Down to the 4000 islands and North again

So, this is the first entry for 2009. The last 12 days and 500km have whizzed by...

We + tandem arrived in Don Khong (Don=island) by fast narrow boat on 31st January, booked in an attractive traditional teak house (V.Mala guesthouse) which was spotlessly clean and were invited (together with Timo and Eevje 2 friendly Dutch cyclists) by the owners to their New Year's party. We joined Vela, a gentille 60 year old lady, who, despite never having visited France, spoke perfect French, Valum, her shy younger sister, and Thanphilom(during the day)/Penny(at night), her nephew/niece who was the hotel manager. John never twigged he was a she (or she was a he?) and we called him Penny anyway as it was easier. It was our first experience of a boy/girl and it was surprising to see how relaxed and open the whole family about it. It just wasn't an issue.
We were given delicacies such as laap paa (minced fish), sticky rice and delicious lao salad, washed down by many beers and some lao-lao (strong fermented rice spirit) and we repeatedly

had to "tom achok" each other's glasses every time someone (usually Vela's husband who was a little drunk) took a gulp. By 8 o'clock, we were flagging, having cycled 80km, and retired to bed, declining to go dancing with Penny at the local(already noisy) karaoke and were sound asleep when the New Year made its entrance.

The first day of 2009 was spent agreably cycling around this peaceful little island and the following day we loaded the tandem on the fast narrow boat again and cycled down towards the smaller islands in the South Don Det and Don Khon. This was a complete disaster as John couldn't cope with the hoardes of backpackers who had invaded the islands to celebrate the New Year, laying in hammocks onthe beach, recovering from drinking too much lao-lao (which is made on the islands), not to mention the noisy and excitable Thai tourists who were bumping along in bus loads to see the waterfalls. Nicole liked the palm trees swaying gently inthe breeze and the delicious coconut shakes... We left early the following morning.

The next few days were spent cycling up the Mekong with slight headwind,staying in grubby guesthouses on the way,eating foe and more foe and shouting sabaidi to a multitude of excited happy children until we lost our voices. We met Timo and Eevje on the way again and stayed in Pakse for one night. The following morning we found we had a puncture, which delayed our early plans. We were however grateful we weren't by the side of a hot road!

The road towards Savannakhet was lovely and quiet. Perhaps a bit too quiet...guesthouses were in short supply: had to stay in a horrid noisy brothel (and it was expensive).Food, although good wasn't varied. The next day, we decided to push for Savannakhet (120km) as we didn't want another "guesthouse" like the previous one!

It was good to arrive in Savannakhet, literally "territory of gold", so named because of its fertile rice fields, which were especially beautiful as we cycled through them in the evening sun. The guesthouse we found was postitvely luxurious, although the shower was cold and the windows didn't open.