Laos Fashion - Marilyn

Not sure Marilyn would shop here!

Thabok Temple Window

I liked the colours of this wooden building in a temple at Thabok.

We wandered and explored Thabok after arriving there mid afternoon on the first day of the ride.  We decided there must be some well connected officials living in the town as there was concrete everywhere, every small lane was concreted, as was the square in front of the temple and the riverside walk.

Ups and ups

There were lots of hills to ride up on the Team Dai Challenge.  The road was often undulating and there were many small sharp inclines like this. Matthias and Andreas are both very strong riders and unlike me had no problem on this hill.  Matthias lives in Vientiane and has a fancy bike with electric gears. Andreas is a friend of his from Germany who visited Laos to do the ride with us.

Lakeside village

Scene from a lakeside village with Team Dai members searching for the boat departure ramp.

Gabor from Hungary, Mark from Australia and Lorenz from Germany; looking for a boat.

Cooks at Work

Lunch on the Team Dai ride was usually noodle soup (Pho) or Fried Rice (Khoa Pad) at a local restaurant scouted out by Pani and Kham.  At the village Lak 251 on the Nam Ngum reservoir the soup was particularly tasty. These were two of the cooks and waiters I spotted through the window as a was parking my bike underneath it.

A Ferry Across the Nam Ngum

The first day of the Team Dai Challenge took us north out of Vientiane, to cross the Nam Ngum river via local ferry.  Even though it was only about 8 am, it was warm and I was sweaty after two hours of riding.

A boat on the Nam Ngum

The third day of the Team Dai ride ended with a two hour cruise across the  Nam Ngum reservoir.  A very relaxing, and after a swim, refreshing way to end the day.