Savannaket Laos

Monday November 4th... we're half way to Singapore. Today was the 35th riding day out of 70, and today we went past the 4000 km mark. A flat ride today down the Mekong to Savannaket. Temperature mid-30s, sunshine throughout. We appreciated the relative coolness of the first couple of hours. We didn't appreciate the wind when it opposed us for about 20 km after lunch, but we forgave it when we turned and it helped us for the final 25 km.

The early morning sunlight was also best for photos...

one of several monasteries along the route

typical house on stilts...

...this one with cattle beneath it, but we've seen cars and bikes,
workshops, laundry, pool tables, all the things we'd put in
garages and basements.

We get on the bikes and underway at 6:30 and people are always already out in the fields...

...and the kids are on their way to school by then too...

We've seen outdoor classes... this looks like flag-raising...
The kids all appear neat and clean in their uniforms...

...and all the schools have big bike parking areas.

One thing we noticed through China and Vietnam was how few birds we saw. So it was nice today to see all these swallows on a line over a marshy area beside the Mekong...

...and just after I packed up the long lens, this bird arrived and was nice enough to stay around long enough for me to remount the long lens and get the photo. Not sure what kind of bird it is, but it behaved like a kind of flycatcher, swooping down close to the water then back to the same perch. Whatever it is, we thought it was pretty enough to share.