laos the dirt bike tour!

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altogether i spent 25 days on the dirt bike and 7 days on scooters and covered over 8000km in total i visited all the south again including all the parts i missed the first time and most of the north i later compleated my tour of laos on a push bike covering another 650km and by the time i had left laos i had visited every province! the guidebook wasnt much use to me where i went on the dirt bike i was just joining dots on a map and also the map was incorrect alot of the time! i had to ask for directions several times in the space of 1km sometimes although destinations didnt have much point the real adventure was comunicating with the villagers and the journey i learnt allot from the laos people and i hope i can take that back with me i travelled everywhere on the dirt bike alone with just my small pack most of which was the first aid kit! but in laos i was never alone nearly every village i visited i had some sort of invite to eat sleep drink or just chat and i never refused any of these which was a challenge in itself!

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Photos

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all clean before the off check out the size of my bag for the bike tour! it is there on the back!

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one of the bridges i crossed on my self guided jungle tour! managed to slip the guide this isnt allowed!

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cant go back cant go forward had to build my way out here!

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a river crossing the first of many!

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maybe a good idea to take the ferry here!

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this guy i met while asking for directions i gave him a lift home and they put me up for the night

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this mud section was very long have not captured it well here and also on the left hand side there was a sheer drop i spent 2 hours here helping a group here making there way through in a pick up we were all covered in mud by the end but"baw pen nyang" nothings a problem in laos it was a pleasure to help them and made me realize that problems are usually mind created!

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lots of people here me included waiting for the jcb to clear a path through

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check out the bomb marked hills

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the plain of jars

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the guesthouse in ponsavan i stayed in

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more war junk! its everywhere here they droped one tonne for every man woman and child in this area and 30% is unexploded the bomb statistics in laos are incredible especially as laos is one of the most chillded out places in the world

Comments

[Ian]

Capabillity
Hi Martin. Just got your pictures of the bike tour. Absolutely gobsmacked to say the least, thats me and jealous to. After Southeast Asia ,Sth America will be a breeze as you have proved yourself very capable on the bike, and probably off it too. Best wishes Ian.

[James]

awesome trip
Congrats on your phenomenal adventure. Was there a lot of more technical or challenging jungle type riding?

[barnsleylad]

it was a great experience and unlike anything i've ever done before, not being a motorbike rider. When I was on the roads the traffic was light and the other road-users were chilled-out (watch out for chickens, pigs and cows though). Offroad the biggest challenge was not controling the bike, as I had thought, but route-finding. Many times I found myself completely off the map. I set off on a wing and a prayer and totally relied on the help and hospitality of the laos people, which has been second to none so far in my travels. I would recommend travelling in Laos by bike to anyone, without reservation.