In Laos

We couldn’t get Eleanor into Cambodia, but we managed to get her into Laos, which is where we are now! We rode some crazy kilometers zigzagging through north eastern Thailand to get here though. We zigzagged to two of the Thai borders with Cambodia only to find out we couldn’t get in with the scooter. Then we had to ride a long way to get closer to the border of Laos, after which we found out on the very useful gt-rider.com website that the particular border we wanted to cross at would not allow bikes to cross the friendship bridge. We were allowed to bring it in to Laos, but only by ferry crossing at different border crossings (apparently to stop the locals to go back and forward into Laos and Thailand). This meant another long day riding to this other border. We spent three very long days on the scooter (also thanks to a flat tyre on the way) and were quite desperate for a break or at least an easy day. We got it on day four, the day we crossed the border. We went to the sleepy village of Beung Kan, where the border is only open on weekdays. There was no line, no other white people trying to cross and a bunch of friendly people happy to help us out. It seemed, however, that they hadn’t had a lot of experience with processing the paperwork for the bike. We were looked at a bit suspiciously at first, and they wanted to double-check that the bike was really ours. Then they tried to tell us we were only allowed to ride around Paksan, the village just across the border. Eventually the paperwork got sorted and we were told we were allowed to ride anywhere around Laos. So we had our visa, paperwork for the scooter and got stamped out of Thailand, but there was still the Mekong River to be crossed. We were told the ferry would leave at 12pm. Of course there was no ferry until 3pm! We got on with another seven trucks whose drivers were all really interested in us.

The crossing went fine and we got to Laos in no time. On that side we had to arrange some more paperwork and finally we were allowed to go into Laos! We nearly got into a crash with a tuktuk because no one had told us they drive on the right hand side in Laos.

Laos was colonised by the French and they have left behind some heritage. Right-hand side driving, typical European road signs, French architecture, jeux des boulles and baguettes! Cheese and wine are also widely available, so we munched on a few French sticks with yummy Edam cheese for a bit, before returning to our daily portion of rice, noodles and chillies. The landscape in Laos is very beautiful. Huge limestone cliffs make up the scenery, overgrown with lush green vegetation in between fast flowing rivers. It is very mountainous and a lot cooler than we’re used to. The mountains, together with the bad roads with livestock on them, slow us down a lot. We probably only average about 50 km p/h at the moment. The pillows we bought for the scooter are a blessing! It seems that even the smallest town in Laos has at least one guesthouse, which is very good for us. The first day in Laos it rained a lot, so we didn’t make it to the capital city. Luckily, we could pull over into a reasonably clean guesthouse soon after we decided to stop riding for the day.
Laos seems to be the land of babies. We’ve never seen so many babies, puppies, piglets, chicks, calves, etc. in our life! They all hang around the road as well, so we have to make sure to avoid hitting them. The little kiddies that are just able to walk never seem to have any pants on. Perhaps that is because they wet their pants anyway. The kids here are so genuinely happy to say hello and wave to us, it’s very sweet.

Vientiane, the capital of Laos, is not very special. It has some lovely restaurants and cafes but it’s missing ambiance. Our only reason for hanging around there was to get a free 60 day visa for Thailand from the Thai embassy. As soon as we had this, we headed for the mountains. Vang Vieng is where every backpacker goes to go tubing down the river. Bars are set up along the river where tubers get smashed and go crazy. We thought it was a bit cold for any water activities but there were still loads of people tubing or kayaking down that river. We discovered a road that led to one of the river bars, so we decided not to go tubing but just to observe the crazy crowds from the bar. The next day we even joined them, splashed around in the river a bit and got ourselves a bucket of mojitos. It was a bit of fun, but we wouldn’t go back for it. Apart from tubing, Vang Vieng is magic mushroom paradise. A few restaurants show repeats of Friends episodes 24 hours a day, and serve ‘happy’ food. So people pass out on their chairs watching Friends after a ‘happy’ meal. We’d seen enough after a couple of days. We continued on to Luang Prabang, a six hour ride through the mountains. Very beautiful, but a fresh ride through the clouds and so twisty and windy. It was Flores, Indonesia all over again, but a little less steep. We were very happy to arrive in Luang Prabang, former capital of Laos.

Luang Prabang is a lovely town, very tranquil but vibrant at the same time. The Mekong runs along the city and they’ve utilised the river views really well. It is probably the prettiest town in South East Asia, with lovely French architecture and beautiful clean streets. It is a bit out of the way, though. It takes either a day on the river or a few hours driving through the mountains to get to this place. We were planning to take a boat from Luang Prabang to the border of Laos and Thailand. This trip would take two days, with an overnight stop in a middle of nowhere town. We were planning to put the scooter on board, but that didn’t work out. We’ve made a few plans that in theory seem great, but can’t always be realised (e.g. getting the bike into Cambodia, getting into Laos via the friendship bridge, getting the scooter on a boat). So after a couple of days in Luang Prabang we took off to eventually get to the border by road.

The first 150 km were so pleasant! The sun was out, the road was fantastic and we had a really great lunch, so we were ready to ride. On the way we saw an elephant walking on the road (with its owner, not the first time it happened, but always a nice surprise!) and we stopped to pet him for a bit. Then we continued on and arrived at a beautiful town on a river (Nong Khiaw) just in time for sunset. The next day, however, was very different! We wanted to get to Luang Nam Tha, a 200 km ride. We knew it would take a while, but we hadn’t prepared for the amount of potholes in the road. It took us eight hours including a couple of breaks) to get there. They were constructing the road for about 50 km and the other 110 km was definitely due for an upgrade. We were very close to China and the construction workers looked more Chinese than Lao. Traffic signs were also suddenly displayed in Chinese characters. We could have crossed the border into China, but then we’d need another visa for Laos, so we decided not to. It’s not as if we haven’t been in China before anyway!

We were so relieved when the road finally became smooth again for the last 40 km. What a day! And unlike in the southern part of Laos, these northern hill villages did not seem to have guesthouses anywhere! At one point we would have liked to stop, but we just had to push on. We arrived in Luang Nam Tha, only to leave again after less than 24 hours. We’re in the border town of Houay Xai now, hoping to cross the border tomorrow. We’re looking forward to being back in Thailand for a while. We can just smell the Pad Thai just over the Mekong ;)