The Adventures of Julie

Monday, May 12, 2008

Adventures on the back of a motorbike...

"The next Express bus is at 1pm, but we have an ordinary bus leaving in 2 minutes." The man told us. It was barely 8:30am, we needed to get to Ta Kheak our next destination. How bad can 5 hours be on an ordinary bus? Sure it has no air-con, but we can do it. We boarded the bus to find it packed front to back with large sacks of something that filled the bus half way up the seats, perched on the bags were at least 20 or so people, we grinned. It was going to be a fun ride. Maybe that should have been the tip off that our three day motorcycling adventure was going to be more then we bargained for, but really the ride was not so bad. We even had a Laos guy giving us commentary on the scenery as we drove and the bus stopped at random places along the side of the road every hour so you could wander off and find your own special bathroom among the bush.

The next morning we had our motorbike rented and were up and out by 6am, despite gray laden clouds, ready to see the amazing caves, countryside, and native villages along the way. By 6:05, God had opened up the sky and began pouring down buckets of water upon us. We returned to our guesthouse, among laughter from our fellow travelers, completely soaked. We dryed out, ate breakfast, and started out again at 1:30. The earlier storm led to a beautiful ride, and we motored along, slowing to avoid cattle, water buffalo, goats, dogs, even a huge snake in the road. Local kids waved at us as we passed and called out Sabaidy! The villages, greenery, huge cliffs, and feel of the breeze and fresh air as we rode, made for an incredible ride. We arrived at our destination five hours later, a huge cave. We stayed overnight in a Homestay in the village. We shared our room and bathroom with a couple huge spiders (see picture). The next day we took the three hour trip through the giant cave by boat. The cave was amazing, huge, spooky, and, well dark. Despite all the adventures along the way, it was a great trip. One of my highlights.

Now we are off to Cambodia. I cannot wait. As you can see, I am now traveling with Dan. We are giving this another go, so stay tuned for more of our adventures.

by jewel30 at 6:08 PM |