24/4/25
Frankie had a mildly restless night. But not sleepless. Our first move was predictably to the Café Amazon 200m up the road. A hot coffee was a desirable morning treat. Caffeine imbibed, we joyously turned off the 13 and headed east. Our new road didn’t have a name.
The most wonderful time to be in Laos was 7am. The temperature was glorious. The people were out working in the fields. Eighty percent of the population farm rice and we could see it. This road was giving us a real taste of how people live. Perhaps the 13 had been misleading. Living directly next to such a busy road must be traumatic. Instead people seemed to be cherishing their agrarian lifestyle here. The only exception was teenagers. Nothing stopped teenagers being grumpy. They would stare at us in a disinterested, faux cool kind of way. An interesting worldwide phenomenon you could say.
Lake Sui was a signposted attraction. We hadn’t got high hopes. It was dry season after all. What could be left? A lot as it turned out. It was a shimmering delight of water. We hadn’t seen that much since Siem Reap. We stopped lakeside, in the shade, and ate a dragonfruit. A teenager walked past. We couldn’t get him to raise a smile. As we continued next to the lake we saw many people working in the verdant fields. The views were idyllic.
As we turned back north again we passed through a village called Phonthong. A man called out “Good morning” to Jonathan and told Frankie “She is a strong woman”. Not far after the village was a signpost for Monkey Forest. It was less than a mile so we thought we’d take a look. As we rode into the village of Ban Dong Muong we passed a bustling school. Then a temple.
There was a different fee for national and international visitors at Monkey Forest. We appreciated the alternative wording. It was only a dollar for both of us. We locked the bikes and wandered past a few monkeys at the entrance. The forest was supposedly packed. On the ground were literally thousands of empty plastic packets. ‘Shrimp curls’. There was a clear sign at the entrance saying that the monkeys shouldn’t be fed processed food.
We saw a herd of cows. Some lovely trees. But no more monkeys. The forest was inhabited by a ‘deadly spirit’, one that protected the forest. There were ‘spirit houses’. One for each village. The monkeys had been a force to be reckoned with in the past. Now they were ‘contained’ by ensuring they were fed inside the forest.
As we crossed the bridge to leave we saw at least 50 monkeys. They were now gathered in the parking lot. Two ‘monks’ had arrived. One smoking a cigarette. The other hurling bits of banana around. In his hand were several packets of ‘shrimp curls’. He was soon doling them out. Encouraging the monkeys to fight for them. We left hastily, and disgusted. It was very disheartening.
After a quick ice top up we sped quickly down the rest of the hill, wind at our back. Then we ascended the only climb of the day. We made easy work of the mild gradient. In the next village we elicited a lot of friendly greetings. We stopped to make some electrolytes up. Then enjoyed the last few miles of our tour of the side roads. We would often see people building their own homes. Often a rundown shack stood next to a new building.
The road mildly deteriorated just before we hit the 9E. We were immediately swamped with lorries. Back to single file. This was a main artery to Vietnam. The road was pleasantly downhill and we made swift progress to the town of Atsaphangthong. There was a large market so we stocked up for dinner. The cooked food was out front on the road. A large number of stalls were well hidden in the usual setback, warehouse-type building.
Sujinda guest house was another 4km further on. We’d considered going an extra 16km but honoured the promise to ourselves of an easy day. A longer rest. We were pleasantly surprised to find a price list printed out for a change. It’s quite reassuring. We paid 230k for the room. It was supposed to be 250k but he gave us a $1 discount for no reason.
The room was farmhouse chic. Blue walls. A fluorescent tube light. The air conditioning was ice cold. The coldest we’d found. Possibly too cold. We ate sliced mango and chilli seasoning for an appetiser. Then prepared our lettuce, mint, carrot, rice and sweetcorn dinner. It was similar to the day before but just as refreshing.
It was a long lazy afternoon. We realised that by stopping so early we’d set ourselves up for a big day. There not being any guesthouses for almost 90km. Not that we could find on our maps anyhow. We watched a multitude of different shows. Starting a new one called The Resort, and watching a few episodes of the Shield. We had entirely too much food. Coconut pancakes. Banana fritters. Mangos. After we got ready for bed we realised it was only 7:30pm. Oh well.
Surly They Won't Make It 