Me again, sorry its been so long, but I'm back and ready to fill you all in again on my various adventures.
I'm in Vientiane, Laos right now, and killing time while my visa to Thailand is processed. Vientiane is a little sleepy, and there isn't really much to do, so I'm just treading water. Since we last talked though, I've had a couple great things happen so I'll fill you all in.
Don Det (the island I stayed on) is right on the Mekong and is a great place to chill and relax, which was just what I needed; I spent 4 nights there. While there I met some great people and did a little trekking/bicycling around the island.
One thing I had hoped to do in Southern Laos was to check out the Tham Kong Lo cave system. Basically its a river that has cut a large swath through 5 miles worth of mountain. The resulting cave system has been called one of the Loas's must-sees. Now I was going to skip it because going alone is too expensive (i.e., I wouldn't be able to share the expenses in a group). I've heard that going alone can cost as much as 100$ (US) and there was no way I was spending all that.
I was all ready to skip it entirely but then Inka showed up. We started talking at lunch one day and I told her that I'd wanted to check out Kong Lo but couldn't go alone. She said the same thing and it both hit us, go together.
It turned out great, we were able to share costs, and all the hardships that happen on the road. Traveling with a buddy is great sometimes, but we both agreed that traveling alone is better in a lot of ways; I think we're both just lone wolves. We parted ways once we reached Vientiane; but we'll probably run into each other again, it always happens. I've run into so many people from Cambodia and Vietnam on this trip that its getting a little freaky.
The cave system itself was unbelievable. You have to hire a boat to take you through the whole thing, its so long. I took a bunch of pictures but barely any came out from inside the cave. You'll just have to trust me, the interior was amazing. Some chambers are at least 500 feet high and wide. Some are so small I was convinced we were going to have to lay down in the boat to get through. Its the rainy season, but we still bottomed out the boat a few times. I blame the extra ice cream I had for lunch that day.
However, the best part of the day was the motorcycle ride.
Kong Lo is about 25 miles away from the city we stayed in, Na Hin. We were worried about getting there, but we just asked around and found out that its easy to rent a motorbike for a day and go ourselves. I have never driven a motorbike in my life so I was a little worried. Inka hadn't either, but we went for it anyway, hey, you only live once right?
Yeah, I nearly ended that life early.
After getting the quick-and-dirty instructional course on bike riding we hopped on and started up. I think I was trying to show off a little and it didn't go well. I tried to smoothly move into traffic behind a truck and I turned the throttle way too much in first gear. It was like a jet engine. My head flew back and I immediately hit the brake. That didn't work and I went right over the embankment into a ditch. I fell off the bike and it landed right on top of my leg. I thought I'd broken something but I barely had a scratch. Well, a few scratches on my legs and a bump on my ass. I think Inka was torn between running over to see if I was alive and laughing her head off at me. After I got up though, she chose the second option.
Finally, I figured out how to drive the damn thing without killing myself, and all was well. We rode out, saw the cave, and came back around nightfall. A good day.
The last thing I'll describe though was the best part.
On the 25 miles from Na Hin to Kong Lo there is one particular section that is flat, wide, and completely straight for about 10 miles. What's more, the road is almost completely deserted. On the way back I knew I had room, and more importantly, I wasn't afraid of losing control, so I decided to go for it. As soon as I saw the road straighten out, I went. I put the bike in low gear, opened up the throttle, and let fly. At 80 miles per hour the bike started to make noises, at 90 miles it started to shake, and at 105 miles an hour I couldn't see the animals on the side of the road anymore; but it didn't matter, I kept going.
It was rapture.
What finally made me stop, at 110 miles per hour, was the fact that I could no longer see Inka in my mirror. I had gotten so far ahead, that I couldn't even make out her bike. That broke the spell and I stopped. It was a few minutes before she even caught up. She had a look on her face that would have burnt metal and I was completely cowed. For the rest of the ride I went the same speed as her.
So, that's the latest happenings on my little sojourn. Once I get back my visa I'm heading to Vang Vieng for some tubing, rafting, and kayaking. It should be a riot. More on that next time.
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