Yehah, made it to Laos, the most relaxed and friendly country in South-east Asia, a town called Oudomxay in the hilly north. 4 of us rode from the Chinese border, a relaxed easy ride to suit the pace of life here in Laos. It's been more of a gastronomic tour, he he he, that's the French influence of the group, the importance of a good food.

Arrived this town before 5 years ago on a previous cycle tour, but this time it's different, coming all the way from my doorstep in England. All the way with bicycle, no planes, trains or buses. A great feeling of and all that lies between, the memories of the journey so far bla bla bla... More...

to do - bla bla bla

Laos is my personal favourite, much of the country is rural with a laid back approach, the roads are quiet. I'd say it's under developed which gives it charm, although the touristy spots are now getting overly commercialised, it's well worth a visit. 

Chang Mai to Vientiane

Jan, Peter, Gavin and Keith. If I were to pick one tour to repeat again, this is it, an extremely good route, stunning mountain scenery, starting from Chang Mai heading east across north Thailand then crossing the river border into Laos. Take a lazy river boat down the Mekong river and disembark at Pakbeng and out into the wilderness. A wonderful ride to Luang Prabang, good hills and scenery. Then continue south through more stunning scenery, there's a little known Chinese trucker's guest stop, fabulous. More...

Crossed from Thailand into Laos, knew we'd gone wrong when the road ended at a huge army camp - a nice 50km detour - bo****ks. Had to flag down a bus to get to some accommodation - put our 2 bikes and 4 bags on top and sardined ourselves into the full bus - usual SE Asia chaos, sitting on rice bags in the isle, passing a bag of sweets around to break the ice - stonking More...

We're all having bags of fun, now in Viet Vieng in Laos, paradise! magnificent place by the river looking back into the mountains, scenery out of this world. Luxury again after roughing it for the last few days, very basic but a great laugh, great way to interact. A few other trekkers here.

So finished with mountains where it was cool and drizzly, good workout - largest uphill at 15 miles. landscape has a character all of its own - weather back to normal hot now, factor 35 sun barrier. Easy day today - arrived early - rode the sandy red dirt roads out of town to explore some caves - its ok, have my pen torch, we can all share

One stop in the mountains - loads of booze at a Chinese truckers guest house/food stop/nightclub - whatever it was ? =- friendly warm Lao people - forced to drink many toasts Lao Whiskey - genuine - had a few... Keith & Gavin were kept awake by a loud card game just outside their room. They must have been shouting snap very loudly.

Flat terrain to Laos capital, Vientiane - longer stretches of sunny road ahead, going to stay by lake/dam tomorrow. Prob go to beach resort, when get back to Thailand, overnight train on Monday, perhaps, decide later.

An excellent last few days cycling Laos cross country remote, got to Luang Prabang last night, a luxury stop for the next 2 nights - laid back place, lots of temples, hanging out, some trekkers - treated ourselves to an expensive top rate hotel - arrived caked in mud, beer in the fridge - doorman washing bikes - really nice place. Yeehhhhooo, saw Wycombe Wanderers on CNN - beat Leicester to earn a place in the FA semi cup final - really good for a small team! Today overcast, hopefully, will clear tomorrow.

So from my last email onwards:-

Spent all day on the river heading southwards to Pakbeng, where we disembarked with our bikes. A few beers and a nights refreshing kip later, set of at 6am into the backwaters of Laos, where roads are poor. Mile after mile of broken tarmac and rocks, the locals in the villages are fantastic - not used to Europeans cycling through - lots of kids shouting, point and greetings - every stop we do for food - locals come out to see us, word spreads and pretty soon we're swamped - the children are fantastic - the women in Lao are very shy and giggly. Reached out guest house - no running water - walked to the river to shower/bathe with the locals. Excellent food - sticky rice is the staple - soups - stir fried veg

Next day the weather turned into an unseasonal downpour (this is the dry season) and the hard packed red clay gave way to mud, as slippery as ice in places and sometimes deep - never experienced mud like this. Local buses and trucks were having a bad time - entertainment for the villagers watching the trucks sliding around bends avoiding ditches, etc... every time someone came a cropper the whole village burst into hysterics. Eventually it became too hard to drag our bikes and we spent several hours as honourable guests in a village - very basic - and wow they were hospitable - bowl of water to wash- offers of overnight accommodation - being stared at - a few giggles - women very shy again - playing connect 4 - eventually we got the only bus truck that seemed to be moving, shame it would have been grand to have stayed the night. So onto the bus, 1 minute later, and off the bus to push it round the muddy bends - skillful driver - wheel spins and burning rubber - spent a nice fews hours hanging of the back of the bus, admiring the scenery and got into town late (Muang Beng). We stopped by the river where everyone washed, in the local stream and shared food with locals. OK hotel, warmish water - good food

Long mountain ride next morning, roads getting better - had a chat with a student on a motorbike whilst cycling uphill - good pace maker. Invited to say hello to his family further on- then a long slog to the end - covered in dirt - stayed in a bamboo house by the river - then taking the boat southwards the next morning.

Slow boat southwards - someone pulled on the accelerator cable - which was string running along the side of the boat - driver got the message - a wonderful leaky boat - wife in the back periodically bailing out water, got within 30kms of Luang Prubang and got off to ride in.

So, lots of temples, luxuries to consume, in this wonderful cultural town