I spent three weeks at Lake Toba in North Sumatra, Indonesia on two separate occasions and did virtually nothing both times. It's not my fault, though. Between lazing in a hammock, swimming in the thermally heated lake, and eating some of the best grilled fish I've ever had anywhere, my days were pretty full. Nevertheless, on both visits, I managed to move some things around … [Read more...]
Finishing the Loop With a Tour of Lao Bike Repair Shops
We hung out at Hin Poun Viewpoint at the top of the pass for a bit, admiring the view, taking pictures and enjoying some celebrity treatment at the hands of a group of Laotian college students on break. Basically that involved every one of us posing for various pictures with every one of them, as us westerners are often asked to do in Asia. After that, we had a thrilling … [Read more...]
Exploring Gigantic Kong Lo Cave by Boat
At its entrance, Kong Lo (Konglor) Cave is relatively narrow, but once you get in a ways, it widens considerably. In some places it apparently gets up to 90 meters wide and 100 meters high. At narrower points, the river fills the cave from wall to wall; when the cave widens, you even get a beach at one point, with what appeared to be pure white sand, although it was impossible … [Read more...]
Another Detour in Search of Another Nonexistent Attraction
After we left the little village, we had a few hours of bad roads ahead of us. We picked our way through the obstacles in the road slowly, stopping a bunch of times to take pictures of the very strange and unique, post-apocalyptic-looking landscape along this section of the motorbike 'loop'. We also stopped once for another flat tire, this time on a different bike … [Read more...]
New Year’s Party in a Tiny Laotian Village
When we got to the parking area, one of the drunkest Laotians immediately jumped on one of our bikes and insisted he drive, to show us the way. He was holding a bunch of stuff in one hand and a bunch of alcohol in his stomach, so he would be driving one handed while seeing at least two of everything. I think the only reason he wanted to drive our bike was because he was too … [Read more...]