Motobike Trip Day 8

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Wednesday June 20, 2007
Laos Motorbike Trip - Day 8 (Pha Muang Village to Vientiane) 210 Km Covered

At 4:30am we were taken from a deep sleep by a cacophony of sounds. Babies screaming, roosters, etc. It was an alarming way to rise. I must admit I tried my best to sleep through it and was succeeding until our host turned on the lights and rolled our bike outside to begin work on the tire. I felt bad and jumped up to help him. As the sun was rising above the village D & J emerged from their hut and we all had a good laugh about our current situation. We decided against trying to make the remaining 70km to Paksan and arranged for a ride into town on the village truck. We would pay them $50 for the ride and it seemed totally reasonable to me. We were in a bad situation if we had another flat. We had put up a good fight against the “undetermined” road. We gave a few of the locals a ride on Daragh’s bike and blew their minds. The mechanic latched onto my waist when we caught air as we flew down the “main street” of the village. I think I scared him silly. I gave him a calculator watch I had purchased a few days before and paid him some money for the accommodation and food. He was thrilled with the watch. Daragh gave the same watch to his host and we watched them comparing them as they grinned from ear to ear. The mechanic would drive the truck to Paksan. As long as he was going to town he took orders from everyone that needed supplies in town. I’m sure he was able to buy all sorts of things with the $50 we would pay him. It was a win-win situation for everyone. We loaded up the bikes and were on the road by 6:00AM. The road was pretty good all the way to Paksan…no rivers, very little mud. We would have made it no problem had we not blown our last tire. It was humbling to be in the truck with both bikes, but we were happy to be on our way back to Vientiane. The plan was to get dropped off in Paksan and catch another truck the remaining 150Km to Vientiane. We did just that. By 2:00PM we were back in Vientiane at the bus station. The tire had slowly been losing air. We pumped it up one more time and made a grand entrance into town. We immediately returned the bikes and got Kelly’s passport back. The rental guy felt bad and actually returned $30 to us for the cost of the engine repair and ride to Phonsavan. We felt lucky to have recouped that much and counted the other costs as part of the trip…part of the story. It had been an amazing ride - 8 days, 1381 Kilometers, 7 mechanics, and a host of incredible people along the way. Although it was, without a doubt, one of the hardest things I’ve ever been through it was also one of the most rewarding. We left Laos with nothing but respect and admiration for the terrain and the people.

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Comments

[bin and geoff]

wow
fabulous photos guys......being a technophobe I (bin) are having trouble looking at the whole blog.....but being in the south of france we have had a bit of red wine and may not be concentrating enough.......certainly looks like you are having a totally out there experience.......keep enjoying...cheers