the section i was dreading

Just rode up to the border at Boten. Got some heavy rain action and the road got worse until the intersection going to Boten so the last 20k was lovely. There wasn't much there almost like it wasn't a proper town. there were scary monkeys tied to poles and rat/moley things in cages(waiting to be eaten maybe) so it felt a little creepy . Asked around about a number plate but everyone was Chinese and no one really knew any English. Asked the at the Lao side about taking bike over and they said I'd have no luck on the ching chong side. One Chinese dude said just take number plate off. Most of the bikes didn't have number plates so maybe he was right but i don't think this would cut it with a foreigner. Went to get some lunch and while waiting for menu a group of Chinese men invited me to eat with them. They had heaps of food and not long after they left so i had a whole table of really good Chinese food! So a massive free lunch was a nice cheeky bonus. Decided i would go to plan B and head 50 clicks to the closest town (Luang Nam Tha) and try my luck sorting something else there. Asked at a travel place about taking a bus and putting my bike on(without plate) which he said was a good idea but since it is classified as a 50cc I should have no problems taking it to china as it is. Will take his word but i think i will still see about taking a bus over the border and try to keep my white face and the bike disassociated through the border crossing. Need to go to bus station first thing in morning to see what buses are running into china (mengla). Fingers crossed. Otherwise i will just try to ride it, the worst thing they could do is turn me back between borders but that would be a real hassle.

The $70 tent getting put to good use

Our traditional breakfast. Shared my two pineapples i was hauling round with me.

Village out in the back blocks
Views from my bumpy road

Truck trying to steal some hardwood for Johnny's deck! Not the best road

More native fare. .5 star dinning.

Nice road with with views to match

Waterfall near LP

Trying to take a dip

Small section of road in LP. not very good pic.

A blinged out version of my bike.

Reluctantly left comfortable Laung Prabang this afternoon. Went and saw a really nice waterfall this morning about thirty clicks out of LP. Great to be blasting along without all my gear in just shorts and shirt. Got there before opening and before anyone else so i had the place to myself which was excellent because it felt way less touristy. Ran around like a mad man and up to the top a couple of times and then cooled of in a mighty fine swimming hole. Busted back into town and checked the museum/palace which was plush and indulged in some nice coffee and baguette in a french/italian cafe. said goodbye to my ice coffee girl, who i fell in love with, well her super friendly service and coffee, and got food for the road. Not sure why i liked LP so much. Maybe it was the feel of the old french buildings or that people were friendly but I didn't stay long enough to properly check it out.

Rode up to Lithavixay but road was a shocker with surface missing and big potholes. thought we had overcome such poor main roads! Started to rain late arvo just as i was getting to the top of a hill. The sky looked almost black so i knew it would be bad(still raining, 7hours). Had to ride really slow but still managed to nearly lose it on the smooth wet tar surface as both wheels slide out. Stayed up with a big dab. Bit disappointed i didn't make it further because i am now staying in a very bland junction town. Will see if I'm close enough to china to find any chinese number plates in the morning but will prolly head straight to border town and try and suss something out.

Movin on up

Tired so be quick. In Laung Prabang. Looks nice so far. Will check some sites in morning then prolly head north close to border and figure out how to get across(well bike at least, I have a visa) into china. Ride from vang Vieng to LP was awesome. Great road just wish i was on a super motard and would have been perfect! Still i must have been the fastest on the road making all the passing maneuvers. Only a few dodgy moments coming into corners with the back stepping and once where I lost the back pushing too hard through a bumpy corner and getting a mini high side thing (but when you don't actually go over!). Really hot but I guess that's not too bad when i hear how cold it is back home..

Cubmaster

Tourist slut

Hmm. Haven't moved Far(net distance north that is) since the last post(2 days ago). Spent a day in Vientiane in the end but wasn't planing to. Ended up sorting some insurance stuff and then meet up with some Spanish dudes (chile, mexico, catalunia) from the night before and walked(very slowly) about the city checking some of the sites in the sweltering heat. Left Vientiane late yesterday morning, with the spoils from a very nice french shop (it had the best brownies!), and headed north aiming to cut of the main highway just before the tourist capital Vang Vieng and head up the back roads to the Plain of Jars. the Main road made for great riding with all the ups, downs and tight corners a motorbike loves though far to many pot holes to let really loose. My first mistake once off the main road was missing a turn off and riding a brand new(incomplete) road, which wasn't actually on my map, until i reached a checkpoint which i just blapped through only to hear a whistle squeeling behind me. So politely, i turned around and the security guards told me I was in a 'Special Area' and had to turn around. I showed/told them where I wanted to go and they told me there was no problem so i made my way back15 odd km. On the right road this time i was very disappointed. It was really rough and rocky I knew i could ride it but it would be slow and punishing on the Cub(bike). I was pretty annoyed cos the guy i asked at the travel place said the road was good. I bumped around for the rest of the afternoon until it was starting to get dark when I approached a couple of guys eating dinner on the side of the road. They gestured to me if I wanted to join them so I pulled up and filled my face with sticky rice, spicy vegetable stuff and a few shots of rice moonshine. The men were friendly and helpful and tried to use the tiny bit of English they knew while also trying to teach me some Lao. I set my tent up next to their truck for the night and woke to the sound of cooking. After packing up more workers came from the town with some more food and bottles of water so I had breakfast well sorted! After saying goodbye I headed north to Longcheng and by midday i had arrived, been stopped, and told to turn around by the "special area' security. Grrr i was so close to where i needed to be, why didn't anyone tell me I couldn't get through!! At least he told me the other way through was also impassable so i accepted my unpleasant journey backtracking and heading to Vang Vieng. I dropped the pressure in my tyres to racing levels and fanged it back to vang vieng trying fiercely to avoid a pinch flat. Knowing the way back and giving full juice when i could i retraced all the previous days effort and more and arrived in vang vieng by 5pm. Sore. Tubing anyone?

Larking about in Laos

Still safe and well. Been away from computers for a while. Just arrived in Vientiane and need to go find a room. Spent a day on a small island on the Mekong, near the border with Cambodia, to rest up. Yesterday spent most of the day riding a roundabout way to a massive cave and got caught on some gnarly bits of road but also some nice gravel.

Riding(grinding) around the island on rather small, suited for an asian, sit up and beg bike. Jessica would agree on the riding position, TJ wouldnt agree on freewheel action and nobody could get behind the chinese engineering!

Lao skinnies. On that bike i was nervous!

Riding into where the Cave was and where I stayed with a family in their village. Really nice place and people seemed really friendly and people were actually working! Feeling better after going there but cave trip wasn't as good as i had hoped and boat men riped me off as they never stopped to show me stalagmite gallery and maybe other stuff. These people really piss me off at times (got my glasses stolen the day before!). Villagers all had cell phones, electricity, satellite dish and plenty of music playing, goodo.
Getting bike across river. A bit easier than 1200gs but im sure they would try anything!

Stung Treng

Sorry this blog hasnt been getting the treatment it needs. Just escaped the jungle from which i was trying to cross from Siem Reap to mekong. Spent the last two nights with cambodian families and one of which was in a small village in the 'jungle'. Pretty cool but the mosquitos were big enough to lift me right of my bike. The roads were really bad and really on suitable for dirbikes but the cub pulled through with a broken exhaust, bent gear shifter spindle pegs and brake pedal, Filled the engine 3 times with water submerging the bike in puddles and rivers (when i got caught in monsoon rain). Heading to Loas this arvo might just make it a small day and stay on an island on the mekong. I'll try to keep in touch. Sloooooooooow Internet.

Templed out

Just quick note. I've been in Siem Reap and the temples were amazing but i dont think i could look at another for a while. Heading off to the Laos border on road 12, may or may not cut across to Strung Treng. Sorry, stories later (maybe!).