Today we rented a moped for 4 days and set off on The Tha Khaek Loop. It is a 550km loop from Tha Khaek out into rural Laos, close to the Vietnam border but through a lush landscape interspersed with limestone mountains and caves.
We saw many cows and goats wandering the road, water buffaloes enjoying cold rivers (no I don’t mean Pete), colourful butterflies and dragon flies and many smiling and waving children calling “Sabaidee” to us as we passed through little villages. In parts there were also many industrial trucks rumbling through as the area has been used to set up many quarries, cement and building companies and also a huge hydro-electric power reservoir which took over 450sq miles of land (and a lot of the power goes to Thailand). On one side of the road can be idyllic farmland and jungle and on the other side a huge industrial plant.
We stopped at a great swimming hole and some caves along the way. We had lunch at a tiny roadside local cafe for £3 (2 meals and 3 drinks) -oh and then it was time for another swim as it was flippin hot!
And then as the sun turned bright red and heading behind the mountains, I really did feel that we were the luckiest people to be having this great opportunity. We are free to roam wherever and see all these amazing things – how privileged are we? Only this morning I had seen an old guy (partially sighted I think) trying to push his wheelchair /bike up a hill. As fast as he made a few centimetres progress he had to stop to re-adjust his steering and would roll backwards. Just as I set off to help, a local lad pushed the guy up and over the crest of the hill but then we passed him on the other side – he was on the wrong side of the carriageway – I hoped for his safe journey.
Then we checked into Sabaidee Guesthouse that our travelling “friends”, David and Fanny had recommended and joined in with the communal BBQ and everyone around the firepit. We even have a proper gecko in our room who every now and then makes a proper “gecko” call. I love it!
