Merry Xmas to you all.
Have
a wonderful Xmas day. here's a few highlights from our ride which was
awesome beyond expectation!! and the boys and the teenagers rose to the
challenge!
We
are just back from our bike ride, which was just everthing i had hoped
it could be. Incredible. Eight Days, 5 riding, averaging 80kms a day -
2 days on boats and one rest day where we visite a small village up
river.
The reception as we rode through towns was uproarous - is that a word - the sounds that the Laos make when they see something exciting and want to alert the entire village are very distinctly laos! Very singsong. I hope I have a good sound file on this as it was incredible, if the kids weren't on the bikes - as they would sometimes ride in the support vehicle with Calm - actually Kham :-) - our driver - when the boys were in the van we would be greeted with excited sabadee's but with the boys on the bikes, it turned into something else altogetehr!
The reception as we rode through towns was uproarous - is that a word - the sounds that the Laos make when they see something exciting and want to alert the entire village are very distinctly laos! Very singsong. I hope I have a good sound file on this as it was incredible, if the kids weren't on the bikes - as they would sometimes ride in the support vehicle with Calm - actually Kham :-) - our driver - when the boys were in the van we would be greeted with excited sabadee's but with the boys on the bikes, it turned into something else altogetehr!
As
we rode through villages we saw woman working on handlooms under their
stilted houses- many houses are made entirely from woven bamboo for the
walls and grass for the roof. We saw men splitting bamboo and weaving
baskets. villagers harvesting riverweed, as well as locals laying it
out to dry in the finished product - a wonderful tasting 'nori' - Every
aspect of village life was able to be seen clearly and frequently from
the speed of a bicycle.
The boys were 'entertained' - and when we were riding through countryside we played spotto with different crops. Pineapples, papayas, corn, teak, rubber, rice, fishponds (when I asked Emile if he thought there were big fish or small fish in a pond he replied "Dead fish for the BBQ's"). And with the same idea Joel said "When I am big I am going to come back to Laos and buy a sling shot and catch myself a roasted bird. They are both sounding a bit Laos when it comes to what to eat...anything...
The boys were 'entertained' - and when we were riding through countryside we played spotto with different crops. Pineapples, papayas, corn, teak, rubber, rice, fishponds (when I asked Emile if he thought there were big fish or small fish in a pond he replied "Dead fish for the BBQ's"). And with the same idea Joel said "When I am big I am going to come back to Laos and buy a sling shot and catch myself a roasted bird. They are both sounding a bit Laos when it comes to what to eat...anything...
By
chance it was Hmong new Year as we rode through and the traditional
dress that is wore by the young woman is beautifully colourful, with a
round beaded 'lampshade' looking head piece. On new year the young
people of courting age play a game where they all line up, girls on one
side boys on the other and they throw soft cloth balls between one and
another, we saw this game being played by beautiful girls and boys in
many villages, we didn't see farang's for days at a time.
'Falang
noi' was a call we heard regularly too - little farang,
small foreigner. the boys were great with the sabadees. we said this -
hello- literally hundreds - thousands?? - of times each day. Emile
would patiently say - "so many sa ba dees".
The
roads were excellent, it seems that the Chinese make great roads to
facilitate investment. the kids loved looking for 'the big 5' -
actually the little 5 - pigs, chickens, buffalo, goats and cows. And
there was no hills!! Well undulating and very managable. only one day
when we had a 103 km day and the first 13kms was uphill did we get in
the van and start from the top of the hill, other than that 4kms uphill
was the longest and we had whole days riding along beside rivers.
We
rode to fairly close to the border with China and Vietnam and
then caught a small boat back down the river. This was a little hairy.
It was fine and comfortable at first but the driver obviously decided
it was a little too comfortable - not enough tickets sold for him - so
he let all us 'falangs' out at some tiny riverside village and we had
to hop into another completely overloaded boat. a large number of woman
and small children(were they all sick and heading to a clinic down
river was my thought as I listened to the coughs and saw the crusty
sores on some of them - mind you Emile was sharing food with one of
them before the day was out) , produce and one large pig. When we
falangs all got in water started to come in. But fortunately the bilge
pump was working well. We spent six hours coming down this river
through many rapids!!! - at times i just put my head down and focused
on eating my bananas :-)
Love to all
and a wonderful Xmas xxxxxxxxx
xxxShona and the crew
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