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| Not a bad view |
Neil radioed ahead that there was a
view point and we have to stop. Little did we know what
would come next. Urals, a gaggle of them, with New Zealand flags waving
behind each bike. To me I thought cylinder heads out the side of the engine
equals BMW but Neil quickly corrected me. It was a group of males and
females travelling through Vietnam and Laos on hired bikes. We were invited to ride down the road 40kms to stay and eat with them.
It was mentioned that there was going to be a pig on the spit. Hell yes! Also apple sauce brought from New Zealand. Done and done. So we went back
down the mountain to follow the gaggle to their night stop. This is
where I experienced my first official water crossing. Most of you are
probably thinking “so what?" Well let me tell you, big deal. I was
second in line and did not have trusty Neil to back he up as he usually
does. I radioed after I had done it ...eep. Scary, but if in doubt gas it
out. I basically just gassed it the whole way. World travel, BMWs,
other motorcycles etc was the topic for the rest of the day and
night.
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| What a sweet ride!! |
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| Mr Pig joined us for a Beer Lao |
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| After a day of long riding |
The following day the group had planned
to visit the Konglor Cave via boat. There was no more room so we
decided to ride three kilometres down the road to the entrance of the cave. We needed to move on and get to Vientiane which was some 300
kilometres or so away. We couldn't do the full one and half hours cave tour. Neil managed to find someone who spoke enough English to tell
the ticket man we only wanted to go part way into the cave. So with
that sorted, we descended to the boat and our two guides. The cave
runs 7 kilometres in length. It connects through to the Natane village at the other end and is the only way to access it. The river has formed a natural tunnel
30 metres wide and between 20-100 metres high. Within the main
chamber is a large collection of stalagmites and stalactites. Just a
little more information on the geology. The Karst of Khammouane area, is a
belt of Karst limestone 270 km long and 40 km wide. It was laid down
in seas over 300 million years ago and then forced to the surface by
tectonic plate movements. It lies between the Mekong River in Laos and the Vietnamese border. Over all it was a truly breath taking
sight. I only wish now we had more time to explore the rest of the
cave, but there was the rest of Laos to explore.
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| Boat ride into cave of wonders |
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| Neil believes this is a perfect place to make spells |
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| Our guide snapped this photo of us. |
Toot Toot, next stop Vientiane. A very
tiring 300 km later we hit the capital. Here we needed to obtain our
Thai visa and some much deserved R & R from riding. Neil managed to find us a
wonderful Vietnamese Guesthouse to stay in. I think we were to only
“phalang” (foreigner) to stay there. The first night, the humble and generous owner, Tuan, asked his daughter, Tuey to prepare us a traditional Vietnamese dinner. Which was different
from other flavours we have encountered in SE Asia. We descended on
the very busy Thai Consulate the next morning after a long earned
rest. One day and 1000 baht each poorer and we are laughing.
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| Selfie |
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| Neil enjoying his coconut |
Neil had managed to find some very
large markets and took me for a look... Holy Moly. You name it they
had it, but was available at 10 other shops as well. Which meant for serious bargain
shopping. Being sincere to the budget I resisted purchasing. Zeus help me if
I ever return! Considering we only have limited time in Laos, we had
to get moving. Vang Vieng next stop. Neil had visited with a best mate four years ago and had a ball. Unfortunately the Vang Vieng he
knew had been torn down August this year. Just
our luck. I kept hearing these fantastic stories but this is the way
things are. There is still tubing though.
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| Neil stayed here four years ago, its tripled its rooms now though. |
So we navigate through Vang Vieng and
end up at the same guest house where he had stayed years before, unpacked, and went off to explore. Food was great and fresh I ended up living on a
bacon, chicken and cheese baguettes for like 3 days straight. I believe I could have kept going, heheh. The people were lovely too.
Explaining where they could what had happened in the community since the government had removed the river bars and dangerous flying foxes and trapezes.
Apparently tax evasion was a major cause to the grand end, let alone the regular deaths on the river.
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| On the road again |
Neil decided to take me tubing so I can
say at least I did that. Good fun and nice and relaxing. Although
Neil and I kept getting free back massages from rocks under the
surface. Tomorrow we move onto Luang Prabang.
Better run through the
Jungle
Riding took up the next day and we
arrived late at Luang Prabang some 270 kilometres. Big rides
considering prior in Laos we had only done about 130 kilometres in a day and were
completely exhausted. But these rides included dirt and hair pin
corners, an off road riders dream. I have never seen so many
twisties in my life!!! By the end I was saying no more, but the
experience meter sky rocketed I think. Pretty good trade off. Two
German blokes on Honda Baja motorbikes had passed us on the road up the mountain and we
stopped for a quick yarn at the look out. Amazing!!
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| Nice headlights |
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| Breath taking |
Accommodation was found and we went to explore
the night market of Luang Prabang. Again I had to fight the urges to buy and
if only I just came here, I would need at least one extra bag to bring home
all the goodies. Only one night here then in the morning north to the
Chinese border. I am not sure why exactly but apparently there is an
abandoned casino or town.
Flat as
My friend Mr Dirt came for a visit again, along with those twisties. Although there was
beautiful scenery and a chance for a quick glimpse into the life of rural Laos people. Most smiled and waved but some looked too consumed by their back breaking labour. That is something I noticed, they are all
really hard workers! We stopped for a break and began winning the local
children with a packet of chips with bonus Angry Birds cards. A bicycle rider passed by, we found out that he was from China riding to
Australia!!! Broken English, but top bloke. Then one big new BMW pulled
up. Then around 3 more joined, always a welcomed sight. The air filled
with laughter, ooooos and arghhhhs. I just had to stand there and
laugh. We found out through broken English they were from China
riding back home. They invited us to join them to the border. Well
where we could. With the exchange of details, one man said 'call me' when you get to China. We tried to explain we weren’t going into China, only the border, but
thought we would leave it at that.
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| This is how you dry chillies |
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| Our little friend and his Angry Birds, and angry shoes! |
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| Our mate Yang Wei from China |
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| Our new Chinese friends |
It was decided
to stay overnight at Udomxai or Muang Xai. Where we explored the
local markets again and Neil invested in some fireworks. This then
filled our night, to awake the next morning with chickens trying to
eat the spent firework packets. I had the best baguette of my life here.
Admiring the magnificent
Laos country side
Heading to the Chinese border, the roads
were flat and beautiful. Minus the occasional crazy bus, mini van or
truck. We then started for our last port of call, Huay Sai. The
twisties came to Neil’s joy while I plodded along, but wow, some of
those hills were freaking steep!! We did however manage to see the recent remains of an overturned truck full of grapes. Maybe we should have
picked some too as the whole village was out in force scavenging.
Zoom
At the Chinese border
We are now resting up awaiting for the
1st of November so we can head across the Mekong for the last
time on the trip. While I sit writing weeks of blog, Neil is be-friending a local to modify the bikes even more. I am so excited as soon
I will have to opportunity to meet up with my bestie in Chiang Mai!
Till our next adventure.......
