Lone Rider
Blokes Who Can
Phongsaly and the North of Laos - May 2012
The original plan was to go to the south of Laos but at the last moment I changed my mind and went to the north instead. Why? well I convinced myself that it would be very hot in the south of Laos and that the north most probably would be cooler and for that reason would be preferable.
Here is the itinerary. I entered Laos at Mueang Ngeun (north of Nan in Thailand) and travelled northwards to Phongsaly and from there back southwest to Houayxay where I left Laos again.
The border crossing took a bit more time than usual as on the Thai side, the immigration and customs had been relocated and it took a bit more running around.
(more info here: laos-ride-reports/laos-international-border-crossings-t117-20.html).
At the Lao side the guy who takes care of the "Visas" decided that he had more important things to do and only after a call from his boss did he show up about an hour and a half late. With a visa in my passport it was off to Muang Xienghone and Muang Khop basically all on unpaved roads with the exception of the 2 main city/villages where the roads are paved.
Along the main roads, there are lots of dirt tracks going off in all directions waiting to be explored.
Quite a few of the main roads are being upgraded and improved
The old road going over the hill with the new wider road being carved out of the mountain to shorten the distance
Live is still traditional here and here they are using a weir made out of bamboo stakes and rocks to raise the water level in the river so that the ricefields can be irrigated.
At Pakkhop, from where you can take a boat to connect with roads further north (linking with Huayxay, etc.) boats are used to bring "essential" supplies to the villages along the Mekong. On the other side of the Mekong a trail is being constructed but I could not find out where the trail would lead to.
The ancient Wat at Ban Xang
At the ferry crossing near Pak Beng there was some confusion with regard to which ramp to use. Trucks with freight were only allowed to use the old ferries (ramp on the west) while "passenger cars" had to use the ferry (ramp on the east) which previously had been used by the company which built the new road from Muang Ngeun to Pak Beng.
Love all these slogans on T-Shirts although I often have problems to grasp the meaning of these slogans.
Stayed the night in Pak Beng at "Villa Santisouk". It appears that they have serious problems with the electricity supply as I was told that every evening there are power cuts. Most of the restaurants have their own generator. The generator at Hashan's Indian Restaurant is a bit on the small side so, if anyone orders a fruitshake or something for which the blender needs to be used, the whole restaurant is almost plunged in darness till the blender is switched on and you can see again what you ate eating. This particular night the power only came back on the next morning. Not sure how long these power cuts will continue but take it into account when you are planning to stay in Pak Beng.
Next morning it was of to Luang Nam Tha taking the offroad track via Nalae.
Log bridge to the farms on the other side of the Beng river with corn/maize growing everywhere
The agriculural fields are quite steep and, once the rainy season starts in earnest, the farmers will have big problems with erosion
Junction in the middle of nowhere.
Thought it would be a bit cool but instead it was damned hot and the water buffalows enjoyed a dip in the pond to cool of
Some of the passengers I picked up along the road - no public transport over here
Nice views over here but here and there there was still quite a bit of burning going on.
The road (Rd 1501) from Nalae to Luang Nam Tha is being upgraded and you can expect lengthy stops when they close the road so that the workers can do their job. Just a tiny plastic rope over the road to let you stop (see laos-ride-reports/road-development-and-road-construction-in-laos-t118.html for the times you can expect delays).
The dirt part of the roads are easy (just dump the dirt on the road and the bulldozer just pushes it to the side. However a large part of the road has been cut into the rock face and this will need to be blasted - they are making quite big holes in the rocks to accomplish this.
Part of the upgraded road - not sure if they will pave it or not.
Stayed the night in Luang nam Tha in the Dokchampa Hotel. They are putting an elevator in but this is a work in progress so no doors yet on the 3rd floor - hope that the water bottle will deter the guests of falling in the elevator shaft. On my way back I stayed in the same place but now the water bottle was gone - just a hole in the wall and a 10 meter fall.
The next morning it was off to Phongsaly using as much off-road as possible. The first part was on the newly upgraded road from Luang Nam Tha to Oudomxai - race track quality and several times I had to hit the brakes hard to keep the truck on the road as I enjoyed the road so much that I was going way too fast. Saw some new road signs and while I can understand the first I had difficulties with the second.
Guess that Captain Slash could teach the bricklayers here a trick or two.
The offroad part from Namor to Boun-Tai was much better than I had expected. Here are a few of the river crossings in this track.
The track goes on-and-on
The road from Phongsaly to Hat Sa is also being upgraded. However, this truck with his load did not quite make it.
Left or right - up to you but we are not going to move this electricity pole.
It was also hot in Phongsaly so here the water buffalows sought a cooler spot in the mud.
Had a quick look in Hatsa - it was very quiet but the sand winning was going on with the labour divided: The ladies were loading the trucks by hand while the guys were taking it easy on the floating platform with the sand-suction pump so that the ladies would not run out of sand.
The suspension bridge just south of Hatsa (no cars allowed) in Road 19 to the east. The kids were playing on the bridge - A 500 Kip note was put on the bridge deck with a small stone on it and the kids had to try to "win" the 500 Kip by hitting it from a distance with their slippers.
Indeginous water supply system using a small spring in the rock face
A trip to Phongsaly is not complete without a visit to the Phou Fa stupa overlooking the town.
The view from the stupa with lots of flowers growing in the wild.
Phongsaly is famous for its tea and its 400 year old tea plantation. Unfortunately on my way to the plantation it sarted bucketing down and the dirt tracks became quickly slippery liek wet soap and I had my hands full to keep the old truck from sliding of the trails so decided to reurn to base. Anyway, this is what the tea pickers are looking for - the two top-most leaves with a bud which is then dried, rolled, fermented, etc to produce black tea.
The next morning the weather in Phongsaly had turned to normal - wet, misty and cool
Boon-Nuea in the wet distance and the old French Fort or Kai Falang in Boun-Tai
Road 1B is being upgraded (actually during this trip I noticed that a lot of roads had been or were in the process of being upgraded) and things change quite fast at the moment in Laos.
This was a close call but they just missed each other although the driver of the big Chinese truck seems not convinced about that.
Rock-climbing for small kids
Also here you have to wait sometimes untill the workers have finished their job for the day.
What else do you want - all the raw materials are for free - just take them from the river
On the way to Luang Nam Tha and the sky gets darker and darker and the family seeks shelter in one of the field huts.
Stayed a rainy night in Luang Nam Tha. They had a week long evening market on the main road and this was the last night before they moved on to other places but not after leaving some trash behind.
In Huayxay it was the usual waiting game. After a wait of 3 hours the ferry guys on the Lao side somehow misjudged the traffic and they allowed me to board the ferry which just came from Thailand. This is normally a big No-No as the ferries are not allowed to pick a load on the way back. The fully loaded ferry coming from Chiangkhong and my lonely truck on the same ferry on the way back to Chiangkhong
The original plan was to go to the south of Laos but at the last moment I changed my mind and went to the north instead. Why? well I convinced myself that it would be very hot in the south of Laos and that the north most probably would be cooler and for that reason would be preferable.
Here is the itinerary. I entered Laos at Mueang Ngeun (north of Nan in Thailand) and travelled northwards to Phongsaly and from there back southwest to Houayxay where I left Laos again.
The border crossing took a bit more time than usual as on the Thai side, the immigration and customs had been relocated and it took a bit more running around.
(more info here: laos-ride-reports/laos-international-border-crossings-t117-20.html).
At the Lao side the guy who takes care of the "Visas" decided that he had more important things to do and only after a call from his boss did he show up about an hour and a half late. With a visa in my passport it was off to Muang Xienghone and Muang Khop basically all on unpaved roads with the exception of the 2 main city/villages where the roads are paved.
Along the main roads, there are lots of dirt tracks going off in all directions waiting to be explored.
Quite a few of the main roads are being upgraded and improved
The old road going over the hill with the new wider road being carved out of the mountain to shorten the distance
Live is still traditional here and here they are using a weir made out of bamboo stakes and rocks to raise the water level in the river so that the ricefields can be irrigated.
At Pakkhop, from where you can take a boat to connect with roads further north (linking with Huayxay, etc.) boats are used to bring "essential" supplies to the villages along the Mekong. On the other side of the Mekong a trail is being constructed but I could not find out where the trail would lead to.
The ancient Wat at Ban Xang
At the ferry crossing near Pak Beng there was some confusion with regard to which ramp to use. Trucks with freight were only allowed to use the old ferries (ramp on the west) while "passenger cars" had to use the ferry (ramp on the east) which previously had been used by the company which built the new road from Muang Ngeun to Pak Beng.
Love all these slogans on T-Shirts although I often have problems to grasp the meaning of these slogans.
Stayed the night in Pak Beng at "Villa Santisouk". It appears that they have serious problems with the electricity supply as I was told that every evening there are power cuts. Most of the restaurants have their own generator. The generator at Hashan's Indian Restaurant is a bit on the small side so, if anyone orders a fruitshake or something for which the blender needs to be used, the whole restaurant is almost plunged in darness till the blender is switched on and you can see again what you ate eating. This particular night the power only came back on the next morning. Not sure how long these power cuts will continue but take it into account when you are planning to stay in Pak Beng.
Next morning it was of to Luang Nam Tha taking the offroad track via Nalae.
Log bridge to the farms on the other side of the Beng river with corn/maize growing everywhere
The agriculural fields are quite steep and, once the rainy season starts in earnest, the farmers will have big problems with erosion
Junction in the middle of nowhere.
Thought it would be a bit cool but instead it was damned hot and the water buffalows enjoyed a dip in the pond to cool of
Some of the passengers I picked up along the road - no public transport over here
Nice views over here but here and there there was still quite a bit of burning going on.
The road (Rd 1501) from Nalae to Luang Nam Tha is being upgraded and you can expect lengthy stops when they close the road so that the workers can do their job. Just a tiny plastic rope over the road to let you stop (see laos-ride-reports/road-development-and-road-construction-in-laos-t118.html for the times you can expect delays).
The dirt part of the roads are easy (just dump the dirt on the road and the bulldozer just pushes it to the side. However a large part of the road has been cut into the rock face and this will need to be blasted - they are making quite big holes in the rocks to accomplish this.
Part of the upgraded road - not sure if they will pave it or not.
Stayed the night in Luang nam Tha in the Dokchampa Hotel. They are putting an elevator in but this is a work in progress so no doors yet on the 3rd floor - hope that the water bottle will deter the guests of falling in the elevator shaft. On my way back I stayed in the same place but now the water bottle was gone - just a hole in the wall and a 10 meter fall.
The next morning it was off to Phongsaly using as much off-road as possible. The first part was on the newly upgraded road from Luang Nam Tha to Oudomxai - race track quality and several times I had to hit the brakes hard to keep the truck on the road as I enjoyed the road so much that I was going way too fast. Saw some new road signs and while I can understand the first I had difficulties with the second.
Guess that Captain Slash could teach the bricklayers here a trick or two.
The offroad part from Namor to Boun-Tai was much better than I had expected. Here are a few of the river crossings in this track.
The track goes on-and-on
The road from Phongsaly to Hat Sa is also being upgraded. However, this truck with his load did not quite make it.
Left or right - up to you but we are not going to move this electricity pole.
It was also hot in Phongsaly so here the water buffalows sought a cooler spot in the mud.
Had a quick look in Hatsa - it was very quiet but the sand winning was going on with the labour divided: The ladies were loading the trucks by hand while the guys were taking it easy on the floating platform with the sand-suction pump so that the ladies would not run out of sand.
The suspension bridge just south of Hatsa (no cars allowed) in Road 19 to the east. The kids were playing on the bridge - A 500 Kip note was put on the bridge deck with a small stone on it and the kids had to try to "win" the 500 Kip by hitting it from a distance with their slippers.
Indeginous water supply system using a small spring in the rock face
A trip to Phongsaly is not complete without a visit to the Phou Fa stupa overlooking the town.
The view from the stupa with lots of flowers growing in the wild.
Phongsaly is famous for its tea and its 400 year old tea plantation. Unfortunately on my way to the plantation it sarted bucketing down and the dirt tracks became quickly slippery liek wet soap and I had my hands full to keep the old truck from sliding of the trails so decided to reurn to base. Anyway, this is what the tea pickers are looking for - the two top-most leaves with a bud which is then dried, rolled, fermented, etc to produce black tea.
The next morning the weather in Phongsaly had turned to normal - wet, misty and cool
Boon-Nuea in the wet distance and the old French Fort or Kai Falang in Boun-Tai
Road 1B is being upgraded (actually during this trip I noticed that a lot of roads had been or were in the process of being upgraded) and things change quite fast at the moment in Laos.
This was a close call but they just missed each other although the driver of the big Chinese truck seems not convinced about that.
Rock-climbing for small kids
Also here you have to wait sometimes untill the workers have finished their job for the day.
What else do you want - all the raw materials are for free - just take them from the river
On the way to Luang Nam Tha and the sky gets darker and darker and the family seeks shelter in one of the field huts.
Stayed a rainy night in Luang Nam Tha. They had a week long evening market on the main road and this was the last night before they moved on to other places but not after leaving some trash behind.
In Huayxay it was the usual waiting game. After a wait of 3 hours the ferry guys on the Lao side somehow misjudged the traffic and they allowed me to board the ferry which just came from Thailand. This is normally a big No-No as the ferries are not allowed to pick a load on the way back. The fully loaded ferry coming from Chiangkhong and my lonely truck on the same ferry on the way back to Chiangkhong
