Greetings readers, here are some photos taken as we left the hotel in Chiang Mai and finally hit the road. We headed out to the north east, towards Chiag Rai, then into the mountains towards Laos. We stayed just short of the border, at a quite new hotel about 70 km north of Nan. This gave us a return bout with Highway 1148, one of the most exhiliarating roads I've ever been on anywhere. No time to look at scenery on this stretch, not that it matters much. The smoke is just atrocious this time. worse than last year. After a few hours I was coughing, and my eyes stung. Speaking of stung, I got hit in the face by some kind of insect, pointy end first, and now I have a lump under my right eye. Its no improvement!
We arrived at the Laotian border, and started the paperwork bunfight. The Thai side was professional and pretty straightforward, the Lao side was not. We had to go through 4 or 5 stages of bureaucracy, fill out multiple forms, every one of which wanted to know my name, address, date of birth, shirt size, the name of my kindergarten teacher, etc, etc. We had to fork over some cash for a visa, then get insurance. At one point two guards (dressed in khaki with Russian style insignia) decided the bikes were too noisy to enter Laos. There was much revving, shaking of heads and jabbering. This was nothing more than a ruse to extract some cash, and it was only my second experience of official corruption. (The other was crossing into Spain from France in 1977. That cost a carton of cigarettes for one of our group to get her passport back from the Guardia de la Frontera.) Anyway, Kay went off his nut, and showed the guy his passport which proved he had brought groups in to the country regularly with the same bikes, then demanded to know the guard's name, and his superior's name. Pretty soon the guy realised it was not going to be easy to intimidate this particular white devil, and through we went. Fight fire with fire !! Kay was actually raised in East Germany, and he knows all about this kind of weaseling. He's actually pretty good at it himself !
Ok, my first impression of Laos is that its a dirt poor, busted-ass communist relic, although it must be said we did come in through the back door. Nothing has yet convinced me to change my opinion, but I will keep an open mind. The Lao flag is displayed prominently along with the old Soviet flag, hammers and sickles everywhere. I do detect that the good old mushroom treatment is rampant around here. The roads in Laos so far are pretty awful, apart from a section built by the Thai government to service a Thai financed power station under construction near Hong Sa, where we stayed the first night in Laos. Big potholes, some of which look more like bomb craters, lots of patches, loose gravel, broken edges and big drop offs make for interesting and challenging riding. I would say typical of what I have ridden on in many parts of South America. Traffic so far is light, but you never know what might be around the next bend, so the level of concentration required is still high.
Words of wisdom indeed. Lao border guards, please take note.
The two tour groups getting ready to leave Chiang Mai. That guy is a big bastard, isn't he?
Me with my friend Noah. Getting him to stand still long enough for a photo (or for anything else) is tricky at the best of times ! He was born to ride motorcycles, fast.
Coffee AND a foot soak? Well, ok then.
Same, same, but slightly different kind of foot soaking.
After Highway 1148. This time on dual sport tyres, and NO chicken strips. I must be improving!
Hwy 1148, still as smooth as a baby's bum, and virtually no traffic. Told ya!
Ditto. Damn, the power just went off and sent my laptop into a death dive.
That feeble dot is actually the sun, obscured by smoke.
Killing some time at the Lao border. That's Kay and Yai (our support vehicle driver) at the back arguing about the "noisy bikes" with a guard who evidently doesn't earn enough. Paul and Deb in the front.
We Civil Engineers are just suckers for a nice, new, prestressed concrete box girder bridge. This one is a real whopper and will span the Mekong. Meantime, we get a ferry, but not just any ferry.
Our ferry has power steering !
An Indian restaurant in Laos? OK then. His wife was indeed a very good cook. Chicken Tikka Masala was excellent. And I'm still alive!
More of our low-tech ferry across the Mekong.
Typical Hmong village.
I wonder what it looks like without the smoke? Nice twisty road though.
Another Hmong village, complete with open sewer. Photo ironically taken outside the Sanitation Project Office, circa 2002/3. Another successful project delivered on time by a caring government.
A Hmong lady in Hmong dress.
This proved a bit tricky to get through. The truck was bogged and had just been hauled out backwards. We had to wait while a bit more fill was piled on top with a crawler excavator. The tank tracks then gave us a bit of a path to follow. No casualties.
So there you have it. After two fairly tough days of riding in Laos, we are now in Luang Prabang, where we get a rest day. This is the largest place we have seen since Chiang Mai. First impressions are that it is an interesting looking place. Architecturally it looks very French Colonial, not unlike parts of Hanoi. No surprises there, as La Belle France colonized both Laos and Vietnam until they wore out their welcome. More photos to follow.
We arrived at the Laotian border, and started the paperwork bunfight. The Thai side was professional and pretty straightforward, the Lao side was not. We had to go through 4 or 5 stages of bureaucracy, fill out multiple forms, every one of which wanted to know my name, address, date of birth, shirt size, the name of my kindergarten teacher, etc, etc. We had to fork over some cash for a visa, then get insurance. At one point two guards (dressed in khaki with Russian style insignia) decided the bikes were too noisy to enter Laos. There was much revving, shaking of heads and jabbering. This was nothing more than a ruse to extract some cash, and it was only my second experience of official corruption. (The other was crossing into Spain from France in 1977. That cost a carton of cigarettes for one of our group to get her passport back from the Guardia de la Frontera.) Anyway, Kay went off his nut, and showed the guy his passport which proved he had brought groups in to the country regularly with the same bikes, then demanded to know the guard's name, and his superior's name. Pretty soon the guy realised it was not going to be easy to intimidate this particular white devil, and through we went. Fight fire with fire !! Kay was actually raised in East Germany, and he knows all about this kind of weaseling. He's actually pretty good at it himself !
Ok, my first impression of Laos is that its a dirt poor, busted-ass communist relic, although it must be said we did come in through the back door. Nothing has yet convinced me to change my opinion, but I will keep an open mind. The Lao flag is displayed prominently along with the old Soviet flag, hammers and sickles everywhere. I do detect that the good old mushroom treatment is rampant around here. The roads in Laos so far are pretty awful, apart from a section built by the Thai government to service a Thai financed power station under construction near Hong Sa, where we stayed the first night in Laos. Big potholes, some of which look more like bomb craters, lots of patches, loose gravel, broken edges and big drop offs make for interesting and challenging riding. I would say typical of what I have ridden on in many parts of South America. Traffic so far is light, but you never know what might be around the next bend, so the level of concentration required is still high.
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The two tour groups getting ready to leave Chiang Mai. That guy is a big bastard, isn't he?
Me with my friend Noah. Getting him to stand still long enough for a photo (or for anything else) is tricky at the best of times ! He was born to ride motorcycles, fast.
Coffee AND a foot soak? Well, ok then.
Same, same, but slightly different kind of foot soaking.
After Highway 1148. This time on dual sport tyres, and NO chicken strips. I must be improving!
Hwy 1148, still as smooth as a baby's bum, and virtually no traffic. Told ya!
Ditto. Damn, the power just went off and sent my laptop into a death dive.
That feeble dot is actually the sun, obscured by smoke.
We Civil Engineers are just suckers for a nice, new, prestressed concrete box girder bridge. This one is a real whopper and will span the Mekong. Meantime, we get a ferry, but not just any ferry.
Our ferry has power steering !
An Indian restaurant in Laos? OK then. His wife was indeed a very good cook. Chicken Tikka Masala was excellent. And I'm still alive!
Typical Hmong village.
I wonder what it looks like without the smoke? Nice twisty road though.
A Hmong lady in Hmong dress.
This proved a bit tricky to get through. The truck was bogged and had just been hauled out backwards. We had to wait while a bit more fill was piled on top with a crawler excavator. The tank tracks then gave us a bit of a path to follow. No casualties.
So there you have it. After two fairly tough days of riding in Laos, we are now in Luang Prabang, where we get a rest day. This is the largest place we have seen since Chiang Mai. First impressions are that it is an interesting looking place. Architecturally it looks very French Colonial, not unlike parts of Hanoi. No surprises there, as La Belle France colonized both Laos and Vietnam until they wore out their welcome. More photos to follow.
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