31/12/2019 – NYE

After a surprisingly comfortable and uneventful bus journey, I made it to Chiang Mai. The bike was thankfully unhurt on the journey so hopped on and made my way to the hostel.

Being Christmas Eve I checked in, headed straight for the shower and then back down to the bar for the evenings entertainment which certainly didn’t disappoint.

Thankfully the hangover on Christmas Day wasn’t as bad as feared so after a relaxing morning in the sun, it was time for BBQ tofu with all the Christmas trimmings and drinks to go with it.

Another boozy evening followed (it is Christmas after all) I set myself the challenge of getting to Vang Vieng for NYE. Slightly hungover, I made for a campsite 150k away or so.

Along the way I stopped for some food and water to watch the sun go down. Sadly the kitchen was closed but the owner (a fellow cyclist) opened it back up and made me some noodles to carry me the last hour.

It was great to get the tent out again after a short hiatus however the next day was plagued with slow punctures that wouldn’t be sealed by patches due to the heat melting the glue. Stopping every 20 minutes put a real dampener in proceedings but I found a town with a bike shop that would be open in the morning and found a random park area to set up my tent.

Just before reaching the bike shop I found a fellow road cyclist (which was very rare in this part of the world) who invited me to his house and gave me a spare inner tube!

Concerned that this wasn’t enough I then bought a few more and some more patches from the shop and headed on my way.

The new inner tube held up well and made it to a temple to camp in for the night. I had to cross a national park and the nearest city was almost 300km away through some serious mountains which meant a 4am alarm was in order.

A big day in the saddle was exacerbated by more punctures and meant that I made it to Khon Kean for gone 9pm. A quick stop by a pizza restaurant and some toasties from the 7/11 and I was straight to sleep.

I was on course to make it in time for NYE so I pressed on ahead and got to just before the Laos border before checking into a hotel. Another day plagued by slow punctures wasn’t ideal but I bought some actual glue which helped a little.

Entering Laos on NYE with a big day ahead time get to Vang Vieng in time for the celebrations wasn’t helped by a slow border crossing and all the bike shops in Vientiane (the capital) being closed.

I crossed paths with a British cycling couple going around Asia so stopped to hear their exciting tales for a while before putting the hammer down in the heat to make it in time.

After a swift check in, shower and dinner, I went straight to the Irish bar for a couple of pints of Guinness on draft (!) before seeing in the new year.

As soon as the countdown was over I headed straight for bed, the last few days had caught up with me. I will say, however, I’ve never had a more rewarding pint.