Take the rough with the smooth 19/03/11: Camp at hay bale hut to Boten 115.47km

After a chilly 300m decent through the mist (it was more like cycling through a cloud to be honest) we grabbed breakfast and were on our way. The roads initially appeared to have improved but after 20km the sealed road disappeared and gave way to a dusty, rutted, muddy 15km stretch of hell. This road was hell for the bike and I reckon for body to, my troublesome left knee began to feel pretty painful again but that was the least of my worries. The bike felt like it was being shaken to bits on this road but I had some comfort in the fact that Loons bike (which is more of a racing bike than a bullet proof touring bike) seemed to be holding up, I’m certain his would be first to crack under the constant punishment it was taking, the main problem I was having was the mud, it kept building up between my wheels and mud guards made cycling tough.

Riding through a particularly wet and muddy patch I ran out of steam and the bike came to a halt, luckily I held it before we tipped and got the old girl moving again. For all we knew this was going to go on forever and the bike was making a lot of strange noises so we pulled over for a much needed rest. I set about scraping the mud out from the mud guards (the irony that the ‘mud guards’ make life harder is wasted on me) but only another 5 minutes further on we had beautiful, beautiful tarmac sealed road where again I stopped to get the rest of the mud out and lube my chain, however every bump I went over brought a nagging squeak from the back of the bike something I decided just to ignore.

We began to make decent time and keep a fast pace up, the road wasn’t perfect but compared to how it was I wasn’t complaining. We began to actually pass workmen who were meant to be working on the road I guess but they just seemed to be sleeping in anything that looks comfortable though a wheel barrow defiantly doesn’t look comfortable. Suddenly with about 30/40kms to go to the Chinese border the road works finished and the road was perfectly smooth, the bike just rolled effortlessly over its new tarmac surface, earlier in the day on the rutted road I was in riding hell now I was in heaven, you don’t get a road any smoother, I even got down a hugged the road I loved it so much.

Chinese border is in sight

The day got even better when signs for the Chinese border appeared, I wasn’t particularly excited about getting to China, more excited to leave Laos, I have complained enough about the place so I’m not going to complain anymore but today I did meet some of the most genuinely nice people I have met in Laos, they smiled, helped out if they thought they could and I didn’t try to rip me off.

Getting to the border town of Boten it felt like I had all but officially left Laos, everything was written in Chinese, Chinese currency was more accept than Lao money, everybody looked and spoke Chinese and last but not least the internet was censored which means no BBC news and no Facebook. We got a hotel and Loon speaking Chinese means we can be understood, things like ordering food is easier, asking questions just simple things. Unloading the bikes we did a quick inspection for any damage after the punishing dirt road we rode, my bike seemed fine, I failed to locate the squeak but Loons had taken some damage, his back wheel had a slight buckle (I’m surprised it wasn’t worse) and he snapped a bolt and destroyed the thread, which is even more unfortunate he can’t put a nut on a new one so I have come up with an ingenious bodge with the use of an old inner tube, some tape and a cable tie to make it stronger than ever.

The Chinese stage of my ride is the most scary for me, the place is so big with so many roads and so many people, all I will be doing is cycling through China, I have 30 days to cover 3500kms and get out, it’s a race one of which I can’t afford to lose, I’m loving this little challenge I’ve got myself in.

Next stop CHINA!!!