Northern Vietnam & Laos

I made my way North and crossed the 17th parallel. The bridge in the DMZ still shows what used to be the North and the South of Vietnam. 

Bridge at the 17th parallel

I was time to leave the coast of Vietnam and slowly head to Laos. 

I took some time to visit Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park with these incredible karst mountains. The weather had turned grey with some rain but the landscape is of exact the type, I like a lot. 

Even the caves, which are normaly not my favourites, were quite impressive. 

Paradies cave

By leaving the densely populated coast, the streets became much more quiet. Still here and there was a school with lots of children, just waiting to greet you in a very intensive way. 

Sometimes, I really need to run - to escape these thousand hands ;-)

Into Laos, 5km behind the border, the sun came back. 

in Laos

The budist tempel reappeared (many christian churches in Vietnam). 

Paksan

I made my way to the Mekong river and cycled up to Vientiane. Beside meeting  nice people on the way, this part of Laos is pretty flat, the North with the mountains is supposed to be much nicer.  But I have to save that for the next visit of Laos. 

Vientiane

After a long day on the bicycle