Luang Phrabang Lao, 2nd time around/march 2010

 

We arrived in to town early afternoon and started looking for accommodation and found a nice place called Sokidee ,the only trouble was that the first night we had to stay in there budget room which we christened the electric shock room! Water from upstairs shower  was running into our light socket!!!

We went out for the day and when we came back we were moved into there new room which was surperb,the best of the whole trip,we didn't want to leave.

We had the monks collecting there alms in the morning parading past our court yard.

We rode out to the waterfalls and saw the rescued bears,the water was to cold to go for a swim though

We took the bike on a ferry to the other side where there was a temple high on the hill,we had a rough track to get to it and not many tourists at all visited,it was very run down but in a way very peaceful and we just chilled out a bit and soaked in the atmosphere watching the river traffic that looked over to Luang Phrabang.

We bought a boat ticket to go and see the Pak Ou caves up river,the trip up river was spectacular and we stopped off at a whiskey village where we saw the whiskey distillery being made with large pottery jars.

We arrived at the caves which were busy but were very picturesque filled with centuries old buddas,there were some very cute children selling birds to be released and other little trinkets,we walked up the steep steps to the temple carved out of a cave the gates were very old

On the way back the guide had trouble with the boat ,he couldnt get the throttle to work from the steering wheel at the front so had to work the V8 engine from the back while i steered the boat,it was great fun and the rest of the passengers loved it too!

The next day we booked on a tour for a elephant trek and a bath afterwards,the mahout lead us through the bush and over to the over side of the river where we gave the elephant a bath in the deeper water,Chris went first and got abousutly soaked but she loved every minute of it!

Next off to Hanoi Vietnam

1977 xt500 restoration

My favorite bike when i was at school,owned a couple back in England,now these are vintage and getting more and more rare!
Decieded to strip the bike down for a resto project

Back to Lao for another tour part 2

Well woke up in the morning And I was feeling a bit better and decided we would push on up to Luang Phrabang. We packed all the bags onto the bike for the winding road up the mountains, a road that I really enjoyed riding last time we here,lots of switcbacks up and down an endless mountain range,has long as I kept the fluids up I would ok,right? Well we both got in the groove with the bike and we chewed up the miles,I was feeling tired but the vistas kept my mind off things in the rear plumbing department!!

We got to place that had a rest stop cafe that was made by pushing the top of the hill with a bulldozer,we had a cold coke and a chocolate bar overlooking a fantastic view down the mountains,we went back to the bike and I glanced across to the loos and then by magic there was a little grumbling in my stomach,that was enough I was no longer in control with my bum,I had to go ,well I only just made it!! Well I was nervous now with the rest of the journey.

We made it to Muang Phu Khun and stopped and had a tastiest pineapple ever,it's a y junction town with the other road going to Phonsavan where the plain of jars are.The town is a real hub with every traveller stopping for refreshments,there is also a local market where they sale some strange little animals??

We saddled up and pushed on to Luang Phrabang,up here is bandit country but now the Lao army has posts up here they are very quite,but we did see a bandit standing on a hillside looking down at the road below with what looked like a machine gun!!

Further on in the day the bike started to play up,missing occasionally and back firing,until going up one hill it stopped completely and wouldn't start again,I whipped of the back pack that was strapped to the tank and discovered we were low on fuel f@&k!,we were in the middle of nowhere on a mountain road,miles and miles from the nearest hut,let alone a town with fuels,I had a idea that if I lied the bike down on it's side so all the fuel would go over to the side of the tank where the fuel tap was because it was lower,we stood up the bike and it started,we strapped the bag back on to tank and got the he'll out of there with our finger crossed ,we coasted down hills with the engine to save fuel and then a hour later it started again but that last hour I was pondering on the bike what the problem could be.I came up with the conclusion that with the backpack srappted on the tank it was blocking the air vent on the filler cap and therefore was creating a vacuum,so basically starving the car by of fuel!,I took the bag off and it cured the problem,we cruised into Luang Phrabang with a sigh of relief!

Pottsville sept 2010

We all had a great time shareing a house,going for walks on beach,fishing, kite flying and relaxing together as a family

Oliver

Our daughter made us proud grandparents with the birth of Oliver,born 4.30a.m September 3rd 2010 7lbs 6 oz

Back to Lao for another tour

We left the gold coast 9.05am on the 17th February 2010 bound for a over night stop in Kuala Lumpar at the new Tune hotel ,which is just outside the airport within walking distance,this would be are first trip to Lao and Vietnam on our own without are good friends Deb 'n' Al'. The Tune hotel room was very small and basic,but it will do as it is only a overnight stop before the real adventure starts,you could only walk around the bed sideways without touching the walls!,are evening meal was a 2 min noodle from the 7/11 in the foyer of the hotel,yum!

We boarded the flight in the morning for Vientiane Lao arriving 9.40am,we hadn't booked a hotel so had to get the taxi to take us around a few until we found one good enough and cheap enough! It was in a good spot close to the Mekong river,It turned out are hotel window was opposite a karaoke bar!,thank god it didn't go on to late in the night! We had a meal at a local place,where it is a sort of do it yourself spicy salad wrap things! all served by friendly smiling kids.

The next day we had to go and hire a bike to take us north to Luang Phrabang,we used Jules again,and despite a mix up on reservation we got a Suzuki 200cc Van Van bike again,we had it for a week and hired for just one way. We spent the rest of the day exploring Vietianne and rode out to the Budda park on the outskirts of town,it was an amazing place,full of statues made out of concrete!,we were quite surprised how good and peaceful it was there with lots of colorful dragonflies we took countless photos.

The next morning we loaded up the bike for the ride to Vang Veing,

this time we would try and find the back road that we missed last time that takes the scenic way out around a picturesque dam,it was an awesome place to have lunch that we brought with us,fresh french loaf,cheese, tomatoes and onion. It was very undeveloped and only used by the locals for there holidays,it was like the tourists haven't discovered this place yet.It was hot and we made good time to get to Vieng Vang the scenery was spectacular. We rode around just out of town away from the backpack rat race to a quite little hut on stilts with a little balcony,it was only when we were unpacking we noticed little pile of sawdust everywhere,the place was infested with termites!but it was cheap! I had pizza for tea and i picked up a dose of food poisoning! The next day i had the shites and we decided to move in to a better room.We went for a walk to some local caves and got conned into having a kid for a guide who did a whistle stop show of the cave and has soon has we finished he put is hand out for a tip,it was hilarious the way he did it.

The next day i got worse and couldn't move to far from a safety of a toilet,despite popping Imodium ,we were booked on a sunset cruise on the river and i had to pull out at the last minute,that night i shook it off with a sweaty fever or i thought i did,because the next day we had the winding road up in the mountains to Luang Phrabang