Bike Marathon

The bus from Pakse dropped us near a series of boats that could take us to our first 4000 islands destination, Don Khong. We hired a boat to take us across to the island then started the typical accommodation tango – walking all over the main street of the island looking for somewhere to stay. All the time I was cursing my backpack and trying to think of things I could turf. This happens all the time. Nicola has a 35 litre pack and Chris has a 50. This compares to my 75 and Peach’s 55! And they’re moving to NZ forever. We were both so jealous of how little they carried. How can we have had so much more stuff than them? Of course I’ve usually got 6 or more books on me so that’s a big part of the problem.

When we finally found a place to stay that suited everyone’s needs I was in agony from carrying my pack for so long. A shower and too much tiger balm had me feeling a little better. We all grabbed dinner before going for a walk to see what else the village offered. In true Laos style there was jack all happening so we hit the sack. It was only about 8:30pm.

The next day before I awoke Peach had gotten up and decided we were moving hotels. Apparently our room was haunted or something. Whatever. So we ended up at Mr. Pon’s which is where Chris and Nicola were staying.

We thought it would be fun to hire pushbikes and go for a ride. We found out that there was only one real main road and it did a circuit of the island. Apparently it was 35km around. For some reason this didn’t bother us and we headed off in good spirits. I don’t think any of us thought we’d actually do a full circuit of the island. I think we expected there to be a short cut back. But there wasn’t.

We set off ill prepared for such a long ride. Since it looked like it might rain Peach & I left most of our stuff behind since we didn’t want it to get wet. All we had was our wallets and some water. Chris and Nicola had a bit more stuff but not much. Luckily they had sunscreen but it was nearly empty so there wasn’t enough to last the whole ride. So we all got a little sun burnt, Peach and Nicola particularly so. The weather alternated between rain and sun. The bikes we hired were simple single geared units that were quite pleasant for a meandering ride but no much chop for much more. During the ride we were never really sure of how far we’d gone or how much longer there was to go.

Despite the distance and the temprimental weather we had a good time to begin with. There were many houses and farms that we passed and the locals, especially the kids, would wave and yell hello to us as we went past. About 2/3 of the way through we came to a little village and decided to stop for a drink. Peach also bought her and I a bamboo hat to help protect from the sun and/or rain. We were all very hungry by this stage but decided to keep moving.

Stopping for those few minutes turned out to be the worst thing to do. Afterwards the girls really struggled to get the energy to keep going. As we left the village Peach threw a tanty when she couldn’t get her hat to stay on properly. She was also convinced we were lost. At the village the road forked. We know one road would continue to hug the shore and eventually get us back home but two different locals we asked told us the other road was the best route. Peach was convinced we were cutting back across the island instead of heading for home. This combined with her lack of energy meant it was all tanty systems go! For much of the rest of the ride we’d split from Chris and Nicola. I spent the ride trying to coach Peach whilst Chris did the same with Nicola. At one point Peach threw her bike on the ground and sat with her head in her hands on the side of the road. I lost my temper (which is an extreme rarity!). As I saw it we may as well keep riding rather than sitting on the side of the road in the pouring rain especially since last time we stopped to rest it did more harm than good. Peach got back on the bike eventually but it was a snails pace for the rest of the way.

Some way further down the road I recognised a cell tower that I’d seen in the town and letting Peach know this landmark was on the horizon provided some comfort that we were heading in the correct direction after all. Despite this she again collapsed. This time it was out the front of a house. Local villagers saw her and came over to see what the problem was. There was probably 15 or so people standing around in the rain as I tried to explain that she was OK but very tired from the ride. An old man who was one of the first on the scene called out to a girl who fetched some leaves which he crumbled up. He indicated Peach should smell the leaves so she did. One man spoke some English and he told me that we were only 1km from our guesthouse. After a few minutes Peach got back on the bike and after thanking everyone profusely we were on our way again.

Shortly thereafter we arrived at Mr. Pon’s. Chris and Nicola arrived a few minutes later. We were all pretty buggered and for the second night running we were in bed before 9pm.