Vang Vieng

As our boat plan fell flat we saddled our motorbikes and drove south to Vang Vieng. But managed to miss a turn and drove up the shitty road we came from three days ago… after realizing our mistake we turned around and took the other much nicer way. Here there was also a mountain pass to cross, with 1900 meters above sea level it was shrouded in mist.

A gifted local photographer took some shots of us 😆

And then the road disappeared 😳 just rocks and dirt and us bouncing down hill. A bit further down they had started to (re?)build the road by grading the surface and spraying tar on it which made it extra slippery and dangerous when we had to drive on it to avoid oncoming traffic. All went well but our bikes are now splattered in sticky goo 😕

Vang Vieng is a party town once (in)famous for its tubing on the river. But first we decided to visit one of the many blue lagoons. What a sight 😂 packed with tourists, mostly from China, talking (arguing?) loudly while holding on to their buoyancy devices 🤣

But hey they had salted caramel ice cream 😊

Reading up on the tubing we found out the water is cold and the sun mostly blocked by the mountains (besides the smog). So we opted instead for a jungle hike. Finding somebody to take us trekking in this party craze was harder than anticipated but we found a tour operator and a guide. Tui, the guide, then wanted to show us some local delicacies and we headed to the old air strip where food stalls were catering to the locals. Some chewy meat and lots of beer later we headed home to wake up with a slight hangover 😵 A short drive and we were already climbing the mountain range and heading to a closed off valley. Of course Tui didn’t show up and another guide lead us 😉 We learned about all the different things the jungle provides and collected some bamboo to cook our lunch in as well some fig like fruits and a banana flower/heart to eat.

Not Tui but Wu

Grilled fish, steamed fish with banana flower, dried meat, two kinds of bananas, heaps of sticky rice and the usual herbs and cabbage to wrap everything.

Bamboo 😍

We then crossed the valley basin and climbed over another part of the range back. It was a great experience and quite the contrast to Vang Vieng itself. 

For the evening we then hit the Irish pub to play badly pool until it became too packed and it switched over to “Smashball” with the youngsters. 🤣 Once this closed we followed the throng to the next watering hole but never made it as we met some Laotians on holiday from the capital. Which meant more Beer Lao, music (they had a boom box, Girl Talk!), singing, dancing and drinking some weird “tea”. Then a snack before bed, a Bahn Mi sandwich from the food stalls still open at 3am 🤪.

All in all a great birthday 🥳 

Luang Prabang

And on we drove further east to Luang Prabang. Sadly the road deteriorated quite a bit after about half way. With bigger and bigger parts of the pavement missing, usually in the corners which made it extra spicy. In a addition there were heaps of giant lorries kicking up so much dust that we resorted to wear face masks like the locals 😷 

And then in a especially sandy curve I decided to lay my bike down and get a scratched palm and some wrist pain instead 😇 

In Luang Prabang we splurged on a nice hotel with pool. But the smog didn’t really let the sun through. Ever since entering Laos we saw the slash and burn technique used for farming. Sadly the rain washes away the fertile top soil and the land is spent after a few seasons.

There wasn’t a mountain with at least one side burned down or logged clear 😕 

To us it looked like random acts of destruction 🤷‍♂️ There is some fire smouldering around every other corner, Lao people seem to have a passion for firestarting. So it came that ash rained down on us at the pool 😆

In the evening we headed to the night market where all kind of trinkets are sold as souvenir as well food stalls cater to the tourist crowds.

But there is also a night market frequented by the locals, way cheaper 😊

The day after we wanted to see one of the local waterfalls. We opted for the closer one as neither of us wanted to be long in the saddle again. Long story short, there was no water 🤣 Only at the entrance we were told this little detail. Neither the parking lady, the food stalls or the guy which brought us up river to the spot found it worth mentioning 😆

 The rest of the day we spent looking for a ship which could take us down river to Vientiane. But sadly none were sailing that route. Only day/sunset cruises or up north to the Thai border were available. So by moto power then 🥴

On our last day we visited the Living Land Company, where we could learn about the whole process of rice farming. Which meant separating the good from the bad seeds, sowing for seedlings, tilling, planting, harvesting, threshing, cooking and finally eating sticky rice 🍚😍

As we had still time left we decided to treat our bikes to get rid of the dust they were covered in. 😊 Sadly no girls or wet T-Shirts were involved 😉

Secret War & Plain of Jars

After crossing the border we drove another 70km and ended up in Sam Nuea in a little guesthouse. As Laos is one of the poorest of the SEA countries (being landlocked and bombed to pieces doesn’t help I guess) the prices were quite lower than on the other side of the border, but the amount of trash lying around was much higher 😕

First of many religious sites

Buddhism meets Soviet style architecture 

The following day we had to back track a bit to visit the Viang Xai caves. Here the Pathet Lao, the communist resistance, hid from the American 🇺🇸 bombs. With an average bombing raid every 8 minutes over nine years Laos became the most bombed country in the world, with more bombs dropped than in all of WW2 combined… 

The natural caves which were enlarged over the years sheltered sleeping chambers, meeting rooms, hospital, theatre, bank, army barracks and much more.

Then it was time to head further east, stopping at Muang Kham for the night. Not much to do besides drinking Beer Lao and eating sticky rice ☺️

So the next day it wasn’t far to Phonsavan, better known as the Plain of Jars. Here thousands of megalithic stone jars have been found. Ranging in size from 1 to 3 meters, up to 14 tons in weight and belonging to the Iron Age. Their usage is unknown but it is assumed they were used for burials. 

We visited the sites 1, 2 and 3 of more than 90 sites found. But sadly most aren’t cleared of unexploded ordnance. This spot had a strategic importance during the Laotian civil war and was therefore heavily bombed. Which resulted in some jars being destroyed and the landscape scattered with bomb craters…

On a funnier note, a group of Laotian elderly woman „forced“ us to an extensive photo shoot 🤣

Also in Phonsavan we visited the MAG UXO visitor center. MAG, the Mines Advisory Group, is an NGO which gets funding mainly from the states to help clear the land from UneXploded Ordnance’s. About 30% of the cluster ammunition used during the war did not detonate. These bomblets, about the size of a tennis ball, are especially dangerous to kids as they pick them up to play. It is estimated that only 1% of the land has been cleared since 1994 and that it would take over thousand years at the current rate to clear all of Laos. At the same time the US still hasn’t signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions and deem it as a legal form of weapon 😞

Different kinds of UXO, the „bombies“ are the little balls. Some are brightly colored, here yellow on the left, which makes them even more alluring to children…

Ho Chi Minh Trail

Having visited Vietnam but missed out on Laos and Cambodia it was only a matter of time before I would return to South East Asia. And what better mode of transportation than the trusty motorbike the locals drive. 

I mentioned the idea to Aaron and he immediately was on board. The plan is to head into Laos 🇱🇦 from Hanoi, all the way south to Cambodia 🇰🇭 and cross back to Ho Chi Minh. So it came that the two of us took two months off work and flew to Hanoi. 

Spending some time in the city to see the sights, drink Bia Hoi (fresh beer), having a cooking class, getting a (terrible) haircut and shopping around for two motorbikes. First we had planned to rent but for crossing the borders the original vehicle documents are needed which they are not (or no longer?) willing to hand over. So it came that we became the trusty owners of a Honda Wave each. Aaron paid 425USD and I 450USD as mine got disc brakes in the front 😎 The seller has also an office in HCM and offered to buy them back for 50% of the price if we wouldn’t find somebody else to buy them.

Red Arrow - Marcial

Blue Thunder - Aaron

We got some tips as well: Don’t drive at night, never leave your helmet and something else we forgot 🤣 Also that we should do maintenance and oil change every 700-800km.

After two nights in the city we headed east to Pu Luong. The little village is famous for its rice paddies, caves any lovely scenery. But not wanting to take the highway we took the direct route over the mountains past Hoa Binh.

As we had to wait until 3pm for our Lao Visa we had a rather late start. So unsurprisingly dusk started to set and we were still nowhere. Also worth mentioning that this route meant 3000m of altitude up and 2600m down. Of which we ended up driving most in the dark, there goes tip number one 😅 And we had to buy some gasoline in bottles in a little hamlet as we were running low. Also no pictures as my phone battery died. All in all a perfect start 😬 

The next day we toured through the valley and it’s rice fields, visited the Kho Muong cave and stopped to have a look at the traditional weaving. Sadly the pool and temperatures weren’t inviting 😕

The cave is huge, hard to tell on pictures 😔

And then it was time again to head further east, Laos was waiting. Killing time at the border (lunch break) we invested in some lovely cushions to lessen the strain on our butts. Being made for average sized asians our bikes are a tad small for us 😆

The border crossing itself was uneventful, we paid some fee on the Vietnam side for exporting our bikes  (or being allowed to bring them back in? 🤷‍♂️), had all our information painstakingly written down in a big ledger (which took ages), drove over and then again paid some entrance fee on the Lao side and we were through.

Not everyone travels on little bikes or in little groups 😉

Catching Up

Before writing about the latest adventure I have to bring you up to speed what happened the last four years. 

As Korea is one of the few countries flying to Palau 🇵🇼 we seized that opportunity and went there before flying to South Africa. Palau was awesome: lovely islands and great diving. A must was to swim in the jelly fish lake! We also spent some time on Peleliu which saw fierce fighting in WW2.

Not long after arriving in Johannesburg we made great friends which helped pass the time until our car arrived. Shout out to the Vesparados 🤘

When we reached Cape Town, by way of Lesotho, Melanie flew home and Aaron (our former flat mate who by chance was in ZA) joined me. Together we drove up and down the Garden Route as well ventured inland.

Once Melanie was back we were ready to head into Namibia 🇳🇦 but due to medical reasons had to put our trip on hold. We put the Land Cruiser in storage and flew home. 

Then a little pandemic hit the world which made traveling impossible for a while. So after a year we got the car back and toured a bit through north Italy 🇮🇹 with it. 

In the spring of 2021 Aaron and I flew to the Dominican Republic 🇩🇴 for a bit of backpacking (and looking at a potential house to buy 😉).

In the summer then our group from Mongolia 🇲🇳 reunited and the six of us travelled through France 🇫🇷, visiting the Normandie, Saint-Malo, Dune du Pilat and stopped at the river Ardeche.

In November we met up with the rest of my family in Tenerife. Seeing the nephew and niece, drinking wine and eating good food. 

Shortly there after Melanie and I flew to Morocco 🇲🇦. Strolling through the souks and enjoying some Tagine. 

Then Marcel switched with Melanie and we did a week of Enduro riding around the Atlas Mountains. Was exhausting but awesome!

In 2022 my Atlantic crossing finally happened, after being postponed for two years in a row. 

Starting in Sint Maarten 🇸🇽 in the Caribbean it took us four long weeks to get to the Azores by catamaran.

Where Melanie was waiting for me 😍 Together we travelled around the islands, tried the local dishes, drank local wine and went whale watching. After hundreds of years hunting them the locals had great system to spot them. We were lucky and even saw some sperm whales and a “small” blue whale 🐳 

In the summer then we met up with Tobi and Nik and toured through Czechia 🇨🇿, Austria 🇦🇹 and norther Italy 🇮🇹 by LandCruiser. 

As I still need some nautical miles for my skipper certification Melanie & I booked a week of sailing out of Athens. Spending first some time visiting Hellenic sites before setting sail.

And now you know 😅