For those of you who have been reading this blog for a while, you know that a buddy of mine has a tendency of flying over from the states to join along for a large loop. Well he is back again in Lao, and I will hand the blog over to him for an entry.
Ahh the privilege of being a guest blogger! I have been eagerly anticipating this trip for quite a while as I had never been to Asia before and I was missing riding - which is not a possibility for me in the bitter northeast USA winter.
My trip will total 11 days starting in Vientiane and will consist of a big loop hitting Vang Vieng, Phonsavan, Nong Hiaw, Luang Prabang, Paklay and then back to Vientiane.
Tonight we are in Nong Khiaw, a small village on the river with amazing sheer mountains as backdrops. The last few days have been all mountain riding with endless switchbacks, sheer drop offs and roads that are great one minute and then disappear into rutted dirt the next minute. Traffic is almost non-existent which for me is a huge plus so I can use 100% of my energy on the roads and work on picking the right lines through the hundreds of switchbacks.
I had forgotten about the reality of second world countries, all the dust, smoke from the numerous small cooking fires and the homes of seemingly random wood and metal. Sections of the country so far do have a fair amount of more modern concrete and tile roof homes but it seems to be in isolated pockets.
The best and most unexpected part of the trip so far have been the children. There are lots of them and almost all of them come running to the side of the road with huge smiles and wave as we ride by. Its great
Vang Vieng is an exploding party town with at least 4 large scale hotels under construction I give it about a year before everything that made the place special, is destroyed by the over development. Lucky for us it was almost completely empty so we didn't have to battle hordes of partying backpackers. What the town does have in abundance is natural beauty and activities. We explored several amazing caves, some with small anxiety-inducing passages and some that were so massive our headlamps didn't illuminate the ceilings. Lots of water activities as well, both on the river and at the swimming spots the call the Blue Lagoon - not to be confused with the Hot Springs of the same name in Iceland. There was enough interesting things to explore and do that we stayed an extra day. Absolutely worth it.
From there we did a big day up to Phonsavan, which is home to the Plain of Jars sites. These sites are considered the most important prehistoric site in southeast Asia. This area is also know because in the Vietnam was more bombs were dropped on this area than all of WWII combined. They are still unearthing un-exploded ordinance and when you visit the sites they warn you to only walk in the areas that have been cleared.
After almost a week as I mentioned earlier, we are now in Nong Khiaw a small riverside village/town. There seem to be a good number of tourists here but really not a ton of things to do. You can take a river taxi up to the town of Muang Ngoy, but this is basically an all day affair up and back. It is not a tourist ride up the river it is the only way to access the town.
The trip so far has been everything i was hoping for and more. The heat has taken some getting used to, with Vientiane hitting 104-105 and the cooler mountains still in the 80's. I have to admit that i am a bit sore and weary after a solid week on the bike, and my neck could use a great massage - its not used to the weight of the helmet.
More guest blogging to come as we still have another week ahead of us. Mike
Leg Distance: 520 mi (839 km)
Total Distance Traveled by Motorcycle: 36,178 mi (58,357 km)
Countries/Territories Visited: USA, Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, Uruguay, Canada, Portugal, Spain, Morocco, Gibraltar, France, Monaco, Italy, Vatican City, San Marino, Slovenia, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Czech Republic, Poland, Ukraine, Transnistria, Moldova, Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, Albania, Kosovo, Macedonia, Greece, Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, China (for 20 seconds), India, Nepal, Burma, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam
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