Crusty Quinns do Northern Laos - December 2012

[Pounce]

This report will take a while to get done, so I'll be doing it in installments. Please bear with me as there's 1200 odd photos to troll through & sort out into a coherent story.

After last years 7 day trip on my own 4 mates from Perth joined me this year to do some of the stuff I missed & just to have a look around.

Crusty Quinns do Northern Laos

Arrival day.
We arrive in Vientiane around 9.30pm on the 1[SUP]st[/SUP] December. Luckily at Villa Lao, there are cold beers in your fridge when you get there.
We immediately meet Richard Winter (V-Strom) so settle in for a few beers while we’re awake.

Day 0
We all get up for our fee breakfast. It’s time to chose bikes as they’ve been sitting there waiting for us for a few days. We all pick “the best one” but Tommy decides to go for the only Baja among them. The beast will be both kind & cruel to him over the next 19 days.

Jim from Remote Asia arrives around lunchtime for a chat & to get the paperwork done.
The stress starts already. He’s looked over my planned route & reckons we’ll struggle on Day 1 & 2 to do the distances within time allowed. He recommends changing the routes or extending them over 3-4 days. Great!
After he leaves, we have a bit of a chat about it & make a decision – stuff it, we’ll stick to the original plan. If it turns to shit on the trail then that’s all part of the trip. I modify Day 1 slightly with Richards help on his laptop just to chop an hour or 2 off it but basically it’s the same route & we’ll end up in the same place.

Right, bikes are sorted, we’ve bolted on the stuff we need for GPS’s etc, added the Airhawk seats & got them ready. Time for a test ride, Mike; ride on the right, ride on the right. Guess what he does straight away! I get to the end of the laneway & the bike is out of fuel. We were told they are on reserve but we expected at least half a litre to get the 1klm down the road to the fuel station. Empty drink bottle, drain a bit from one of the others then it’s all go. Lunch down by the Mekong then a bit of shopping which includes emergency food (baked beans, tuna or Nutella are the choices) a new flash Nokia phone for Tommy with SIM cards all round.
Back to Villa Lao to pack the bags then we have a few more beers & head out for dinner & an early night. We’re trying to be on the road at 8 in the morning.


Day 1 – 3[SUP]rd[/SUP] Dec 2012 – Vientiane to Muang Huang
239klm’s Maximum Elevation 970m
Moving Time – 5h 32m Stopped Time – 3h 8m
Moving Average - 43kph Overall Average - 27kph

Everyone is a bit excited that it starts today.
8.20am & we leave Villa Lao for the journey. Stupid drive on the right road rules, I nearly get cleaned up leaving the driveway. :-)

We head north out f town up Route 10 until we turn east onto the 4509 then east agin onto an unpaved road heading through the Phou Khao Khouay National Park. 6000k entry fee each.
For a day 1 road, this looks a hell of a lot like where we ride in Perth. Yarra Rd, Powerlines & even the Wokalup area.
It goes up over a few hills that have some road construction that was started years ago and never finished. This turns out to be a standard practice in Laos road construction. It is a fantastic ride never the less with all sorts of terrain.

Now we’re pushing to get to a place called Longsan before 2pm. Advice was that if we’re not here by 2, we wouldn’t make it to MH by dark so we’d have to do a main road run. This was part of the stress yesterday.

We get our first bit of twisty tar road heading down the mountain & as it’s around 12.30 when we get to B. Xiengmee so we get some fuel & stop for lunch. Buffalo soup is on todays menu. Now’s also a good time to work out where we are.

Shit we’re good, it seems we passed Longsan an hour ago. No dramas then as that will give us buckets of time to go the last 80klm’s :-)
We keep heading east towards B. Nong & the Nam Ngap river. We’ve been told there’s a ferry here to cross.

It has taken us 1 ½ to get here, then another 25 minutes to get across so it’s now 3pm with 36klm’s left to go.
Once across, we’re on what the GPS calls a jungle track. Up until now the roads has been fairly dry with a bit of dust. Well that soon changes. This is now a sloppy, muddy, hilly winding track that yes, goes through the jungle. We’re having a ball. I get quote of the day. “I’m going to slow down a bit now in case I come off”. You guessed it, 2 minutes later the front washed out & I’m down.

Our speed has dropped considerably because of this & we can now see why Jim had some concerns about our arrival time. If we were here any even a week earlier, this would have taken maybe twice as long or even been impassable. Luckily there’s only about 20klm’s of this.
We finally arrive in Muang Huang at 5pm (yep, that last section of 80klm’s took 4 hours) & find a bed & food at the Keomany Guest House. The rooms are a good size but only have cold showers. We don’t care as the food is great & there’s plenty of cold beer.

Day 1 over & everyone has thoroughly enjoyed their introduction into riding Laos.

 

[KTMphil]

This is going to be a scorcher -- a tip of the hat to you, looking forward to more.

 

[barrygrussell]

Great report so far. I hooked and looking forward to the next instalment!

 

[Ally]

Great stuff !

Look forward to the next installment.

Ally

 

[Lone Rider]

Yesss - great stuff and look forward to the rest. Good idea to feed us the story in bits of pieces so we have time to "take it all in".

 

[Pounce]

Day 2 - 4[SUP]th[/SUP] Dec 2012 -Muang Huang - Phonsavan
261klm's Maximum Elevation 2171m
Moving Time - 6h 37m Stopped Time - 3h 53m
Moving Average - 39kph Overall Average - 25kph
On the road at 8.11am

Up early for breakfast with us then heading north on the 5101 to the junction of the 1D. The 30klm section 5101 is an OK road, standard dirt with mud & potholes

where Tommy gets the first flat tyre of the trip where there just happens to be LEECHES! This takes us half an hour to fix.

& one creek crossing…

…where we had to dismount & help give some locals a push with their truck.

We get to the 1D & have a short respite from the dirt for 5 minutes heading into B. Pankgnong where there's a ferry crossing. Thanks to my brilliant planning, we have arrived just as the new bridge is being finished over the Nam Xan so no need to wait for the ferry.
8klm's along the road we turn north onto a really horrible cobblestone road that heads up into the mountains. This is our first (but not last) experience on this type of road. You can't ride it normally! The back bounces around so much there's no traction, especially going up these steep hills.
It's a beautiful scenic ride though, up through the clouds heading to Muang Mok Mai.
We've spread out a bit enjoying this great road

We're 15 minutes from MMM when we discover that Mike is not with us. Well we all end up going back about 6 klm's to find him with the second flat of the trip. While digging out another rear tube, Tommy notices that his fender bag, with our only front tube has bounced off somewhere between his flat & this one. We are pros at changing the tyres now, so Tommy, Carl, Mike & Ash hook into it while I entertain the small group of kids that are gathering.

We all have a go on the bike pump to get the tyre inflated but it doesn't seem to work. Damn, we've pinched the tube? Nope. We strip it down again & find that a nail is still in the tyre. Who checked that? Sheepish replies all round so Mike gets a second flat against his name.
We head through MMM & decide to carry on but we get snookered. The GPS is trying to tell us to cross this deep fast flowing river & beeps at me angrily every time I try to get a new route. It's getting on for 2pm now & we still have around 130klm's to go for Phonsavan so I have another small stress out as we're not going through that river.

Back into Muang Mok Mai for a spot of lunch & a good hard talking too for the GPS. Well ain't I the fool. If I'd have just zoomed out a bit I'd see that the main road goes around to the other side of the river. Stuff it, we'll have lunch here much to the delight of the whole village who come out to watch us eat. MMM is like a small trading post/cross roads town with a bucket load of small markets.

After a noodle soup lunch we head for Phonsavan only to again be snookered 10klm's up the road by construction. As we only have 3 hours of light left to go 120klm's we start waving our arms about at the front end loader driver that's dumping earth over the road from on high. We get a signal that it won't be open until 5pm which doesn't suit us so we send Carl on through. Almost a bad mistake because as he gets over the crest, there is no road or track, just a slope of fresh dirt heading down the mountainside.

Panic stations as me & Tommy race over to help Carl who's struggling a bit not to go tumbling. We get everybody moving rather quickly as we've upset the bloke doing his job & he starts up dumping dirt again with us under him. It takes a huge team effort to get the other 5 bikes over as there is no traction in the deep loose earth.
Yay we all made it. Some locals on this side that are waiting patiently give us a strange look & do the old "point to the head & shake it in disbelief" international sign for Crazy Fucking Falangs.
We stop for a laugh at how stupid we are & a good drink of water, then the fun begins. This road is another that seems to be under constant construction & repair. There are sections of smooth wide bits interspersed with slippery narrow deep muddy bits, all while heading up & up to 2171m where at the very summit we run the construction gauntlet again… this time with the operators blessing

There's a couple of offs by Mike along this section but there only low speed falls in the very slippery muck. Funny as hell at times though as we all have some very close calls.
We take our time & finally arrive in Phonsavan around 6.30pm. A good 10.5 hour day!
We have a few beers as tomorrow will be a rest day to go look at the Plain of Jars, get our flat tubes patched & try to find a couple of spare 19" front tubes.
Accommodation is at the Dok Khoune Hotel & I think it was around 80,000k for a flash room with hot water & plenty of parking for the bikes

Also, half a million for dinner sounds rich, but for what we got plus 8 beers, $10 Aussie each is a steal.

 

[The Bigfella]

Great stuff Pounce. Keep it coming.

 

[KTMphil]

+1

Great stuff Pounce. Keep it coming.

 

[Pounce]

Day 3 - 5[SUP]th[/SUP] Dec 2012 - Phonsavan

Today we just hang around & go have a look at the Plain of Jars Site 1, get the tubes sorted & wash the bikes. Also Tommy's Baja lost a nut from his engine mount bolt, so we need to find one of them too.

The last photo posted on yesterdays story is a bit deceiving as it's after the bikes were washed.

I tried to park closer but got yelled at by an angry short man.

There's a lot of history involved here, too much for me to tell so pick up a book & learn it yourselves.

We stay here for a bit then try to find the spot to see the MIGS at the airport. Got Binoculars? Not us. We see them in the distance so that will do.
Back to town to wash the bikes & get the other stuff sorted.

And play with an old gun

A wander around the markets, some food, Mike tries to find a new pocket knife as his other one made it through Perth Customs but he got detained at Bangkok when we were transferring flights & it was confiscated.

 

[KTMphil]

Did you go see the Mig fighters around the back of Phonsavan airport?

 

[Pounce]

Did you go see the Mig fighters around the back of Phonsavan airport?

We stay here for a bit then try to find the spot to see the MIGS at the airport. Got Binoculars? Not us. We see them in the distance so that will do.

.....

 

[Pounce]

Day 4 – 6[SUP]th[/SUP] Dec 2012 – Phonsavan – Luang Probang
235klm’s Maximum Elevation 1527m
Moving Time – 7h 04m Stopped Time – 3h 15m
Moving Average - 33kph Overall Average - 23kph
On the road at 7.30am

Today was meant to be a relatively easy ride, & it sort of was one, just longer than I thought. It ended up being another 10 ½ hour day.
The roads ended up being a more of the half finished/repaired mud roads that we’ve already seen, around 10 river crossings with one real bastard, farm tracks & single tracks. Thinking back now, this was another good fun day.
We start off heading north to the 3909 through country that is rather barren in parts, but you turn a corner & you’re back into the bamboo/vines but then get to the other side of the hill & you’re in pine trees. Rather a weird sensation having it change so much.

I’ve sort of lost track of the order of events here, so I’ll let the photos talk & comment on them as I go.

Tommy notices that his sub frame has sheared off & he’s lost a bolt from the rack. Carl to the rescue with 20+ cable ties. Is there nothing they can fix? Mikes throttle is a bit sticky from an off too, so we have a go at fixing that while we can.

Fuel stop in the middle of nowhere with one very happy lady. She just couldn’t or wouldn’t stop laughing.

A couple of the easy river crossings along this route.

That blue puff of smoke is a truck coming up stream, which means we have to follow it down stream.

Everything is going fine, lots of water, great tracks, lots of laughs until we reach the Nam Khan.
Piece of piss I say, I’ve put the bike on a speed boat before so these canoes will be easy.

Well I’m shitting myself. If anything was inherently unstable, it’s a flat bottomed canoe with 250kg of bike & scared white boy in it. NOT HAPPY! I’M TERRIFIED! HELP! All while the little bloke in the front is saying OK, OK, OK, OK.

I get to the other side all dry, apart from the 5 litres of sweat, & have never felt so happy. If the bike went in, my trip was over. Money, cameras, phone, clothes, everything, gone.

NEXT!
Tommy the bastard is all smiles.

And he has to come back for his. They’re getting a bit smarter now & de pack the bikes & sit down to keep the CofG lower.

Carls getting loaded up while Tommy is doing his second run. Look how close Carl comes to swimming across. I knew I was scared for a reason.

Mike & Ash make it look easy, or they just didn’t fuss as much. Plus they had 2 people on the poles.

Now I was all happy to give them a huge tip for their help but they ended up stinging us for 100,000 per trip, so 700K all up was enough.
I’m laughing while writing this thinking back on the episode.
Onward & upward as they say. We have 142klm’s to go & the time is now quarter past 12. Again, no worries as the road is a main route so this should be easy now. Red clay, red wet slippery clay, red wet slippery up & down steep hill clay. We come across some people doing carbon research. They’ld cut a sapling down & we couldn’t cross in case we hurt the tree? I asked the young asian girl doing the research if she was from a village nearby. “I’m from Canada” was snapped at me. Well fuck you, we’re going over your log. We pushed the bikes over & went on our way.

We’re all so glad we weren’t here 1 or 2 weeks earlier again; this would have been a nightmare. Bigfella, props to you for doing it all in the wet season you crazy bastard.
We need fuel so we stop in at B. Phone Thong. There mustn’t be many bikes call in here as every kid in the village came out to see us with the local copper type guy keeping an eye on us from behind the fence.

We have a few more rivers to cross but these have bridges. Well bridges of a sort. We probably could have gone through the water, but why miss out on paying 5000k & having a photo opportunity.

Time is creeping up on us again, so we start the run into LPB. One section here is steep, with a capital S & we’re doing it down hill. Tommy actually boils his rear brakes & has none coming in to stop at a bridge. Not been his day bike wise with the broken subframe, brakes & yesterdays bolts falling out.
We’re maybe 60-70klm’s from our destination when the roadworks god strikes again. This time there’s no way around or through so we sit it out until 5 with a bunch of locals.

Come 5pm & the road opens so it’s a mad race to the front of the line. We jostled for position with some Vietnamese couples on scooters but we won.

Luckily the run into LPB now is a fairly good road as we’ll be riding at dusk. No problems at all & we arrive at 6pm just as it’s getting dark. There’s a dodgy GH I stayed in last year that I know has ample secure parking for the bikes as we’ve decided to stay an extra day here because Jim wants a service on the bikes, a valve adjustment(?) & we need to weld Tommys up.

 

[Just Bob]

Subscribed.

"I'm from Canada" was snapped at me. Well fuck you, we're going over your log."

Bwahahahaha!

 

[Lone Rider]

Day 4 – 6[SUP]th[/SUP] Dec 2012 – Phonsavan – Luang Probang

We have a few more rivers to cross but these have bridges. Well bridges of a sort. We probably could have gone through the water, but why miss out on paying 5000k & having a photo opportunity.

Priceless Local Engineering Skills

/QUOTE]

 

[Pounce]

Day 5 - 7[SUP]th[/SUP] Dec 2012 - Luang Probang

Hanging around here today.
No need for an early start so around 9 we decide to try & find Mr Nit to get the bikes done. Word is he has been told to weld up the subframe with a piece of reo bar, do a valve adjustment on all the bikes & a general service. Brakes, chains etc. We cross the road & have noodle soup for breakfast then around 40 minutes later it's all done.

No reo bar, just welded the frame back together, no valve adjustment, no brakes checked. Just a bit of oil on the chains is all that has been done. This was all arranged by the hire company so it's not our problem unless they fall apart or break down.
Tommy & I jump on the blokes lathe & do a quick bit of homework. Notice who's wearing the correct safety gear.

Back into town & everyone decides to do their own thing sort of. I go looking for a decent map. The GT Rider map I have is OK if you're only driving on the main roads but no good for back road stuff. No luck though.
I get a massage around lunchtime then a text message from Mike saying him, Tommy, Ash & Carl are going for a boat ride after they had a foot massage. Cool, I'll go for a nannas nap.

The guys arrive back so we meet up down by the river for dinner & drinks. "I spotted this great place" Mike tells us. Hahaha. Warm beer, rickety balcony, food took way too long to come out, some didn't arrive. We get the hump & pay for what we have had & leave for another just down a bit. Cold beer, Carl finally gets his spring rolls & a safer balcony. The night carries on with a walk back to the main area, some rum, gin & bourbon as we are getting a bit too much beer then bed.
We're heading to Nong Khiew tomorrow which has a fair bit of main road, so no need for an early start.

 

[Pounce]

Day 6 - 8[SUP]th[/SUP] Dec 2012 - Luang Probang - Nong Kheiw
200klm's Maximum Elevation 1266m
Moving Time - 4h 09m Stopped Time - 1h 21m
Moving Average - 47kph Overall Average - 36kph
On the road at 8.00am

Today was a pretty easy ride & quite unremarkable. Nearly everyone has done this route so there's not a lot I can say about it. Readying for today.

I was going to go to the Swedish Bakery but it is not the Swedish Bakery anymore. I know that will upset a couple of people.
So it's down to the sandwich sellers for breakfast. They were all jammed in on the other side of the road as a stage had been erected for something where they normally are.

Today we hit our first truly dusty roads, with the damn bulldust. There's not a lot of it but enough to spread us out.

We come across another bit of road construction. 10 minutes of waiting & getting blank uncomprehending stares from the guy controlling the rope, Ash heads off to see if there's a way through. Well he's not back 3 minutes later so we guess the was a way through. Around the rope we go & this is an easy one, you just had to dodge the odd rock fall down at your wheels.

Once we meet the main road, the gang decide to have a bit of fun. Throttles are opened & the race is on.

It's getting warm so I open the cuffs on my jacket to let a breeze in. Bugger me, 2 minutes later I get a wasp up my left sleeve, the bastard stings me so it's full brakes to a stop to get it out. 4 times in Asia, 3 wasp stings. My record is intact.
We get into Nong Kheiw around 1.30pm. Just in time for lunch & some beers.
We get rooms overlooking the Nam Ou at the Sunrise GH (I think). 60 or 80K for the night.

Never go below & look at the construction.

I go for a walk up to the Riverview Resort to get some local knowledge for tomorrows ride. Jim has informed me they should know if we can get from here to Muang Khau then onto Samphan. I'm told MK is open but getting to Samphan is not doable.
Shit. Now I need to work out a new route. Tommy seems to have taken a lot of pics of me scratching my head, glasses on looking at the GPS & map during the trip.

Oh well, more drinks while the sun sets fixes everything.

 

[KTMphil]

Great stuff Pete, this looked pretty close

 

[The Bigfella]

I didn't do that particular crossing... I did that same section, going in the other direction.... but somewhere north of Phonsavan I went right at an intersection instead of left and came through a very different area for the last few hours and ended up doing the last 40km into Phonsavan on the tar. I did get stung at one river... cost me 50,000 kip. I learnt after that to ask the price before boarding and most of the time I just rode up with 5,000 kip in my hand and they'd take it and off we'd go.

 

[Pounce]

Day 7 - 9[SUP]th[/SUP] Dec 2012 - Nong Kheiw - Buon Thai
209klm's Maximum Elevation 1335m
Moving Time - 5h 32m Stopped Time - 2h 23m
Moving Average - 38kph Overall Average - 26kph
On the road at 7.30am

Last night having a beer, we ran into 2 Swiss guys on a DRZ400 & DR650 out from Pattaya. I had one Ride Asia sticker left over so I slapped it on his bike this morning.

The scenery in the morning is rather less fantastic because of the fog.

After the chat about the route last night, we head off to Muang Khoua as we know the road is open.
I hatched a semi plan last night to get to MK, then if possible put the bikes on a boat & head north to B. Hatsa & ride the short distance back to Phongsali.
As it turns out, this is a fantastic trail up over the mountains so you don't have to take the main road via Oudomxai. I wouldn't try it on a big bike though as I don't think you'd make it if it was wet.
Head along the 1-C then turn right/north onto the 2509.

Again, I'm not sure of the sequence of these pics, so just enjoy the scenery.

We come across this one small bridge. The girl doesn't know what to do & is a bit shy to take money. The sign say 2000, so I give her enough for the 5 of us. This confuses the girl even more as we've walked back over the bridge to fix the spring then Mike gives her more money.

About 12klm's out of MK we're at the top of a 1200m hill. Well the rest of the run is all downhill & the whole lot is the slippery red clay. Woohooooo! We have a ball. I get cross rutted at one stage, Mike hits a deep muddy patch & does a 180 in front of a local who's just struggled getting the scooter through. Our boots are covered in thick mud & clay.

We get into MK around 12ish & decide on lunch. We have to go down to the river to wash the caked on mud off the boots so we don't traipse it into some poor lady's restaurant.

We stop here & wake the owner up from what appears to be her mid morning snooze.

Down at the river I couldn't see any boats big enough to fit 1 bike on, let alone 6. We decide that Samphan will have to suffer without us. (If I'd have know about the route Lone Rider took north 4 days later, I would have taken that but there's nowt on the GPS map & even less on the GT Rider map, so in hindsight, that's a bit disappointing)
We figure Buon Thai will be a good enough stop for tonight. We'll come to rue that decision. So after a good feed, we hit the road again. This tarmac is brilliant & we have another road race… until we hit the 4B. I've been warned about this end of it. What a piece of shit 25klm section of large cobble stones, rocks & dust.
Once you're shaken to pieces & past that though, the road is being upgraded & is in some great condition, apart again from the repairs & boggy muddy bits that happen to always be on a dodgy corner where you fear going over the edge.

Now, Buon Thai. The guide book is all praise & prose for the "quaint Chinese guesthouse with traditional Chinese food".
Filthy, mouldy, smelly, no cold beer, lazy arsed owner, screaming chickens & filthy Chinese diners spitting food on the floor &chucking rubbish over the balcony into the river.

We decide to eat elsewhere but the choice is extremely limited. Where we do eat gives us the menu but when we try ordering, there's nothing available. Bloody hell. We go & point at their dinner & tell them we want 6 of those. That makes it easier.
No cold beer though so it's icecubes to the rescue.

We go back to our GH & Mike dices with danger by sitting in the lazy owners TV watching chair.

Phongsali Tomorrow. Jim texted me that it's still a 4-5 hour ride from here, so we plan on an early start, & to get out of this place.

 

[Pounce]

Day 8 – 10[SUP]th[/SUP] Dec 2012 – Buon Thai - Phongsali
90klm’s Maximum Elevation 1390m
Moving Time – 2h 05m Stopped Time – 0h 51m
Moving Average - 43kph Overall Average - 30kph
On the road at 6.45am

As mentioned, we decide to get up early to get out of here. It’s the Khan Nam Lan GH if anyone else is brave enough, but to be fair, it did look a little bit better than the only other one in town. Make Boun Thai an emergency stop, not a planned destination.
That wasp sting from 2 days ago has finally decided to start doing something. It has 2 parts to it now. The main sting area which is larger than a 20 cent piece with a huge radial area the covers the whole forearm. Looks good & is only slightly itchy.

We head 20klm’s up the road & stop at a small village for breakfast. This isn’t the sort of place that does that so we end up having a cup of coffee instead & a laugh with the locals, again.

Off again & it’s a bit of a miserable morning with lots of fog & low cloud. I end up taking my goggles off so I can see as we start heading up hill. We’re taking it slow as this is a cold morning too. Not as cold as I thought though from what I experienced last year.
All of a sudden, we get to the other side of the first rise, & boom, we’re through the clouds. Spectacular is the word. No fog, no smoke & you can see forever. It’s like this all the way into Phongsali.

What, we’re here already? It’s on just gone 10am! 4-5 hours my arse. Honestly, you could do this in 1 ½ hours if you wanted.
We find rooms at the Viiphaphone Hotel & decide to get some food in us. There’s a small café just up the road so it’s omelettes & coffee lao all round.

Time for a look around town so we start wandering everywhere.

In my original plan, we were going to have 2 nights here, as a rest day, but after being here for 2 hours & having seen the whole town already the suggestion by Tommy to not stay for 2 nights is warmly received by all. This will put us back on schedule too after the unplanned 2 day stop in LPB.
It’s time for a late lunch so we wander down the hill looking for a restaurant. We find one & as language is a barrier, the lady just takes us into the kitchen, gestures that we point at the meat we want in the freezer & cooks it for us.

As we have nowt else to do & the bikes need a service we do all the airfilters, chains & as Carls bike won’t start unless you bump start it, we change the plug as it has next to no electrode left on it, that didn’t work so change the plug lead & that didn’t work either so it’s decided he has to do a valve adjustment on it. Bingo.

Come dinner time, we head back to the café we had breakfast as we like the place.
A few beers, more food then it’s time to retire.

 

[Pounce]

Day 9 - 11[SUP]th[/SUP] Dec 2012 - Phongsali - Oudomxai
238klm's Maximum Elevation 1390m
Moving Time - 5h 52m Stopped Time - 1h 42m
Moving Average - 41kph Overall Average - 31kph
On the road at 7.30am

Damn it, it's 5.30 in the morning!
I'm only guessing, but the loudspeakers blaring crappy music & some high pitched womans voice could only mean one of 2 things. Either Katy Perry is doing a concert or it's the regular political/mayoral/communist propaganda broadcast. Oh well, we're all up now so we might as well get an early breakfast & hit the road.
The views coming down the mountain are just as good as the ones going up.

Tommy & I are following Mike along the downhill run when the mad bastard undertakes a bus! Now we've all undertaken something on the trip as sometimes it's the only way to pass them. Luckily the trucks coming the other way forcing the bus to the very side of the road where the cliff was weren't 10 seconds earlier.
It's a nice easy run back down to Boun Thai with a stop in Boun Nua for noodle soup breakfast. This is a crossroad/busport village for the road heading north to china with a dodgy meat on a stick breakfast market. We decide on the restaurant. Tommy gets chatting to some American hippy lady who keeps telling him he big & strong to be riding around.

At Boun Thai we leave the main road heading south & hit single trail immediately. It lasts all of 500 metres as the GPS has routed us through the backstreet of the village. Onto the main 1203 road & it's a bit weird around here. There's farm tracks interspersed with wide graded roads for a bit & it's sometimes confusing. I think there's a detour road being built as we come across it again. O well, the farm track are better to ride on anyway.
We follow this until it turns into the 1830 & finally hits the main 13-N
Mixed up pictures again…

Carls subframe brakes this time, so another amazing repair job with the cable ties.

My notes say Tommy's bike fell over without him on it at one of the several river crossing we did today. No photo of it though.

There was no need to cross this bridge, other than to wake up the toll dude & confuse him a bit.

We get stopped near B.Namngeun by a couple on a KLX around 12.30pm. Tommy asks where they've came from & the guy answers Spain. Today asks Tommy? They're on their way to Phongsali so I tell them it has taken us 4 hours (riding) to get here. They're all happy thinking they can make it. I doubt it. They had no map, no GPS & along this route there are some confusing intersections. Not to mention we were going faster than most would on our own, not 2 up with a bit of luggage. Any report of a missing hot redheaded chick & some dude?

We reach the tar 13-N then it's race time again into Oudomxai where we get rooms at the palatial Dansavanh Hotel.

 

[Pounce]

Day 10 - 12[SUP]th[/SUP] Dec 2012 Part 1 - Oudomxai - Nale
89klm's Maximum Elevation 1160m
Moving Time - 3h 11m Stopped Time - 1h 30m
Moving Average - 28kph Overall Average - 19kph
On the road at 9.45am

Yay, awakened again by the local loudspeakers. (which apparently wouldn't happen) This time in delayed stereo.
Now we're unhindered, we can ride at a proper pace.
We're off to Nale for the night, or so I hoped. There's a section I went to do last year where I turned back at the first crossing & someone else went to do but one of his friend broke a rib on the same crossing. I will prevail this year, by sneaking in the back way via the 2555 towards the Chom Ong Caves. The 1[SUP]st[/SUP] section of 50klm's to B. Tangkok is a mix of flatish river valley road & steep dried out muddy mountain road. Fantastic… until Tommy has a spectacular off. I'm out front so I miss it but the report was he came to the bottom o a gully bit where it's rough. He was on full compression of the shocks so when he hit this lump in the road, he got huge air from the rebound, the front landed on a ridge & he went left handlebar first into the road. No damage to Tommy but a snapped clutch lever, broken plastic barkbuster & disintegrated mirror on the Baja.
The offending lump in the road.

All is good, we replace the clutch lever & it's time to get going. We get to B. Tangkok & this is where the road slowly disappears & it eventually turns into about 18klm's of single type trail with about 10 deepish river crossing. You beauty!
Video & Pics tell the story, with Ash having a lie down in the video.

Now somewhere along here, Tommy has his second off. A bit of bamboo in a muddy/cowshit wet spot & he's down in it. No pics though.

[FONT=&quot]

[/FONT]


Now if you were patient enough to watch the second video all the way through, you'll see why we're stopped trying to get Ashes bike started. This is the last crossing too as the village is only 600m away.

Now again if you've watched the video all the way to the end, you'll see a puppy running along. This will be the downfall of Tommy again & his 3[SUP]rd[/SUP] off for the day.
Carl & I make it up the small hill into the village of B. Phouchale. (A new entry point. The river crossing that stopped me last year is somewhere else)
Meanwhile, Tommy has come around the bottom corner, the dog's darted out in front of him & somehow he's flipped the bike & gone tumbling down the hill through the herb garden with the bike on top of him. "All I could smell was mint & coriander, mint & coriander."
Mike's helping him, Ash is trying to keep his bike going so Carl struggles down to give a hand while I try getting the local kids to cheer & clap.

We all finally make it up the hill into the village, where they're all out to look again & set off for a 12klm run & a well earned beer in Nale after conquering this trail. I spoke to Midnight Mapper (Don Duvall) about this section & he believes that apart from him, we may be the only others to ride it. I really hope that's true.

We get into Nale around 2.15pm & try finding rooms. We ask at one GH & they're full, so we try another. The owner indicates she has some & sends her hubby to run around & check all the others for us, so we settle in for a beer. Mike hooks into what we can only describe as barbequed cow veins on a skewer. We all try them & settle on a packet of chips. The first beer is down & we get offered noodle soup, so we accept while still under the impression there maybe rooms available. It's getting later so we ask again if there are rooms & get told no, the town is full. Well bugger me, we think they just wanted us to spend a couple of dollars as we've been there for around an hour & a half.
This means we have to totally change our plans again & head into Luang Nam Tha for the night.

Day 10 - 12[SUP]th[/SUP] Dec 2012 Part 2 - Nale - Luang Nam Tha
82klm's with some of it at night.
I forget to turn my GPS on, so this is just a copy of the route up the main road.

Shit, this will mean our first night ride, after 2 big browns of Beerlao.
We start out & come across some more construction. It's about a half hour wait until the knock off at 5pm, so Tommy suggests a bribe to get us through. I wave 50,000k at the bloke on the dozer, so he takes it & lets us through. The sneaky bastard didn't tell us that just over the rise was more work going on & there was no way through that. He drove past us to do a bit there & didn't even offer the $6 back. That was hilarious.

I take off my fender bag & put it under the cargo net. Somewhere along the trail it's come loose & got ripped to shreds in the back wheel.
The road is again one of those rutted, rocky, hilly ones with patches of slippery mud & lots of dust. Credit to Tommy for staying down the back as he had the big twin headlights.
Being up the front with 4 bikes following me was rather cool. As none of the headlights pointed at the road due to the packs & fat blokes on them, I got a fantastic shadow show for the trip.
It was a fitting way to end one of the best trails I've ridden in Laos.

Into LNT around 7 or 7.30 & we get rooms at the Dokchampa Hotel. We head out for a feed at what looks like a popular restaurant. What is wrong with putting beer in a fridge? Ice in your beer just doesn't work.
Tommy & Ash spy a tour ticket seller shop with rum, bourbon & gin on his shelves, so we invade & drink him dry with Tommy doing the pouring while under the guise of helpful English teacher. He made a small fortune that night.

I call it an early night as I need to re route as not stopping in Nale stuffed up the next day plans.

 

[KTMphil]

Looks like you guys had a blast, really enjoying this.

 

[Pounce]

Day 11 – 13[SUP]th[/SUP] Dec 2012 – Luang Nam Tha - Xiengkok
164klm’s Maximum Elevation 1396m
Moving Time – 4h 32m Stopped Time – 1h 07m
Moving Average - 36kph Overall Average - 29kph
On the road at 9.25am

As we had a 70klm run down the tar on the I-3 to Viengphoukha as an easy start to the day, there was no need for an early start. This was an easy uneventful run apart from everybody’s bike really running like shit. We must have all got a bit of bad fuel at the last fill.
We get to VP around 10.30.
Now if we’d got to stay in Nale like planned, we would have come to this point via the 2418/2420 that cuts over the mountains

With what’s about to come & with some hindsight, maybe we got the best deal out of this.
We are heading into the Nam Ha Protected Area, basically a National park. The road is a nice standard Laos road following the river valley with a bit of local traffic until we reach the Nam Maye which sort of signals the start of the Protected Area. Basic river crossing, we’re used to them now.

The further in we go, the narrower, higher & slipperier the road gets until it turns in a mix of single trail & track.

We get to the top of the mountain after a couple of fun slidey sections. I come around 1 corner & ash is picking his bike up. Just a 180 onto his side. His side stand spring come off now so we do a bit of searching & find it. Cable ties to the rescue.
Once at the top it opens up a bit. Yay, a bit of easy riding now.

Well that’s a load of bollocks because as we start down the other side, we’re on the shadow side. This means that there is a lot more slippery bits. Jesus this is hard work. In 1[SUP]st[/SUP] gear, feet paddling like a duck trying to go in a straight line. I Carl has already gone ahead, I wave Mike by too. These guys just don’t fall off? Until I come around a corner & Mike is doing a “quick pick the bike up before anyone see me” bit. I’m on this long steep slippery bit & it gets away from me so I steer the bike into the bank where all the vines are to slow me down. Great idea as it worked. I hear Tommy & Ash coming up behind me so I stay off the track so they can pass. I can’t see them but all I hear is some strange noise, 2 bikes stopping & Ash Saying “Is it all right if I laugh at you Tommy”? Tommy has done the same as me, but not on purpose. He’s hit the bank, bounced back into the road, over corrected & hit the bank again the fell under the bike. I yell out to see if they’re OK as I’m not going back up that bit. I get the OK so slowly take off again. It’s like ice, only single, rutted, and steep, off camber ice.
I catch up with Mike & Carl not far ahead. They’re having a regroup. We wait for about 5 minutes & as Mike is getting ready to go back & find them (he’s the best suited for the track) we hear some bike coming the other way. Turns out it’s the 2 Swiss guys we met in Nong Khiew a few days earlier. They’ve still got their girls on the back with them. One of them starts telling us how he’s dropped the bike for the first time. We tell him it won’t be the last as what’s to come. Tommy & Ash show up in the mean time, they were just taking it easy too.

We get down to B. Phinho were the GPS says it’s an improved roadway. Ha, not likely. It’s still a challenge but at least we’re out of the hilly stuff, just still slippery.

A little bit further on & the road does improve & we start seeing signs of more people too. We eventually make it to the main road at M. Long & head the 22klm’s west towards our night stop & Xiengkok. It’s on the Mekong River which is now the border of Myanmar.
We get into town around 3pm.
The GPS gives us a couple of options for guesthouses, so we try the best sounding Riverview Bungalows first. The lady shows us one of them. Big enough room, squat toilet & cold showers. Not bad but we’ll have a look at what else is about. There are apparently 4 in town but we can only find the Khemkhong GH. It’s not much better & only has a shared bathroom so we head back to the bungalows.
Well they are bungalows & they do have a sort of river view. We start getting our rooms sorted. Tommy doesn’t have a shower at all, Carl has no water or power, a few other things wrong so we try getting the basics sorted & realise that the owner & her helpers are pissed out of their scone. They’re down at the restaurant singing karaoke with a couple of cashed up Chinese workers.

We get showered the best we can & Mike grabs us all a beer. We’ll not eat here tonight is the consensus, so we wander into what is town. We get some beers at a little place run by Vang – The Voluptuous.

We ask if she does food, but alas not. She is a very amiable person & we’re having a laugh with her even though her English is limited. She speaks fluent French though, which doesn’t do us much good.
Mike suddenly disappears with her down the road for an hour, well 2 minutes really. She has shown him where we can eat tonight.

While having dinner or a drink or at some time during the afternoon, another group of people on bikes show up. It’s the bloody French! They’re oldish men & women on a guided tour from VTE with a couple of them 2 up on a Baja. Guess they haven’t been doing the same tracks as us then.

We have a great feed for dinner & a few beers then wander over to a shop with a table, & have even more beers.

For a disappointing start to the evening with the rooms, we ended up having a good night. The restaurant had no cold beer, so Tommy shouted some old local one to go across to the shop we ended up in to buy us cold beer.
It may sound a bit condescending, but a bit of effort & the Riverview Bungalows would be a nice place to stay. It wouldn’t take much.

 

[Lightemup]

Excellent trip report, thanks for putting it up.

 

[Pounce]

Day 12 - 14[SUP]th[/SUP] Dec 2012 - Xiengkok - Houay Xai
200klm's Maximum Elevation 740m
Moving Time - 5h 21m Stopped Time - 1h 40m
Moving Average - 37kph Overall Average - 29kph
On the road at 8.30am

Today is the reverse of the route I did on Day 1 of last years ride through the area.
We're up early for breakfast as last time it took me 7 hours coming the other direction from Houay Xai the Xiengkok, so it would be good to have plenty of time for this run.
Down for breakfast at last nights restaurant & we beat the French there by 2 minutes. We scoff down some omelettes & coffee & I ask the tour leader from the other group if he knows if the River Track we're taking is open just in case of land slips, washouts etc. He tells me it all good so we bump start my bike to the amusement of the other group.

We head of to get some fuel but as we get there the power goes out. There's a genny out the back which is a hand crank start. The poor bloke is knackered trying to start it. A couple of the guys have a go but we can't do it (wrong procedure on our part) then another guy needing fuel has a got & gets it first hit.
On to the river track heading to Xiangdao. To travel the 16klm's river distance to the village, we do 28klm's on a fantastic muddy, winding hilly track. A perfect start to the day.
Crossing the Nam Pha bridge.

Chinese barge winching itself through a narrow part of the Mekong

One that didn't make it. I have a pic of this same rock from last year & there's no boat dashed against it.

After Xiangdao the road heads in inland for a bit and goes over a couple of small hills (the spike on the graph) then back to the river at B. Phakhao. Now we're riding along this wide graded road & I'm a bit confused. Last year this was winding muddy single track! There was word that they may be upgrading this road to encourage travel to the Casinos at the Golden Triangle. Well it looks like it's started. As of now, the roadworks go south from B. Phakhao for 5 klm's then it turns into the great single track from last year.

The single lasts for about 18 klm's before it opens up into farm track but it's still a great ride.
Ash has 2 offs along here, one where he nearly falls off & breaks a local bridge.

There's one deep river crossing along here. Last year I was able to take the bridge but not this year. One of the locals walked across it while we were there & even that looked dodgy.
Everyone got through OK except for me. As I hit the deep bit, the bike just stopped & cut out. Wet boots again but it doesn't matter as tomorrow is a rest day.

Once you get down to B. Houayhon the roadworks start again & don't stop until you reach the Golden Triangle.
The first part is just bulldozed road & really rough at the moment, so rough Carls subframe snapped & come adrift again. Welding needed tomorrow. It smooths out eventually but still has a few traps for the un wary as they haven't finished the bridges yet & there are a few blind sharp corners that sneak up on you.

Today is Ashes day. Number 3 off see him waving us own on one of these corners. He's come around at speed & the back wheel has locked up. He's left black tyre marks on the clay road & laid the bike down hard. The first injury of the trip. He has scratched the inside of his forearm. Also broke the clutch lever. Bit of bad luck there as we have no spares left, so a quick lesson on how to ride without a clutch s he's never had to do it & were off to the GT.

There's another shallow creek ahead & I put the limited power on to go the big splash on Ash but he hears me coming & I don't really get him, I soak myself though. Carl had the same idea trying to get me but he missed & soaked himself too.


These are some of the views from today. Once this road is finished it will be a very scenic route as it follows the Mekong very closely.

Down to the GT for a look & some lunch.

Then onto the great smooth concrete road all the way into Houay Xai. Ha, some bastard moved it or I plotted the wrong route. We end up on a really rough dusty road heading through banana plantations. This would be the dustiest road all trip. We piss about on here trying not to backtrack & eventually make it to the main highway then into town where we get rooms at the Thanormsub GH which is very comfy & has ample bike parking out the back.

You guessed it, beer time & down to one of the restaurants overlooking the river into Thailand. After that we find a street bar, wake the lady asleep under it on the floor & have a few spirits while watching Batman in 3D. No one was game enough to try the snake whiskey although Tommy was close.

 

[Pounce]

Day 13 – 15[SUP]th[/SUP] Dec 2012 – Houay Xai

Just hanging around here today.
Carls bike needs re welding which cost us $12. Another valve adjustment for Carl as well & they all need another service after the dusty road yesterday. We also need to find a replacement clutch lever for Ashes bike.
The welders on the right.

Out of the air filters

Mike modifying a clutch lever

Some site seeing around town too.
The Wat at the top of the hill.

The old French Fort at the top of the other hill.

Lazy day with a few drinks.

 

[KTMphil]

Fantastic Pounce, the boys must have loved this trip

 

[k0diak]

This is great, keep it coming!

 

[Pounce]

Day 14 – 16[SUP]th[/SUP] Dec 2012 – Houay Xai - Hongsa
255klm’s Maximum Elevation 1103m
Moving Time – 6h 13m Stopped Time – 2h 32m
Moving Average - 41kph Overall Average - 29kph
On the road at 8.00am

Heavy fog/mist & dust do not make a god combination! The start to the ride had us looking like this.

Today’s plan has changed again. We were only going to get to Xianghon today but if we have time, we’ll push through to Hongsa. We head down to the Mekong River again & plan to follow it as far as we can before we need to cross.

I was hoping we could get to B. Hatsa & cross there maybe on some small ferry. There’s a track on the other side that is hardly used. We get there & try asking questions but our Laos is nonexistent. Mike draws a boat in the dirt, I keep saying Pakhop & all we get is blank stares. (Last year I put the bike on a speedboat at Pakhop & got off here at Hatsa.) One guy finally clicks as to what we want & emphatically turns my handlebars the other way. I turn them back laughing & he slaps them the other way again. We’re all having a giggle now so I look again at the GPS & he’s basically telling us to go around the village & keep following the road.

A cock fight going on in the background

We’re actually heading for B. Kone Teun where there should be a car ferry so we can cross.

As we rock up, there’s a small ferry there. I go to ride onto it but as the bloke sees that there are 5 of us, he waves me off & we have to wait for the big one.

It’s getting on for lunch, so we head into M. Khop for a bite. The stuff in the pot looks a bit average so we just order off menu & get omelettes & sticky rice.

Unfortunately or fortunately whichever way you look at it, no more pics were taken today.
We make it to Xianghon without incident in plenty of time so we just ride on through. It doesn’t look like much would happen there anyway.
We keep on going following the 3603 which is being upgraded & has some good sections to the main 2-W. We follow it down to B. Khone & head west along the 5395, another great dirt road/track over the hills & the back way into Hongsa, avoiding the main road. The last bit coming down the mountain is brilliant.

Into Hongsa around 5pm. Now the fun begins, trying to find a bed. We try everywhere & get 3 rooms at the Jumbo GH, (which if there isn’t 2 called that is marked wrong on the map?) 1 at the Nongsavady GH & 45 minutes late I find the last in town at what the GPS calls Villa Sisouphanh. In reality I reckon it’s a Chinese brothel.
We get sorted & a couple of beers in us. While Mike & I were riding around town, we found a great restaurant called Nangnook where we decide to go for a feed. It’s a great place & popular. We run into & have a chat to Claudia from Germany who’s travelling around on her own.

We call it a night & I head back to the GH. Out the front are heaps of girls & a few drunken Chinese workers, hence my thoughts about it being a brothel. Straight to bed without making eye contact for me.

 

[alexuk]

I went the same way into Nale and up to ban Long last year, great to see your fotos

 

[The Bigfella]

That last day's ride is similar to my first day in Laos last September. I managed to get a speedboat from Hatsa downriver to Pakhop. Cost me 1000 baht ($30)... but it was fun scooting down in a flat-bottom speedboat at 65kph on the GPS.

 

[Lone Rider]

Day 14 - 16[SUP]th[/SUP] Dec 2012 - Houay Xai - Hongsa


Into Hongsa around 5pm. Now the fun begins, trying to find a bed. We try everywhere & get 3 rooms at the Jumbo GH, (which if there isn't 2 called that is marked wrong on the map?) 1 at the Nongsavady GH & 45 minutes late I find the last in town at what the GPS calls Villa Sisouphanh. In reality I reckon it's a Chinese brothel.
We get sorted & a couple of beers in us. While Mike & I were riding around town, we found a great restaurant called Nangnook where we decide to go for a feed. It's a great place & popular.

We call it a night & I head back to the GH. Out the front are heaps of girls & a few drunken Chinese workers, hence my thoughts about it being a brothel. Straight to bed without making eye contact for me.

There are indeed two Jumbo GH (Jumbo Monica and Jumbo Phatada). The latter has been rented to a construction company so I guess you guys stayed at the Jumbo GH run by Monica. Villa Sisouphan was one of the better places to stay till a few years ago but with the influx of all the Chinese and other construction workers many more GH'es have sprung up. Mark Rossi stayed at the Sisoupahn a year ago and he found it quite good actually.

 

[KTMphil]

Great detailed report Pete, one of the best of the year for sure, really enjoyed it and the route excellently explained.


Mac saw you're Sisoupahn GH photo and sent me this of it in 2009



View attachment 12989

 

[Pounce]

Day 15 – 17[SUP]th[/SUP] Dec 2012 – Hongsa – Luang Probang
127klm’s Maximum Elevation 1390m
Moving Time – 3h 15m Stopped Time – 0h 32m
Moving Average - 39kph Overall Average - 33kph
On the road at 9.10am

Today we’re heading back to LPB via the much hyped route that has 6 river crossings. I think someone called it the Elephant Trail or similar. As it’s a popular track, I know we’ll have plenty of time to do it. It’s the only one with a dirty great sign in English too telling you which way.
I’m up early to get out of the brothel, so I go meet the guys who are up too. Tommy has been doing the air filters on the bikes again & also the oil & chains.
We all head up to one of the restaurants for a noodle soup breaky & I’m starting to think this is a great breakfast just quietly.
It’s still foggy about 9 so we decide to go anyway. Another rather uneventful day. This track, though well worn is still a good ride. The 6 rivers though turned out to be 1 brook, 2 streams, 1 creek & 2 rivers :-) After some we’ve been through, these were a doddle.
Once you get up in the hills, it’s quite nice too. We encounter a bunch of kids all dressed up in their finery chucking a ball to each other across the road? They cheer like we’re rock stars as we go through. These aren’t the first we’ve see either & don’t realise it’s the Hmong New Year/Harvest celebration until I read about it on Ride Asia.

All trip Tommy has been asking “when are we going to see elephants, I’d like to see elephants.”
Well bugger me, they’re like buses. You don’t see any for 2 weeks then 4 off them show up at once.

The well document crossing that everyone gets a photo at.

Down to the ferry to cross the Mekong & as we’re sitting there, Tommy says something along the lines of “Can we get to Luang Probang from here, is it far?” I had to laugh & point to the city just across the river. Admittedly, it is a bit hidden as you can see.

Dick Turpin was the captain as he robbed us. The sign says 10k for motorbike, but apparently the unwritten rule is if you’re a falang on big bikes you can afford to pay a 50% premium & it cost us 15K.

To save pissing about trying to find a new GH, we head back to the same one as last time & are welcomed with open arms. I think the young bloke had a thing for some of us.
As it’s only 1pm, it’s down to the river for lunch & a couple of beers. Someone points out he just saw one of the bloody French we meet in Xiengkok ride by. We just hang around taking it easy & before you know it, it’s dinner time.

Mike wants pizza! We troll a couple of places until someone spots us & comes over. Yep, it’s one of the same bloody Swiss guys again. At least he has a bit of pizza knowledge & takes us to a decent joint.

Over dinner we start discussing how many days are left. Everyone is getting a bit saddle sore & sick of the dust after 2 weeks of riding. Everyone has heard of Vang Vieng, so Ash asks if we can go there. It wasn’t part of the plan but the kid needs it & we think it’s a great idea as a relax would do us all good. No one minds getting back to Vientiane a day early either. Party town, here we come.

 

[The Bigfella]

Grrrrr. I'm gunna come back later and post some other photos of that same route in the wet. Unbelievable difference.

 

[Pounce]

Day 16 – 18[SUP]th[/SUP] Dec 2012 – Luang Probang – Vang Vieng
214klm’s Maximum Elevation 1750m
Moving Time – 4h 46m Stopped Time – 1h 45m
Moving Average - 45kph Overall Average - 33kph
On the road at 8.00am

We try an early start today & head down to a corner restaurant for some spicy baguettes that Ash had tried before. Score! We beat the bloody French there by 2 minutes again to get the good table.

We the Mekong for about 40klms on tar roads heading for what the GPS calls a “great motorcycle track”. I’ve read a couple of reports from guys that have done this & it looks like a fun bit of trail.
We get to B. Xenkhalok & turn left & straight away we’re into it.

I stop to look at a bit as the track splits with one bit going around a creek & the other going through it. Well through it is a lot better so we do that then as Ash rounds a corner there’s a tuk tuk in his way waiting for us. Almost an off, caught in a rut but he saved it. Even the tuk tuk driver came & helped him out.

This ain’t a bad ride, there’s all sorts of terrain from mud, to track, to single to rocky hills.

I look down at the GPS & see I’m off the route, so I turn around for a look & Mike comes with me. I point down another trail saying that’s where we should go, but the others went the other way. Mike starts going the way I’m pointing & as he’s going deaf, I’ve had to shout at him to stop. We get the communication sorted then head off the way the others went as it links up anyway.
We find them stopped at another intersection. They said they could hear shouting? I point down the left fork which happens to go over a log bridge. Ash & Carl scoot over then Tommy has a bash at it.
Oops.

The bike missed a gear or something, he’s slowly rolling back, Mike & I are shouting STOP but his back wheel goes over & so does Tommy. Naturally I get a pic of him pinned under the bike before going to help.

The GPS says this track was supposed to be around 25klm’s long but when you get to B. Nanouan now, they’ve graded all the rest of the way. The good bit as of this report is only about 12klm’s long.
At B. Nanouan we went around the back way through some muddy cowshit puddles though , just because we could.

The rest of the run to the 2510 & into M. Nan is all graded main road now.
We’re heading to Kasi for lunch now over the newer 4529, so it’s a short run up the main 4 road then onto a much improved from last year winding, steep, hilly road. There’s still a fair bit to do but at a guess, this road has only about 15% rough stuff left & is brilliant with some spectacular views.

Into the sleepy little town of Kasi where I had Xmas lunch last year, 51 weeks ago. We stop at the same place & order up some food, get that in us then it’s the tar road run into VV. No more dirt or of road tracks for us. He last bit of road into town has some nice views.

We get into Vang Vieng & ride straight through? Really, there has to be more than this. Stupid, we should have turned right back there at the intersection. Down the airstrip we go to the main road. Well this is more like it. It’s getting a lot warmer now too so first thing is a beer & work out where to stay.
We’re drinking at the Central backpacker which is actually a flash 4 story hotel. Sod it, the rooms look great, they’re only 80,000k a night, we’ll stay here. The owner has good English but his offsider only wants to know about the Sydney G&L Mardi Gras. He has a mate there apparently.

We get settled, wander down to the river for the usual beers & sunset. While were there I propose 2 nights here instead of an extra night in VTE. All hands are straight up for this idea. Tommy decides to go for a swim too.

After dinner we start wandering around looking for drink. I get tired & head back to the hotel. I don’t see anyone until the next day. They all look like shit apart from Carl. He went for a massage while Mike, Ash & Tommy went for broke.

I assume that’s Tommy taking Mike home?

 

[KTMphil]

We should start a "trip report hall of fame", this one would make it for sure..... great stuff Pete, thank you!

 

[cuban8]

Amazing report! It has certainly sparked some ideas for our next trip. Probably not on the 990s.

 

[Pounce]

I still have a day or two to do, so I'll try getting them done this weekend.
Thanks everyone so far for the kind comments.