The Thakhek Loop: Day 2 - Nakai to Laksao

'Josia?.......Callum??......' Oh thank god, they're alive and they've actually found us! Pretty worried that Diana and Princess had somehow got separated and/or died along the way during the night before, it was a welcomed relief to hear their voices. After chowing down on some fried rice and refuelling we set off on the next leg of the loop, destination - Laksao.

Unlike day one, the road that lay ahead of us today was treacherous at best - a sketchy combination of sandy dirt roads with gaping pot holes, spine crunching dips and mounds, and long stretches of construction sites. Oh god, the construction. Firstly there were the swinging caterpillar diggers. Weaving and ducking these wreck less machines reminded me of some video game except that if we got hit, we couldn't simply say 'bugger it' and press restart. Then there was a road, if you can call it that, which was no more than a foot in width and was made of crumbling clay and sand, oh and it was perilously close to the cliff edge. There have been many a moment where I thought I would die on this trip and this has certainly got to be one of the scariest. After cautiously navigating myself through Death Valley to the safety of a slightly wider embankment we passed a couple who ran out of petrol. We hoped this was not an omen for us.

Did I mention that it was hot as hell today? The sun was scorching and my body was practically melting. Is this what death feels like? As I didn't bring the most practical clothing on this little trip I embarrassingly borrowed Josia's multi coloured hippy pants to place on my arms. It was a spectacle for sure: Red and white elephants on my right arm, yellow and green flowers on my left. My multicoloured buff around my neck and my horrendously luminous green helmet upon my noggin. I looked somewhere between technicolour Joseph and Brazil's Christ the Redeemer statue. I'm sexy and I know it.

Eventually the roads became more forgiving and the landscape more breathtaking. Dirt roads gave way to asphalt and construction sites gave way to large snaking rivers and gargantuan mountains. We arrived at our guest house as one group, unscathed. Hurrah. After depositing our bags, we popped next door for some food. I don't think this old Laos lady has had customers in a while as when we sat down she just looked at us vacantly for an awkward 5 minutes before bringing us a menu. To be fair, this was no restaurant by any stretch of the imagination. It was an 8x8 foot hut with a table and a couple of plastic chairs. Alas, the old biddy whipped us up some amazing fried rice with chicken which I couldn't get enough of. Again, after dodging death's scythe one more day i've never tasted such incredible food. Phew.

Weather: hotter than a witches tit

Roads: what roads??

Sunburn / tan lines: epic

Memorable moment: seeing my reflection in my bike mirror dressed as a complete and utter prat.

Day two: tick