Vientiane to Vang Vieng - Laos PDR

Great to see a smoke free temple (Wat) in Vientiane

Gates to a Wat in Vientiane

Satay, streetside, Vientiane

Mekong and waterfront in Vientiane, looking across to Thailand.  Note the major earthworks in foreground - the riverbank is being developed to celebrate 450 years of Vientiane as the capital, at the moment it is a dusty mess

Large catfish from the Mekong River

The bikes for the tour lined up and waiting for riders!

Day 1 on the bikes - The group leaving Vientiane heading for Vang Vieng

First night in Laos for the intrepid travellers.  Dinner beside the Mekong, Vientiane (down river a couple of kms from all the development)

Waiting at Wattay airport in Vientiane, Laos, on Saturday 9 October Mike and I began to wonder if our group had all missed the flight.  People trickled through the arrival door, but none were familiar faces.  Finally we saw Weeksie with a broad grin on his face (and this meant I had won the bet of who would be first out!).  He was laughing because despite forgetting his passport photos for the Visa on Arrival he was still first out.  It transpired that he was not the only one to forget these photos, quite a few of the guys had but no problem US$1 and a photo from ypour passport was taken. Finally everyone was through, had met our Lao guides, Thongkhoon and Yee, changed money and then it was onto the bus heading for the hotel.
Dinner that night was at the Kong View restaurant on the banks of the Mekong (away from the earthworks).  This was an opportunity for those in the group  to get to know their travelling companions better.  

Next morning Mike and I went out to the bikes prior to breakfast to observe that most had already been 'baggsed', this evident by the helmets hanging on mirrors.   A bit of tweaking of levers and other things was required before we set off and then it was into the traffic - 16 bikes weaving through busy Vientiane roads.  13 clients riding, our two Lao guides, and Mike with me riding pillion.  Jolie was the other pillion at this stage with the rest of the women in one of our two backup/luggage vehicles - except for intrepid Jan R who was the only woman riding her own motorbike.

The road out of Vientiane is not the most interesting, but riders were focused on the local traffic and the fact that we were on the other side of the road to what the New Zealandders were accustomed.
 A drink stop, many photo stops and a cushion buying expedition for Joile and I  (the back of the seat of an XR is very hard, and the carrier tray even more so!). We had another drink stop and then it was a slight detour to get to our lunch stop a few kilometres away on the side of a lake.  And there was Sue on the back of Dave's bike, she had had enough of the car and wanted to feel the wind in her hair.  Hmm, riding pillion is fine Sue but let's get you a helmet in Vang Vieng aye.


A simple but delicious lunch of Laos food and then back on the bikes to complete the journey to Vang Vieng.  Sue was back in the car with Tina and Jan W...but only until she could find herself a snazzy helmet!

Off to Laos today

 Mike enjoying a laksa on the waterfront at Kota Kinabalu, Sabah on the island formally known as Borneo.

 A young lad with a mohawk we saw at a hiphop dance competition.

Green Tea bread!

 We have had a few days stopover in Malaysia exploring the possibilities of running a tour here at a later date.  It has been an interesting few days as Malaysia is a real melting pot of cultures and ethnicities.  Mike and I speak a little Indonesian from all our years of travelling to Bali, and as Malaysian is an almost identical language it has been great to get back into the swing of speaking another language.

Today we fly to Vientiane, Laos to finalise and check things for the upcoming tour.  First up will be to check all the bikes are in good working order!  And tonight we will probably have a dinner of grilled river fish on the banks of the Mekong River.  Our guests arrive in Laos on Saturday.

Two Days To Go

Despite the fact that I am very fortunate to travel overseas at least once a year, I still get excited when the time to depart draws near.  While I still have quite a few things to do before we leave on Friday, I am slowly ticking jobs off the list. 

One of the things I enjoy most about our overseas tours is that you get to know people quite well when you are on the road with them for two or more weeks.  With a group of 18 joining us on the Laos and Angkor Wat Tour I know we are in for lots of laughs during our travels.

Mike and I are stopping over in Malaysia on the way with the hope of setting up a tour there in the future.  I will blog about our stay there prior to the Laos Tour.  I will try and update the Blog daily, but there may be days when I do not have internet access and so am unable to do so.  Mike also hope to get some clips on You Tube of the journey, we'll keep you posted here and on our web page www.adventurerides.co.nz

Mongolia clip on You Tube

Buska - interpreter, adventure ride crew and all-round Mongolian good guy

We have loaded a short clip from the DVD Mike made of our Mongolia tour in July this year.   This is the link  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8oFou6QKqtU
While we are still finishing off things from the Mongolia tour, such as editing film and photos, we are also winding up towards leaving early next month for Laos, via a stopover in Malaysia.  With 18 clients on the tour, and jungle trails that include segments of the Ho Chi Minh Trail, this will be an action packed tour.
When we return late October we will be busy with many New Zealand rides looming.  As it is still so wet and boggy not a huge amount of riding has been done for these events, so when we get back Mike will have to get out on his bike.  Well new bikes actually, as lovely Mr Payne at Yamaha Motor New Zealand is sending Mike a new fleet of bikes.

Laos in October

In October we are taking a group of 18 adventurous souls to Laos for two weeks.  Most will be on motorbikes, with the non-riders travelling in 4x4 utilities.  We have at least 3 days of offroad and will be going down parts of the Ho Chi Minh trail on the Laos side.  We expect to see many remnants from the America/Vietnam conflict as Laos was bombed relentlessly by the Americans for 10 years.

Ian MacKinnon in The Guardian, described Laos as"..the most bombed nation on earth." And explains thus, "The scale of the contamination is mind-boggling. Laos was hit by an average of one B-52 bomb-load every eight minutes, 24 hours a day, between 1964 and 1973. US bombers dropped more ordnance on Laos in this period than was dropped during the whole of the second world war."

We will be covering a large chunk of Laos, starting in the capital, Ventiane.  Evidence of the bombing is present all over the country, but particularly so in Phonsovan, and Savannakhet, and their surrounds.  Need to remind everyone not to go wandering in the jungle at refreshment stops.

Time to keep-up with technology.

Have been talking about it for a while, starting a blog that is.  So here I am.

Michael and I were in Nelson last weekend and on Friday night we were booked to give a presentation about our motorcycle tours and rides at the Suburban Club.  We expected maybe a dozen or so people, and were alarmed to see about 50 odd seats had been put out in anticipation.  Coordinator of the event, Karel Pavich, told us she expected 20-30 at least.  When 70 turned up we were overwhelmed and scrambled to get more seats.

Michael had made a 10 minute DVD of our recent Mongolia Tour using footage captured from his new helmet camera.  Although new to movie editing Michael, with some help from an experienced friend, enjoyed the process, and made what we felt was a great little movie. 

We had previewed it on our friend, who we were staying with in Nelson, and her 18 year old son.  They both gave very positive feedback.  The real litmus test came when we got it rolling on the big screen in Nelson.  Michael and I watched in amazement as the room went quiet, no one talked, eyes were all firmly focused on the screen.  As the strange but captivating soundtrack of Mongolian throat singing echoed around the room, causing the only teenage girl in the audience to burst into quiet fits of giggles, the rest of the room was enthralled in the movie.  Score 1 to Mikey the moviemaker!