Total Distance:40.68km (this is the distance I rode. You'll understand after reading the blog)
Total Time:3h54m48s
Average Speed:10.4km/h
Maximum Speed:47.0km/h
Total Distance So Far:6685.96km
The previous evening was fantastic. It's strange that such a great experience came from something that could have turned out so horribly. I awoke in the morning to find my hosts had prepared breakfast for me. It was the perfect way to end my stay with them. Shortly after eating I was off again. Again the hills were steep. The rain was relentous. Fred was getting worse and worse. I stopped a couple of times to see if there was anything I could do, but to no avail. I pressed on hoping for the best... also to no avail.
After about 30km the inevidable happened. I would have been more upset about it had I not half expected it to happen. The Chain snapped! I had lost my extra links, and the chain was too short to just remove I few. So here I was, once again stranded in the middle of nowhere. And this is why I love Laos...
I started walking down the road, pushing Fred along. I didn;t really have much of a choice. The worst part about it was this was, what I suspect to be, the only relatively flat road in Laos. Had I had a working bike I could have cruised past i t pretty quick. I trudged along the road, my spirits surprisingly still high. The road was desolate. Only a few motorbikes passed. I held on to the hopes that eventually a truck would pass and give me a ride. Sure enough, eventually a truck did pass. I held my arm out palm down, waving my hand back and forth. (according to what I've heard this is how you hich a ride here) The truck came to a hault. Once more using hand gestures, and my handy Laos phrase book, I was able to communicate that my bike was broken and I needed a lift to the next guesthouse. Before I could even blink Fred and I were loaded in the back of a truck and on our way to Vieng Thong.
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