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I pick up my Honda Baja 250 and get set to head to Tha Kaek from Vientianne for the first leg. I remember the bus took 6 hours but didn't realise it was just short of 400km. 2km after getting the bike the gears are buggared - it will change up but not down. I manage to crawl back to the shop where the guy gets the angle grinder out and 10 minutes later I'm good to go. I take it for a test spin around the block and again the gears are no good. I leave the bike with the guy and come back in 30 minutes and this time all is good. So I hit the road and almost manage to get lost on the outskirts of Vientianne with locals giving me wrong directions. Finally the traffic eases and I'm making good speed, well I think I am cos the speedo doesn't work.

Loop de loop

Gareth Penpraze
2007-04-21 19:34:03

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I'm glad when I get over the mountains and the Kammoune province is in sight. I meet the same dutch
couple I met 2 days before, waiting for the bus to Kong Lor. I follow the bus for a short while but its too slow so I power on and plan to meet them at the village. The road quickly detiorates again so I slow a good bit really just to admire the views. I arrive at Kong Lor village with kids running out shouting "Falang, falang!" I'm quickly ushered off to meet the village Niban (chief), one eye as he's known as in these parts. I try to explain I want to wait for the dutch couple but I'm put in my own boat and off I go.

As we head into the cave I have to hop in and out to help the guides pull the boat over rapids. It gets pretty dark very quickly and my measily torch is useless so I have to rely on the guides to see anything. An hour or so later we pull out into a valley and stop for some food with some locals all pointing to my bag and countying the flags sown on. I was thinking of staying in one of the homestays in Kong Lor village but everyone just stares at you like your a freak so I decide to get back to Ban Na Hin. I find a guesthouse run by a guy from Portsmouth and I'm the only one staying so I join him and his wife for diner and I'm given some great insights into what will he happening in the area in a few years - just one more reason to come back to Laos!! They have a baby monkey there they rescued from a market as it was being sold for food. Class wee animal. The dogs there are like Scooby and Scrappy Doo as the old one is a bit of a jessie and the wee one loves chasing goats and cows off the grass.

Next morning I decide to check out the waterfall there and I'm told be careful not to get lost. Some Belgians managed to take 9 hours to find their way back to the small town and never managed to find the waterfall. I pass a group of kids on the bike and after walking up the river - easiest way not to get lost - they meet me near the top. I take one picture
and all of a sudden they are all jumping off the rocks into a pool no deeper than 7 foot. I leave them to it and scramble back down the river and by the time I get back to the bike all the kids are waiting for me!! I should have got them to show me the path down.

I get on the road again having picked my stuff up and all thats left is to get back to Vientianne before dark. The bike trip has probably been the best thing I've done since leaving but I suspect there are bigger and better things to come. You'll just have to wait to find out.

Gareth Penpraze
http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/ASBO-Holidays/