You Don't Rent What!?

We'd planned on renting a couple scooters to tool around on while we were here. The travel guide said they were available everywhere. Apparently scooters aren't available for rent anymore. Or wait, not on weekends. No, just not in Luang Prabang. Everyone in town had a different story. It all boils down to there were too many accidents by foreigners over the last year. Too many for a country without a proper hospital. The last one being a guy who broke both legs in a head on.

So we found a place to rent us some mountain bikes and we took a tour of the province by foot pedal.

We meandered around a bit and came across San Pedro of the Mekong.

We back tracked and found our way out thru a village. Past an old slaughterhouse with piles of old dried bones. A random cow here and there. Roaming the country side doing good deeds. We rode until we hit woods, took a breather, and turned back.

On the way back we had kids running out to say hi, "Sabaidee!", slap us a hi-five, or run along with us. Daniel kicked up a few wheelies to their cheers. Eventually we were followed by a small group of kids on bikes. Older bikes missing a few things. Things like brakes. One kid would slip his leg back and drag his rubber flip-flop along the wheel to slow down instead.

All in all it was a fun ride. A lot of hard work and sweat. Eventually, all I had to leave behind was this final imprint. It's got me thinking about getting a bike to ride in the morning around Chaing Mai for exercise.