Jan 27, 2010

Day 26, Jan 27, vientane, Laos to udon thani, Thailand


The bicycle trip is almost over. Just another 20 km or so to the thai lao friendship bridge and over to nong khai in thailand.
Last shopping in vientane at carol cassidy lao fabric where the most amazing is silk is being woven and sold.
Almost there! the bridge over the Mekong I mean. I'm having my last lao lunch (soup, of course! I'm a lao soup fiend now!) and in a few minutes I will pack up the last few km remaining on this trip in laos....

Well, it turned out a bit different...
Early afternoon I got across the Mekong and into nong khai and it's only another 60 km to udon thani (became well known during the vietnam war and the 'conflict' in Laos as a USAF base resp. CIA Air America base and the 'Ravens'). So I kept going as I had been to nong khai twice already before.
On the highway the very left lane (lefthand traffic in thailand) is for 2 wheeled vehicles only. Pretty flat and straight it allowed for speeds around 30-40 km/h and barely 2 hrs later I rolled into udon (It must have been the soup; it's like the gaul's magic potion of asterix and obelix).
Udon is just one of those regular thai cities which i just like. There is nothing particular to see, no tourist attraction. What counts are the food, fruit and juice stands everywhere, the night markets, and so on. just regular thai life. Along the lake in the middle of town besides the aforementioned stands are also massage stands! I just had a thai massage, a very good one (and a bit painful as it should be). For something like $ 5.50 for 1 1/2 hrs. The standard price for a meal anywhere is 30-35 baht, around a dollar!


Km 92.5, Ave 22.2, Tm 4.12

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