Laos - Off-road surveying in the bloody freezing cold

[KTMphil]

After the group HU ride from Chiang Mai to Nan, a few of us managed to get a week's off-road riding in, in Laos. We'd packed shorts and flip flops - How dumb, the ice age/ cold spell over SE Asia, it was 6 (SIX) centigrade at night, we were totally unprepared.


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[KTMphil]

Leaving Nan & north up R 1080 / R 101 - the remains of the 4 day storm still lingering, freezing cold too.









Through the Nan, international border crossing in record time









Laos side (Muan Nguen), the usual waiting around, Customs was having his lunch. All cleared and eastwards towards Hongsa. The coal fired power station's cooling chimney's now completed.










...More to come

 

[KTMphil]

The initial plan was to ride from M. Khoua north to Phongsaly along the banks of the Nam Ou River, without using the assistance of a boat to head north, just as a ferry to transit the Nam Ou River. The green line on the map below was the intended route.







With the 4 days of rain, we were highly respectful and cautious of where explore off road and wanted to check with Charly in Luang Prabang as he'd come south from that area a day earleir in horrendous conditions (right in the middle of the rain).

 

[KTMphil]

Everywhere around Hongsa was still looking soggy, so we decided to give 4B a miss over the mountain to Luang Prabang & took the lolipop tarmac route via Xaiyabouri.


The rain had made everything green again and great views with no humidity at all


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Shower time in the afternoon sun before it gets cold


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In fact it was still so wet that trucks were sinking on the desiganted truck routes


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One of our riders said it will pull out backwards easy, i wished we'd had time to see


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Over the new Xaiyabouri bridge, no more ferries


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From the middle of the bridge, some new views of the Mekong

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Luang Prabang was packed, we managed to find clean rooms near the Moon Suwa, line dancing disco - location location location



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Next day, we hunted down Charly to find out what state the trails were in after the rain


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.....more to come

 

[bsacbob]

Here's a shot of the route.

 

[bsacbob]

I am sure Phil has heaps better pictures than me but here is a few snaps of the trip.


Great coffee and tuna melt breakfast at the Joma.



One of the two amigo's crossing a nice bridge.



Suitably clothed for the cold weather.



Pool hall in Khua, the only one with a cloth :-)


Friendly logging elephant on trail.


Who need's an Ipad when you have one of these.



Charming street seller.



Still scared of the farang !!



Not sure what they are all looking at.



A couple of nice crossings.



The new bridge crossing to Myanmar near Xieng Kok

 

[KTMphil]

Charly had been stuck south of Phongsaly in the rain. He said it took them 10 hours to go 2km, the bikes were sliding sideways and needed 2 people to move each bike. So it didnt look like a smart thing to do so it looks like its going to be plan B.


There's a nice track out of Luang Prabang, that runs north to Nong Khiew, its quite a wide, hard, packed stone, track. This seemed like the most sensible choice. On the southern end a lot of it has now been paved, we recorded where the dirt trail now starts.



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Silky smooth, should be decent pace


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Still a bit wet in the shaded areas, with the red clay under us, we need to treat it with respect


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Drink stop



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Getting a little nasty on some of the climbs, low rpms, keep the power low


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Still seems like a low traveled route, kids were excited to see bikes


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Quite an easy trail, but worth it for the villages and views


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Billy Karts


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Doesn't look like its going to be a good day for this guy


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He got pretty angry when they tried to tie his front legs




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Let's see how much bacon is there


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Get his seat ready


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1-2-3


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Flip him over


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[KTMphil]

First time any of us had seen this - 55 gallon drum on the back


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The bridge over the Nam Xeng River, beautiful spot


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Rivers were surprisingly low considering all the rain 2 days before

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[KTMphil]

Not far to Nong Khiew now - a new viewpoint


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South of Nong Khiew, there is a turn to the east 90km. It must go to the Vietnam border, something to be explored next time



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Drying the brushes


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Last bit of light behind the mountain


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& finally Nong Khiew in the distance


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We made it


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You can never never get bored of the views in Nong Khiew


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[KTMphil]

We were so bloody cold in Nong Khiew, we needed to do something. What would be most effective and cheap?


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We decided blankets with holes for your head was the way to go and they worked


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Leaving Nong Khiew, there's another big track that heads north to M. Khoua, which is also on the Nam Ou River, that seemed a safe choice with the past rain still having an effect


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Looks like the day before might have been tough and super slippy, they were still clearing landslides from the rain


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Through the villages


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Back out on the greasy stuff


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Stick bridges



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Remote villages


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Looks like they copied the Opera House bridge


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Always looks great seeing those long trails cut through the mountains behind you


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Even if they are a bit muddy in January


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Ridgeline villages


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[KTMphil]

Into M. Khoua, the ferries no longer in service with the two new bridges


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Bob had a slip and damaged his gear shifter, the guys in M Khoua were excited to fix it


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Angle grinder was 2mm from the engine case


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Drill the hole out

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Re-tap it and we're done

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[KTMphil]

Fantastic, clean GH on the river for 80,000 KIP in M. Khoua, a real bargain (its in the GH section)


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GH view!!


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......More to come

 

[KTMphil]

Drying the rice, not sure if the rain had given them a problem or not (Auke tells me in 36 years, he's never known it rain in Thailand in January before)


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One of the new bridges in M. Khoua


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The motorcycle bridge


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Vegetable growing on the sides of the river


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English center in M. Khoua looks like it could do with some funding


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New clean GH in town, many are run down


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M. Khoua's Wat in the old town



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[KTMphil]

58km north of M. Khoua, on the Nam Ou river, there is a gigantic hydro plant under construction. Because of the needed logistics, there are numerous new trails and dirt roads around the area which are unmapped, even bridges we found out. A map below gives you an idea of what we had planned with the trail coming out at Bountai, on the 2B road to Phongsaly.

 

[KTMphil]

So we follow the Nam Ou north and a new bridge just 10km north of M. Khoua

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New trail on the west bank of the Nam Ou to be explored


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Getting close to the hydro construction and we wern't sure where to go and low and behold a bridge pops up around the corner, result.


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Signs related to the hydro dam construction start appearing in Chinese


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looks like construction workers temporary housing


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Around the next corner & there she is, the hydro monster


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You cannot believe the size of this thing


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The road leading up to it


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[KTMphil]

A few wrong turns and we manage to find the trail to the west of the Nam OU, which hopefully will take us through to the Bountai area


We're still early enough to catch the morning mist rising, always a treat in Laos


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[KTMphil]

With this route being reasonably new, the locals are still pretty timid and dont know what to make of us


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We ride around the basin edge of the sea of mist and come around the other side


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You beauty

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Bob left



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Hill tribe villages


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It worked, out we popped in Bountai, ready for a late Chinese lunch


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& what a lunch clup it was


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R 2B, north to Phongsaly, the notorious stone packed bone shaker. Not any more, now as smooth as a ladyboy's bikini line



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[KTMphil]

We'd hedged our bets here, we had the choice of the highway if we were late or a cool trail ride SW towards Luang Namtha. We were early enough and a trail ride it would be.


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Shower time


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Pretty nice trail with good views and dry


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The broom making season for sure

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This is going to be a nice afternoon ride


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More shower time

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Great bamboo bridges



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Concrete ones a work in progress


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......more to come

 

[bsacbob]

Have to agree the Hydro station was breathtaking in it's scale of construction, i wonder how much if any of the power will find it's way to the Lao people, here is Phil trying to get that perfect shot and my panorama of the main site.

 

[KTMphil]

Timing was perfect, over an hour of daylight left and we're off the trail & onto R 13. Looks like we'll make Luang Namtha in daylight



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All the cool GH's full in Luang Namtha - Dokchampa had rooms 100,000 kip, which are ok


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Over the road for celebratory Beer Lao - & immediately attacked by the hill tribe street vendors

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Once they saw we were pleasant, the other vultures arrived


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You could have bought "anything", if you know what i mean


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Pizza - always a must in LNT


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[KTMphil]

Other rider's had commitments, so the next day would be our last day in Laos, a real shame. Should be dry enough for the Mekong border trail back to Houay Xai & an opportunity to have a look at the Laos-Myanmar Mekong River Friendship Bridge, which started construction in February, 2013.

More info on the bridge construction in the link below:


MPWT - Ceremony held to mark construction of the Lao-Myanmar Mekong River Friendship Bridge



Brick firing kiln on the way to Xieng Kok

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Some just cooked


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Its a bit of a detour to get to the bridge but we'd never seen it before


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The Bridge will cost about 18 million US dollars and the Governments of Lao PDR and Myanmar will bear the cost. Construction will finish within 30 months starting from 16 February 2013 up until 15 August 2015. After the Lao-Myanmar Friendship Bridge is complete, it will mark the significance of cooperation and friendship between Lao and Myanmar. The Bridge will link to National Road No. 17 of Lao PDR to National Road No. 4 of Myanmar, and it is aimed to provide easy access, facilitate trade exchange and bring great benefits to both nations. It will also link the countries within sub-region especially Lao, Myanmar, Vietnam and China, and in the future it could also link to India and Bangladesh via National Road No.17, 13 and 2E of Lao PDR, and National Road No. 4 of Myanmar.



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The road to the bridge is still pretty rough and in rainy season looks like would be horrible for the construction trucks


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Bob's gear lever was coming loose and giving him some "problems"


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Giant, ladle on the way back to the main trail


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Back on to the Mekong trail, that will take us to Houay Xai and some interesting winch line hauling underway through one of the faster flowing sections of the Mekong. Quite dangerous and they handled it with ease


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Lots of iron bridge crossings on this trail


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Back onto the Mekong trail


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....more to come

 

[KTMphil]

The Mekon River trail, north of Houay Xai was still a bit soggy from the previous rain, there had been some landslides there for sure

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3rd gear Bob's gear lever was still giving him some problems, we were praying his clutch would last, at least to the Chinese Casino where there would be tarmac ans a pickup if necessary

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There's a bunch of nice river crossings on this trail


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Trying to save the clutch plates and walking it across the slow bits


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Then this river crossing which was mighty deep. Luckily a local saw our worry and did a survey walk for us first


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Another attempt to get Bob's gear lever to grip the spline


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He needed a run-up for the hills in 3rd


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Shower time


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More clutch plate conservation


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And we made it - A night in the Casino and back to Thailand. A cold but very fun trip with minor drama's.

 

[asiarider]

Nice blanket

Where can I buy this nice blanket. I want one I need one. Its so beautiful....3