23 February 2007:
A day of cycling that i wont forget - I decided to try "Highway 23" south to meet Tom at the waterfalls on the Bolavan Plateau of Laos. On my map "Highway 23" was a secondary road, i could find no information about anyone ever cycling this road but thought what the hell. What an appropriate description that turned out to be!
After 35kms of cycling on a nice dirt road thru beautiful jungle, things were looking great. Then i arrived in a village where everyone warned me of bumpy road for the next section. There was no mention that the massive bridge within eyesight of where we were standing was completely destroyed.
I found a guy on a long boat to get me across, but when i got to the other side it was as if someone had stolen the highway - there was no road! Only a small rocky path leading into the jungle. Little did i know that > 30yrs ago the americans bombed two huge bridges 100km apart on Highway 23 to block supplies, and since then they have not been repaired.
(See first of the pics above of the destroyed bridge).
As a result the highway has been swallowed by the jungle - what remains is a series of confusing dirt paths. The only reason i got thru was that i found two locals taking the "highway" by scooter to the same town as me. What followed was over 5 hours of rocky paths, pushing through sand, river crossings and bush bashing.
See the second pic above of our "jungle path"...(Ho Chi Minh trail anyone??) It was so rough i had to wait up for the guys on the scooter! Local villages were scared of me and some ran in fear. I made it through, but only just and only thanks to those 2 guys!
Since then things have been great, lots of relaxing in waterfalls, chilling out on small islands in between days on the bike. Laos is considered one of the most enigmatic countries in asia, and many mysteries still remain. Here are a few i found myself asking:
- if 3 people ask for a room, why show us a room with 2 single beds first, then a room with double bed second, and finally grudgingly show us a room with 3 single beds last?
- why give a room key when the door lock is broken?
- why have a sink in a bathroom when your feet get wet as soon as you turn the tap on?
- why on the ceiling fans is "3" the slowest speed, and "1" the fastest?
I think i will just have to come back to Laos to find the answers! I loved the place.
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