Day 5 & 6 - Ngoc Hoi, Vietnam - Thateng, Laos

Day 5 we travelled from Ngoc Hoi to the Vietnam boarder at Bo Y, fully expecting the customary aggro of going across boarders in this part of the world, however we very pleasantly surprised that we left Vietnam, passed thru 'no mans land' to the Laos border, $35 each later we were on our way to Attepeu unscathed, arriving there by mid day. Leaving Erika in charge of selecting the hotel for the night, we ended up with the grandest one in town,

setting the budget back the grand sum of £30, but a good chance to sort out a few house keeping jobs, like washing and cleaning.

In Attepeu, we had to make our first of three major decisions that day, go straight to Wat Pu, via a potentially unfinished road, and minimal water holes (distance 110km) or go turn right and follow the sealed tarmac road over the plateau to Pakse (220km), but with a good chance of accommodation and water stops.... we chose the later, which shows the importance of regular water stops.

So off we went with new determination that every morning gives us, the weather was cool and overcast, the roads were good and flat, absolutely perfect cycling conditions, we soon hit 50km in just over 2hrs, passing thru village after village with all the children shouting Sabaidee and frantically waiving, But then we had decision number 2, a turn left said Paksong 70km! which was our planned next destination, on the flat tarmac it would be 140km, was it worth a chance going off road,  to save 70km ?! We pushed on with the safe option of tarmac and water.

wash time

In Sakong, over lunch we chatted to an Italian couple who were doing the gap year thing, and they encouraged us to push on for another 50km to Thateng... decision number 3, it was now very hot, and Erika had caught a little too much sun in the morning under cloud cover. Sakong is not the most welcoming towns, with accommodation very limited. So with a 'high five' we set off for another 50km, this wasn't the best decision, and by the time we hit 100km for the day we were done, and needed a plan B, which was to pursuade someone to give us a lift in their pickup to the nearest town, where we found a guest house and inviting attached bar for a  ice cold beer Laos. The bed was very hard, but it didnt matter we would have slept in a tree that night, after cycling 116km + 10 in pickup.

which way now ?