Day 77! Well, it’s been hot, sunny, and dusty up till today! I had the pleasure of riding through my first Laotian downpour and experienced some of the worst roads yet. But the day turned around as I entered my next destination Paksan.

The sun started shining in through the dorms window so at 7:30am I was up and at it. My new friend Dan, from California, was up too so we got to enjoy breakfast together.

After finishing up my breakfast, I paid for my meals at the guesthouse and then packed up my bag! By 9am I was all ready to hit the road… but the clouds were looking quite ominous and the radar said it might thunder storm today.

My hopes were that I’d be able to get on the road early enough that I would avoid any of the downpour (if there was any). And boy was I wrong, but we’ll get to that in a bit!

The beginning leg of my drive was quite gorgeous, even with the dark clouds. It gave a nice contrast to the areas with sun and made the mountains look very impressive!

I was also met with a very winding and steep road that led me up to a view of the limestone valley below!

I continued on until about two hours in I decided to stop for gas.

I then rode down this road basically until I made it to Paksan… but before I made it there it started to drizzle, so I put on my raincoat just in case.

And that just in case paid off because it started to severely downpour! I even heard a couple cracks of thunder, but that didn’t last long. The rain however persisted for quite some time!

After escaping to shelter under a closed restaurants canopy, I waited for about an hour to try and let the storm pass. The rain was still coming down but a lot less, so I got back on my motorbike and braved it out.

I’m very glad I did because 10 minutes later the rain was completely gone! I was completely soaked again though.

This is around the time the ride became absolutely terrible.

Even though the rain was gone… the roads out of no where became awful! I thought roads in Missouri were bad, these were next level!

The road would randomly turn into a dirt gravel road and just drop off without warning. There were ginormous potholes that I had to swerve around left and right. And the biggest kicker was, everyone on the road was trying to avoid the holes, so the road was a complete free for all!

This made the ride take a half hour longer than it should and made it a much more stressful and butt aching ride.

BUT, against all odds, I made it to Paksan and my guesthouse safe and sound… just a bit dirty.

After paying $5 for my private, air conditioned room, I took a long warm shower before heading into town to find some food!

The owner of the guesthouse is a very sweet and kind woman. She told me about some local Laotian food nearby so that’s where I went!

I enjoyed a nice bowl of noddle soup for 30,000 Kip! I was the only foreigner at this place and all the locals were staring and giving me smiles.

I then drove to a market that was nearby the guesthouse where I was staying it. I wasn’t intending on buying anything, but I ended up getting a bushel of bananas and a mango for 30,000 Kip!

I was super excited and rushed back to my room to much on my haul… but even though I’ve ate plenty of all green bananas in SE Asia… these ones were no where near ripe yet.

I was a bit disappointed, but I’ll hang on to them until they’re ready to be devoured!

I then FINALLY sat down and did my taxes! This time the wifi was able to keep up and I finished my return.

It felt good to get that lingering task out of the way. Now I can go back to focusing on the important things… like eating amazing food!

So after finishing, I hopped back on my motorbike to find some dinner.

The guesthouse I’m staying at was just down the road from the riverside and the owner told me that there were some restaurants over there. I found a winner and ordered some delicious food!

It took over an hour for some reason for the food to come, but while I waited I enjoyed my first dark beerlao. I liked it a lot!

I got my food and scarfed down a very cheap glass noodles with seafood! I don’t eat seafood too often but it was a nice treat. Glass noodles is a dish I learned about in Thailand and this plate of it was superb!

Out of no where, one of the children working handed me a plate of spicy papaya salad! They didn’t charge me for it which was very kind of them! I’m not the biggest fan of papaya salad, but this one was alright! However, it was insanely spicy and there was no way I could finish it.

After paying and leaving, I headed to a convenience store to pick up some snacks since my fruit was a bust (for now). And while I was walking through the store a familiar site crossed my eye…

… it was a CHEESE TOASTY!

I had no idea other countries besides Thailand had them, but there’s a solid chance it’s because I’m right next to the Thai border! I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to buy one, so for $1 I got one of my favorite snacks!

It was exactly what I had remembered, sweet and savory… just perfect!

Also at the store, a big group of kids and their parents came in and the kids were very excited to see me. One even came up and started practicing his English with me while his mother recorded the interaction! It was very cute. The others just made goofy faces and waved and giggled when I did them back to them.

I then went back to my room to enjoy some reading before calling it a night!

Tomorrow I’ll finish my ride to Vientiane where I’ll spend a couple days exploring the capital city of Laos!

Today had its ups and downs, but I made it through and was rewarded by finding some great snacks! I’m looking forward to seeing what tomorrow has in store for me!

– Elie