Confused weather 17/03/11: camp at yet another hut to Pak Mong 62.19km

I woke up at 6am as normal but it was still raining and still bitterly cold (12C) so I went back to sleep for another hour. The rain hasn’t stopped all day (the locals say 4 days) and the temperature hasn’t got above 13C, neither is a bad thing but considering just over a week ago the temperature was hitting the mid 40’s its quite a sudden change. We had no real choice but to cycle today, we needed to at least get to a guesthouse and the nearest place that would have one of these is Pat Pong which is a crossroads and where all the buses coming from and to China stop for a break.

After a breakfast of cuppa soup and a loaf of bread we put our cold wet clothes on again and hit the road. This was grit your teeth cycling though I was very pleased with how well my waterproof trousers coped, I stayed impeccably dry but the upper part was cold and damp along with my feet but at least they weren’t numb. I very almost sent some of my winter clothing back to England as I didn’t think it would be required till I hit Europe but very unseasonable weather here shows its worth always being prepared. I even heard a rumour of snow up in Kunming, China which I showed by arriving at in a week’s time.

We only had about 60kms to cover but after 30km stopped for some hot noodle soup, while waiting for it to be cooked we huddled up around a fire. I really didn’t feel the cold too badly, Loony was suffering much more than me, he comes from a place where the lowest temperature is 28C where as I’m from a place where the highest temperature is 28C.

Eventually we did make it to Pak Mong we searched round a few guesthouses and settled for a Chinese run one, Loon speaking Chinese makes asking questions etc easier. We had a little walk around but there isn’t anything here besides a few shops for the bus load of travellers commuters from Laos to China. The shops all were empty, the only time they appear to get any custom is when a bus pulls in. I decided the best plan was to read my book (It’s not about the bike by Lance Armstrong) and drink tea then we had a typical Chinese dinner, egg with a vegetable soup and all you can eat rice, four bowls was all I could eat.

We have decided to see if this rain stops, we are still unable to dry any of our clothes as its still cold (and raining) if not we will stay here another day as the next guesthouse is 180kms on the Chinese boarder and camping really isn’t pleasant in the cold and rain.