Trail riding south Laos borders with Steve & MM

[KTMphil]

Day 5 - east to Attapeu. Lots of river crossings some quite deep - I'm told in February most are rid able

 

[MastaMax]

Awesome report Phil, wish there were as many trails and remote locations here in North Thailand.

 

[yempaul]

Wow Phil

Looks like you guys had a blast ... good on you ... :RO

 

[alexuk]

great fotos

 

[daveg]

Nice post Phil!
I've did a bunch of those tracks last year around Attapeu. I recognized a bunch of the river crossings and in particular that water wheel: http://www.davegtravels.com/2011/05/laos-photos/

It looks alot different in the middle of the dry season.

 

[mt60]

Awesome report, love the pictures.
Next time you around Mukdahan, Savannakhet give me a ring

 

[Steve Canyon]

Looks like a pretty tuff trip....

Great stuff.....

 

[mikehohman]

Looks like a pretty tuff trip....

Yeah, you guys are really tenacious, no obstacle too great. Love it! And your pix are great.

Bravo.

Mike

 

[KTMphil]

Bike back in the pick-up in Pakse - with no rear shock it was too dangerous for the HM trail near the Vietnam border, so time to head home. The Pakse/ Chong Mek international border crossing.







Then back in LOS





A quick dinner stop in khon Kaen at the Laem Cha-Reon Seafood restaurant in the central plaza shopping mall - one of my favorite restaurants in Thailand.







It's not cheap but always packed





Fantastic food quality

 

[KTMphil]

Road widening on R 12 west of Chum Pae seems to be finally progressing well








Phitsanaluk





A beautiful old Wat in Pakse, south Laos

 

[KTMphil]

Mike - I think you'd love poking around down there as it also gives the opportunity to ride the HM Trail is the same trip.

Looks like a pretty tuff trip....

Yeah, you guys are really tenacious, no obstacle too great. Love it! And your pix are great.

Bravo.

Mike

 

[KTMphil]

..



[attachment=0:3pw8m53i]steve & phil Photo Don Duvall.jpg[/attachment:3pw8m53i]

 

[brian_bkk]

Nice post and pictures.. We were on Route 18 last June.. Bloody hot. But the rivers were a lot lower.
Only one river at the end we needed to get towed across.. 4 wheel drives could make it.

Instead of going to the right 2/3 of the way along.. we went straight. There is a really rocky area to naviagte and we were running low on water.. Made it.. our first off road experience on our KLX.. Great fun.

Youtube video below:-


[VIDEO]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TGvgywA9Do&feature=player_profilepage[/VIDEO]

Cheers
Brian

 

[KTMphil]

If you go to the Russian surface-to-air missile 32km NE of Attapeu, i'm told if you go 3km more north where it turns into an off-road trail, there's an abandoned tank in a landslide

 

[KTMphil]

Couple of Photo's from Steve from the trip










Also a link to Steve's website regarding his ride across Australia accompanying some wheelchair-bound friends on quads.

http://www.againstthegrain.org.au/The_Journey.htm

 

[KTMphil]

Some photo's from midnight mapper in the last day or so in south Laos, exploring as ever




Fuel smuggler on return trip, Dach Chung






No words to describe “Just another days work”






This happy guy was pushing a scooter through heavy muck and mud, he sure has the right attitude.






Xekaman Dam project,women worker at the Surge shaft tunnel



A taste of Pure Vietnamese fuel



Twhan Ouk border, crossing, heavily laden, Vietnamese truck, just clears the gate post.



Xekaman, Riding across the Dam wall




More mud, mud, mud,




Nam Pao Oh ferry, 10,000 kip

 

[KTMphil]

Steve's WR 250X that he used on our south Laos trip. He's a very experienced rider who's ridden across Australia on a KTM 640LC and has an usual setup of 17" motard wheels with dirt tires.

 

[Lone Rider]

If you go to the Russian surface-to-air missile 32km NE of Attapeu, i'm told if you go 3km more north where it turns into an off-road trail, there's an abandoned tank in a landslide
[attachment=0:1pavtsjp]tank map neat attapeu.jpg[/attachment:1pavtsjp]

The last time I was there with my truck, the tank had disappeared and the trail is now a very good unpaved road up to Ban Daknong from where it meanders through the forests till you hit Rd 16B between Ban Dakpok and Ban Dakxeng.

 

[KTMphil]

Steve sent some more photo's up from our south Laos trip


Too many bottles of M-Loy- Hasip




Here discovering a jet engine on the HM Trail from the Vietnam war era

 

[KTMphil]

Water-crossings galore

 

[KTMphil]

More water crossings

Interesting window

Russian made logging truck on R 18A

 

[KTMphil]

..

Don with a downed Vietnam war era plane (not made into spoons yet?)

 

[KTMphil]

..

 

[KTMphil]

Pretty swampy in places

 

[KTMphil]

..

 

[KTMphil]

More from Steve

 

[KTMphil]

Getting around the broken bridge

 

[KTMphil]

MM is still poking around, mapping in south Laos, just got this from him


"Perseverance pays,
So much for good luck finding old things, great place to change a flat though.
Will try for another one tomorrow, which means back to the jungle from which we came."

 

[KTMphil]

A few more snaps i received yesterday from MM out in the sticks in South Laos





Moon rise over the Bolevens Plateau












Wat Phou,Bolevens in background (85ks)






Havin too much fun (Again) time to change a tire...



Photo's Copyright Donald Duvall

 

[KTMphil]

Midnight Mapper checked in today from the Pakse area, south Laos - FANTASTIC photo from him.

"Good Morning,
Long day yesterday riding every street in Pakse looking for change point of interest, actually a grueling task.... Pain in the ass... with a broken kickstarter... Fuark is supposed to have sent the parts on the bus last night....
It will be a day of fixing bike and gluing shoes...."


Photo of the day yesterday..

\
Photo Copyright ©LaosGPSMap.com

 

[bill]

Great report Phil and MM
Really like that Rt 18 and pleasantly surprised they haven't upgraded it yet.

Does anyone have recent info on the route between Ta Oi and Nong, via La Hap and La Beng ?
I went through in Jan 2009 and found it a challenging offroad track.
Has it been upgraded since ?

 

[KTMphil]

KTMChris has hooked up with MM in south Laos - I hope he knows what he's doing.


"Found the lost temple's.
Now waiting for ferry"







MM with a new ride

 

[KTMphil]

Midnight Mapper is now back in Vientiane with a dead bike --sent a couple more snaps through of the fun we had in south Laos

 

[Midnitemapper]

The Good Ole XR after thousands of reliable miles refuses to start, all the roadside remedies exhausted I "bribe" a local to take us the 40K's to Pakse.

Once in Town I use this method to take the bike to a shop were a multimeter may be?

The problem is narrowed down to the stator which is not sending any juice to the CDI,so ship the bike via bus and I take the Night Sleeping bus back to Vientaine.


Early morning shot at the Southern International bus station and you can see the busses are used as trucks!

Lucky me, my good friend Laurant has a Ricky Stator for a 400 as a spare!So off to Fuarks for some friendly repairs!
Replacing the stator of the XR400

The old and the new

Fitting the new coils..

Allways smiling Mr Fuark, Fuark Motocross carefully cuts a new side cover gasket.

KTM Chris's last transmission was
" I am up to my eyeballs in Mud"
A shot of his bike seen in Pakse!

 

[KTMphil]

How much did you pay him? Looks like the XR400R will be up and running in no time.

 

[Midnitemapper]

I paid them $25 from breakdown spot to Pakse about 40 minutes (down hill).
Big smiles as the Mrs counts the money....

 

[Steve Canyon]

Great report Phil and MM
Really like that Rt 18 and pleasantly surprised they haven't upgraded it yet.

Does anyone have recent info on the route between Ta Oi and Nong, via La Hap and La Beng ?
I went through in Jan 2009 and found it a challenging offroad track.
Has it been upgraded since ?

Hey Bill did it last week, Dong- Ta oi.... very difficult but great fun....

 

[Midnitemapper]

Bill Chris,

Chris, the route you took was the old French road via Ban Along 6981, the one Bill refers to, is the Ho Chi Minh trail,7282.
The section between Ban Labeng and Ban Lahap has truly "gone Jungle" about 12 ks till you get to were the active logging is taking place.
Will be there shortly with a full report.

Great riding with you Chris,

 

[bill]

Great report Phil and MM
Really like that Rt 18 and pleasantly surprised they haven't upgraded it yet.

Does anyone have recent info on the route between Ta Oi and Nong, via La Hap and La Beng ?
I went through in Jan 2009 and found it a challenging offroad track.
Has it been upgraded since ?

Hey Bill did it last week, Dong- Ta oi.... very difficult but great fun....

Thanks for the update Chris.
Look forward to any pics/trip report.

 

[Steve Canyon]

Bill Chris,

Chris, the route you took was the old French road via Ban Along 6981, the one Bill refers to, is the Ho Chi Minh trail,7282.
The section between Ban Labeng and Ban Lahap has truly "gone Jungle" about 12 ks till you get to were the active logging is taking place.
Will be there shortly with a full report.

Great riding with you Chris,
[attachment=0:1ev5os3v]Chris.jpg[/attachment:1ev5os3v]

It's not on the map mate.5555555

Saw this along the way......10 hr's to do a little over 100k's

Great riding with you Don, looking forward to receiving my Bronze riding badge...

There will be a full report coming soon as I can get myself sorted.....