Laos trip October 2010

KTMphil

Senior member
Joined
Jan 11, 2011
Location
Chiang Mai, Thailand
Bikes
2007 KTM 990 Adventure Suzuki DRZ 400
Laos trip October 2010 (More to come)

In October, 2010, I met up with some friends in Pakbeng Laos.

Route that was planned, was Pakbeng, Hongsa, Luang Prabang, Nong Kiew, Vang Vieng and Vientiane.

I had entered Laos from Tha li Loei, Thailand /Kenthao, Laos, the others (4) had come south bound from Chiang Khong, Thailand/ Houay Xai, Laos & we met up at the Santi Souk GH in Pakbeng , Laos.
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The troops did the 160km southbound dirt ride from Houay Xai to Pakbeng with no problems apart from arriving in the dark, the owners of the Santi Souk GH were concerned about holding the rooms once dark as the tourist boats had arrived and they were turning people away.
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Long boat arriving in Pakbeng on the Mekong river, Laos
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Nice Indian meal in Pakbeng, some photo's in the morning market the next day then off towards Hongsa (south and then east)
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All packed up then west then south to the ferry across the Mekong (10km west of Pakbeng)
On the Ferry
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Once off the south-bound ferry, there is about 40km of excellent new tarmac - big wide road that leads south to muan nguen (3km from the Nan, Thailand border). Turn left there and head east towards Hongsa and its a 25km dirt road, lots of fun in the dry season. Marcus, on a rented Kaw KLX 250 has some nasty noises from his chain and we found out why. Here we are waiting for Marcus, taking photo's of everyone coming around the bend.
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Laos trip October 2010 Part 2

Laos trip October 2010 Part 2

Marcus never showed his chain had broken 15km back, leaving him sitting at the side of the road with no phone and no shade.

After we got bored of waiting, luke went back and found marcus trying to fix the chain with an electrical wire-tie (all mcgiever had on him) and with lukes fluent Laos, they managed to arrange a pick-up to take the bike to be repaired.

The rested of us waited in Hongsa, but with Marcus having no phone and Luke not picking up on my borrowed phone we didn't know the score. Eventually we gave up waiting, thinking that maybe they had gone back into Thailand at the Nan border crossing.

So onward to Luang Prabang the hard way over the mountain that involves 5 river crossing. I'll try and source some video and photo's of the water crossing which are fun.
Arrived in Luang Prabang about 4.30pm (still no word from Marcus or Luke)
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Out for sunset beers, we finally here from Luke and Marcus, that they're on their way via Xainyabouli (from Hongsa south east then north west). Here is us arriving at the Udom Souk GH in Luang Prabang

The next day we had a few puncture problems, 4 I think, but all fixed quick
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Gotta love Marcus's head gear
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Kun "Nair" - his first ride into Laos and was loving it
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Nong Kiew 130km NNE of Luang Prabang is a don't miss place if you're in laos
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The bridge is about 1/2km long and beatiful
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The town is on the western side of the river, but the Sunrise guest house is on the eastern bank, cheap (350 thai bht) and fantastic view
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Beers and dinner opposite the sunrise GH
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We stopped the traffic both ends of the bridge and one of our riders wheelied the whole bridge, quite impressive.
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The next morning southward bound to Vang Vieng, a lady in a settlement on the way.
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Drink stop on the way south
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Jagged limestone just north of Vang Vieng
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I persuaded the boys to give the Grand View GH a shot, 600 bht a night, quite a deal for the rooms
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In this photo you can see the guys hanging out by their rooms, lovely spot
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Another photo from the Vang Vieng GH
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The next day, drove south to Vientiane and once clearing customs headed WSW to Loei for an evening in the King hotel and Robot night club, wonderful place Loei.

One more stop in Uttaradit, this is the hotel in the shopping mall , very good value 400 bht
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Nice photo's Phil.
here are a couple of videos to add. This is riding from Hongsa to Luang Praubang off-road. Phil did a amazing job to ride through here on his KTM 990 in October as there where still some very slick spots .
Check out the videos, the duration between the 2 videos is probably about 2 hours. But the conditions changed rapidly as we hit the monsoon afternoon shower.






 
River crossing video's in Laos

This is the fist time i've seen these videos'! They felt much deeper than that!
 
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