Luang Praubang is definately the Jewel along the Mekong a absolutely enchanting city. We met up with David Unkovich, Clement
and Helen all bike riders traveling through Luang Praubang and joined for dinner overlooking the river


The road from Luang Praubang to Vang Vieng takes 6hrs riding time, and it is well documented as one of the most spectacular
motorcycle riding roads for adventure bikes, the views are breathtaking and just as you drop out of the mountain range thinking
wow that was fantastic the scenery just keeps getting better all the way into Vang Vieng
























We had beers and slept in the backpacker haunt of Vang Vieng this night. We would only have 150km to reach the Laos
capital of Vientiane tomorrow.
Friday would see the last day that i ride with Pikey and Marcus, tomorrow the boys would cross the Friendship bridge back
into Thailand and i would make my way back north through Laos.
The 50km of road from Vang Vieng to Hin Hoeup it very beat up and today is alot hotter as we where out of the cool
of the mountains and forest, it seems like a tuff little stretch after 4 days in the saddle and simply just not having the
beauty we have become accustom too. Pikey decides to ring Jim a mutual friend and a wealth of knowledge in Laos.
Jim and his wife Quin have the business "Remote Asia" which is a travel advisory and booking agent for any activities
Lao, as well as Jim being a avid motorcyclist. A new route is suggested and we take a left down onto the Lik River
ferry to the other side and come in Vientiane on the more enjoyable route of Hwy 10




Wow what a amazing country and people, my poor photography skills just don't show the true colours of the landscape
nor the atmosphere of the country, Lao is truly a paradise.

As formentioned Pikey and Marcus where headed for Loei Thailand, and I spent a pleasant Saturday in the hospitality of Jim and Quin of Remote Asia. I found the couple to be a breath of fresh air, Jim has a true passion for motorcycling and a whole new angle on riding, lets just use the words "Hard Core" to best describe Jim's preferred riding.
I decided to venture back to Luang Praubang and fly Dtai my girlfriend over to spend a couple of days for her to experience Luang Praubang and the surrounding area before it became swarmed with people over high season.
I had spent one week, 2 years before in L.B. mountain biking which i enjoyed immensely. One of the day's i just biked north along the Mekong visiting villagers along the river, by mid afternoon i was in Pak Ou roughly 30km up river from Luang Praubang, The locals in the restaurant called a boat over from the caves, I threw the bike in and boated back to Luang Praubang. a memorable day.

Hwy11 along the Mekong

So to get to Luang Praubang i decided to basically follow the Mekong River the first nights stopover would be Pak Lai
Talking with Jim the Hwy from Vientiane to Xanakham had been flood effected earlier in the wet season when the Mekong peaked its highest in 100 years, The road was rideable on road tyres except a estimated 20km where there was still a lot of bogs stretching 100m long.
it could have been really tuff but luckily I had a clear run the only problem being a cracked numberplate light assembly on the rear which i had to stop and remove, a faulty design with the DRZ SM.
Just a note Hwy 11 is difficult to find the start of in Vientiane, and also if you are not running a g.p.s you will need to ask directions at some intersections along Hwy11.
There must have been 20-30 of these multi purpose farm machines trailering out dirt where the locals where widening a cutting

I was feeling a bit under the weather, so it was a pleasant surprise to find Xanakham to Pak Lai to be good quality tarmac road as my maps showed this 60km section to be dirt.
The Hwy lead me straight to the ferry to cross to the west side of the Mekong and into Pak Lai, 2 small boats had been joint together with a temporary platform to carry motorcycles, the boat was very stable.
Sorry no Photo's i found the Laos people to be very shy with photo's most of the time preferring not to be in photo's, even the back grounds.
Boat races in Pak Lai

Pak Lai was a hive of activity with Boun Ok Phansa and Boat Racing festivities in full swing, this would normally be something i really enjoy being in a town for a festival with only local people attending, but my feeling under the weather had become fully blown fevers, straight to bed at 4pm.
I had a hell of a night with fever's and felt as if i was drowning on my own saliva, i couldnt stomach food or even water over the paste 24 hrs.
Monday I weighed my options and thought it best i get to Luang Praubang A.S.A.P
crossing the Mekong back to the east side at Pak khon

I left Pak Lai at 7:30am and rode straight through to Luang Praubang arriving at 1 p.m. checked in to the hotel, showered and headed for the hospital, the staff where helpful and caring, they found my temp still to be pushing 40 i was scarred to think what my temp had reached the night before as i was pretty much delirious.
By now i had no food and little water for the past 40 hrs, the doc hooked me up with a drip and revitalised my body over 4 hrs.
I rang Dtai and cancelled her meeting me in L.B. as i was not a great host at this time, i had planned to stay a least a day in L.B. but by 10am in the morning i had taken the bike to be washed I was figuring my most comfortable place when im feeling sick is on a motorcycle.


So Tuesday I left L.B. at 10:40 and arrive in Lung Nam Tha at 4pm the only photo's i took where to show the difference change in the colour of the rice over the week as it turned to head
These are the same rice fields that Pikey showed the Photo of the girls riding there bicycles a week earlier.
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Wednesday morning i was feeling much better and really enjoyed Hwy 3 back to Houei Xai coming back into Thailand was quick and painless from exporting to crossing the Mekong and Importing my bike into Thailand must have taken only 30 minutes but i think i may have lucked my timing with the ferry.

The ferry back across the river was one of those funny incidents that happen so much in Asia, I was loaded on with 3 fuel tankers, 1 tanker to the front of the ferry and 2 at the back, The 2 laiden tankers at the back of the ferry had beached the ferry on the banks, after numerous attempts of scewing and powering the boat it was found the ferry wouldn't budge.
So Thai ingenuity got the 2 truck tankers to back to the edge of the ferry giving them 20 ft between them self and the truck in front, and the drop of the hand they where to accelerate forward as fast as they can then hit the skids before colliding with the other truck this jarring the ferry free of the bank. it was entertaining to say the least.
Like is said in the start of the post Great Timing Good Friends, I would like to make sure i'm riding in Laos next year a month after the wet season starts as i found this the best time for views in Thailand, the scrub and grass on the side of the roads isnt high enought to obscure your views and the fields are a mixture of green and earth as the farms are cultivated and sowed.