Well it was impossible to refuse and a short stop turned into a long stop. It seems like they are preparing for a carnival or something. The hospitality of these people is unbelievable. Matt C said it felt like the entire country had been primed to expect us! Certainly we are feeling very welcome. Laos is one of the poorest countries in the world, yet the people are amongst the most friendly and welcome. They also appear to be content living here. Although poverty is all around you, you are also surrounded by smiling faces. It’s a strange concept for someone from the West where people crave for the latest gadgets but seem to mainly devoid of real contentment.
The mountains loom ahead of us…….

Categories: Getting Ready

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