Muang Houn to Oudomxay

Thursday October 19, 2017, 57 miles (91 km) - Total so far: 940 miles

(1,512 km)

Similar riding to yesterday but equally charming. Road condition still pretty good, with the odd shocking section. It didn't slow us down too much though. The terrain is rolling, which somehow feels hard! More trucks passing at speed, which wasn't too bad for us but did make us wonder about the safety of the unsupervised kids and free range animals in the villages (not just chickens and dogs now, but lots of ducks, pigs and goats too!)

The Lonely Planet is extremely uncomplementary about Oudomxay, but we thought it was ok! It feels a bit like it's half Chinese, but quite 'normal' for this part of the world really. We found an excellent bakery for late lunch (on the way into town on the left, just before the roundabout with a great big sign) and the Xaysana hotel is pretty good (80,000 kip for another standard fan room, and the reception girl was really helpful despite the language barrier).

Dinner was at the much hyped Supahilin's restaurant. It's pretty random. The food was good but not amazing - that's usually the way when something has been over-hyped though!