Day 17 - Loei to Lom Sak

Woke up early to have breakfast by the Mekong River. There was heavy fog and we couldn't see Laos on the far back of the river. By sheer coincidence, we had breakfast at the same place that we had dinner last night. Boring noodle soup tasting like it came from Laos. 

After breakfast we bought a few souvenir t shirts and proceeded to check out the guesthouse. 

Rode towards Loei to our first stopover destination, Phu Ruea. The roads were freaking jammed packed with vehicles of all sorts. Luckily I did not witness any accidents. When we finally reached Phu Ruea, it's was so crowded and we have up the idea and proceeded towards Dan Sai instead. (About 40km ahead)

Had a quick lunch at Dan Sai followed by a temple visit before carrying on to Lom Sak which is about 70km away.

Immediately after Dan Sai, the roads started to wind up the mountains. Superb riding roads with beautiful scenery. I'll be back for this again!

Arrived at Lom Sak at about 1800hr and had a hard time looking for a place to stay. The town has very limited accommodation available. After a few rounds the town, we gave up and got a room at Sawang hotel for 450B. 40 year old hotel but the room is clean and comfortable.

We went to bed after a simple dinner as we were tired. Basically there was nothing much to do.

Day 16 - Loei to Chiang Khan

Had a nice breakfast at King Hotel.

Today we will go to Chiang Khan. A 50km ride northwards from Loei town. The roads were jam packed with cars as the Thai are on the year end holiday season.

We had a had time looking for a hotel or guesthouse as everybody is coming to Chiang Khan. The town is jam packed with people and vehicles. After asking many locals did we manage to get a place to stay. 200B per person.

After a simple lunch, we went out to Chiang Khan walking street to have some fun. I feel the place is too touristy.

Dinner was at the Mekong River bank. Again the whole place is jammed with people. 

It's gonna be another cold cold night.

Day 15 - Khon Kean to Loei

I've been lazy to update my blog for the last few days and will do so soon. Let's start with today first.

After another DIY breakfast at KK centrum hotel, we set off for Loei at about 1100hr. 

The road towards Loei is very conjested today with many cars and trucks carrying sugarcane. Witnessed many dangerous overtaking maneuvers by inpatient drivers. 

Sumple lunch was settled at Chum Phae town.

There're some shops selling nice woollen hats and mittens near to Phu Kradeung National Park.

After travelling for 215km today, we reached Loei at about 1600hrs and checked into King Hotel for 800B.

Loei seems like a slow town as many of the shops were already closed when we went out for our dinner at 1800hr. Even the night market was simple and not fanciful. 

It's very cold in Loei and we decide to hide in our room tonight.

Day 14 - Rest Day at Khon Kean

Day 13 - Roi Et to Khon Kean

After breakfast at the hotel, we went to the most eye catching temple in Roi Et.

I'm getting the feeling that we are getting restless and there's a 'loss of direction' in where we are heading towards. We better head back to familiar grounds for some reorganisation. So it's back to Khon Kean and the KK Centrum hotel.

115 km westwards and we arrive at the hotel at about 1500hr. What a nice homely feeling. 

Day 12 - Mukdahan to Roi Et

We got up early to explore the Indochina market on the bank of the Mekong river. There nothing interesting there and we got bored after like about 20 minutes and went the temple to pray instead.