When I last spoke to you I was in the Lao town of Thakhet and I was having a relaxing afternoon of it, before aiming to get an early night in so that I could get up early the following morning in order to carry on with my travels...

Well that was the idea anyway... and I must say the fact that her nextdoor felt the need to air her dirty washing during the early hours of the morning meant that I didn't get much sleep that night at all in the end!

Despite this I am pleased to say that I managed to stick to my plan by travelling 130km the following day though, oh and in doing so I must say that I had a very interesting time of it to say the least!

Things started in fact when I was approximately 10km into my journey, as it was here that I managed to come across my first ever staged cock fight which was being held in the front of what appeared to be a cycle repair shed (eek dodgy ground here!)

So anyway, then as I stopped for some food 40km later I met a Lao Beer business man who took great pleasure in telling me that he was helping to open Lao Beer's second brewery (so that they can get their 1% export total up and supply more Lao Beer to places such as the UK ;o) )...

Oh and then after this, to top things off, at the end of the day I also ended up having what turned out to be a comical 15km race with 3 locals who were driving what appeared to be a rotovator on wheels as well! (You wanted to see the state of us... a high-speed James Bond type chase it most definately wasn't!)

Anyway, home for that night and the following day for me was a town called Savannakhet, this being a place which (according to my very poor guide) would not only be very popular with Thai tourists (due to it's close proximity to the Thai border), but it would also have a lot of French colonial architecture for me to look at as well.

Oh, and even though it didn't have any tourist attractions as such, it did have a dinosaur museum which I could visit would you believe!

Ha ha! Actually on the subject of which (well I had to go didn't I?!), when I went to see it I think I gave the lady who was sat outside the front of the main entrance quite a surprise as it goes, because by the looks of it she hadn't seen a visitor for quite a while (probably not since the dinosaurs were around!)

I have to say that once I got inside I could see why though, as apart from there being a room full of bones (oh and the world's biggest [3metre x 10metre] neon outline of a Diplodocus) there wasn't a lot else for me to see!

Moving on anyway, and the following three days saw me add on 70km, 105km and 64km respectively in an effort that took me to the Lao town of Pakse in the southern province of Champasak (which incidently is where I am writing this now)... and despite the lack of substantial food, well apart from being able to find the odd small rounded meat things that my mate at the academy used to call "Protein Bullets" whilst I was in China that is, oh and the odd roadside toasted mini-banana too of course... I am pleased to say that I had quite a bit of fun along the way indeed!

Ha ha! So much has happened during the past few days in fact that it's untrue!

Amongst other things I met and cycled with my first ever ex-US Cowboy who just so happened to be riding a bike that belonged to a female US Olympic cyclist in the 90's (talk about rubbing shoulders with the famous, eh?!)...

I met a local fella who felt the need to stop his motorbike and wheel it alongside me so that we could hold a UK-Lao cultural exchange which lasted a whole 10km...

I met some lads who invited me along to their party/BBQ...

Oh, and I also stayed in a guesthouse for 2 nights that not only doubled up as a motorcycle repair shop... but it also seemed to have the world's most vicious little dog guarding it as well!

Actually, on the subject of dogs... Hmmm...

Well firstly... Am I a dog person?

Yes, of course...

And... Was I absolutely GUTTED (yes G-U-T-T-E-D) when I found out that I ate dog noodle soup whilst I was in China?

Yes, most definately...

And so... Upon me leaving the restaurant where they served up the above atrocity, did I deserve to have the 3 dogs chase me down the street whilst I was trying to hop away from them on my crutches?

Yes, of course I did...

But wait a minute though actually...

Having said this... Do I now deserve to have dogs of every description come up to me and growl at me whilst I am cycling or walking in Laos?

Hmmm... Ok I'll let you decide on that one!

So anyway. This guesthouse dog.

Ha ha! Well what a nightmare he turned out to be!

Yes I could deal with his mate barking at me down the road as I went back of an evening, because I could ignore him and walk straight on...

But this little fellow?

No way!

He wasn't having me come onto his property at all.

The first night I had to walk straight past (yes straight past!) my own guesthouse entrance because of him and wait for a motorcycle to enter so that it could divert his attention... and then the second night (it is lucky that I only stayed there for two nights you know!)... well the second night would you believe I had to go to the extent of buying an egg kebab (that consisted of 4 hard-boiled eggs being pierced through a skewer- yuk!), so that I could throw the eggs at him if he came anywhere near me!?!

Ha ha! Needless to say he didn't do anything in the end, but I must admit that this whole experience is kind of making me feel glad that I spent the 180 UK pounds on my rabies jabs just before I came out here!

Back to my travelling though, and I tell you what, the places I have been to recently have been so out there in the back and beyond it is untrue...

In fact the towns along the route I have been using have been so small and non-descript at times, that I have actually cycled through a couple of them along the way without realising!

Ha ha! There are no suburbs to these places... there are no buildings over 2 stories high... nor are there any high streets full of glass fronted shops either...

Instead actually, when I arrive at a new town, I usually just find a 1km stretch of dusty wooden sheds with the odd cow or two roaming the road... (and when you add on the prehistoric buses that rumble past with the odd headlight missing now and then, or even the odd rusty old lorry that goes by without any windscreen, it is fair to say that it feels like I am appearing in a live episode of Heartbeat at times!)

Having said this, I must say that Lao does have it's fair share of Toyota pick-ups cruising around at high speeds... oh and upon me enquiring about the extortionate number of sprayed vehicle outlines on the road that are next to the outline of a little person on a bicycle, one of the locals did go on to tell me that this country does seem to have a drink-driving problem on it's hands as well...

Seriously though, it's as a result of this I have made sure that I have been well and truly off the roads by the time it gets to dark o'clock each day as it goes, but not that this makes a difference though, as the sight of a local sipping a Lao Beer whilst he is tucking into his breakfast at 8am in the morning is quite a regular occurence really!

Actually, on the subject of driving in this part of the world, it's funny because I didn't have the knowledge of exactly what parts of China I could cycle in when I was visiting there, as some of it is closed off to foreigners and you can get fined by the police if you get caught in a closed off area...

And the thing is, even though I thought that the traffic in China was mad to say the least, I must admit that us Westerners at the academy always used to console ourselves on this matter, by thinking that maybe each cell knew what any other cell was doing at any particular time over there by telepathy... well until we found out the shocking statistic that there were around 250 road related deaths in the country EACH DAY of course!

(Oh and upon finding out this fact may I add that I DO now believe the Chinese person who told me that their ambulance service would have been too busy for me to go and visit them one time!)

Anyway, back to my recent travelling adventure (and the boring statistics that come with it!)...

I have managed to cycle 618km so far would you believe... so what with the further 150km ("ish" give or take 10km/20km) I am going to do... by the time that I reach the 4,000 Islands complex I hope to have covered around 750km in total...

If you did manage to read my last couple of posts, I think I remember my original estimate for the journey being 650-700km as it goes... and even though my actual total will exceed that of my estimate if I manage to complete it, me being the absolute geek that I am, I have already completed one small detour (and will hopefully complete another quite soon as well)... this being in order to make up for my poor first-day performance when I only managed to cycle 51km on a flat tyre you see...

I'm a strange lad me eh?!

By far the most important thing though (and I really don't want to jinx myself by actually saying this in words), but the strange object that I am carrying with me is still (rather amazingly) in one piece.

Can you believe that?!

Quite what I am going to do with it when I finish this journey I do not know (as I didn't think it would make it this far without cracking or smashing to tell you the truth!)... but hey, the very strange looks I have been getting as I have been travelling around with it recently have meant that it has been worth it's weight in gold!

Oh and finally, on the subject of which, take a look at the picture below! (And before you ask... no it's not mine!)

It just so happened to be the first (other) Western one I had seen at the time for about a week, and at the end of a day of travelling for 104km, I had to admit laughing to myself when the guest house owner was showing me my room and I saw it... it seemed to make mine look more normal being tied to the back of my bicycle!

Speak soon ;o)