That's it guys, heading out of Vietnam to cross into Laos. We're heading to Nam Meo border and the roads takes us through the mountains and off the highway. It's nice and peaceful(road still bad of course haha) as there's little to no traffic. The people are different as even though we're a spectacle going through the village they were far more respectful of our space. I wished we had seen more of this side of Vietnam than what we went through. On the way out i told myself I'm never riding here again, yet on the last day I'm thinking "there's still hope for this place".
The roads are small and narrow that on numerous occasions I thought we were lost and after traveling more than 200km we definitely didnt have enough fuel to turn back. Good news is that we are on the right track, bad news.....we're at the wrong border. Our papers say they we were supposed to leave Vietnam at a different border, so that does leave us in a bit of a pickle if we needed to head back out again.
Welllll, we are in Vietnam after all, so they were just being a real tit about it when you know they just want us to *cough cough* filled in the right "papers". To be honest at that point of time I'm just glad to see the back of Vietnam.
 |
| destined for the dinner table : yum yum |
 |
| Ivan: mobbed by his adoring fans |
By this time, we are all fully aware whenever the ride is longer than 500km, there's just no way we would make it before nightfall. Plus we spent about 2 hours just to cross the borders. Bumped into this Belgian couple who bought their kapchais in Saigon and crossing into Laos before dumping the bikes in Thailand. They came after us at the borders and crossed before us. Note to self: next time use kapchai or become Belgian.
 |
| Goodbyeeee Vietnam |
 |
| Hellooooo Lao PDR |
Once into Laos, I would have to say it is sooo beautiful. We're going through the mountains and flanked by mountains. Passing by villages children would rush out and wave enthusiastically at us (btw some kids threw stones at us in Vietnam). I'm not even 10 minutes into the country and already I'm planning when to come next.
We stopped at Sam Neau as there's just no way we can make it to Phonsavan. As we're up in the mountains the temperature that night was 4°C, so coupled with the clean air and the quiet atmosphere(for once nobody's honking for no reason) sleep that night was good.
 |
| more of these as we make our way through Laos |
Nam Meo 196.8km 120,000VND 7.11liters
No comments:
Post a Comment