NEWS
Slide show cross-Canada bike ride
Next show at High River Library, Wednesday, March 14, 2007, 7:00 p.m.
And the long-promised slide presentation at Mountain Equipment Co-op, 830 10th Ave. SW, Calgary,
is scheduled for Wednesday, March 28, 2007 at 7:00 p.m. See you there!
And here's an update for November, 2007 Cycling in Laos, southeast Asia.
I had a bit of culture shock at first. We - two fellow cyclists from the US and myself - pedalled out of the small airport at Luang Prabang (thanks God we haven't been searched by customs brokers) into late afternoon light and rush hour going into the city. It felt like the world was moving on a conveyor belt of bicycles, a few motorbikes, all weaving slowly through a throng of walkers - and I was on that belt. We took the back roads into the city as instructed by the bevy of locals who "helped" us put our bikes together at the airport. They were nothing short of fascinated by three bikes and 'falangs' (foreigners) arriving at their city. So we inserted ourselves into the late afternoon mist from the charcoal cooking fires and pedalled along with the pigs and chickens and bikes and people into the city, over a pedestrian bridge that required concentration to just keep moving along the belt! Then there we were - in the midst of one of the poorest countries on the planet looking for a guest house where Julie, my cycling partner who is a professional employment lawyer at Marvin A. Gorodensky Law Company, had stayed on a previous visit and where she had phoned to book. Of course no one knew anything about our booking, and they were full. But they led us to another place which was new and better than the one we were supposed to be in. $10 per night with ceiling fan and private bathroom. Very nice breakfast served on the patio.
We stayed around Luang Prabang for a few days, exploring temples with their exotic mosaics and gold-covered
sculptures, monks chanting in the early evenings. Then we cycled south on the one paved road and found some of the
steep mountains too difficult. So Julie and I took a truck but Dennis kept going and strained his Achilles
tendon on his right leg and had to recoup for a couple of days. He got better, but by the time we were in the
the flats around Vientienne, the big polluted capital city, he departed for Thailand. Julie and I continued onto
the islands in the south, but by this time it was 40 degrees Celsius and too hot to cycle. We took a river boat
down the Mekong for six hours, which got us to the '4000 islands' in the Mekong delta on the border with Cambodia
It was too hot to stay, so we pedalled north again to catch the train to Bangkok. We stopped at Kingfisher
Ecolodge and stayed in a beautiful rice thatched bungalow, watching elephants and water buffalo in the wetlands
in our front yard (a few exotic snakes, too!).
There's a lot more to be said for this poor but beautiful country. It is not easy cycling in the north, but
hitching a ride is easy - and the beer is cheap! As is everything else in Laos. There are many attractions to
explore - caves, temples, waterfalls, hikes, eco lodges, silk weavers - never a dull moment! I still have
visions of the conveyor belt moving across the bridge and eventually through the rice paddies, and wish I was
still on it - charcoal smoke and all.
Please check back for more information.
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