The lows 10/03/2011: Vientine to Van Vieng 153.67km

I didn’t sleep well and when i heard Russell leaving i didn’t get up to say goodbye, i don’t know why, Russell didn’t bother waking me like i had said to him to do. I just guess it was one of those mutual things.

All day i struggled to eat much, i felt really low and depressed, i didn’t expect it. The only cure was to cycle, its all i wanted to do, if i wasn’t cycling i just wanted to curl up and cry. This may sound stupid but emotions are magnified but you move on pretty quickly so in a few days I’ll be right.

I was really glad Loon was here, he was great for a bit of support and he had been through similar feeling so he understood what i was going through. The road was pretty flat until around the 70km mark when the road hit the hills.  I was enjoying the climbing it gave me focus, occasionally i would think Russell would be wanting a coffee stop and i would feel a bit sad he was no longer riding with us.

Laos was much different to Thailand, the roads were much worse in Laos and the driving was awful. One example is a ute going round us on a blind corner while being overtaken by a bus, i say again ON A BLIND CORNER! The motor bikes are also terrible, if you ride a motorbike in Laos one thing that isn’t done is checking the road is clear before entering the road, just drive straight on the faster the better. I was hoping the driving wasn’t going to be worse in China otherwise i may have to lower my chances of survival.

The road constantly went up and down and the countryside was looking beautiful, i was beginning to slowly feel better about Laos. On one of these up hills we spotted another cycle tourist so we gave chase. She was a Kiwi and had been on the go for a year round Asia and was on her way up to China. We all rode together at a slow pace but we all chatted like old friends and the time flew by. We rode as the sun was setting over the mountains, it reminded me a little of New Zealand. Getting to Van Vieng none of us were keen to stay in the centre of town where its famous for backpackers getting pished out of their tree, it certainly wasn’t what i wanted. I was feeling better about things and finding a guesthouse we got a double room for all three of us for 80,000Kip instead of 50,000 each for our own room. It was the usual routine of shower and food but my mood had lifted and i was feeling better now. Im glad this day is over if im honest.