I woke up tired and with mozzie bites on my fingers from shielding my face from the rotten little things. Needless to say, I wasn’t in my best form in the morning.
We are still on the Thakek loop and today’s ride would take us through areas of sunken forest – caused by the dam we saw yesterday.
As we left town, we didn’t find any food that looked interesting , so we pushed on. For the first time on this trip, we had some small hills to contend with. Up and down we went through some nice countryside, never far from water.
I realised I’d left my beloved surf hat in the hotel but having done nearly 20kms, I couldn’t be bothered going back for it. Oh well. It made me wonder what was next.
We stopped at the first likely second breakfast place but it was full of backpackers ordering food. Realising it would take forever, we continued on. It was the same situation at the next place but luckily, a few metres down the road, we found a place serving noodle soup. We even got an instant coffee. Luckily the backpackers didn’t seem to want noodle soup for breakfast.
The Flooded forest was pretty cool and it preceded the climb of the day. Compared to yesterday, it wasn’t hard – thankfully.
Then followed some fairly underprivileged villages, some great views and a Banh mi stand. I couldn’t resist. There’s a fair amount of Vietnamese influence in these parts. We past a number of areas where Vietnamese people were celebrating Tet, the lunar new year.
After a couple of Banh Mi, we rejoined the road and were accompanied by a pretty strong headwind. Come to think of it, ilwe haven’t had a tailwind yet, on this trip. Let’s save that for the Stans !
Finally, we made it into Lak Sao as the headwind changed to a crosswind. The problem I have with this, is the fact that tomorrow morning, we’ll right and ride directly into that wind. Grrrrrr.
Lak Sao looked familiar but a little quiet. I’m in the same hotel as last time, and that too feels a little more run down.
Visa update – it came through late today and I was able to print it in Lak Sao … Phew.