First of all, I want to say a huge thanks to Pisal who kept my bicycle safe while I was away for more than two weeks! He is a legend and if you want to go on a great adventure bybicycle around Angkor Wat, just go to see him!
With Pisal who kindly kept my bike safe while I was away!! Thank you!!

With Pisal who kindly kept my bike safe while I was away!! Thank you!!

10/06/2017 – feels good to back on the road!
 
trip dist: 70.77km
time: 4h24
total: 12390kmhere I am! After more than a month waiting for my new passeport to arrive then having to exit the country because I had to in order to get a new visa on my new passeport. I stayed in Chiang Mai where I’ve done my Chinese visa. it took me another 7 days… I’m happy to be back on the saddle. I thought I was going to make 100km but I was wrong. Even if in a month the weather is way cooler than it used to be, it is still very hot and my now fat body has struggled. I felt cold shivers and has been dizzy a few times but it will get back into shape very soon.After 20km. I met Hugo and Begonia! they are from Spain and they are cycling since three years! Really nice and interesting people. We stayed a good hour to discuss with each other. they will maybe be in a podcast in the near futur. We realised that we  have a lot of commun bike tourers friends. It is a small world 🙂

With Bego and Hugo from Spain

With Bego and Hugo from Spain

At the end of the day I had to stop a lot of times due to my dizziness and as I didn’t want to get a hostel, which seems to be non existent anyway, I kept cycling until I found a good camping spot.

I’ll put the tent here and hopefully it doesn’t rain as it is on sandy/muddy ground.

After a few minutes in the tent it was so warm and couldn’t fall asleep and had a strong headache maybe due to the sun. I took two paracetamol and tried to fall asleep anyway.

At 2am, a few raindrops started to make the air fresher. I got up to close the fly of the tent and put all drying clothes in my panniers. Then went back in the tent. The rain stopped and 3 hours later I could hear a very loud noise far away, like a highway with lot of traffic but there isn’t any highway here. I was wondering if it could be the rain but it was too loud to be the rain. Well, a few minutes later, I was now 100% sure it was the rain.  5 minutes later it reached me. Really heavy rain! Hopefully I’ll be able to go out of this field later. The great point about this is that everything cooled down and I’ve been able to sleep until 7am.

It's been raining but the phone is well protected

It’s been raining but the phone is well protected

11/06/2017 – hectic day
trip dist: 90.89km
time:5h31
total:12481km
total time: 705.15h
Last night I had troubles to sleep due to the heat then around 5am a heavy rain came. It started to be cooler and I slept until 7am.
I don’t know why but when I cycle I’m not feeling hungry and don’t really eat anything. after a month on the saddle I’ve been creating some fat and my body can use it as the main source of energy.I had a puncture and many people came around to watch me and giving me a hand to fix it. We don’t speak the same language and it’s funny to see how we can communicate together without words. After all words are just 7% of the messages when we communicate.

Cambodian locals who watched me fixing my flat tire

Cambodian locals who watched me fixing my flat tire

I had to stop a lot of times on the way in the shade of trees to let my body cool down. One time, three guys stopped and I didn’t feel them but I was still feeling comfortable as they weren’t too pushy. One of them tried to still something a motorbike who passed by and I understood that they were not the best people to hang out with. One of them started to go on my bicycle even though I told him not to. I was about to leave when a cop came over, he asked me where I was going and suggested me to go while he was here. He then left on the way he came so someone might have saw me with those guys and called the police. That was a weird situation especially because it was in the middle of absolutely nowhere.

On the way I said hello/goodbye at least 300 times to many kids who were so happy to see me. I love how the simple fact of seeing a stranger make them happy. Everyone is super nice in here and if everyone was so happy to see strangers it would be a better world for sure 🙂

Later, I found a hotel to get a shower and remove all the sand and sweat mixed together from my skin. When i headed to find some dinner, the owner of the hotel and its friends offered me to drink with them. I accepted. They offered me some dry meat which was impossible to identify. I think it was beef but not sure at all. Anyway it was delicious and very tasty! That would be the perfect treat for the road and they kept bringing more and more and more beers to the table. I had to say stop at some points.

12/06/2017 – cycling at night
trip dist:141.23km
time:8h20
total:12622kmThe plan today was to cycle 70km. With this heat I could not do a lot more anyway. I was feeling so weak and could not believe for a second that I would be able to continue. I stopped for eating my first meal of the day at around 4.30pm. This gave me some energy to keep going and to find a good place to camp. The sunset came and I found the perfect spot. A shelter up high so it gets fresh wind and and a roof just in case it rains. The perfect shelter at the perfect time. I’ve made 100km and it was already a good day but the air felt fresher and I decided to keep going. Town after town, no other good spot. Now it was dark and I could not find any camping spot anyway so I decided to just keep going until the next city to find a guesthouse. Cycling under that starry night was perfect. After 140 ish km I found a guesthouse. On the third day, making 140km is pretty good. My body came back into shape pretty fast!
I had to take a photo with the stars even if I was exhausted

I had to take a photo with the stars even if I was exhausted

13/06/2017 – sleeping at the border.
trip dist: 66.60km
time:4h31
total: 12689km
As usual with air-conditioned bedrooms, I started at noon and have been cycling all the time until the night came. A 5 years old kid did something that touched me so deeply, he ran to me offering me two flowers he got in his hand. One hour after night came, I was at the border and it is open just during daytime so I found a shop to sleep in during the night. It was a restaurant and it looked like it was great electors results so everyone was totally focused on it, then they switched to soccer game: Afghanistan vs Cambodia that was funny to watch.
Flowers given by the 5 year old boy running beside me

Flowers given by the 5 year old boy running beside me

14/06/2017 – day off at the police station…
trip dist:17.31km
time:1h32
total:12706km
In the morning I didn’t have enough money left to buy a breakfast so I decided to cycle toward the border which was 50 meters away. I had to pay the visa and bribes to cross the border and from there, no atm anywhere. I had to take a boat towards the 4000 islands and they asked me for USD15 but I didn’t have it. So I gave them 10 and it worked out. One one the islands I started to cycle and wanted to make a good video with the drone following me on the bridge. I got arrested by police. So after 1 hour in Laos I’ve been arrested for flying my drone (next to the border, i know… i shouldn’t) following me at 5 meters high crossing a little bridge… I spent 1 hour watching a cop writing his deposition then when he was done, I asked for a written translation of it if they wanted me to sign it. Another hour… Then they finally asked me US$100 bribes… but even if i don’t understand exactly what they said I understood they were guessing for 10 minutes how much they should ask me. I throw them the 7 dollars I had left in my wallet and made them feel sorry for me to not be able to take a hotel for tonight anymore because of the bribes at the border and now the police. The funniest was at the end when they asked me if I could publish the video on youtube to attract more tourists in the 4000 islands…. I cracked up a huge laugh and asked them if I should tell everyone about the cops as well…. they gave me my money back and I left. 
Laos border totally empty... I had to wait for people to come to work to get my visa.

Laos border totally empty… I had to wait for people to come to work to get my visa.

I then found a place to eat and a bungalow on the Mekong. I needed tome cash out and I found a little shop doing it. No other option and he took 6% commission… I met there few ozzies and french people. One of them is Luka. He is travelling by motorcycle and overtook me twice already on the road.

crossing to 4000 islands

crossing to 4000 islands

Cycling on the french bridge where I've been arrested by the cops for flying the drone

Cycling on the french bridge where I’ve been arrested by the cops for flying the drone

This first day in Laos was hectic. At night we got electricity cut apparently due to a tree that felt down on the cable and it stayed like this for 24 hours. Great way to disconnect from internet.

Sunset over the Mekong and a fisherman

Sunset over the Mekong and a fisherman

On the last day of the 4000 islands I met Marion and Francois. They are french and are travelling by bicycle from Chiang Mai to Phnom Penh.

Francois, Marion, Luka and me

Francois, Marion, Luka and me

17/06/2017 – discovering Laos.
trip dist: 95.20km
time:5h11
total:12801km
We started at 11:15am with Lucas, Marion and François, we took the boat with a platform on it to cross the Mekong with the bikes and Luca’s motorbike. Once arrived on land I bought a mini fan for the tent at night and we say goodbye to François and Marion because they go towards Cambodia. With Lucas we set the plan to meet again in Pakse 150km further north.
I overtook him a few km later while he was at the mechanic fixing his bike. 15km later he joined me and we had lunch together.
Marion happy to take the boat!

Marion happy to take the boat!

François, Me and Luka on the boat

François, Me and Luka on the boat

Here the water seems to be free, just need to ask a family as they get delivered apparently free tanks after Francois and Marion’s saying. The meals are are mainly soup noodles.

I took a shower at a petrol station with the little hose to clean your butt after toilet then i cycled at night for 2 hours and found a shed by a bridge to put the hammock.

Those little houses are at every bridge and there is heaps of rivers in Laos

Those little houses are at every bridge and there is heaps of rivers in Laos

17/06/2017 – To Pakse
trip dist:52.69km
time:3h03
total:12854km
I arrived in Pakse and met Luka again. I was feeling a bit tired so I decided to take a day off. The day we went off, in the morning we decided to go to a french bakery called “La boulange”. The best bread and Jam ever! Cyril, the baker definitely knows what he is doing.

 

19/06/2017 – basic day
Lost all my datas about today ride.
After this day off, I was feeling more energised and decided to go strong. Even if I left at noon after a breakfast at La boulange, I’ve been cycling all day and made 110km before night time. I was feeling full of energy.

 

20/06/2017 – what the f*ck day!
trip dist:83.05km
time:4h59
total:13047km
Today wasn’t the same as yesterday. I started late around noon again but I’ve been struggling all day to find my pace and never really found it. During the afternoon as I was cycling quite fast, I bumped into a huge green snake. I think he bites one of my panniers and stood up on my side. I saw at the last moment his head was at my hip level. He was maybe 1m20 long or even more. I’ve been lucky to not have been bitten and I don’t know if it was poisonous but it freaked me out.

Harvesting rice

Harvesting rice

I wanted to make at least 80km during that day so I kept cycling even if the night was there. I was totally sweaty even at night and was covered by flies stuck on my sticky skin.  10 kilometers before to reach the guesthouse I wanted to go, a motorbike came to my level and slowed down. It was Luka. He saw me cycling in the dark while he was making a fire by the side of the road to cook his pasta.  So we’ve been together to the guest house as I definitely needed a shower. We asked if we could make pastas in their kitchen. They said yes and the daughter of the owner of the guest was quite a bit drunk and invited us to go drink beers with her friends after dinner. We had a good time singind Lao song in the Karaoke without understanding any word of it. They were drinking too many beers and we decided to bring up some rum Luka had in his bag to raise a bit the level. They were afraid of it. That was a really funny evening and I was happy to be there with Lukas and not on my own.

 

21/06/2017 – It’s summer today! 
But it doesn’t change anything as it is very hot in here anytime of the day and of the year. With Luka we decided to go to Savannakhet and all the day was hard. I made such a low distance in so many hours. My body is very tired again.
Savannakhet

Savannakhet

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