Into Vietnam through the Phongsali border finger

[KTMphil]

The border "finger" in Phongsali province has intrigued a number of people, me one of them. As far as I know Midnite Mapper is the only other bike I know of that has been up there, crossing into Vietnam.






Below are my tracks into Vietnam & to the NW meeting up with some Vietnamese border soldiers - not recommended!

 

[KTMphil]

Floating bamboo motorcycle bridge in UdomXai province on the way to the finger

 

[KTMphil]

One of the better parts of the trail north into the finger

 

[KTMphil]

A night stuck in the jungle in swamp mud near the Vietnamese border

 

[bsacbob]

Is that someone's undies drying on the back tail light, or maybe i need to get out more :?

 

[KTMphil]

Bob - I could have done with new undies, i thought i was going to have to leave the bike there and walk out.

Is that someone's undies drying on the back tail light, or maybe i need to get out more :?

 

[KTMphil]

So - a quick blast into Laos, the CRF 250 L out for a real test in the bush in the back of LR's pickup, here trying to push on to Pakbeng, before dark, waiting for the ferry across the Mekong north of Muan Nguen.

 

[KTMphil]

Pakbeng wasn't too busy, everywhere seemed to still have rooms late in the day even after all the boats had arrived from Huoay Xai, we stayed at the Monsavan GH, 100,000 Kip (400 Bht) good value.

Dinner at the Hassin Indian on the main street

Happy locals

Monsavan GH has opened his own bakery/ restaurant opposite the GH, all new and the food is good

 

[KTMphil]

The Next day, off up R 2W

Lots of Hmong new year celebrations underway along the road, more coverage of the Hmong new year festival in the link below:

http://www.rideasia.net/motorcycle-forum/laos-information/2943-hmong-new-year-celebrations.html

 

[KTMphil]

Locals off to harvest

A new village on R 2W we hadn't seen before

More harvesting

 

[KTMphil]

A new Laos Stu pa being constructed, just about finished

 

[KTMphil]

Still a tough life over there

They all have big smiles though

 

[KTMphil]

The old Nampak bridge, OudomXai province, washed away by rainy season floods

The new bridge in its place

 

[KTMphil]

The turn for R 1B north to Phongsali (off of R 2E). Major resurfacing has been done to the packed stone/ sand road, rumored to be sealed within the next 2 years

 

[KTMphil]

You don't see many floating bamboo motorcycle bridges, this one was a beauty

There was a shoal area where cars could cross & a new road had been cut on the other side, still don't know where it goes

 

[KTMphil]

The old suspension bridge in M. Khuoa across the Nam Phak river

Take the suspension bridge and there's a great trail south to Nambak, take a left and you're in Nong Khiew

Nam Phak river at M. Khuoa

 

[KTMphil]

No more ferry rides in M. Khoua, the brand new bridge near the confluence of the Nam Ou and Nam Phak rivers

The Nam Phak river - looking downstream

The M. Khuoa ferry across the Nam Ou river now in retirement

You can stay at the foot of the suspension bridge in M. Khoua at the Ketsana GH

 

[KTMphil]

The old trading town of M. Khoua near the Vietnam border with Laos, the old bamboo police station

Minibuses replace the old traditional caravans

 

[KTMphil]

M. Khoua, we checked into the Sernnali Hotel, 200,000 kip (800 Bht) a night, overpriced but the only really decent choice in town

The brand new Manchai GH might be worth a try opposite the Sernnali Hotel

 

[KTMphil]

Ice cold Beer Lao on the banks of the Nam Ou river

The old ferry ramp bottom left

Speed boat taxi, the quick way

 

[Just Bob]

Looks like a great trip Phil. Well... Except for the mud bivouac.

 

[KTMphil]

Town was pretty lively at night. It's a major crossroads for backpackers headed for the Tay Trang, Vietnam border crossing with Laos.

Kitchens were clean

 

[KTMphil]

The next day, up at first light and ride the gravel road 50km east to M. Mai, where you can pick up the dirt road north to "the finger"

"The finger"

 

[KTMphil]

The trail starts as a truck dirt road, lots of rivers in the region and some pretty cool bridges

Some were pretty creative

 

[KTMphil]

The main electricity cables soon stopped and only power linked to micro hydro's that produce 50-100 watts of power were then in the villages

Further north there were some nasty swamps in the road, this guy had had better days

 

[KTMphil]

Plenty of buffalo's around, all very tame

I had no idea if fuel was going to be available, if you go there "Nah-man" is petrol/ benzine, every village had scooters, so there was fuel available

 

[KTMphil]

A bridge headed off to the east from the main trail

Normally very shy, this lady was unusually friendly for the camera

Nothing beats doing a trail for the first time when trail riding, the remoteness of this one made it even more special

 

[KTMphil]

The CRF 250 L was holding up well, the 20 HP was more than adequate and the suspension excellent

 

[KTMphil]

This one was a toll bridge, they were too shy to ask for money

One more tribal village further north

Micro hydro's in use here too

 

[KTMphil]

Maybe monetary poor, but a huge wealth in respect of happiness it looked like

 

[KTMphil]

This was one of the nastiest bridges along the way, big drop-off below too

A slightly better one further north

Another cool tribal village

 

[KTMphil]

B. Huaypok is the last "big" village on the trail north to the finger. It's also at the junction where the new road has been cut east to the Vietnam border. You can get fuel here in plastic bottles, always best to fill up where ever you can when going into the unknown.

Beautiful villagers

 

[KTMphil]

More bridges

Whats great about this trail north to & inside "the finger" is it gradually gets harder and harder as you go north. It's actually on old smugglers trail from Vietnam into Laos, Don says he's seen a bunch of smugglers on here a few years back. The fact that it starts easy, gives you time to warm up and get comfortable riding, ready for the hard stuff later

North of where the new road has been cut (take a left) & it turns into single track, easy at first. I now had NO gps tracks and was basically using compass direction - go north!

There was the odd house on stilts here and there, some looked like they may only be used at harvest time

The last 25km, to the tip of "the finger" are tricky

 

[KTMphil]

The last 2 km to the top of the finger/ Vietnam border are a disaster, i shouldn't have continued, but so close i couldn't stop myself. This sticky mud, snowballing on the tires, tiny single track with HUGE drop-off, very dangerous on your own.

The front wheel was like a snow plough, eventually not even rotating. I had to stop continually and scrape the mud off, so close to the top of "the finger", i didn't care

 

[2wheels]

Nice, very nice.
Enjoying this.

 

[KTMphil]

Eventually I made it! This is looking back "into Laos" from the nasty trail north

Here looking north on the trail at the Vietnam border, the large trail here went NE & NW

 

[KTMphil]

The views in Vietnam looking north
'

Headed north east there a some Vietnamese farmers

Then back and to the NW was the surprise, Vietnamese soldiers at the checkpoint

 

[KTMphil]

They came down on a scooter and stopped me, stood on the road back to Laos so i couldn't drive off. They just stared for a while, almost caught by surprise and deciding how to deal with this. They then wanted to check the bags presuming i was a smuggler. After convincing them it was mostly camping gear and tools, i managed to get the bike going and drove away from them and quickly ducked back into the swamp trail, heading south back inside "the finger", heart was racing, they didn't follow.



With the sticky mud worse than ever now the bike went over on a narrow piece of the single track, i went down the side of the mountain into the bushes

Now a big problem, there wasn't enough room to pick the bike up, every time i tried to lift from the lower side, my feet just slipped away in the swamp mud down the mountain.

 

[KTMphil]

Took all the luggage of the bike, still couldn't lift it - this is where you see the value in light, powerful bikes, like the KTM 300 2-stroke, which has twice the power and is 33KG lighter.


I waited for an hour , no-one came along, now it was approaching dusk. One last chance, i rigged up the tow rope to the bamboo on the ridge above and with a 2-to-1 purchase there's a chance it would lift the bike. The danger was that the load would pull the whole soil ridge down on the bike, it was my only chance though. All rigged up started pulling and it worked! bike was back up, luggage back on and off south through the mud.


500 meters further on, the bike just span on the mud hill, knowing there was another 1km of this hell and it was already getting dark, it was time to surrender to camping in the jungle, no way around it. There wasn't any good hammock spots near the bike, too much gear to go off camping somewhere else, so made a leaf cover over the mud, used the hammock that has a built-in fly net as a tent hanging from the bike & the Neo-Air air matteress & the camp sleeping arrangements were all made (in the dark)

 

[KTMphil]

It started to rain early morning, i was then having to seriously think about options, one was to walk out to the Vietnam checkpoint, abandon the bike and let them get me out of there, it wasn't good.


Morning came everything was worse, slush/ sloppy mud, everything now covered in mud, decision time.

The only chance of getting the bike out was to take of all the luggage and try push/ walk it up the slippery hill in gear, gave it a try and it worked with the rear spinning all the way, there was a chance i was going to get the bike out.




A delightful place to sleep