Thanks Noel900R

It's a Beautiful place, Friendly people,great food and wonderful trails...

It's also quiet cheap........

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Where exactly was that MAG centre? I have been to the one in Phonsavan, but it has nothing like what you saw?

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In Luang Prabang, will get the GPS details for you when I get back to the House...I'm sure you could just ask and somebody will point you in the right direction....

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Ah, I see, well I am heading south, so will miss out

Never mind

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Just in case you decide to go that way....

N 19 52 54.7
E 102 08 11.9

Safe riding..

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I was in Thaket about 10 years ago on a Swedish funded road project, I stayed in a depressingly russian looking hotel, right on the river, but just loved the place, there used to be a restaurant on a boat that was amazing, and cheap, went back a second time, and still loved it, one day I will visit on a bike, it must be amazing. some great memories and good friends made.

It appears to be a lot busier this year than last, lots of new money in Laos..

You better come back and finish the roads though......

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I got the boys up real early and we were on the road by 6.30 AM another beautiful morning in the making.



Heading East from Thakhek it's about 60k's to the first stop of the day for breakfast and a quick look at an old SAM missile.




After our morning feed it's back on the road for another 30k's passed a bombed out bridge and then we turn right of onto the trails.




The Guys are really pumped about doing this part of the trail, the guy they hired the bikes of told them to stay away as they don't have the experience required to take it on, my thought where that I had done it solo last year and it was my first trail riding experience so if we stick together and take our time all will be fine.

Last year Laos had had a really long rainy season so it was muddy and wet, this year it was dry as a bone and the dust was thick. I set of and told them to give me a few minutes to let the dust settle and that they should do like wise or choke on the dust, if I was making a turn I would wait for them. This section of trail is about 30k's and brings you back out near the Mu Gai pass a nice little trail with no river crossings.


It was so much easier than last year, the river beds were dry and there was only a few rocky sections.




This is what I came for I'm not really interested in the tourist spots so I'm in my element just plodding along and keeping upright, after a while I stop to wait for Chris&David.




No problems apart from the dust we are having a ball so we press on. When I arrive at the next village which signals the end of that trail I pull over and wait again, it's a great spot.






Time for a rest and a cool down.



Village life, so peaceful




After about 20 mins I'm wondering where they are eventually they turn up smothered in dust, Dave had had a small of but he was fine, infarct he was delighted to have taken a tumble on the trail and lived to tell the tale. after a little break we head of again there is a couple of places I want to show them, one is an old choke point and the other is a small field of bomb craters, then onto a village to try and find some war scrap which was gone but it did turn up this little river crossing.



The local were enjoying the sun playing in the river, wish we joined them as the midday sun was very hot.



The boys crossing the bridge on the way out.



Time to leave the trail and find a lunch stop up near the pass, on the way we met a MAG team so we stopped to talk as this is part of the reason I'm here. Meet Dalawang she was in charge of this site which we could not walk down to.



The rest of the team where having a lunch break, look like they were laying cables to detonate what ever they had found.





A few pictures with the boss.








The bombing stats for Laos are incredible, it's hard to get your head around them especially as the war was in Vietnam!!



Lao PDR is the most heavily bombed country, per capita, in history
Approximately 25% of villages in Laos are contaminated with Unexploded Ordnance (UXO)
More than 580,000 bombing missions were conducted over Laos
Over 2 million tons of ordnance were dropped on Laos between 1964 and 1973
Cluster sub munitions or ‘Bombies’ (as they are known locally) are the most common form of UXO remaining
More than 270 million bombies were dropped onto Laos
Up to 30% failed to detonate
Approximately 80 million unexploded bombies remained in Laos after the war
All 17 provinces of Laos suffer from UXO contamination
41 out of the 46 poorest districts in Laos have UXO contamination
Over 50,000 people have been killed or injured as a result of UXO accidents in the period 1964 -2008
Over 20,000 people have been killed or injured as a result of UXO accidents post war period, 1974-2008
UXO Lao works in the nine most heavily UXO contaminated provinces in the country.
UXO Lao needs on an average, US$6.5 million, for operations. It employs over 1,000 people

We said our goodbyes and headed of for lunch, we were all very hot and dusty.





A very happy but hot Chris








After lunch we headed for the Mu Gia pass to check out the views over Vietnam at the customs point.



The boys arriving at the summit.




It had been a great day and the boys were happy to have ridden a price of History, both vowing to return next year for more, we blasted back to Thakhek and enjoyed the last evening together before the boys went to Thailand, we ended up having chips for tea as that was all we could really find, a tiring but great day.

I enjoyed your company boys, the twist was I ended up going back to Thailand as well to sort the bike and myself out, just waiting on some paper work and I'm heading back to Laos...

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True, Laos is still one of our favorites. It’s really great, people are nice and friendly, still reasonable prices, gasoline and available nearly everywhere, no visa restrictions, no bike restrictions, no areas to avoid (at least that’s what we thought, we have read something different now about some places but we went there and we didn’t had any problems at all...), you do not need any guides, tour companies or similar you just can drive around without any hustle…

We will go back 100%!

C U in Laos somewhere sometime…
Cheers Kerstin and Sascha

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With you all the way on that....

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Sorry for the delay but the internet has not been to kind to me in Laos, all night to upload 50 pictures and I have 100's.


I arrived here quiet early after a pretty uneventful ride but the plan was to get here as quickly as possible, so not much to see in the one stop I made, this young lady spoke great English and we spent some time chatting.






I rode into town and spotted this Hotel 130,000 kip for a brand new room with all the mod cons very nice to.




After check in it was time to have a look at the bike, I was thinking the Chinese had used elastic to make the chain as I only adjusted it a couple of days ago, I had thought at the time that the bolt seemed a bit suspect so I decided to remove the nut and check it...Oh dear







The guys must have cross threaded it when they changed the wheels, I'm in the crap now. I went for a wander around town and found a little engineering shop and asked the guy to do a repair for me, 20,000 kip later I have a new thread and nut, the nut was a bit small but I'm back on the road.




check out the new addition to the tool box, Laos better than WD40....



My mate in Chaing Mai Hass has ordered me another and will post it to Vientiane in the next few days, disaster averted I decide to go and check out the party town of Vang Viang. To my surprise it was very quiet as they have had a lot of problems with people doing crazy things on drugs and drink so the police have shut a lot of it down, they do have some nice views though.





All this is built next to an old run way, I have no idea when it was decommissioned.





So it's another early night and up early in the morning to get to Vientiane which was another pretty uneventful ride. I checked into the Villa Laos where I had a pal staying, a nice quiet place for 130,000 kip a night, little out of town but no problem on the bike.

It was nice to catch up with Don and his wife and we drunk a few bottle of wine and had some food, very nice evening, the next say was back to fixing the bike as the front suspension kept bottoming out and I want to change the rear shock, so bright an early i get up and head down to Fuark's garage to see what can be done, meet Fuark.





He's a pretty cool guy who suggested a fork oil change, but no shock.Lots of guys riding around the worls also turned up to fix there bike, fuark will let you use his premise and tools to fix your bike, as well as supplying the parts, if you get stuck in Laos he's your man.




Both these guys where on round the world trips, Natco and Julian.






Nice to meet you guys, the Lifan got some new fork oil and I removed the cat in the quest for more power, small improvement but every little helps.



turns out that they put to much oil in the forks so over the next few days I drained a bit at a time until I got what I wanted from the front, I'm a little happier, as for the back I need a new shock. I decided to stick around for a few days as the Aussies Chris & Dave had called me to say they where on the way down and wanted to go riding and would I wait for them, of course fellas. We hooked up the next evening and went on a bit of a bender, turns out Chris can sing real good and Dave can drink to match him we managed to get most of the bar singing American Pie, a great night with a head to match the next day.



The night market is a must.




Just when I thought it could not get any better they called me to say they had a spare room in their 400$ a night Hotel, hell I was there in a flash and very nice it was to, the Green Park Hotel VTE. We decided on a easy evening as we were going to get up early and head down to Thaket so we could ride the Ho Chi Minh Trail, well a part of it the guys were pumped and looking for wad to getting there but you know how it goes with a group to much messing around and the schedule was shot before we left so I planned a little detour.M Kamkuet and we would find a Hotel down there for the night. It had been a boring ride apart from Chris getting rear ended and hitting me after an old lady just walked out in front of me, damn Chris was real lucky, no real damage, we stopped for a while so Chris could collect his thoughts.



David thinking what could have been, a lucky escape and a good reason to keep alert in Laos.



We pushed on and we found this Gem, a reward for a hard days ride, the Limestone forest, another wonder of Laos.






Another Jaw dropping view.







That sort of view keep me going for a long time and we still had a way to go, I spotted a sign for a resort and asked the boys if they wanted to stop and it was a yes. It turned out a hard place to find but when we got there we were impressed, it's an Oasis in a beautiful setting and only 130,000 kip a night!!!. The main restaurant area.





The accommodation comes in the shape of Bungalows all with TV,Aircon,Hot showers and a view to die for, we were so happy it was better than the 400$ a night place.







I could stay at this place for Months so quiet and the real feeling of village life, we went up to the main building and ordered some food and to our surprise it was magnificent, some of the best food we had had on the trip so far we ordered lots of dishes Laos and European and it was all first class, we dined like kings and washed it down with Laos.






Make sure you visit.



Later on the owner came over and introduced himself. Mr Vongsamay Malibayphit very nice chap who had a wonderful story to tell, he had grown up in Savannakhet during the war and had been unable to go to school because of the bombing, he said if you didn't see the blast's you feel them!. He later got the chance to go to Cuba to get an education and spent 7 years there in school, when he returned he worked hard and saved his money and got the land to build his Hotel and live his dream, he also gives a lot back to his community working with the disabled and supplying school uniforms and other educational equipment to the local schools, great man.







Well we dined on into the evening and retired at a reasonable hour as tomorrow would be another big day down the route one which I'm told is a bit nasty with lots of broken tarmac and dust.


Once again the morning was lost in riding terms, I had got up at 5.30 to catch the sun rise, a beautiful morning.







The clouds falling down the mountain.







By 11Am I knew we would not make our destination by night fall to much messing around choosing underwear etc so we went to explore some caves instead and then go to Thaket and get closer to the Trails.





Big Chris broke the steps on the way up, whoops



Used to shelter from the bombing, lots of effort went into them, almost shrine like.







We went up to the house on the top to pay for the damage but they did not seem to understand but took the money, I guess they went and got some steak instead of these.



I'm sure the locals think we are mad!


Back on the road again the boys have charged of on their high powered KLX's leaving me behind so I'm going to get some photos and take my time .... still lots of UXO in Laos.



Great views.





And the children always have a smile.



I like these views up the river into the jungle, my imagination just runs wild.







The children were very friendly and not scared of the power ranger even letting me take a few shots, why are the children so happy over here?









More great views along the way.




The guys were waiting for me here, a few photos and of to Thaket







We arrived in Thaket about 7 pm the roads here at night are very dangerous and I was happy to follow the boys lights into town, there is also some big things flying around at night that hit you like bullets, I rode last year at night and said never again, I'm not doing it again and people ride with no lights on the wrong side of the rode as well as having cows walking about......danger.

We pulled into a new hotel called Vannida Hotel 130,000 kip a night, clean and tidy. I always find Thaket a hard place to be in so this Hotel was nice, we ate Vietnamese food which was really nice and got to bed early as we were going to have an early start this was the boys last chance to ride the Ho Chi Minh Trail before they had to leave for Thailand. Time to upload some more pictures...more tomorrow.

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Nice report !!

Did you rent the Lifan ? If so, where did you rent it ?

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Thanks Rone..

No I bought it in Chaing Mai Thailand, 55,000 Bt with all the extra bits like wheels & tyres, bark busters, sump guard and back rack....

I have a spare one if you want it...

Ps, I got your message, give me little time and I'll sort it out for you..

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Enjoying reading your blog ,but the photo's bring your words to life.Noel

Thanks Noel, I enjoy the blogging but the pictures take me back ever time..

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