4 planes, 1 train, 2 looong bus journey’s and countless little ones, 2 motorbike trips and 1200km’s on the bike and I’m home!

I have come under heavy fire for not letting everyone know I am home. The lack of updates were, in fact, a secret ploy on my behalf to check who was reading my blog. Busted! I shall not mention names for fear of backlash.  

I was originally scheduled to return to Jhb on the 7^th but lack of cash flow, a working bicycle and patience for the repeated attempts on trying to rip me off saw me change my flight and land yesterday morning.

The journey back was not uneventful, of course; prior to departure I was once again whisked behind closed doors and interrogated over my ‘bomb’s. They are really called bombs and are used to pump tyres. Well after a lecture that ended with “you no take on plane” I was escorted back to my seat. We had a bit of turbulence and as you can see Frankie is starting to look a little green – yet perhaps that is normal for a frog?

So now I am safely home and so happy to be surrounded by friends and family. I am also hugely excited at the prospect of real food. I am dreaming of riding my dear mt bike except a mere R2000’s worth of damage is currently standing in my way. Did I mention I spent R5000 on it and spares before I left? This adventure streak within my personality could become somewhat problematic due to its expense. Of course it’s not just the cost of the travel but added expenses and the cost of not working that is most considerable but that said had I to consider it again I’d go in a flash.

And this brings us to the question of work no doubt. I shall let you all know once I have finalised things. In the meantime I am pitching an article to Oprah magazine and considering a Masters in “innovation and creativity” (just a thought, just a thought) amongst some other plans.

I’ve attached a few pics from the last bit of the trip for those of you not on Facebook. Love the chameleon whiskey and the Emperor’s palace. I’m thinking that if I am ever reincarnated I might like to be an Emperor.

In case you’re wondering who the 4 people in the picture are with Frankie, they’re the Czeck family that I met that I travelled with. They were very interesting like so many of the people I met from the German living-in-California conspiracy theorist to the Chinese I-hate-cycling guy who blared Chinese pop music to the Chinese born, US raised Environmental policy specialist living in Manilla to the Belgian meat store owners to the British living-in-India bomb miner….they certainly made the journey most interesting. I also read a fascinating book called “Living in Absurdistan” by an Ozzie journalist called Eric Campell who was posted to places like Moscow, Kosovo, Beijing, Slovenia, Iran, Afganistan from 1996 to 2003 and it really opened my eyes.

I feel like I learnt as much about the world, it’s joys and challenges as I did about Vietnam and Laos on this trip and feel unbelievably blessed for having had the experience.

 Thank you to all of you who sponsored me. It looks like I’ll get to R20 000 by the end which is great! More importantly thank you for your support for without you I could not have achieved what I set out to. 1200km’s for a complete non-athlete is, for me, a massive achievement and proved to be the experience of a lifetime.

Sending love

Kitkat and Frankie

PS Frankie is most delighted to be home and is busy negotiating a book deal “Frankie goes to Nam”. I think he may actually be onto something although I have to say his jumping into every photo shouting “it’s for my book deal, it’s for my book deal!” was getting a little tiresome towards the end. 

So for (on average) 5 days out of every month, most women between the age of 15 and 50 experience something called "PMT". This means they are grumpy, irritable, emotional and by my own admission should generally abstain from operating heavy duty machinery for fear of possible homicide. Alas I find myself in this state...on a bicycle in the middle of South East Asia with none other than Frankie to listen to me vent as we peddle away. For the past 2 days he has been seated in my back pocket looking out oer the world but today he sat on the front handle bars to check out the amazing jungle scenery that is
Northern Laos.

Crossing the border yesterday was like jumping down into the rabbit hole; magical and scary all at the same time. After a couple of hours at the border post (and a mere $34 for the visa; actually $30 for the visa and then $1 because it was Sunday, $1 for a service fee and $2 penalty for not having photo's) we crossed into magical Laos. The road, and I use the term loosely, consisted of rocks and dust and I was truly in my element as we tackled the hairy descent. Unfortunatey for us, the govt has commenced a 4 year road project which means that sections of the road are closed for 4 hours at a time and so we sat having a picnic on the side of the road whilst valuable daylight hours ticked by. The best attitude, I have learnt, whilst travelling in Asia is the "oh well" attitude and may prove useful in preventing possible heart attacks in inpatient travellers.

Whilst we waited we went to see the local village and I felt as though I had stepped back in time. It felt a bit strange walking through the village and I wondered what the locals must have thought of us. I'm not sure I'd like a bunch of tourists walking 'round my backyard and taking pics.

Once the road opened at 4pm we got on the bikes for another half an hour before being told that we needed to get on the truck otherwise we may miss the ferry. (We have swopped guides as our travel co. SpiceRoads believes in promoting local ecomoies.) Joy, our Loas guide, told us that the ferry closed at 6h30pm and that it would take us approximately an hour to get there. Joy, the Loas name for skinny, suits his name very well as he is both skinny and joyful. Like most Laos people, his eyes shine with kindness and generosity. Most Loas people are Buddhist and it seems to be more intergrated into their daily life than in Vietnam although I dont think I'm at liberty to make such sweeping statements.

Back to the truck...despite the most magical scenery after an hour and a half we began to worry that we may not make it. Every time we asked Joy how much further he responded "10 minutes". It was Wim's 41st birthday and we began to worry that we may have to spend his birthday camping on the side of the road. After the 4th response of "10 minutes" we all burst out laughing and had to stop the truck because we were in danger of falling off from laughing so much.

Thankfully we made it - just - and despite our concerns arrived at the most quaint river village. The hotel was clean and dinner was a festive affair at an open aired river cafe. We started dinner with shots of Laos whiskey for Wim's birthday which is probably the most vile drink I've ever had. I have spent the past two days with terrible cramps and I think it just burnt a hole right through. After dinner they turned the music up and even made a cake for Wim. It turned out to be one of the most amazing days!

Today we were sadly back on the tar although perhaps one of the most stunning stretches of road I have ever ridden on. The road meandered along the river valley surrounded by jungle covered mountains. 105km's and some spectacular snack and photo stops later we arrived at Udom Xai which is one of the major cities. The hotel is beyond spectacular and I dont think I'll be anxious to jump out of bed tomorrow. Joy says it's a tough day tomorrow so best Frankie and I carbo load this evening!

On a bit of a more personal note I really missed home today. Whilst we're travelling in a group it's challeging to continuously rely on and manage yourself. I'm missing you sis, dad and friends.
Sending love to you all.
Love Lisa and Frankie