Laos, self guided, self FUNded

[shinerminer]

Ahhh! Sweet memories of the land of 1000 elephants - beer Lao and sao lao!

[gavo]

Originally Posted by Jacl-Kampuchea

That hotel looks rough!

Nice to meet you the other week Gavo, looking forward to the rest of the report.

Q

Likewise always good to chat to a fellow ADV member.

Ok , awoke early (25th Oct) no coffee, no breakfast , which was supposed to be included. Just a word here, Jim Barbush could not understand what went wrong at this hotel as it's normally very good, he apologized and refunded our money for the hotel, shit happens and we don't blame Jim.
Anyway, early start

About 20ks down the road we stopped in a village where breakfast consisted of some orange drink that was kind of like juice and B.B.Q chips mmmm
The shop and owner


another quick stop for a chainlube , 3 bikes 3000 kip and away we went.
A bit misty this morning and my wife didn't notice this until we were next to it


scenery as good as ever,lots of villages




Then we came to another ferry crossing


Not everyone gets to ride first class

then some dirt road


we stopped at this village for a break


Just after this that truck with the pigs had pulled up and the owner was spraying them with a hose to cool them funny thing was the hose just looked like it ran into a random field, must have been a pump hidden somewhere.


This bridge out side Luang Prabang

The maps and routes Jim put in my GPS were brilliant had no trouble finding the hotel. (recommended) Villa Phathana


And a little quiz, What's wrong with this picture

[max384]

Thanks for sharing!

A couple of years ago I would have never even thought of traveling though southeast Asia on a motorcycle... Now it's one of the MANY trips I yearn to take. I love ADVrider and all the awesome ride reports!

[gavo]

Originally Posted by max384

Thanks for sharing!

A couple of years ago I would have never even thought of traveling though southeast Asia on a motorcycle... Now it's one of the MANY trips I yearn to take. I love ADVrider and all the awesome ride reports!

Do it it's a feast of sights, sounds and smells. And bloody good fun

[bajubaru]

No dic brake

Originally Posted by gavo

And a little quiz, What's wrong with this picture

[Steve canyon]

Where was this Bamboo bridge?



Some great shots dude....

[Gummitarzan]

Love Laos! Went to Vientiene and Vangviene but with a tuktuk. Stayed there in january 2002. The scenary is just something else

[gavo]

Originally Posted by Steve canyon

Where was this Bamboo bridge?



Some great shots dude....

I think it was on the Nam Khan river, where exactly I don't remember but along route 13 about 20ks south of Luang prabang is my best guess a town nearby is called Mout I think

[gavo]

So a few lay days in Luang Prabang first day agenda is elephant ride and Kuang si falls.
Took the easy way out and instead of riding we hired a mini bus tour.
First stop the elephants, we went to All Lao , they have 14 elephants and a walk through the jungle on the same old tracks, with a memory like an elephant they gotta be bored







then off to Kuang si falls.These places are popular for a reason ---their good

[Steve canyon]

I thought I recognized that bridge just where you said it was....



Just south of Luang Prabang.....

[gavo]

Another free day in Luang Prabang so we decide to go to the cave temple at Pak Ou north of Luang Prabang.
Highway up to turnoff the dirt road in about 15ks




At the village u must park on the outskirts and walk in and down to the river

then negotiate a boat price and away









an interesting place with upper and lower caves, the lower


and the upper which had no lights except what shone through the door way

[gavo]

On the way back from Pak Ou we stop to get a broken rack on one of the bikes welded up. We pull up and show them what we want and they do it straight away and all for the princely sum of 15000 kip (about $1.80 us) --Bargain--- , I gave him double and said buy yourself a beer, I was hot just watching him No way on earth would you get service like that at home




We took a detour to Wat Phoul Phao amazing art work although not that old


On the lower levels their a pictures depicting hell on earth then as you rise in levels you come closer to enlightenment



the view from the first level was good too


and in this pic you can see the temple on Phousi hill in the center of town

Higher levels at wat phol phou



this is the second highest level and although I stuck my head up the top, there was 2 women praying and I didn't want to disturb them.

on the way back down I spied this on a book cabinet. Even if you're not a buddist the name Tripitaka would ring a bell if your a fan on the TV show Monkey.



A climb up Phousi hill that evening was well worth it apart from all the bloody tourists







And the view back to Wat Phol phao

[gavo]

And this is a bit out of order because we went the day before, the old palace is a must see, the formal reception area is brilliant, covered in kind of mosaic pictures that seem to be made of a mirror type class so the effect is dazzling, unfortunately there are no cameras allowed, I couldn't even find a postcard of this area, or google images. If you get a chance ,see it. Here are a few pics of the outside and other places in the complex.

[gavo]

So this will be the morning of the 28th Oct a longish day around 230km but through a long dirt section of unknown quality through Pak Xeng.
An early start

the trip North from town we covered the previous day going to Pak ou a turn onto the dirt road was something I looked forward too.



the occasional village


some roadworks but making good progress



and then this. Traffic control Laos style

their roadblock

and the reason for it

We waited for 45 mins, couldn't communicate, just had to wait

[motoreiter]

I rented a bike in Laos from Jim a few years ago, he was really helptul and knowledgeable, glad he's still around. I didn't have much time last time I was there, your pix remind me that I need to go back down there.