On November 4th Fred the bike is embarking on a six month journey across Southeast Asia. Starting in Singapore, Fred plans to make his way up the west coast of Malaysia, across Thailand, Cambodia, up through Vietnam and into Laos. After that... who knows? Fred invites you to follow him through his adventure. Any advice from fellow travelers is always welcome.

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Some Village In the Middle Of Nowhere-Vieng Thong

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.

No comments: