From here South I am now following the tourist trail. Next I hit up Luang Prabang, which was a happening city by Laos standards. This was the place to be for tourists, though I am not sure why. Designated A UNESCO site in an effort to preserve the Lao traditions while integrating a European style of architecture, the city is ok but nothing special. It is full of touristy restaurants and a couple of ok bars, along with numerous Buddhist temples. A google search shows that the UNESCO designation has pretty much led to its downfall, causing a rapid change over the last few years. I didn't love it, and while I made some friends the two nights I was there I was eager to move on. Of course, honorable mention to the after hours party at the bowling alley/archery range, cause who doesn't like drunken archery. The bowling didn't start off so hot, 1 of the guys girlfriends was even talking smack to me when she was beating me, not knowing that was just the fuel I needed to light the fire. Joke was on them as I came back to win it in the 10th frame. In your face...USA beats the brits again, I am surprised there wasn't a USA chant to be honest.




















I got a text from friends I made the 1st night recommending the local waterfall, Su Kiang as we had previously discussed if it would be worth it. I was pretty hungover due to the friends I had made the second night, but forced myself to go due to the text as they went the day before. For 2.50USD the falls are well worth it as there are numerous falls and cascades which are a beautiful blue color. Even though the falls were on the way I would have skipped them as I didn't feel all that great, but they were the perfect hangover cure.














When I say on the way, I should clarify I barely looked at the map, and it was not even close to on the way. Laos roads are not the best, but not as awful as I had heard they would be, some of this is dependent on time of year. Looking at google maps I saw a fairly major road going South from the falls, but I did not really look at how I would need to back track almost all the way back to Luang Probang before turning South again for Vang Vieng. Turns out this was not much of a road at all, and while I could have used a nice paved road for my condition that day, I always love an unplanned adventure!











I leave the falls and jump onto a wide, well graded dirt road, it is in excellent condition so I can cruise along at a quick pace. I know there is a road somewhat in the vicinity that currently has a travel advisory, which is odd as the US usually just says to avoid entire countries, but I don't know where it is so push on in ignorance. I am pretty sure it is not here but further east, but have no idea as I don't really care, but you might want to look into that. This is not the adventure part though, as I continue on the road condition continually goes downhill. I am driving through amazing areas, small towns, and barely even see scooter traffic, but it is too good to stop and check my map or do any planning, what am I a nerd? The road follows the Mekong river but I only have views of it at times due to the lush vegetation everywhere, and that I am busy picking my line trying to avoid rocks. The advisory sticks in the back of my head since I am out in who knows where, but loving this trip even though I have no idea what I will do when the bike brakes down since it has been so long, and I know its overdue.











Eventually the state of the road gets to the point where I am climbing over small boulders with this crappy Chinese bike, maybe I will need to rename it as it is handling the terrain beautifully. After several hours of this I finally make it out to the main road, and have come to the realization that I need to back track considerably, and will not be making it to my destination. Turns out I took highway 1 from Luang Prabang to Muang Nan, which is a yellow road on google maps. I now see there is a small connecting road to Kasi that appears to be paved but have no real idea, I wish I had seen that connector and tried it....but there were some good twisties taking the long way to Kasi that I would have missed so who knows what would have been the best route. I backtracked and drive for another couple hours on fun mountains that the bike struggles to get up finally arriving in Kasi, which was nothing to write home about.





Well in hindsight, I should have just returned and stayed another day in Luang Prabang, or just repeatedly taken the adventure road going back and forth on it again and again, cause it was only downhill from here. Vang Vieng is famous for tubing on the river while bar hopping. I didn't particularly like the place, and I didn't go tubing on the river, though later was told it was a lot of fun. One girl even showed me a bruise on her leg the size of my head, ok I guess it isn't a lazy day floating downstream sipping s that I pictured, maybe next time. I didn't really take any pictures here though.









Looking at some maps and realizing I was falling behind on my loose schedule for Asia, I started to think about skipping Cambodia. Then if I was going to skip Cambodia, I didn't want to drive down into southern Laos as Vientiane is located about halfway between the North and South, so going further would require me to retrace my steps to return to Vientiane and try to sell the bike.











Honestly, since I have already seen Angkor Wat, I will admit my sole reason for wanting to go to Cambodia with the bike are the corrupt border officials. It is completely legal to take a Vietnamese plated bike from Vietnam into Cambodia, but as there is only 1 land border crossing from Laos to Cambodia, the corrupt officials will let people enter the free zone and then deny the bike, forcing them to sell it cheaply or just ditch it all together. Well F them, I wasn't going to play that game. Turns out you can illegally smuggle bikes into Cambodia, yes more adventure! But I didn't do that ...and I certainly don't recommend you do it as you will be entering a country illegally. For those wondering, all you need to do is get down South to Don Det island, ask around and you can find someone who will take you and the bike, ILLEGALLY, into Cambodia via boat. You leave the bike on a farm and he brings you back to Laos to then cross the border and get your passport exit and entry stamps, the bike is no longer part of the equation. Then you just hitchhike back to your bike in Cambodia. As there is no corresponding paperwork for it in Cambodia, not going to lie, I wish I had done it, my resume could use "Illegal Moto Smuggler" to catch HRs eye in my future job searches.








Being the capital I expected too much from this place even after reading that nothing goes on here. I figured it was worth trying to sell the bike in order to help my decision making even though my mind was pretty much made up to ditch the bike. If I pushed on I would have done the Thacket loop, which I believe is a famous moto loop for people on scooters.....fun but nothing crazy. There is also an impressive waterfall or two in Southern Laos, and some relaxing islands, but really I was over Laos. My hostel, like all here, was pretty dead so I put a sign on my bike to see what would happen and waited. Demand in Laos for a Vietnamese plated bike is reportedly pretty high. I probably should have tried to sell it in Luang Prabang, but in the end I was still successful. I decided to part ways with the crappy Chinese bike. I sold it the 1st day, but the couple who bought it was the only 1 to inquire about it so I don't know if I was lucky or not, it is definitely low season here so other times of year may be completely different. We had some good times, and it took me to some amazing places, but I was happy to be free of it and rather than continue on with Laos jumped on a plane to Indonesia, a place I figured would be more my style due to the surf, beaches, mountains, ect.








When I sold the bike we discovered that the muffler bracket didn't survive the adventure road, it had broken and the muffler was being held up by the brake, so even though I was sure they could find a welder for cheap, took off another 15$ from the selling price, so sold it for 210USD, 10 more bucks than I paid. in I believe the demand is high and I probably coud have sold it for 250USD, but was happy to get rid of it and move onto my next destination, Indonesia. That wasn't a moto adventure so this will be the end of my ride report, don't worry, I am still unemployed so will be headed South of the border in 2-4 weeks, so at a minimum Mexico, if not all the way to Argentina is next.








Not counting gas and oil changes, I put in an additional 125USD in parts as the crappy bike repeatedly broke down. I will count the 125 but 60USD of that was preventative as I thought I would have the moto longer (upgraded rear tire, sprocket, and front shocks, could have lived with what I had) so the cost could have been even lower, but these bikes are complete crap so you never know how it is going to go. I sold the bike for 225USD, but again dropped it lower due to the broken bracket, selling it for 210USD. I had the bike for just over 6 weeks, making my final total:


Purchase price: 200USD
Maintenance: 125USD
Selling Price: 210USD


Total Cost: 115USD or 2.50USD per day, not a bad adventure.

The bike obviously changes the dynamic of the trip immensely, and I looking back I ended loving every minute of it, rain or shine, broken down, or eating foods I didn't necessarily enjoy at times, it was fantastic. This picture I found in the window of a shop in Laos sums it up perfectly I think.

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2Guys1Truck.com: A Chevy Astro trip through Latin America, + moto trips in Baja, Thailand, Ecuador, Colombia, Vietnam, and Laos.