The 1000 Day Holiday

day 1.. Picked up my Honda Baja 250cc dirt bike in Vientiane. .. and its now really really dirty..

Once everything was sorted did a bum numbing 350km to Thakek. A nice sealed road all the way. So a good time to get acquainted with my new friend.

All pictures of the Southern Loop 

day 2.. The start of the Laos Southern Loop. Thakek to Nakai (90km). I made it 160km by taking lots of tracks off the main road and seeing what I could find. The road was pretty good. The area is full of limestone cliffs making so a very beautiful ride. There was insane number of large trucks due to the dam construction making it dusty and interesting when they overtake each other blinded by the dust!

day 3.. a great day winding through some dense virgin forest. The road was fun w lots of big 20 tonne trucks to dodge on the blind corners. The advantages of the dirt bike becoming more obvious as potholed sections can be straight lined at speed! The road into Ban Kong Lor was crazy as it had rained just a little making the newly formed clay surface really slimy. The 5 river crossings being quite interesting as well Learning how to get a dirt bike stuck in mud.. 180kms today…

Day 4..spent 2 nites at ban kong lor.. Kong Lor Cave is 7km long and has a river flowing thru the mountain. A very spacey trip by boat thru the cave and out the other side..

Day 5.. came out from ban kong lor.. dropped my bike in a deep section of the first river crossing.. wouldnt run at more than an idle for about an hour ( i figure the air filter needed to dry).. but it came right..

Then learning how to get a bike unstuck from mud while some bemused locals look on and dont help (on the detour to a footbridge) I think they wanted to see me ford the river, but it had risen considerably (to approx ~1m depth) from the rain overnight. No more major mishaps after that. The electronic display on the bike is still dead.. but hoping that should work once its dried out .. FINGERS CROSSED! Sleeping in Pakxan/Paksan ~120kms today

This is my southern loop complete.. Tomorrow I head north on a 250km dirt road with 5 rivers that “might” be fordable. The target: Phonsavan.