Mekong River Views

My final day in Cambodia was spent at Stung Treng, on arrival I ride around the busy town market area before settling on a hotel for the night. It is the Cambodia / Laos New Year holiday period and over the next three (3) days roads are busy with people heading to their home Provinces for family celebrations. I pass utilities and minivans that are packed with people, luggage, scooters and who knows what else, and if it won't fit in the vehicle, no problem just strap it to the roof, boot lid, or tail gate.

 

 

 

I was up early the following morning, packed and ready for another border crossing. On arrival at the Cambodia Immigration check point my passport was stamped out, the Customs booth was next, my Carnet form was complete with efficiency, enabling the exportation of my motorcycle and I am good to go. A quick ride across no mans land had me at Laos Immigration, a visa on arrival was issued promptly, then I ride two (2) kilometre's down the road to a Police check point, where I fill in a form, details are entered on a computer, a printed copy is handed to me, and again I am good to go, does not get much easier than entering Laos.

 

My destination for the day is the small town of Champasak, with a mountain range back drop and Mekong River frontage my first impressions are good, but first I have to ride up onto a small vehicle barge to cross the Mekong from Muang to Champasak.

 

 

 

 

 

I was thankful the barge I was on was slightly more substantial than the one we passed mid river.

 

After an early hotel check in I spend the afternoon walking the grounds of the nearby Wat Phu (temple). It is during my ride to and from the temple I become aware of one part of Laos New Years celebrations, drenching passing vehicle occupants with water. Local residents use a hose from a tap or set up water filled drums on the road edge, then using smaller buckets, containers, and water pistols, passing ute's, scooters or any other form of open transportation is bombarded with water. Needless to say I was wet through on arrival at the temple and wet through again on arrival back at the hotel, it was not an unpleasant or annoying experience and drying out was pretty quick due to the 38 degree temperatures at this time of year.

 

 

 

 



With my first impressions proved correct and as picturesque Champasak was, the following morning I made tracks early because I had a long day's ride ahead of me to reach Tha Khaek. I'd received an email from Terence during the night, he was in Pakse, he'd ridden a long day and passed me while I was in Champasak. With no idea where in Pakse he was, I thought the chance of seeing him was slim, but due to a wrong turn on my behalf as I entered Pakse, and a breakfast excursion on Terence's behalf, we ran into each other. So once Terence was packed we set off together for the ride to Tha Khaek.

 

After both of us received multiple water drenching's throughout the day we reached Tha Khaek late afternoon. The New Years party mood had also reached a new level with road side party groups dressed in colour and motif coordinated T shirts, dancing, singing and drenching passing traffic to music at maximum volume through speaker stacks that would put a heavy metal band concert to shame, it would be s a long night for sum and a longer day recovery for others judging by the party atmosphere.

 

After settling into hotel accommodation, Terence and I ventured out on to the streets for a BBQ meal and to partake in some festive activities, including drinking beer containing ice cubes, which is the preferred method of consumption in Laos.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Up and packed early again the following morning, I was heading North to Vientiane and Terence was heading East for his own adventure in Vietnam. We bid each other safe travels, snap a few photos and went our separate ways.

 

 

 

My 355 kilometre ride to Vientiane took just over five (5) hours, as I arrived at my chosen central Vientiane accommodation I became aware it only had street parking for my motorcycle, the very helpful staff ensured me this was not a problem, pointing out a movable timber ramp that provide access up the front  steps and into the hotel foyer for safe and secure overnight motorcycle storage.

 

My two day stay in Vientiane was spent wandering the streets and visiting tourist attractions including Patuxai Monument, Phu That Luang Temple, Wat Si Saket and Haw Pha Kaew Temple.

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As with most of the other Laos towns I visited, Vientiane was also situated on the banks of the Mekong River, while it is home to many beautiful colonial buildings and structures, Vientiane's river front setting was not as dominant, nor provided the photographic back drop to the city as experienced in other river front towns in Laos.

 

Departure from Vientiane had me heading to Northern Laos. On the way I stopped for lunch at Vang Vieng, then crossed a mountain pass high enough for a relieving temperature fluctuation of 15 degrees, with the base of mountain temperature of 38 degrees plummeting to a cool 23 degrees  at the mountain top. As I reached the mountain base on the other side the temperature quickly rose back to 38 degrees and it stayed that way as  I rode into Luang Prabang, finishing a six (6) hour ride day. 

 

Luang Prabang is a pretty town, the Mekong River frontage, the delightful colonial buildings, temples, and forested mountain back drop have you reaching for your camera at every turn. I spend a relaxing four (4) days in Luang Prabang, walking the streets, visiting sites including the Royal Palace Museum, the Royal Palace Car Collection housing two Lincoln Continentals among other vehicles, That  Chomsi, Wat Than Phu Si and Wat Phu Phutthabaht.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The town night market provided nutritious good value meals with a plate full of buffet delights including rice, noodles, and mixed vegetables for about $1.20 and a BBQ chicken breast for about another $1.20 or a BBQ sausage for about $0.50.

 



 

 

Back on the road I headed North to go South, the only supposedly decent road that got me where I was going required a bit of a diversion, and that diversion included possibly the worst and the best roads I have ridden on throughout my adventure. The road North out of Luang Prabang was pretty run of the mill, I reached Pak Mong and turned West, that began eighty (80) kilometres of rough dirt road, rocky, pot holed, watered down mud and slush, it had it all, several hours later I was relieved to reached Udomxai, turn South and enjoy the relatively new Chinese built road that provided shear motorcycle riding pleasure, twisty hill passes, sweeping corners, and long flat stretches on wide line marked tarmac. The road conditions stayed like that all the way to Luang Nam Tha, where I checked into a nice little guest house for a one night stay, ate fried rice and a big chunk of pork rib including the crackle for dinner and rested up for the next mornings easy ride on the same great road South for another border crossing into Northern Thailand and then on to Chiang Rai.