The Chinese border then into the jungle

Tuesday 13th Feb 18

We plan to visit the Chinese border and then further into Laos to an hotel apparently in the middle of the jungle..interesting! We set off at 9.30, only 200 kms today. It was 17c which felt cold to most of the guys so layers were put on. The road to the border had lots of trucks and a bad road surface, the Chinese are notoriously bad drivers. On the bike it’s easy to overtake, just a matter of picking your moment and going for it. The group got strung out and the front pack pulled over to wait for the stragglers, 15 mins later still no sign of them. Duncan rode back to see what had happened. Turned out that one of the guys had hit some gravel on a bend and crashed; fortunately he only suffered a few bumps and grazes as did the bike. So onwards to the Chinese border; the road got worse with clouds of dust and holes made by the trucks.
At the border checkpoint it was chaos; trucks, cars and lots of Chinese tourists. Soon we were swamped by Chinese wanting their photos taken with us bikers.. celebrity status at last! 😎

We were ready to set off again when it was noticed one guy’s rear tyre was nearly flat, it had picked up a nail. Our support truck had not made the detour to the border, so no tools with us. Luckily a 4 wheel drive group leader saw us and had a plugging kit, soon we were sorted and on the way.

Plug that hole

Some of the crazy driving on the way has to be seen to be believed. Blind overtakes by cars and vans. A motorbike with dad driving, 8 yr old on the back and 2 yr old in the middle, try to race us! Finally we turned off this mad road and headed into the hills. After a few miles we were in quite a remote area and arrived at our resort hotel, greeted with a glass of hot water.. strange.

This is a fantastic hotel with individual chalets built into the jungle by the side of a small stream. Very nice room with air-con and hot water from a drencher shower. The walk to the restaurant was a raised walkway through the jungle, great stuff. We had dinner outside with our own wood fire. We retired to the bar until the lights went out and we got the message it was time to leave.

Weds 14th Feb 18

We set off for Luang Prabang and we’re soon reminded of the loose gravel on some bends, focuses the brain quickly! An hour later we were at the start of a newly constructed road through the mountains. This was a FANTASTIC riders road, flowing bends, up and down, smooth surface, very little traffic and nearly 100kms in length. We stopped halfway for water and all had big smiles on our faces. We used this stop to explore the village and take pics of the locals, then back to riding heaven.

Lunch was noodle soup again, actually very tasty, then on to a road in complete contrast to the morning. This one was a mix of holes, gravel and worn out surface albeit though very picturesque scenery. The temperature reached 35c as we entered Luang Prabang. A large town infested with scooters and small motorbikes, if we left any space they were in it, just as well our bikes are bigger than theirs 😊

For the hotel tonight we are back to small guest house and cold water, but after a few large beer Lao all is well 👍