The 1000 Day Holiday

Emai Shan is one of the pilgrimages in China. At 3100m its a good hike. Most Chinese get transport to the top. But thats not sport.

Tackling the mountain the traditional way. People had said it was a lot of steps, I didn’t realise they meant only steps. No inclines, just steps. All 25,000+ of them.

On and on and on……..

Overnighting in a Monastery. There was no temptation to do one of the 10 day no speaking meditation retreats for me.

An early start to hike the last hour to the summit. It was all worth it though. The view across the clouds as the sun rose!

According to “THE BOOK”, there is 10 million Chinese on their train system at any point in time.

And unlike India, there is no foreign tourist quota of tickets.

So some routes can be quite difficult to get a sleeper berth. I was at the ticket window in Kunming, looking for a sleeper berth to Chengdu. One of the most heavily booked routes.

No one was in that queue, I guess because most people know it would be booked out. The supervisor came and looked up my queries. “No sleepers. only hard seat.”

After visiting the long distance bus station to see if that was an option (nope!) I returned.. I had also heard about a different train. So I asked her about it.

I didn’t think this was going to work, since it was a ticket tout who told me about the other train, and offered to sell me a sleeper on it for a 50% commission on the price.

She got very flustered and was shouting at me that “I tell you already, no sleepers, just seat. I tell you already.”

I asked her about the other train.

Again… “I tell you already, no sleepers, just seat. I tell you already.” But while she was saying this, she banged a couple of keys and suddenly

“1 sleeper ticket, 215 Yuan, 8pm, very lucky”I quickly gave her the money, got the ticket, she rolled down the window blind and stormed off!

The ticket scalper was also amazed that I managed to get a ticket from the window.

Karma is a good thing to have sometimes. glass between you and the ticket lady, priceless as I’m sure she wanted to throw something at me.

Every once in a while, you get to see something that really demonstrates the power of mother nature.

Hiking through Tiger Leaping Gorge is one of those times.

from the river to the peaks above the gorge is 3790m high. The gorge is 18km long. After a casual 2 days hiking admiring the view, we descended down to the river.

To say it has unbelievable power is an understatement. Check out these pictures:

 

There’s people in the last one which gives it scale.

Chinese and American teams tried to raft this river back in the 80′s and not many of them made it out alive.

Today was a special day for anyone who was or is hooked on Transformers. We heard Optimus Prime is living out his days in Kunming. So we talked to a few taxi drivers, well showed them a picture of Optimus Prime (speak I Mandarin no, nor did they speak Chinglish ). The 1st Didn’t know. We hit gold with the second driver.

We jumped in the cab and 10 minutes later, were hanging out with the real life size Optimus Prime. Hes a bit pissed that he lives outside with no protection from the rain and the ensuing rust. But he is still dedicated to the protection of all life.

He was stoked we visited, and offered us a cup of green tea but he had to dash off to sort out some Decepticons.

He did hang with us for some great pictures…

Directions to get to Optimus Prime: Take a #2 bus from the railway station until it terminates. Optimus is across the road (under overpass) and around the corner. Or you can take Bus 90 from the Hump hostel. It terminates in the same place.

Also from here you can grab a minivan/moto taxi to the bamboo temple. (CRAZY!)

A new country, a new wife..    well a bunch of dumplings and some peking duck anyway!

Time to see what this little place has to offer.

Warning: another Chicken was hurt, Im sure I hit a big green snake but it got away & I almost scored piglet ribs for dinner

Day 1.. Phonsavan to Nam Nuen

Back onto the main roads for the next 2 days. Great views as the road climbed around the hilltops. Bummer that the road is 1 lane wide meaning the trucks and buses coming around blind corners at you really do take up all the space! “The BOOK” does mention that there is a instant noodle shop in Nam Nuen. I wasn’t sure if they meant that was the only option. But yes it does! There are other restaurants but they cater for the lunchtime buses. So 2 minute noodles it was. 150kms
Day 2.. Nam Nuen to Vieng Kham

Rain was coming and going constantly, so I got out the trust 10c poncho. Full styles. Lots of hill tribes on this road. Some great curves and not as many vehicles as yesterday. dreaming of Dirt! 155km

Day 3.. Vieng Kham to Luang Prabang

Out into the rain again and onto the dirt! (Sam soun – Pak Xeng – LP route) Some views really reminded me of home.. Hills as far as you can see. Nice to be away from the tarmac, and only have to deal with chickens and kids! Its strange, from village to village the response from the kids can be completely opposite. Usually you get Sabadee! (hello) yelled at you with lots of smiles and frantic waving, and the next village the kids think you’ve come from outer space Usually they lighten up but they’re still super wary. Fun can be had with this. As they crowd around looking at whatever it is you’re doing.

For me thats tightening bolts on my luggage rack, and maybe drinking some water.. so when you get a mouthful then suddenly appear that you’re going to spray it in their direction mayhem ensues. The adults find the kids response as amusing as I do

The bike has held up pretty well, apart from the luggage rack. Which was losing at least 1 bolt (of 4) per day, I was actually expecting the whole thing to drop off at some stage. At least this way I have another random thing to add to my pack (an adjustable spanner).

161kms.. Also timed my petrol tank to perfection. running on the reserve fuel for the last 10kms!

Grand total : 1526kms, 1 flat tyre, 2 chickens that dont like dirtbikes, 1 piglet that almost didnt make it home, 2 snakes, 2 bamboo raft river crossings, 1 unintentional swim with the bike, 6 bolts and a very dirty me!

My ass is numb, so its off to get a 2hr massage for $5!

2 Days of wet and muddy mayhem!

Day 1.. Warning: 1 Chicken may have been hurt in the making of this adventure!*. Heavy rain began at 5am. Not a good start. I wasn’t fancying starting a 300km dirt road in the rain so I mooched around Paxsan till 12.

The guy at BK guesthouse said the road was possible on a bike. nothing else. 2 km into the trip I came to a junction that I couldnt tell which way. So I asked some locals. All the people there said the road was not possible in the wet season there is many large/high rivers with no boats to cross them.

They got the better of me, so I started down the road for Vientianne. 2kms later I changed my mind. This was about adventure and riding the main road north is not! If i got to a point where I could go no further I would turn around. I came to another turnoff, asked if that went in the right direction, and off I went! *Chicken Incident: It hit my foot as I rode past, and ran off squaking so at least I didnt run it over.

The weather had cleared, and the road in surprisingly good condition.

The first major obstacle which looked like a trip killer was a junction of 2 rivers that needed to be forded. It was muddy but obviously more than a meter deep. the locals came down to the river as I was investigating. they had bamboo rafts for ferrying bikes across! The second almost gaveway as I boarded, so they brought the first one around to use it again. A small dancing gig ensued!

This is when the ride became amazing.  lush forests & a very steep climb and descent. How the locals rode this hill on scooters.. damn! Although the one at the top was severly overheated when I pulled up. He was using a leaf to collect water from the ditch to cool it down. I gave him my empty water bottle but he looked at it.. DUH, Empty and threw it away….

So I showed him how to fill it in the same ditch, and cool his scooter a lot easier!

I was invited to stay the night in Nakhoum village (just before Thathom). This was a great evening with the whole village, and a very warm welcome from the family I stayed with.

All up around 4 1/2 hours riding. ~150kms..?

Day 2..

Up with the roosters, pigs and kids ~5am a few streams and a river crossing, and then one climb and descent after another! the road was a lot muddier than previously, but it was big grins all around!

Scored a flat tyre just out of Xiang Khoung. But they helped me out I was back on the road!

~250kms all up. About 8hours riding. I would rate this ride as 10X better than the southern loop. It doesnt have the limestone cliffs, but the scenery is amazing and youre really off the beaten track.

546 Days down, 454 to go…
01/07/07 Rode Motorbike from Pai to Chaing Mai. 135mk of windy hilly goodness!
02/07/07 Picked up visa, Minivan to Chaing Kong
03/07/07 Slow Boat to Pak Beng
04/07/07 Slow Boat to Luang Prabang
05/07/07 Luang Prabang
06/07/07 Luang Prabang
07/07/07 INTERNATIONAL FREE HUGS DAY – Luang Prabang
08/07/07 Luang Prabang
09/07/07 Susannah arrived in LP
10/07/07 Luang Prabang
11/07/07 Luang Prabang
12/07/07 bus and boat to Muang Ngoi
13/07/07 Hiking to the waterfall
14/07/07 Boat and bus to Luang Prabang
15/07/07 Bus to Phonsavan
16/07/07 Plain of Jars tour
17/07/07 Bus to Van Vieng
18/07/07 Moto exploration of caves and the rural area around VV
19/07/07 Tubing Van Vieng (oops, bad concussion.. 2 days of headache…)
20/07/07 R & Recovery day…
21/07/07 Tubing!
22/07/07 Lots of rain, dominoes, cards and hangover food w the Yanks
23/07/07 Bus to Vientiane
24/07/07 Visa run to friendship bridge, Beer lao factory tour, Suz leaves for Hanoi
25/07/07 Sorting out dirtbike hire..
26/07/07 SOUTHERN LOOP Vientiane to Tha Kek
27/07/07 to Nakai
28/07/07 to Kong Lor
29/07/07 Kong Lor
30/07/07 To Paxsan
31/07/07 towards phonsavan

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.

Australia has issued its first ever travel warning for NZ saying that there is a risk of earthquakes..

I guess theyre just covering their asses just in case an aussie gets hurt in an earthquake while in NZ and sues them for not holding their hand 24X7.  sheesh..