All the photos are taken with my iPhone 4s, it don't do a bad job does it?. Do it mate, I did

Wayne

__________________
The Balkans
https://new.horizonsunlimited.com/poi_entity/8417

Stayed local in Vang Vieng today and went on a bit of a ride, I took a track to the west of the town and just followed it. I eventually ran out of track at a village as I was trying to get round a big hill. so I turned back and took a fork in the road in another village and that took me on a loop. Great scenery and lots to see.

Local Vang Veing1 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

IMG_1284 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

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I stopped in one village where I had a drink and watched one of the village women weaving a skirt, it was good to see. They also made scarves and small blanket type things. She made it look so easy.

IMG_1305 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

Sat with a in a restaurant whilst waiting for the photos to upload on to flickr. Its a good job I am thirsty as it may take awhile.....two and a half hours,not bad

Wayne

__________________
The Balkans
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Attachment 14388

It would be rude not to

Wayne


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

__________________
The Balkans
https://new.horizonsunlimited.com/poi_entity/8417

Set off today at about 0730hrs travelling from Vang Veing to Phonsavan and I don’t have a clue what happened as I did not end up following the route I had planned on basecamp the night before.
I ended up taking the 13N, the 9308, 9303, 5 then the 1D

Day 22 Vang Veing to Phonsavan by Wayne 66, on Flickr

No Google map, its not playing on my Mac, tried a reinstall.

What a journey it turned out to be, blocked routes, 80km detour, and 200km off road. The first 15km was on tarmac then it went onto unpaved road/track, the first 67km was covered in 2hours.
At the 60 km I came to a military style check point, uniform and what looked like a single shot rifle, I wondered where the hell I was going, lots of sign posts in what looked like Chinese or Korean
The GPS was going mad, at about the 63 km point I came across a mine type area, didn't stop for photos as there were people about.
I was well in the middle of no where, I now no what Dr Livingstone felt like, but the GPS says still on right road haha. At about 67km I came across another Military CP which again I passed with no problems.

IMG_1310 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

IMG_1313 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

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IMG_1325 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

Further on down the road I met 2 guys Fransiour and Craig they said I was riding through what was once a restricted area and was used by the CIA in the Vietnam War. It was a tough route but very enjoyable.

IMG_1326 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

IMG_1332 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

IMG_1334 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

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IMG_1339 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

Then things went a bit downhill, the road I was following became impassable there was a land slide in the road so I left the bike to see if it was passable, nope, had to turn round and with that I had to make a long detour of about 80km. Managed to get fuel in a little village called Ban Nam Gnone as I had already used my reserve cache. The CRF was supping fuel like no tomorrow with going up and down all the steep inclines and decents.

IMG_1344 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

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IMG_1353 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

I then got what I thought was a lucky break and hit some more tarmac, yeah, for all of about 18km’s then straight back into the jungle again haha.
On route the track was blocked yet again this time there were some excavators clearing the way so me and a load of Laos people were sat waiting for them to finish, it was about 30 to 40 mins before we got going.

IMG_1356 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

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I had drunk all my water in my Camelbak and was gagging for a drink so I stopped in this village in the middle of nowhere and they kindly gave me water and even let me take a pic before I move off again.

IMG_1368 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

After 200.3km I finally got onto a proper tarmac road for the last leg into Phonsavan, which I got to at about 1730hrs

Found the Nice Guesthouse, wifi, hot water, 100,000kip per night for a double room N19.45045 E103.21892

Wayne

__________________
The Balkans
https://new.horizonsunlimited.com/poi_entity/8417

Visited Site 1 of the Plain of jars, coords N 19.42577 E103.15878. Very interesting to visit. They had a little museum to tell you all about the jars and a little bit about the Vietnam War in the area, they reckon over 270 million bonds dropped in Laos. There were still a lot of trenches visible when you were walking round and also plenty of bomb craters. MAG had cleared bit of the area and you are advised to walk between the markers.

IMG_1369 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

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IMG_1401 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

I also visited the Vietnam War Memorial and the Laos War Memorial. The Vietnam one was in a very good state of repair but the Laos one had lots of graffiti over it. I would have thought if anything it would be the other way round

IMG_1418 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

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All the above is the Vietnam War Memorial

IMG_1419 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

IMG_1421 by Wayne 66, on Flickr
The two above is the Laos War Memorial

Wayne

__________________
The Balkans
https://new.horizonsunlimited.com/poi_entity/8417

Set off nice and early, it was about 0745 after I had filled up and filled my reserve bottles. The route was the 7N the on to the 1C all the way in to Nong Khiaw.

Day 24 Phonsavan to Nong Khiaw by Wayne 66, on Flickr

It was a good steady road all the way except for the last 80km or so. Then it was very potholed and went from paved to unpaved every now and again. There were lots of nice villages to ride through, spent a lot of time waving when going through the villages. I think thats why I prefer being on a bike, in my opinion you are more attuned to the surrounding area. I got some great video of them and the surrounding countryside, yet again lots of stunning views to be had. Early on in the route I met with a lot of wet patches where the sun had not been on them and there was loads of diesel on the patch,in some places it was quite thick due to the trucks going slow up and down the hills.
Covered 372km today, but on the plus side I only have 110 to do tomorrow to get me to Oudomxay.

IMG_1429 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

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I got to Nong Khiaw at about 1715, after numerous stops to chill, get fuel and eat and after a ride through the town I opted for the CT Guesthouse and restaurant, clean room, hot water and wifi. The bike is park in the owners drive with CCTV, with disc lock applied, coords N20.57020 E102.61657

IMG_1456 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

IMG_1458 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

IMG_1459 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

IMG_1460 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

Wayne

__________________
The Balkans
https://new.horizonsunlimited.com/poi_entity/8417

NOW, what have you been told about riding through the rice paddy's Lonerider (hope I got the correct pic)

__________________
My memory is becoming that good, I should be able to organise my own surprise party soon

I like them lol, they sometimes have amazing colours

Wayne

__________________
The Balkans
https://new.horizonsunlimited.com/poi_entity/8417

Nong Khiaw to Oudomxay,

Day 25 Nong Khiaw to Oudomxay by Wayne 66, on Flickr

I set off at about 0825hrs after I had topped up my fuel. The 1C/13N started off really nice with a lot of flowing bends with decent tarmac.

IMG_1464 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

IMG_1462 by Wayne 66, on Flickr
So calm and peaceful
Then!

I then got to Pakmong, as I left there I went on to a really wide great piece of road, it was great for about 6k’s then I turned bad, through lots of roads works, chewing on loads of dust when trying to get past the lorries and buses which were on the route. Really narrow points where they are trying to build the road and a lot of heavy machinery, saying that I was surprised on how much was still done by hand.

IMG_1468 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

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IMG_1472 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

Between 50 and 60 kms there is a large rest stop area with a restaurant and a small shop, also toilets. I stopped there and had a coffee in a tin and got talking to some Westeners who were milling about in the bus stop, it turns out that the bus they were on (which I passed about a 100 meters down the road) had broken down and they had been stuck there for 5 hours. They were not happy, but I was, the sun was out and had my trusty steed .

IMG_1475 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

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IMG_1487 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

The road stayed pretty much very bumpy and dusty till I started to drop down the other side of the mountain towards Oudomxay then I was blessed with damp mud, it make the road like an ice skating ring and I could feel my wheels wanting to tuck from underneath me all the time I was on it. Thankfully made it down in one piece
Finally the last 10 to 12 k’s was good tarmac again all the was in to town

IMG_1489 by Wayne 66, on Flickr
Lunch stop

After stopping for food and a luke warm Lao dark I had a ride through town and settled on the Dokbouadeng Guesthouse, wifi, best I have had in about 6 days, 30 photos uploads to Flickr in half hour, thats a record since I have been in Laos, hot water is very good, very hot with a decent pressure, bike parked out the front, only downside is it could do with a good lick of paint, but everything else is probably best, coords N20.68781 E101.98650

IMG_1493 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

IMG_1490 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

IMG_1491 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

Took a walk into the town, the main road I am on is the town centre, visited the Phouthad Temple on top of a hill, not may good views of the town but the temple was ok

IMG_1509 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

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Also found this other guesthouse but I wouldn’t say, so they wouldn’t let me in!!?? Think about it!?

IMG_1498 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

Not the kind of thing you want to be driving down the 1C/13N

IMG_1497 by Wayne 66, on Flickr
CLS 550 AMG

Wayne

__________________
The Balkans
https://new.horizonsunlimited.com/poi_entity/8417

Now I have got some good internet I thought I would take the opportunity to post some videos of some on the roads/tracks I have been on

https://flic.kr/p/qGPQ9p
The 1C from Phonsavan to Nong Khiaw

https://flic.kr/p/qEPczf
VV to Phonsavan on the 9303/9308

https://flic.kr/p/qqD3sT
1C/13N from Nong Khiaw to Oudomxay

Distance covered so far 3997 km

Wayne

__________________
The Balkans
https://new.horizonsunlimited.com/poi_entity/8417

Stayed in Oudoxmay for the day and just relaxed, had two massages as the first one didn’t seem like it had done the trick. Had the same girl twice and she was very good. I felt so much better after the second one. The remainder of the day was spent drinking Beer Lao and eating food.
I also took the bike for a good wash, the second of the tour.

IMG_1495 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

Set off at about 0815 hours after filling my now replenished reserve fuel bottle which I had lost the other day.

Day 27 Oudomxay to Ban Chom Ong by Wayne 66, on Flickr

I was travelling to Ban Chom Ong which is a homestay village. The route was very misty and I didn’t know what to expect and I didn’t even know where it was. I was following a map which was give to me by the tourist information people, and I decided to go the long way round which was through about 8 to 10 villages till I got to Ban Chom Ong. After getting a bit lost on the way as there were loads of tracks and in some places I was not even on a track according to the OSM mapping on my GPS, but its all part of the fun, so as and when I came across a different village I was asking the name of the village and then the way to Chom Ong.

IMG_1516 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

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The first river crossing off the day, watch this guy nearly loose it at it was quite deep in the middle

IMG_1525 by Wayne 66, on Flickr
This second river I had just crossed and stopped to watch the trucks go through, it was very slippery

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Continued due to too many pics

Wayne

__________________
The Balkans
https://new.horizonsunlimited.com/poi_entity/8417

I eventually got there for about 1130hrs, I was about 55 to 60 km the long way round, but I was not in any rush. Ban Chom Ong coords N20.70597 E101.78142.
Once I got there I stopped at a small shack in the middle of the village and started to ask about the homestay whist drinking a bottle of cold pop (soda).

IMG_1542 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

IMG_1543 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

The girl at the shack had a book with English phrases but nothing on the homestay, then all of a sudden she ran off, must have been the aftershave I was wearing, she disappeared into the village and came back with a young man, who I later found out was 19m and married to the girl who ran the shack. He ended up hosting me and spoke reasonable English. Sorted, time to go to my hut for the night. When I got to it it was a hut on stilts and inside were some thin mattresses and some quilts in a bag. Very Very basic and I was thinking what had I let myself in for…..

IMG_1545 by Wayne 66, on Flickr
My dwelling for the night

IMG_1544 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

IMG_1547 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

My host hung about whilst I unloaded the bike and got changed. Then it was back to the shack where we sat and drank cold Lao whilst his wife cooked some fried eggs with bits of chilli in them, we also had rice, the rice was just presented in a bamboo bowl and you just grabbed a hand full, literally. The egg was eaten with chopsticks.
Whilst we were eating a couple of the villagers came up to see who the foreigner was, one of them was a teacher (28yrs old) who spoke good English so we had quite a good natter, at about 1400hrs I said I was going for a walk and I was also going to secretly check on the bike and all my stuff because nothing was locked up, there were no locks on the doors at all, Ummmm, I was a bit dubious about leaving all the electronics laying about, but I had no choice unless I sat with it all the time. As I got up to leave thinking that this is going to be a long day as I didn't even have any comms, my host said that he was going to a farty, I later found out it was his pronunciation of party, as the villagers were celebrating something, he did tell me what but, after a few Lao whiskeys it was all a blur…….
So off we went further in to the village but closer to where I was staying, thankfully… When we got there it was packed out in the little area they were using, and I was shown to a wooden bench next to a table and sat down with all the other men. They made me feel right at home and involved me in all the days activities. The women served the men the and whiskey whilst the men ate, most of the food was in bowls but some of it was just on big leaves directly on the table, sticky rice, some kind of noodle thing, then a mix of pork and chicken soups with veg and other pork and chicken dishes, we all had a spoon each and the rest was just use you hands. I was quite taken aback by the way the women tended all the men, sorting the food, pouring the drinks etc. When the drink was being passed round you didn’t get your own cup, the cup started at the end of the line, the woman poured the ring, and or whiskey and you drank it, tipping the dregs on the floor and giving the cup back to the woman who then went to the next man. Once all the men had had their food they left the table and all the women and kids sat down to eat. By this stage I was in a group of about 10 Lao men of which a couple spoke reasonable English. I bought 5 bottles of Lao for the group which was well appreciated. Whilst we were eating men were singing and there was another guy on a key board. to be honest they sound really good, this continued all they way through the day/evening.
When the women had eaten all the tables and benches were moved off the the side to make a dance floor…Ummm…when in Rome! I was sat drinking and smoking with the men and a village woman, probably in her early 20’s took a bit of a shine to me and kept asking me to dance, and feed me alcohol, all the men and women who were there were dancing and singing and having a really good time. Then they brought out some big clay urns filled with what looked like wheat chaff and other stuff, I later found out it was rice particals, with long bamboo straws sticking in them, and the villagers took it in turns to sit and fill up the urns with water, and keep them topped up. The stuff was like a wine and the straw was passed round the group sat round the urns. Whilst it was kept filled with water, it was quite potent stuff. More sing and dancing until it started to get dark, which was around 1830hrs.

IMG_1549 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

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Food, spoons and more importantly the Lao Whiskey

IMG_1552 by Wayne 66, on Flickr
The guy in the blue denim jacket spoke ok English and the guy in the red sleeved shirt on the right was Ban Chom Ong's answer to Elvis when he got going

IMG_1557 by Wayne 66, on Flickr
One of the solitary cups being filled and passed round

IMG_1560 by Wayne 66, on Flickr
The woman in the pink jacket took a bit of a shine to me and kept asking me to dance (middle of pic)

IMG_1565 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

IMG_1567 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

IMG_1568 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

IMG_1571 by Wayne 66, on Flickr
My host

IMG_1577 by Wayne 66, on Flickr
The dreaded wine Urns

IMG_1582 by Wayne 66, on Flickr
Sat round the Urns

IMG_1564 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

IMG_1576 by Wayne 66, on Flickr
The Urns and dancing

My host then took me back to his home where I had more food, fish cooked on an open fire and sticky rice, only hands were used for eating, I was sat with his wife, brothers, and grandmother.
Once we had eaten he took me back to my hut as I didn’t have a clue where I was as it was pitch black by this time. Once at the hut he went back home and I grabbed my torch and went back to the party which was dwindling down, my female friend had gone, more rice wine was in order before I stumbled back to the hut where I went straight to sleep, alcohol induced haha.
What I thought was going to be long and boring day turn into an exceptional day/evening and I was made very welcome by all at the party. Well worth the time and very glad I decided to go.

Wayne

__________________
The Balkans
https://new.horizonsunlimited.com/poi_entity/8417

Woke up with a cracking hangover, but had a good 9hrs sleep and sorted out my kit ready to pack the bike, this was at about 0630hrs, it was still dark outside, so glad I brought a torch with me

The plan was to ride to Phonsali today and then go further up north to the Chinese border. However when I went out side my initial thoughts came true as I could hear the noise on the roof of the hut, it was raining. In fact it wasn’t just raining it was lashing it down. Not good..
I had about 14km to do before I got on to some tarmac, what a hard 14 km it was. The track had turned to a slippery top surface of mud which yet again was like riding over ice. So very slowly and precariously I made my way along the track, had to do two river crossing, one of which was a straight ride through after a very slippery slope down to the water, how I didn’t end up in the river i’ll never know. The second was a wooden log bridge, the logs had been laid bank to bank and not side on, and there was big gaps in the logs, big enough for a tyre to fit between. So it was off the bike and keeping it in first gear I walked the bike across using the engine to move the bike along. Once cleared it was back on the very slippery track and heading for the 13N, that took me about and hour to do.

Finally I got to the main road and by this time I was well and truly drenched and extremely cold. Bearing in mind I am only wearing my motocross gear, glad I was, more to come…

I set the GPS to a road junction where I was then going to turn left and head for Phonsali, but… as I was going down the 13N towards the junction I was on a down hill stretch which was very twisty so I was only going very slowly as I could see diesel all over the place, any way I came slowly round this left hand bend and that that it the front went straight from underneath me, I went down quite hard but the bike used me as a cushion, thankfully, and we both slid down hill for about 10 feet before coming to a stop in a verge. Managed to get the bike off me and picked it up, Bike ok, just a scrapped clutch leaver, happy with that, I have got a bruised elbow, but the full body armour certainly did its job, the motocross shirt is a bit shredded so is off in the bin. So apart from a bruised elbow where it clattered against the elbow protectors, all it good.
So I was now wet, cold and hurting. Got to the junction of the 13N and a road near Namotay and looked at the road, not good and I decided against traveling it. I am here to enjoy it and not do any unnecessary risk. So I set of for Luang Namtha a few days early. It was still 50k’s before I got there, and it was a long, wet, cold 50k’s. Eventually got here for about 1045hrs and rode up the main street looking for a place to get a room.
I found the ManyChan Guesthouse and Restaurant N21.00251° E101.40943° on the main drag and went in to see if they had a room after having two coffees to try and warm up. I got a room, clean with luke warm water and wifi in the restaurant area. The poor lady in the Guesthouse was following me about with the mop as I was dripping water all over the place. Hot shower and food was in order. Then to plan what I am going to do next?

Hence not many photos today

IMG_1586 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

IMG_1587 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

IMG_1588 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

IMG_1589 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

Wayne

__________________
The Balkans
https://new.horizonsunlimited.com/poi_entity/8417

Spent it in Luang Namtha, it rained till gone 1200hrs and it was really cold, to top it all there was no hot water and we had a power cut till 1330hrs.
Went out for a walk and had a pizza across the road and he even had hot coffee on (thx again Bob), bonus! Gave me something to do whilst I watched the guys fix the power cables

IMG_1591 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

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Seafood special, very tasty

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I met a couple from the UK, Russ and Emma, they were very nice and we ended up spending the evening together in the guesthouse, chatting, eating and drinking. They didn’t know where they were going to next so we discussed where I had been and their options. It was nice to have a good light hearted conversation.

IMG_1597 by Wayne 66, on Flickr
Russ and Emma

Elbow is the size of a golf ball, glad to be resting up, gloves and body armour are still wet through, cant wait to put them on tomorrow.

Wayne

__________________
The Balkans
https://new.horizonsunlimited.com/poi_entity/8417

Gloves still drenched, glad I have another pair with me, nowt worse than soggy gloves, boots still wet also, Seal Skinz it is then, although the body armour has dried out.

Luang Namtha to Muang Sing by Wayne 66, on Flickr

Set off for Muang Sing via the NamDi (Dee) Waterfall N21.01496 E101.44214 and the That Phum Phuk Stupas N20.97172 E101.38046
Visited the Stupa first which was on top of a hill, looked for the road that went up to the top but couldn't find it so I ended up climbing the stairs to the top, not the best idea in Motocross boots. There was the old stupa which I think was partially destroyed when it had a bomb dropped on ti, and the new stupa in the usual gold colouring.

IMG_1599 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

IMG_1601 by Wayne 66, on Flickr
View from top of stairs

IMG_1602 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

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IMG_1604 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

Next up was Nam Di, I was a bit disappointed in it after the Kuang Si Waterfall, the water looked clear coming down but then was a bit murky as it started to flow again and there was a long rusting pipe which you can see in the photos, aint got a clue what it was for, cost was 10,000 kip and 2,000 kip for the motorbike to be parked

IMG_1612 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

IMG_1613 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

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IMG_1621 by Wayne 66, on Flickr
Doing the washing in the river just after the waterfall

It was good to get back out on the bike after resting my arm and sitting about for nearly 36 hours due to bad weather. The road (17A) was quite good all the way to Muang Sing and the Scenery was up to its usual standard, loads to look at.
I stopped for my usual in the middle of nowhere breakfast in Ban Done Xay
food was good, noodles with pork and veggies.
Although the sun was not out for most of the journey it was a lot warmer than it had been over the previous two days.

IMG_1627 by Wayne 66, on Flickr
Ban Done Xay

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IMG_1638 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

IMG_1642 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

Just before I got to MS I took a bit of a detour to Ban Koum which is a distillery village, When I got there I had a ride round the village and as normal all the villagers were staring at me, I could not see any distilleries but thought I could smell it in the previous village I passed through, however I did meet a group of guys who where sat drinking some home brew at 1030 in the morning as I was riding passed the one with the home-brew beckoned me to stop, as I stopped he finished of his drink and poured me one, it was strong, thankfully I had only eaten an hour ago, so I got my smokes out and passed them round, much appreciated it was too, then we had more home-brew whilst taking about the bike, my GPS and the Go-pro, and they even passed for a photo

IMG_1639 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

IMG_1641 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

Got to MS at about 1130hrs and had a coffee after the mediatory ride round, whilst having a brew I look for some accommodation, After riding around again I opted for the Anousone Guesthous at coords N21.19140 E101.15479. Wifi which is quite good, hot water which is luke warm but bearable and the bike is parked out front.

IMG_1644 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

IMG_1646 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

IMG_1647 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

IMG_1648 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

There was not a lot to choose from in the town IMHO, it is a bit of a one horse town and nothing like the other places I have stopped. It is predominantly Chinese in the town with it being close to the border and most of the businesses are Chinese, including the Guesthouse I am in.
Moving on again tomorrow to Houayxai.

Wayne

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The Balkans
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