John woke up early, full of cold and grumpy. He heard some noise outside the hotel at 5 o'clock and decided to go for a little walk in his cycle shorts. People from Laos had crossed the Mekong and were setting up a large market. They did however throw funny looks at him: what was a "farang" dong at this time of day, loitering in his (what it would seem to them) underpants? He retreated back to our room and Nicole eventually rose from her sleep We packed and had a lavish breakfast before setting off (too late again for John's liking...)
Our side of the road was shaded by trees, the fields looked very fertile (in fact we saw people planting rice - everywhere else the fields had been dry) and we even met 2 (Dutch of course!) cyclists, Hank and Rit cycling down the Mekong. Gradually, the traffic increased and we started being overtaken by bus loads overflowing with young boys. It's only at the next village we realised they were all playing football and a lot of festive activities were going on. Another public holiday? Anything seems to be an excuse to celebrate...
After 43km we arrived in Phon Phisai, a sleepy little town for most of the year except for October, when thousands of people come from all over the place to see the mysterious Naga fireballs (methane gas rising up from the Mekong and looking like fireworks). We were very pleased we were not in October, found a squeaky clean guesthouse and walked along th promenade beside the river, enjoying watching people go about their daily lives. Early bed with the hope that John's cold is getting better.
No comments:
Post a Comment