Luang Prabang to Vientiane

Day 65 Sunday 4th October 338 km (19638 km total)

 

 

Back to where it all started - well not really, but it will do

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The reference to where it all started refers to my blog - my first post as a newbie / novice blogger (bloogie or blovice maybe?) was in Vientiane back in June.

I had popped over to renew my Thai visa, as I had deliberately allowed my long term visa to expire, to prevent any possible problems when I tried to temporarily import my bike later on.

So in blogging terms today was to bring me full circle.

After another lovely breakfast on the banks of the mekong (nice guest house, the Nam Khan Riverside) I set off into the damp morning air and immediately onto nice roads through the beautiful Laos countryside.

 

 

After about an hour the warning signs appeared that all may not continue in the same vein.

 

Another bit of road improvement was underway ...

Paul Simon's 'Slip Sliding Away' probably wasnt the best track to be playing on the ipod as I approached this bit of road, with a mud stream running down it!

Just round the corner, I wanted to start driving in the left ...

Then there was a landslip actively being cleared away ...

Before the roads returned to there previous pristine state .

 

This poor chap hadn't been able to make it around the corner on this steep down hill section.

Down in the valley's village life cartied in as it must have for years.

And as I approached Vientiane, rain clouds made there presence felt.

 

Crossing a river, the scenery was doing a fair impression of phang na bay in southern thailand.

On arriving at this nights hotel, I parked the Tiger discretely between two ageing Mercedes! The S Park Design Hotel, had a Mercedes theme going on, the reception desk was made from the front half of one!

A nice new boutique hotel, just outside the city, fabulous rooms for about £28 per night, a bar & restaurant and even a night club in the basement (Russ take note!)

 

The last border crossing tomorrow, & the beginning of the end of my 17 country adventure.

 

Luang Prabang

Day 64 Saturday 3rd October 0 km (19300 km total)

 

Rest Day - whopee!

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I had planned two nights in Luang Prabang, partly as I thought it might be a long ride crom the border and also I had heard it was a nice place & I wanted to see a bit of Laos.

 

Unfortunately I spent most of the morning catching up with my China blogs, a few bits of work on the bike, washing clothes & recovering from the rather large meal & one too many beers I had consumed in celabration of arriving safely last night - oops!

View from my room in the morning was just what the doctor ordered :-)

Once all the domestic & other tasks were completed, I se of for a walk up mount Phu Si , which was conveniently on the doorstep.

Well OK its hardly a mount at only 150m but its 335 steps left my legs aching the following day, or was that from standing in the oegs on the rough roads?

 

The 'mount' is a central feature in Luang Prabang and one of the first things that visitors will notice as they arrive, it having gold statues & things all over it. i didnt notice it at all when I arrived however, as it was dark & I was too busy trying not to ride the bike into (seemingly) bottomless potholes!

 

Apparently the mount used to harbour a powerful Naga ( a mthyical serpent like creature of Buddist legend) but I didnt see one, just lots of tourists gsping & sweating as they climbed to watch the sunset from the top.

Its a rocky little mountain, with every nok & cranny filled with statues and the like.

 

 

 

Once at the top there is indeed a nice view, sunset or not.

I stayed until it got this dark, but then left, far too busy at the top for my liking

After a shower & change I ventured out to a bar that my host reccomended.

The Icon bar is not at all Laos style, its a very arty/ chic little place run by a hungarian lady (who was away) but managed by a canadian chap in her absence. It had a nice atmosphere so I stayed for a few, plus it had started raining heavily by then. The only other occupants at that time were 4 'mature' american ladies. 3 left to go for dinner shortly after and so I ended up chatting with the one that remained.

Barbara, was a true California girl and we got a great discussion going revolving around her time with the mystics in Nepal and mine motorbiking the world. Chalk & cheese but very enjoyable all the same & a nice lady.

So rest day over, clothes washed & almost dry, pack & go in the morning - next stop Vientiane.

 

Mohan, China to Luang Prabang, Laos

Day 63 Friday 2nd October 292 km (19300 km total)

 

Good-bye China, Hello Laos!

- - - -

So here it is the route travelled so far. Still two countries to go, but as I intimated yesterday, once I leave China I will be on familiar ground and so it feels like the beginning of the end for this particular adventure.

 

An easy last ride in China, only 500m to the border post.

The (magnificent?) 7 parked up together for the last time and we filed along to the immigration building.

Once through that rather uncelubrious exit, we would be out of china.

 

And there it was done - just under 2 hours to complete the exit from China, say goodbye to Abdul our guide for the past 25 days, get through Laos immigration & then say goodbye to each other and then we were on our way on Laos soil - well quite nice tarmac to be more precise.

Russ, John & I had agreed to ride to Oudomsuk together after which Russ & John would head west towards Nan & I would continue south to Luang Prabang. One of the first differences I noticed was the number of school kids on the roads and how keen they were to wave at us.

But mostly this first section was just excellent roads through lush scenery, a change was to come but I didnt know it then, so all was good with the world!

We stopped at a small hotel cafe in Oudomsuk for some proper coffee & my first pad grapao since leaving Thailand in July. Things were getting bette & better !

 

 

Final photo shot nefore we went our seperate ways ...

Russ & John apparently had good roads for the rest of their journey that day, not so for me unfortunately.

The warning signs came about 20km after we split up.

 

Then things started to deteriorate pretty quickly as I climbed

 

This was the main north to south route in Laos (about as important as the M1!) but it was evident that they had decided it needed a facelift ..

 

 

There wasnt a great deal of traffic about, but soon I came to a queue, so rode to the front to see what the issue was. Turns out they had closed the road for a while to put down a layer of rocks ....

We waited patiently for about an hour whilst a sucession of heavy lorries tipped their loads & a digger smoothed it out. Then they just waved us though....eek!

What followed was some of the hardest riding I had done, the rock layer was about 12 inches deep and hadn't been rolled or compacted, so was as stable as a bag of puppies and sending my wheels all over the place.

 

I tried to follow in the tracks of a heavy lorry, which worked for a while, but then pick up trucks kept coming past weaving across the road creating criss cross tracks as well.

That section lasted for a few kilometers, then it was onto "here's one I did earlier" which at least was stable and solid ...

.... But often quite sandy.

 

I hit another queue after an hour or so, this one kept us for another hour whilst they rolled a layer of sand onto the road ahead. I parked by a locals house & sat in the shade for a while.

Once over that section, it was good roads for a while

 

But the fun was to return several times again, often without warning.

 

Next problem I had was failing light, I still had 170km to do and it was going dark. Time to forget the camera & concentrate on seeing where I was going. The road works stopped thankfully, but that meant it was the old road - full of potholes, no fun at all when you cant see them!

 

 

The last hour and a half was in complete darkness, no street lamps & little traffic to indicate where the road went. So I had to slow right down & concentrate hard.

 

Eventually hit the outskirts of Luang Prabang and found my hotel, a nice little place on the river banks. More about that tomorrow.

 

Jinghong to Mohan

Day 62 Thursday 1st October 171 km (19008 km total)

 

Good bye yellow brick road!

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Only a short ride to Mohan, the border town with Laos, so we didnt plan to leave Jinghong until after lunch. That left the morning free for some jobs.

First one was to check the Tiger's wheel nuts & adjust the chain.

The previous evening I had nipped out on the bike with the spare tyre I bought in Astrakhan, to a tyre fitter to have it fitted in place of the Mitas E07 that I had ridden on all the way from the UK.

Actually the Mitas would easily have got me to Thailand, but that would have meant carrying the spare again (it had been in the guide's car boot all through China). So I devided to change it and give the Mitas to the guide to keep as an emergency replacement for anyone that needs it in the future.

So it was goodbye Mitas - a truly fantastic rear tyre & highly recommended - it was being replaced with a Heidenhau, which was all I could get in Russia, but also has a good reputation.

The following 2 shots are of the Mitas E07 after I had taken it off - pretty good condition seeing as it had done more than 20,000 km on all kinds of roads, still about 3-4mm of tread left in the centre.

Nipping out to have the tyre changed wasn't quite as simple as I had hoped though. The first couple of places refused to do it, the third agreed, but only if I took the wheel off myself. No real problem, except I was aleady pretty hot & sticky from the days ride and the only space to remove the wheel was on the pavement, which meant I had soon collected a motley band of observers!

Anyway, wheel off the tyre fitter did his stuff & then it was down to me to get it back on, trying to remember to put the spacers back in the right way around, as well as mount the brake pads correctly. Lots of suggestions coming in chinese from the bystanders!

Anyway the long & short of it is in my haste to get away and into the shower, I didnt adjust the chain properly and so that was the first job for this morning.

2nd job of the morning was to have a haircut. Now this was quite a novelty for me as I normally cut my own hair (no jokes please!). I stopped paying for a haircut about 35 years ago and have just used a pair of clippers since then - easy peasy. However, I didnt have any clippers with me and things were getting a bit unrully, so it was time for a proper cut, and off I headed down the street.

My 25 yuan cut also included washing and a head massage - very nice, might have to start going again!

Not long after, it was time to leave, so off we went for our last bit of China.

Nice roads for the last day

96km to Mohan & the border

 

Farmers burning off the stubble

 

Last Chinese tunnel!

 

As the road curved its way through the lush landscape, Elton John started singing "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" in my headphones. It seemed kind of apt, & my mood necame a little melancholy.

This wasn't just the end of China, but the end of unfamiliarity. Ever since I entered Slovenia some 55 days ago, I have been travelling through countries I have never been to before, unfamiliar lands and unfamiliar cultures. Once I enter Laos tomorrow, it will all start to become familiar again.

 

 

Just as we arrived in Mohan it started to rain heavily.

I checked into the hotel, unpacked & showered and emerged from the room to find a Chinese couple having a wedding reception in the restaurant below.

Good luck whoever you are, as my chinese adventure comes to a close, yours is just beginning.

We went for a a last "guess what it is" meal with our chinese guide, and then turned in for a relatively early night, as we needed to start the border process early in the morning.

Chinese security was clearly determined to have the last laugh, though.

I was just drifting off to sleep in my room when there was a quiet knock at the door. I ignored it.

The knock repeated, this time more insistently, so grumpily, I got up went to the door opened it roughly and said WHAT?!

Outside the door were 5 policeman - well actually 4 men & a lady officer who was the only one who spoke English. She proceeded to ask me the usual round of questions, 'where are you from?', 'where are you going'

Its hard not to be flippant at times like this, especially as she was holding a photocopy of my passport (where are you from) and we are 500m from the border with Laos (where are you going). I just managed to resist telling her I was From Africa and crossing the border to sweeden!

Then a new question from the lady officer

'please give me your chinese mobile phone number'

'Why?' i asked 'what do you want my number for, are you goimg to call me later?'

'It is my duty.' , she replied, maintaining a friendly but stern face.

....

So goodbye China, its been a blast.

You are an amazing country, and have some wonderful peoples. My abiding memory will be of your sheer scale & variety. It has taken 25 days to cross you and in that time I have ridden through snowy peaks, arid deserts, lush jungles, huge cities and tiny communities of yurts. I have seen civil enginnering works that blow the mind and along side them patchwork fields being worked by hand, new cities being created from nothing, with no people yet to fill them, old monasteries and historical sites vying for the tourists attentions. I have met and been detained by your security forces in the line of their routine work and found them always friendly, curteous and never corrupt.

There is a lot to reflect on, it was not the route I had originally planned but an excellent one all the same.

Good night & goodbye China.