Lone Rider
Blokes Who Can
Not really a touristic trip this time as I had to deliver a few thousand Laos maps to Tiger Trail Travel (http://laos-adventures.com/index.asp?) and MotoLao (http://www.motolao.com/) which supported the production of the Laos map.
Departure from Chiangmai and using my favorite shortcut past Uttaradit as there are often large flocks of birds
I reached the border with Laos early in the afternoon and, as usual, things proceeded slowly. On the Thai side a pleasant surprise - they only wanted the TM2 form and gave me the TM3, TM4 and all the photocopies back. On the Lao side the usual checking and rechecking of all documents but after 45 minutes I was cleared for entry but not after having to donate a few maps to the immigration guys. By the way, motorbikes are still a No-No at the Thai-Laos border crossings located in Xayaboury province. I stayed the night in Kenethao at the Ivee GH (Coordinates: N17.73217 E101.39115 Phone: 030-9488882, 020-22244010, 020-55789199 - 100-160.000 Kip/night)
The next morning it was off to Luang Prabang via Paklay and Xayaboury. Some progress on the Paklay bridge and the Vietnamese engineer indicated that the bridge would be ready for use in March this year.
In Xayaboury they were busy preparing for the Elephant Festival which will be held from 13-19 February
An elephant on his way to Xayaboury
Upgrading of Road 4B at the Hongsa end - major earthworks going on
Looking at the site of the Pak Beng hydropower project
It had been raining on and off for a few days but while on my way to Oudomxay the heavens opened and I decided to cancel my plan to have a look at the Talae waterfall in Houn District.
In order to get to the waterfall you'll have to drive through endless banana plantations owned by Chinese companies.
The Chinese consumers only buy bananas without any blemish so the banana bunches are protected by lots of plastic during the growing process
and this is where all the plastic ends up once the bananas have been harvested and shipped to China - dumped along the road and hopefully to be recycled
More and more rain coming down and the road works on Rd 3 from Luang Namtha to Houayxai are progressing very slowly. Not sure what is happening as they started the work in November by removing parts of the pavement and up to now almost nothing has been done to put in a new pavement.
This is one of the places where the pavement was taken away - from the pavement you drop down some 30 centimeters without much of a warning. The worst part is a 12 km. stretch between Viengpoukha and Nam Ngeun south of Viengpoukha
And by the way - Rd 3 still takes its toll so watch out and drive carefull on this road
Departure from Chiangmai and using my favorite shortcut past Uttaradit as there are often large flocks of birds
I reached the border with Laos early in the afternoon and, as usual, things proceeded slowly. On the Thai side a pleasant surprise - they only wanted the TM2 form and gave me the TM3, TM4 and all the photocopies back. On the Lao side the usual checking and rechecking of all documents but after 45 minutes I was cleared for entry but not after having to donate a few maps to the immigration guys. By the way, motorbikes are still a No-No at the Thai-Laos border crossings located in Xayaboury province. I stayed the night in Kenethao at the Ivee GH (Coordinates: N17.73217 E101.39115 Phone: 030-9488882, 020-22244010, 020-55789199 - 100-160.000 Kip/night)
The next morning it was off to Luang Prabang via Paklay and Xayaboury. Some progress on the Paklay bridge and the Vietnamese engineer indicated that the bridge would be ready for use in March this year.
In Xayaboury they were busy preparing for the Elephant Festival which will be held from 13-19 February
An elephant on his way to Xayaboury
Upgrading of Road 4B at the Hongsa end - major earthworks going on
Looking at the site of the Pak Beng hydropower project
It had been raining on and off for a few days but while on my way to Oudomxay the heavens opened and I decided to cancel my plan to have a look at the Talae waterfall in Houn District.
In order to get to the waterfall you'll have to drive through endless banana plantations owned by Chinese companies.
The Chinese consumers only buy bananas without any blemish so the banana bunches are protected by lots of plastic during the growing process
and this is where all the plastic ends up once the bananas have been harvested and shipped to China - dumped along the road and hopefully to be recycled
More and more rain coming down and the road works on Rd 3 from Luang Namtha to Houayxai are progressing very slowly. Not sure what is happening as they started the work in November by removing parts of the pavement and up to now almost nothing has been done to put in a new pavement.
This is one of the places where the pavement was taken away - from the pavement you drop down some 30 centimeters without much of a warning. The worst part is a 12 km. stretch between Viengpoukha and Nam Ngeun south of Viengpoukha
And by the way - Rd 3 still takes its toll so watch out and drive carefull on this road
