Cycling The Naga's Back
A new day and probably new challenges, all part of the fun!
I got up before dawn and watched the sunrise above the Mekong, stunningly beautiful.
We set off shortly afterwards and although the road's ups and downs weren't that steep anymore, the riverview breaks and drink stops were highly appreciated!
None of us had seen the Mekong like this before.
Cotton trees along the road.
Inland still looked scaringly hilly...
Most of the time we had to cycle on the undulating main road, but traffic was light.
This vehicle was obviously the main form of transport here in Pak Chom town.
Not often that you see a toilet sign that expresses EXACTLY how you feel!
Hotel Chomburi's staff was much more professional than everybody else we had encountered so far.
Added bonus, it was a relatively new resort and as we later discovered, it had excellent internet!
This type of songtaew transport we had seen passing by a few times, unlike buses...
A lot of activity on the sandbanks, but what exactly they were collecting wasn't clear...
We passed a few rubber tree farms, but this was the first time we'd encountered a collecting point for those 'rubber cups'.
Not a place to linger as the raw rubber smell is pretty horrible...
Not many paths along the Mekong here and most are semi-overgrown like this one...
During our walk through Pak Chom we saw a very basic bus station which had a sign about transport to Nong Khai!
As we hadn't seen buses all day, we started to wonder if it was smart to continue to Chiang Khan after all...
We consulted a local lady who confirmed the following:
a. There was no bus from Chiang Khan to Nong Khai.
b. The bus from Pak Chom to Nong Khan only ran 3 times a week.
c. Next dus would depart at 05.30 tomorrow morning!
The handwritten sign at the station had a phone number which I called and a helpful staff confirmed everything the lady told us.
Oh, transporting our bikes was no problem at all!
Later over a mookata dinner and beers, we adjusted our plans again; forget about Chiang Khan and get ready for a very early start tomorrow morning!
Continued here:
Previous posts:
All about last year's trip here:
