Announcements

**Snakeboy** · #61 27 Jan 2021

Day 19 - Riding from Long Tieng southbond to Viengthong

I was heading south and I didnt want to backtrack the really rough road to Vang Vieng so I headed east first and wanted to get into R1D as I have heard this would be a nice ride and a great newly upgraded and paved road.
But to get there wasnt easy. Google maps is just faaaar out, and even Mapsme turned out to be totally off.

I left Long Tieng around 10 am and passed through the town of Phanxai. After that it got more and more remote. Mostly gravel stretches with some short stretches of pavement though small towns and villages. But after a couple of hours more of riding the gravel road diminished into a goat track and it seemed to get worse in front of me. And in front of me was also a quite tall mountain range. Only small motorbikes and walking tractors would be able to go further and not any chance in the world this could be the main road to get into R1D even though Mapsme told me to continue. I felt defeated and turned back. I remember that I had seen a junction some 12-15 kms earlier. I got to the junction and turned off there. The road seemed a bit bettee and a few kms into this road was a countryside gas station. So this had to be the way to get to R1D. And indeed it was! Some fantastic scenery and and 1 more hour of riding and I was entering R1D - and from there it was almost a racetrack further south. On Mapsme the stretch was just shy of 300 kms but with that extra distance I have ridden it must have been something like 350-400 kms.

I reached the small town of Viengthong just after dark and found a place to stay for the night and got myself a plate of fried rice and pork and felt really adventorous.....LOL

Some pics from that day....

**Snakeboy** · #62 27 Jan 2021

Day 19 - Riding from Long Tieng to Viengthong

Just some more pics from that days riding. There were a couple of forrest fires along the road that day.

**Snakeboy** · #63 28 Jan 2021

Day 20 - Riding from Viengthong to Thalang

Distance - just around 140 kms. I had a late start and I also had a couple of hours wandering around at the bordermarkets in Laksao. And as I had also entered into the socalled Tha Khaek loop (a 3-4 days backpacker/tourist loop with several sightseing spots in the middle of Laos) and thus fancy coffeeshops was plentiful and I felt like stopping having a fresh brewed cuppa instead of instant coffee that had been the rule so far. So riding distance this day wasnt far. And when I passed through the tiny village of Thalang and found a cosy looking guesthouse with some nice looking bungalows - I called it a day.

The bungalows left costed 100 k kips (10 €/12$) and was quite good value for money. And the views and the vibe of the place felt good even though the nearby hydroelectric dam has left a lot land flooded and lots of trees dead. It was a really nice sunset to watch there.

So heres a few photos from Thalang

**Snakeboy** · #64 28 Jan 2021

Day 20 - At Thalang

Some more pics from my evening at Thalang

Pic 1+2 From the guesthouse/bungalows I stayed
Pic 3-5 Some of all the dead trees in Thalang

**Snakeboy** · #65 29 Jan 2021

Day 21 - Riding from Thalang to Xepon

This day turned out to probably be the most adventorous day of the whole Laos trip. I tried to find a route to Xepon from Thalang that I wouldnt need to use the main roads which also meant a huge detour. But to find a route between the R12 and R9E was difficult. Google maps was again absolutely useless, but with Mapsme it seemed to be a way around and through via a town called Vilabouly. But even Mapsme turned out to be ridiciously untrusty on this stretch.

The first leg from Thalang down to the junction off R12 was paved and easy peacy, but 100 meters into unknown territory the road turned to gravel. But it was the dry season and not too bad of a ride, although I could see that it would be a huge challenge in the wet season. After an hour or two the road detoriorated. It was just a trail and after a simple water crossing I ended up into some grassland and I was completely lost. According to Mapsme it was supposed to be a track here, but it wasnt. I had to ride back to the nearest village and ask for help. So luckily there were some people in the nearest village pointing out the same track that I came from. Hm - strange, as fas as I could see it the track ended up in a grazing field full of cattle. But I tried and took several different small tracks but all ended up blindly. So back to the village again and ask for more directions. And to my huge relive on of the guys jumped down on his old moped and lead me in a direction. And yes we ended up into the grazing field full of cattle again, and the guy just pointed across the field. I was doubtful - but rode slowly through the field and and the other end was a small track showing again. And after a while it got better and turned into kind of a road again and I even spotted some cars again. I was back on track again!

So it was all pure hapiness for a while but it soon ended. I had been riding through a small village and Mapsme told me to turn right. The problem was just it wasnt any road there, just a dry river bed. Yes the dry river bed showed as a road on Mapsme! Oh gheee, I jad another look at Mapsme and saw if I returned past the village it was another track that supposedly took me uhm.... in the right direction at least. And eventually after passing that village and turn in the other direction it seemed I was again back on track. And after an hour or so I entered the remote town of Vilabouly. I was hungry and thirsty but clock was around 4 pm already and it was max 2 hours of daylight left, and I for sure didnt want to ride in the dark on these roads so the it was just a bottle of water, a box of iced coffee and some crackers and GO! The 50-60 kms stretch of road between Vilabouly and Xepon had once been paved, but that had to be many years since. And the area was full of mines and heavy equipement - and they had sure taken their part of the surface. It was just huge potholes upon huge potholes upon even bigger potholes! I coulndt remember to ever have encountered such a bad road during my RTW trip. I spent almost 2,5 hours on that 50-60 kms stretch!

But eventually I reached Xepon, found a cheap room for the night, had a shower and found a restaurant to have a plate of fried rice and pork. I was happy again!

On Mapsme the route is said to be around 230 kms but in reality I rode more than 300 kms that day, and at least 200 kms of that was on sand, gravel and grazing fields...LOL

Some pics from that evetful day....

Pic 1 - The days route on Mapsme (not to be trusted!)
Pic 2 - The dam at Nam Theun near Thalang
Pic 3 - Hitting the gravel roads, happy it was in the dry season
Pic 4 - Still decent sand roads
Pic 5 - One of the 50-60 small wooden bridges I past that day. This was probably one of the best...

**Snakeboy** · #66 29 Jan 2021

Day 21 - Riding from Thalang to Xepon

Some more pics from a really adventorous day in Laos

Pic 1 - The Crf is thriving in this environment
Pic 2 - The road might look good but there were quite a lot of washboards on this stretch
Pic 3 - Washboards had shaken loose some car parts
Pic 4+5 - Some carst mountains and caves along the route

**Snakeboy** · #67 29 Jan 2021

Day 21 - Riding from Thalang to Xepon

Some more pics from a rough day in Laos

Pic 1 - The road is detoriorating
Pic 2 - The ubiquitous two wheeled tractors In Laos
Pic 3 - Now the road is not much more than a goat track
Pic 4 - A small watercrossing
Pic 5 - A happy lot riding their two wheel tractor

**Snakeboy** · #68 29 Jan 2021

Day 21 - Riding from Thalang to Xepon

Riding through some grazing fields...

Pic 1 - Who could have known this was the road to Vilabouly and Xepon
Pic 2 - Eh - it looks like a grazing field for cattle....
Pic 3 - Eh, excuse me cows, is this the road to Vilabouly? LOL
Pic 4 - Yes it seems it is....
Pic 5 - Arrived Xepon, it had been a dusty riding day in Laos....

**Snakeboy** · #69 30 Jan 2021

Day 22 - Checking out the Lao military museum in Dong and riding (a few meters) of the Ho Chi Min trail.

One of the main goals of my Laos trip was to get a new visa for Thailand. And from what I have read the Thai consulate in Savannaketh was the place to get that. And that was only 195 kms away. But I wanted to check out the area around Xepon first. And doing some research I found that it should be a Lao military museum with lots of artefacts from the Vietnam war and also it should be possible to see some of the Ho Chi Min trail nearby. Those two places were however in the opposite direction towards the Lak Bao bordercrossing to Vietnam. But not too far, Lao military museum was in Dong approx 30 kms away and an additional 22 kms was the accsess to the Ho Chi Min trail. It should be possible to check out both places and ride all the way back to Savannaketh.

The military museum in Dong was the first stop. And man did they have a lot of US army stuff on display. Apparantly the US army had launced an attack on the Ho Chi Min trail and the Vietcong in this area to try to stop the supply line for the Vietcong - but their planning was bad as they attacked the Ho Chi Mon trail at the end of the dry season. Thus the Vietcong had plenty of supplies at hand and could not only defend theirself well, they could really crush the US army attack and conquer at a lot of US army stuff. And much of it was on display at this Lao military museum.

Heres some photos from the Lao military museum in Dong:

**Snakeboy** · #70 30 Jan 2021

Day 22 - Checking out the War Museum in Dong

Some more pics of the outside display of US Army stuff at the War Museum in Dong

**Snakeboy** · #71 30 Jan 2021

Day 22 - Checking out the Lao War Museum in Dong

Some pics from the display inside the museum building. The first pic is a photo of the Vietnamese (north Vietnamese) leader and president Ho Chi Min (uncle Ho) and the Pathet Lao and later Lao president Kaysone Phomvihane

**Snakeboy** · #72 30 Jan 2021

Day 22 - Riding (a few meters) on the Ho Chi Min trail

My research told me it should be possible to accsess the real Ho Chi Min trail (where the Vietcong freighted supplies to their troops in the south) and supposedly the only official accsess as well. There was a roadsign in Pong saying the Ho Chi Min trail should lay 22 kms to the south. So off I went after I had walked around at the war museum and after 22 kms I started looking for the famous trail. To my disappointment the only thing I could find was a trail paralell to the road through a small village fenced in by a 20-30 cm low rusty fence. The trail itself was full of trash and broken bottles and I was afraid if I rode on it it would cut up the tires on the bike. This fenced trail went on for a few hundred meters, maybe as much as a kilometer, and eventually I found a spot where it wasnt all that much bottle pieces so I rode into the trail and took a few photos and that was it! I had ridden the Ho Chi Min trail, apparently the only genuin accsess there is to it. But still I felt kind of underwhelmed. No signs, no information - and the trail was full of broken bottles and trash....oh well.

I got my photos though and here they are....

**Snakeboy** · #73 31 Jan 2021

Day 23 - Getting a thai visa and relaxing in Savannakhet

After checking out the Lao military museum in Pong and riding a few meters of the Ho Chi Min trail I had half the day left which I spent riding to Savannakhet. That was an eventless ride along the R9E except from a bit of cows, dogs, goats, chickens, pigs, turkeys, ducks and geese on the road. I found a place to stay for a couple of nights after being turned down once because the owner was afraid of Covid.
Early the next morning I was at the thai consulate and handed over my visa application and documents. And I had the rest of the day to relax and check out the town of Savannakhet

I had been to Savannakhet a couple of times before and my first visit there was back in 2004. And at that time I thought the town was just a dusty place in the middle of nowhere with not much to it, neither of accomodation possibilities, places to eat and drink, and other things. But Savannaketh had really changed!
Yes it was still a dusty rivertown along the mighty Mekongs shores but now it had so many markets, restaurants, bars and accomodation choices that I was really surprised! I wish I had more time to check out the town - hopefully I will be ablr to do it at an later stage.

So here are a few photos from Savannakhet...

Pic 1 - St Teresas catholic church
Pic 2 - Uncle Ho (Chi Min) memorial

**Snakeboy** · #74 1 Feb 2021

Day 24 - Picking up my thai visa and exiting Laos into Thailand and some final thoughts.

This was going to be my last day in Laos this time as I was going to the thai consulate and hopefully pick up my thai visa at 1 pm and then exit Laos into Thailand.

First I took the Crf to a car wash joint where I got dust and dirt for 23 days washed off at the price of 10 000 kip (~1 €/1.2$) And for that price I think the guys did a mighty good job.

Then I had a wuick lunch and coffee, then off to the thai consulate and to my relief I actually got another thai visa in my passport.

Then it was time to exit Laos. However this is not as easy as it seems. Despite there now are 5 socalled friendship bridges over the Mekong river and a couple of other land borders only 2-3 of these allows motorbikes to cross over. The bridge at the Savannakhet-Mukhdahan dont allow motorbikes to cross according to my research so I didnt even try there. I knew the one at Vientiane-Nong Khai did allow motorbikes but that was very far away and it is also the main bordercrossing between the two countries and thus very very busy. But a couple of hours north there was a bridge at Thakek-Nakhon Phanom, and I tried there and had succsess and I was out of Laos and in Thailand. I rode to the city of Udon Thani and spent the night there, and the next day I rode back to my base in northern Thailand.

I had been on the road 25 days and I have ridden 4700 kms upon the arrival back at my base. And what a trip it had been! Visiting a lot of new and remarkable places and also visitong several places I have been before. Riding a lot of roads new to me and a lot of them was remote and dirt/gravel roads. Beautiful scenery fantastic almost neverending winding roads. A true pleasue and Laos what a gem you are!

My bike the trusty Honda Crf 250 L, year 2012 had really performed fantastic throughout all kind of roads and conditions. One of the rear indicators had partly snapped, but fixed with superglue and gaffatape - and that was the only problem I had with the bike. Fuel consumption with 91 octane RON with 10 % ethanol Lao fuel had been between 35-37 kms to the liter. In other measurements it is 100-105 mpg Imperial and 83-87 mpg US. Not bad at all!

Pic 1 - The Crf got a thorough and much needed wash after 23 days on Laos roads for the price of approx 1 €
Pic 2 - The ODO after coming back to my base in Thailand. I started with approx 34 000 kms on the clock.
Pic 3 - Back into Thailand again....

That was it guys. I hope you have enjoyed this little write up on my Laos trip last January/February - just before the Covid madness hit the world. I hope it wont be too long to wait before we all can travel freely again - well relatively freely that is....

Comments welcome