Mr. Noi and Alan Bate, unexpected stay....

The most consistent lesson you learn while traveling is listening to your gut; that little intuitive feeling that tells you where your path shall go. Emily and I recall the moments where we have felt it, where we knew we would be making the right decision to go with it, and to no prevail, we have been delighted by unique and memorable experiences that fuels our hearts. Sitting in a cafe in Pai, we were trying to decide what our next move was going to be. We had been warned that Pai can "get" you; you come for a few days but stay for weeks. We were enjoying our time there with some new English friends and the large amounts of wandering hippie's and ex-pats, but our time together was limited and there was so much we wanted to see! We wanted to make our way to the Thailand-Laos border and take a boat down the Mekong to Luang Prabang, which is the path of most the travelers we met, who buy packages to do it all. There had been rumors that the river was too low (it hadn't rained in 4 months); boats had hit rocks and sunk or simply just got stuck. These rumors and the desire to get off the beaten track convinced us to just buy one bus ride to the border town of Chaing Khong. On the bus we met some amazing people who made the 6 hour ride bearable; one of them being Aman, a Turkish man born and raised in Germany, who was one of very few people left who spoke Amharic. We were the only three on the bus who had no plans but "whatever happens" at the border. As we walked the sleepy streets in the town we met Mr. Noi, a Thai man we started conversation with, originally in search of sticky rice and mango. He informed us that there was something special to see in Chaing Khong, just take a left at the next street....and there we found The Hub, a bicycle museum packed full of bike paraphernalia. The owner, a British man, had collected all the items since he was 13 years old, the year that he knew he was going to race bikes. We sat with him as he told us his story; the feeling he got when we first saw a racer, the people he had met (who knew mick jagger was a cyclist?), buying a 150 year old bike and one made completely out of recycled material....and his new adventure, riding around the world in 99 days to beat the record of 126 days by a man years younger than he! He encouraged us to stay and as we sat mesmerized by his tales, a decision was made to stay and rent bikes to a lake he recommended.
The next day Emily, Aman, and I hopped on gear less bikes and made our way down a dirt road cupped in rice fields and thatched huts. Mountains surrounding us, reminding us of our upcoming journey to Laos, we made our way to a quiet lake, sat and cooled off, and giggle in pure enjoyment of our little intuition showing us the right way......