Route 13 and 250cc's

I can't believe it's so long since my last post and there's been so much happening! My last post I mentioned that I was going off tubing.. I started around 11am and the plan was to have a mulberry shake at the Organic farm to start but Somehow I got talked into buying a Lao Lao (Lao Whisky) Mojito for underprivileged children and well really it was all downhill from there. I met a fun Irish couple who were buying buckets of Lao Lao and Vodka mixed with Thai Red Bull and the Lao 'amphetamine' drink M150 and I was soon involved with that. The tubing is actually pretty low key because the different bars are not very far apart from each other but the first 5 or so all have large swings and flying foxes that drunk people get on and drop into the water.. It was great fun from what I remember - the 5th bar had a giant slide which I went down in my tube and ws launched very high- after that the day is a bit of a blur. I don't remember getting back to town but woke up in bed at 10pm so I must have needed a sleep. The next day was difficult but I got up early to head to Vientiane - the capital of Laos, I took it pretty quietly that day and the day after as well. Vientiane is an interesting town, it is a bit Lao, a bit French and a bit of a big country town as well. There was some good food to eat which helped me to recover from tubing!

The first day in Vientiane I bumped into a couple of Kiwi guys from Wellington who I had met caving and tubing in Vang Veng. They mentioned they were riding motorbikes down through central and southern Laos. I soon was involved and after a few quiet days and Sauna and massage we met up with a local French man who was hiring the bikes. At this point Te, one the Kiwis, decided that he was too unwell (flu) to make the trip so it was just James and I who set of about 10.30am the following day.

We hired 250cc Honda Trailbikes so we could go off road if we wanted and the first day we headed into a National Park to check them out. Motorbiking is a great way to see a country and it was fantastic to drive through the many villages and towns and stop off if we wanted. James had a few problems with his bike at the end of day 1 and we ended up riding for a little while in the dark. Eventually at Vieng Kham we found a sign that said 'Nightclub and Guesthouse' so we pulled in to spend the night. It was just the 2 of us and a 2 piece live music group came on and we felt a bit embarrassed that they were playing for us - surely no one else would be turning up. Before long the place was pretty packed and a couple of quiet beers lasted a bit longer than expected. The next morning James bike wouldn't start so we had and extra hour or so to recover while they charged his battery. We covered a fair bit of distance on day 2 and didn't stop too much, we had our accommodation organised early and after a delicious dinner went to bed early in Seno.

Day 3 and we continued down Route 13 (which runs from the capital to Cambodia) until there was a dirt road heading east. This was our turnoff to head into the Bolaven Plateau - which is an area famous for its coffee and waterfalls. The dirt roads were pretty bumpy but our trail bikes handled them well. The problem was that my little backpack that was strapped on the back didn't like the bumps and decided to open.. It took me a minute or 2 to realise and by then a bit of my stuff was littered down the road. When I realised I panicked and quickly sped back to James who had stopped to pick up my phone, guidebook and some clothes. We spent a while looking for my Nintendo but I later realised that the Buddhist Monk who was gesturing at me as I sped back past him has probably got it along with a pair of socks and undies! We made it up into the plateau and found a nice place to stay in Sekong at dusk.

The following day we were planning to meet Te to organise Xmas but we wanted to head through the National Park and see some waterfalls before heading down into Pakse. We found our way and saw what is arguably Lao's highest waterfall (Nam Tok Katamtok) and also stopped at the top of another before heading across to Paksong. I misjudged one corner coming out of a village and ended up going over the handlebars of my bike which broke my glasses which put a few lovely scratches on my face. We had a small break before stopping for coffee in Paksong and it was great. We mad our way down to Pakse and it took a while to find the road out (old Lonely Planet maps are bad!) as we got a text from Te saying that Xmas was in the 400 Islands near the border with Cambodia. We made it down there after dark and checked into our bungalows on Don Det. I had a quiet night that night after my stack but of course it was Xmas eve so lots of Europeans partied late. Te had organised a Xmas lunch and early the next morning he and James went with the Bungalow owner to the local market back on the mainland. They bought a pig, 2 chickens and 2 fish and a fire pit was dug. We had a late lunch (or early dinner) as you do on Xmas and there was about 10 of us. Later on some of the guys brought out guitars and the numbers swelled a bit as we had a great fun night. I drank lots of water so the next morning wasn't too bad - James and I had to get the bikes back up to Pakse to return them.

We left in the arvo and decided to check out the World Heritage listed Wat Phu Champasak. We had to put the bikes on a little ferry to get them across to Champasak which was fun and the Wat itself was definitely a highlight. I managed to drop my bike again trying to find my way down to the ferry. We made it back into Pakse after dark and managed to get the bikes delivered that night. I checked into a nice Hotel (Pakse Hotel) and bought some iodine to clean up my grazes. I have a pretty badly bruised foot so I've decided to stay in the nice hotel for another night and have a rest before heading back down to the 'super relaxed' 4000 island to do some more relaxing until new years eve. Then I'll probably relax some more. Motorbiking was a great experience and probably the highlight of my trip so far. We were treated like rockstars in many places and driving along a road when school has finished you would get 100's of kids jumping, waving yellng and cheering. It was also a good lesson that I'm not a 22 yr old (like the Kiwi guys) any more and to remember that I'm on Holidays. I doubt there's be much to report on for a bit so Happy New Year everyone and look for more postings in 2009!