Solitary Refinement 1

It's been 10 days since I've had a conversation in English.

Well, except for a five minute one the other day when I bumped into a Swiss couple at a lookout.

All of this un-speaking is like being on retreat. It's so great. I'm getting so much alone time, riding through these hills every day, only briefly meeting locals as I eat or shop or set up my camp or stay in little homestays or guesthouses.

There's not that many places to stay on this road at all. I'm glad I've got a tent, as it means I don't have to impose on families in their little homes, and can have a bit of my own space for sleeping.

And, of course, for most of the day I'm riding up and down these beautiful hills, admiring magnificent views that my photos don't really capture, and passing through super interesting villages every now and then.

But it's quite remote, and there's not too many villages on this road either.

So I'm on my own, kid. It's beautiful. I have loads of time to think, as I move around the stunning countryside, or hang out when I get somewhere for the evening.

I think about what it must be like to live in these villages, and how different it is to my own life. I think about my friends' lives, my family's, all of us doing our own thing in different places, but all together somehow, in some wider cosmic community of love, man.

What a gift to love others, and be loved.

And what a gift aloneness is, the opportunity to have the time and space to see things inside and outside that we're often too busy to explore.

Nam Neun

Well I'm in a small town, but I've actually found a little guest house, and I have my own room! What a treat.

Lately, every day consists of climbs of at least 1000m. Or more. And long descents, which have their own challenges on rough roads, because you really can't pick up any speed and need to constantly clutch those brakes as if your life depended on it (it does).

Yeah, it's a new cycling ball game around here, but I'm in the swing of it now.

Every day I get to enjoy views like this

Another village

Home made tools

Still being used

Snack searching

I finally made it to here, Nam Neun, a small town.

Look at the size of this bomb. The truck's actually quite big. Can you imagine the damage just one of these would have done on a village full of people?

The truck was full of other bombs too, for valuable metal recycling.

Cute little wat in town.

And cute eating place

I asked for no meat, and she understood, but she still couldn't serve a bowl of soup without just a little bit. I tried some of it, it was really chewy, so I skipped it.

Missing somethings?

It's hot down here, at an altitude of about 500m. I was up at about 1600m earlier today, and the air was much cooler up there. But I've got a massive climb tomorrow, and I'll slowly ease back into the cooler air, and stay up there for a few days.

Bushy

I can hear traditional Lao village music in the distance. It sounds familiar, and catchy. There's birds twitching around the bushes that surround me, as I sit on my sarong and stretch my body, after a killer killer day.

I'm parked up in a clearing above the little village of Muangpeun. I was sent to the village near here by some locals down on the main road, as there's a guesthouse here, but it was full, and, in fact, the three guesthouses in the town of Houamuang, a couple of clicks away, were also full.

I've never really had that happen before in Laos, but it's because of New Year celebrations, and lots of people are returning to visit their families in the villages and small towns.

Of course, there were stunning views all day

I stopped at Meilin's place for lunch, in a Hmong village. That's her in the middle, with her sister and son.

She's had a really tough time - after studying medicine in Hanoi she got a government job back in Laos in a medical centre in Sam Neua, the provincial capital.

But there was a hitch. She wasn't  paid for seven years. Yep, that's true. And it's happened to a number of people I've met around the country. Paying its workers hasn't been the government's top priority, and so many civil servants do their jobs for free, and try to supplement their incomes elsewhere.

Eventually it all got too much for Meilin. Seven years is a long time. She finally left her job and the town of Sam Neua, and her and her husband now have a shop back here in her home village.

She's the sweetest person ever, she plied me with food - fruit, salad, rice, all these extra things, and kept saying it was a gift. Plus the water bottles. So generous. She wouldn't accept any money for them.

We both agreed that money won't make you happy anyway, but having healthy and happy friends and families was the most important thing.

What a gem she is.

I was originally gonna stop somewhere near her village, Houaythoun, but she told me about some guesthouses further up, so I pushed on.

What goes down must come up. I have to come back this way tomorrow.

The bumpy gravel to Muangpeun.

I couldn't find a room, but I found a great camping spot.

I was dead. I climbed over 1800m on my bike today. That's the biggest climb I've ever done on my bike in one day, and is really huge on a heavy loaded bike, even by normal cycle touring standards (as opposed to my standards).

The moon's getting full

Massive spider home. I didn't see her.

Pretty local shrubs

Trashed

I just got back from dinner here in Sam Neua, and I could hardly walk up the stairs to my room.

My body is totally exhausted, after days of hugely tiring riding. I didn't really plan for it to be like that, it just happened. The country up here is just all steep hills. The roads are mixed, but one thing that's not mixed about them is their steepness.

Since leaving Vientiane I've ridden over 600kms, but climbed over 10,000m. That's really huge. Yesterday's climb was over 1800m. Today's was 1400m.

I've never done anything as exhausting before. Not even on some long hard days of trekking.

No wonder I'm dead.

And, of course, I'm gonna rest long and hard tomorrow.

I rode into the town of Houamuang this morning, and got me some yummy snacks from the market. Mandarins, sticky rice, those spiced eggs that have their insides removed and then reinserted with spices added, bamboo shoots, and deep fried rice flour pastry balls with a bit of sweet stuff inside. Such delicious variety.

Village markets

Roadside cooking

Drying herbs. They're for sale at the stalls.

I skipped on the bats. They were expensive, 50,000 Kip, about $4. Around here a massive bowl of noodle soup with a couple of eggs inside is half that price. I'm not paying that ripoff price to crunch on a bat, it's roadside robbery.

Dodgy edge

After a ridiculous amount of steep climbs, with so much crystallised soaked-in sweat that my shirt was crunchy, and with legs that felt like the inside of a trifle, I finally reached the top of the last hill leading to the province of Houaphan, of which Sam Neua, where I am now, is the capital.

Traditional bamboo reeded mouth organ, for giants, at a lookout

The lookout place was disgusting, there was smelly rubbish everywhere. This is a plant pot. There really has to be education about that sort of thing around here, litterally.

A view of part of Sam Neua as I rolled in.

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