alexuk
Senior Member
- Joined
- Jan 30, 2011
After helping clothe village kidsLuang Prabang in December Justin and I had a few days riding together.From Luang Prabang we went to Phonsavan on a main dirt road planning to go straight there and make some detours for the way back. Just before we got to Phoxai there was a string across the road by an army checkpoint manned by 3 men and a girl, one in uniform, with guns.N19 57 07.4 E102 26 05.7 They said first that we had to turn around, and go get a permit"in Luang Prabang" to proceed. Then they told us we should go with them to Phoxai to get a permit.
Then they decided that they could write a permit for us, for a fee. They asked 50000kip each, we tried to negotiate but they wouldnt take less. So maybe half an hour it took us to get through.
Justin went ahead and I had to keep out of the dust, my gps was in my pocket and when the road went right, to go south to the ferry, I stayed on the track and went several km east before checking the gps. I guessed justin went the other way, so I went back to the junction. It got more interesting here, more of a track than a road.There was a bridge by a ford, with a little girl holding a piece of string across it, she wanted too much, so I said 3000kip, that was ok, better than getting wet boots.There was another bamboo pole across the road, by a village, again they asked 50000kip. I said no, but ended up paying 5000, and was asked to sign a bit of paper. I was glad to see justins name on the paper too, that meant he must be ahead of me now. There was no hint of officialdom there. A few more km and I was at the river, justins KTM was on the other side.
So on south and the road got better and better, until we hit the main phonsavan road, about 40km out of town.
It was about 4pm when I got to the guesthouse, and booked 2 rooms. Just as well, cos the bus got in about 10 mins later, and all rooms were taken and people were turned away. Same place, 70000kip, and one of the rooms has a comfy bed.
J. told me about some bushmeat in the local market, where he had to go before the GH,so I went down to get some fotos. They had bamboo rats in cages, and dead squirrels,bats,rats,
giant flying squirrels, porcupine, some kind of badger(american I'm told),after a while some woman appeared and told me to stop taking fotos.
I had taken the road south to pakxan a couple of years ago, and it was like paradise in places, so we went the same way to see it now, but there is a big new road like everywhere else All the way.
Some interesting villages though, with locals playing their courting ball game. Justin fancied some of the lassies so tossed his balls around.
Do you know what these animals are??? tell me..
Its a big wide open dirt road through there now. Maybe 50km north of pakxan the road goes to tarmac high along a river, fantastic views, but I could swear I was there in April this year too. I must've turned off somewhere then. We were misreading the gps's again somehow and thought it was 50k to VTE,but it was 150k.We stayed at the Pakxan Hotel, a big grandiose place, Vietnam owned,but with some 50000kip rooms, ok with aircon, wifi, karaoke and massage/sauna, where the sauna was too hot and the girls were too cold. fortunately the bear that was in a cage there 2 years has gone now, although it had probably been eaten. They had porcupine, turtles, frogs and other "exotic"things on the menu, but they said no porcupine today. Which is ok with me, being vegetarian etc.
Not wanting to take the main road to Vientiane we found a route on the gps map through Nam khao koay national park, another place I wanted to see for a long time. Once we hit the big new dirt road, it was being watered a lot,we kept going,let through checkpoints, and saw a sign for Tad Leuk waterfall,2km, so we took a look.GPS N18 24 18.8 E103 05 16.2
Was a pleasant spot, with a few army guys or rangers in the cafe ,and we didnt hang around too long, not knowing what was ahead.
Again we missed the turn off, at a checkpoint,and went 10km+ to a village, back on tarmac road,so we got some lunch in one of the eateries,and headed back.The right track was graded, very gravelly, dusty too, like almost all the roads, and continued all the way to the dam. A sign on the dam wall said no entry, so we crossed on it there and looked for the track on the other side. There was singletrack which was easy to follow, sandy with a rocky terrain,big flat rocks, quite different. A bit like Mars, you know.
It wasnt difficult but you had to be a bit careful, as Justin found when he took a wrong line and lost the front wheel in a deep hole.
Maybe we had 2 hours there, in nowhere, before we hit the roadbuilders again.
That remote singletrack will be gone very soon. Shame you missed it!! We got onto route 10 about 40km north of vientiane,and into the hotel before dark
Justin and I finally got away from Vientiane about 10am and took the road out of town west along the Mekong.After a few miles it turned to potholed dirt, and then a new dirt road all the way to Xanakham.It was very dusty and you could not see if you got behind a large vehicle.
You wouldnt want to be in the middle of the road if a pickup came the other way in the middle of the road, cos the sides of the road were inches deep in dust, with rocks unseen underneath.I caught up with justin as he was reversing down a slope onto a little boat, and got his camera while my bike fell over in the sand.
There were some big trucks going through, and a pickup, but it was a long way and deep if you took the wrong line. A big bridge is being built
Another crossing there was like a ring of rocks going round, so it was deep if you went straight through, but scooters followed the rocks edge and got across easily. You wouldn't know until you watched someone else do it.
We stopped for lunch at justins favourite Xanakham cafe, quite civilized for xanakham. He decided it was time to go back to thailand. I wanted to do 2 or 3 tracks in the area so we went to the ferry and he took the road to kengtao, I went up the west river bank. I'd been that way a couple of years ago and thought it would be more developed, but now it was overgrown, noone had been there for ages. I wondered why it was so overgrown, it kept getting worse and it was still a long way to go to paklai so I turned back to the ferry, then took the track to Kengtao and route 4 and that main boring road 60km north to paklai for the night.
My favourite Paklai hotel/badminton court opposite Sandee restaurant where I normally eat, but they had no chicken so I went over the roundabout, the road goes left and there is a restaurant a few hundred mtrs(??) down on the right. A small front, but larger out the back and I had some chicken garlic and rice which was good.
Had wanted to camp in Nam pouy NPA for a long time, not realising it was high up in the mountains. BrianBKK and 4 others had been through the week before with no problems, It was doubletrack for a long way.
I passed a few people with a tractor, then it got rougher and I didnt see anyone for a long way. I was up in the mountains with nothing but forest to see.
It was cold most of the day and misty at times, I had a lot of clothes on too. Some small landslides left only enough room for a bike.
There was a downhill stretch by a small wall and some fallen tree which would be difficult going the other way or in the wet, then I had to cross a stream. On the other side was a few huts in a walled field. I saw a soldier further on and after one or 2 more and I came to an army camp. Another crossing was fairly deep,not sure if i'd have been alright, but there were big pillars there and a little wooden bridge 50 yds upstream
which took me through a village and onto a main dirt road. The road widened and I came back to the main road 50km south of Xayaboury
I got to the hotel by 5pm,Xayaboury is quite big considering there's only one place in the whole town where you can actually eat. I stayed at Hotel cos the paklai hotel suggested it and I liked it. 80000 iirc. A couple of dutch cyclists stayed there too, and I tried to help them find a GH halfway to vientiane with the gps..
Mark Rossi had found a new road to Hongsa, Auke had done it too so I wanted to try it. I best guessed the route on gps,but no internet in Xayaboury, I did txt auke for directions but my fone broke so I couldnt read his reply. So off I went, and, at a hut which looked like a centre, books, radio mast, a village at a crossroads, someone spoke english,
her name is Trix and she's almost 5foot tall.Turn right at Sala, she said, and pointed out the road to get there, so I found sala half an hour later,and went straight on for a couple of miles.I asked a couple of women the way to Hongsa, they pointed back the way I came, so I got back on the right road, but 2km later I went through a stream and got a big nail in the tyre. I carried on 3km or so and there was a guy,he saw the puncture and took me to his bulldozer where he had tools, and put the spare tube in for me.A nice happy guy, I gave him some money and hope he enjoyed himself that night
.I came out on the main Hongsa-Muang nguen road, so a left took me to muang nguen where I stayed in one of 3 or4 little GH by the border, where they are resurfacing the road. A bad choice,only 50000kip, but the restaurant 2 doors away wasnt as good as it looked, nice massive wood tables and rubbish food, the bed was hard,squat toilets, drunks in the next hotel kept me awake till late/early, I had a long way to go next day and couldnt sleep, and the mother in law started shouting at her man at 7am and didnt shut the fk up for an hour.
I was very glad to cross the border about 9am,although I had only laos kip, my atm card didnt work, I only had 200baht,etc and as I got out of Laos customs building my rear tyre was flat again. Thais let me in, and I was pleased to find a compressor there and the tyre stayed up!!
more fotos here http://www.flickr.com/photos/21921110@N04/sets/72157628415686331/
Then they decided that they could write a permit for us, for a fee. They asked 50000kip each, we tried to negotiate but they wouldnt take less. So maybe half an hour it took us to get through.
Justin went ahead and I had to keep out of the dust, my gps was in my pocket and when the road went right, to go south to the ferry, I stayed on the track and went several km east before checking the gps. I guessed justin went the other way, so I went back to the junction. It got more interesting here, more of a track than a road.There was a bridge by a ford, with a little girl holding a piece of string across it, she wanted too much, so I said 3000kip, that was ok, better than getting wet boots.There was another bamboo pole across the road, by a village, again they asked 50000kip. I said no, but ended up paying 5000, and was asked to sign a bit of paper. I was glad to see justins name on the paper too, that meant he must be ahead of me now. There was no hint of officialdom there. A few more km and I was at the river, justins KTM was on the other side.
So on south and the road got better and better, until we hit the main phonsavan road, about 40km out of town.
It was about 4pm when I got to the guesthouse, and booked 2 rooms. Just as well, cos the bus got in about 10 mins later, and all rooms were taken and people were turned away. Same place, 70000kip, and one of the rooms has a comfy bed.
J. told me about some bushmeat in the local market, where he had to go before the GH,so I went down to get some fotos. They had bamboo rats in cages, and dead squirrels,bats,rats,
giant flying squirrels, porcupine, some kind of badger(american I'm told),after a while some woman appeared and told me to stop taking fotos.
I had taken the road south to pakxan a couple of years ago, and it was like paradise in places, so we went the same way to see it now, but there is a big new road like everywhere else All the way.
Do you know what these animals are??? tell me..
Its a big wide open dirt road through there now. Maybe 50km north of pakxan the road goes to tarmac high along a river, fantastic views, but I could swear I was there in April this year too. I must've turned off somewhere then. We were misreading the gps's again somehow and thought it was 50k to VTE,but it was 150k.We stayed at the Pakxan Hotel, a big grandiose place, Vietnam owned,but with some 50000kip rooms, ok with aircon, wifi, karaoke and massage/sauna, where the sauna was too hot and the girls were too cold. fortunately the bear that was in a cage there 2 years has gone now, although it had probably been eaten. They had porcupine, turtles, frogs and other "exotic"things on the menu, but they said no porcupine today. Which is ok with me, being vegetarian etc.
Not wanting to take the main road to Vientiane we found a route on the gps map through Nam khao koay national park, another place I wanted to see for a long time. Once we hit the big new dirt road, it was being watered a lot,we kept going,let through checkpoints, and saw a sign for Tad Leuk waterfall,2km, so we took a look.GPS N18 24 18.8 E103 05 16.2
Again we missed the turn off, at a checkpoint,and went 10km+ to a village, back on tarmac road,so we got some lunch in one of the eateries,and headed back.The right track was graded, very gravelly, dusty too, like almost all the roads, and continued all the way to the dam. A sign on the dam wall said no entry, so we crossed on it there and looked for the track on the other side. There was singletrack which was easy to follow, sandy with a rocky terrain,big flat rocks, quite different. A bit like Mars, you know.
Justin and I finally got away from Vientiane about 10am and took the road out of town west along the Mekong.After a few miles it turned to potholed dirt, and then a new dirt road all the way to Xanakham.It was very dusty and you could not see if you got behind a large vehicle.
You wouldnt want to be in the middle of the road if a pickup came the other way in the middle of the road, cos the sides of the road were inches deep in dust, with rocks unseen underneath.I caught up with justin as he was reversing down a slope onto a little boat, and got his camera while my bike fell over in the sand.
There were some big trucks going through, and a pickup, but it was a long way and deep if you took the wrong line. A big bridge is being built
Another crossing there was like a ring of rocks going round, so it was deep if you went straight through, but scooters followed the rocks edge and got across easily. You wouldn't know until you watched someone else do it.
We stopped for lunch at justins favourite Xanakham cafe, quite civilized for xanakham. He decided it was time to go back to thailand. I wanted to do 2 or 3 tracks in the area so we went to the ferry and he took the road to kengtao, I went up the west river bank. I'd been that way a couple of years ago and thought it would be more developed, but now it was overgrown, noone had been there for ages. I wondered why it was so overgrown, it kept getting worse and it was still a long way to go to paklai so I turned back to the ferry, then took the track to Kengtao and route 4 and that main boring road 60km north to paklai for the night.
My favourite Paklai hotel/badminton court opposite Sandee restaurant where I normally eat, but they had no chicken so I went over the roundabout, the road goes left and there is a restaurant a few hundred mtrs(??) down on the right. A small front, but larger out the back and I had some chicken garlic and rice which was good.
Had wanted to camp in Nam pouy NPA for a long time, not realising it was high up in the mountains. BrianBKK and 4 others had been through the week before with no problems, It was doubletrack for a long way.
I got to the hotel by 5pm,Xayaboury is quite big considering there's only one place in the whole town where you can actually eat. I stayed at Hotel cos the paklai hotel suggested it and I liked it. 80000 iirc. A couple of dutch cyclists stayed there too, and I tried to help them find a GH halfway to vientiane with the gps..
Mark Rossi had found a new road to Hongsa, Auke had done it too so I wanted to try it. I best guessed the route on gps,but no internet in Xayaboury, I did txt auke for directions but my fone broke so I couldnt read his reply. So off I went, and, at a hut which looked like a centre, books, radio mast, a village at a crossroads, someone spoke english,
her name is Trix and she's almost 5foot tall.Turn right at Sala, she said, and pointed out the road to get there, so I found sala half an hour later,and went straight on for a couple of miles.I asked a couple of women the way to Hongsa, they pointed back the way I came, so I got back on the right road, but 2km later I went through a stream and got a big nail in the tyre. I carried on 3km or so and there was a guy,he saw the puncture and took me to his bulldozer where he had tools, and put the spare tube in for me.A nice happy guy, I gave him some money and hope he enjoyed himself that night
.I came out on the main Hongsa-Muang nguen road, so a left took me to muang nguen where I stayed in one of 3 or4 little GH by the border, where they are resurfacing the road. A bad choice,only 50000kip, but the restaurant 2 doors away wasnt as good as it looked, nice massive wood tables and rubbish food, the bed was hard,squat toilets, drunks in the next hotel kept me awake till late/early, I had a long way to go next day and couldnt sleep, and the mother in law started shouting at her man at 7am and didnt shut the fk up for an hour.
I was very glad to cross the border about 9am,although I had only laos kip, my atm card didnt work, I only had 200baht,etc and as I got out of Laos customs building my rear tyre was flat again. Thais let me in, and I was pleased to find a compressor there and the tyre stayed up!!
more fotos here http://www.flickr.com/photos/21921110@N04/sets/72157628415686331/
