The collected writings of a Renegade Tourist

Tag Motorbike

The Big Indochina Trip: the long ride to Pakse 

The next city I wanted to go to is Pakse which is little over 300 kilometers from Thakhek. The reasonable thing to do would be to do it in two days but I’m tired of transit towns with nothing to see so I made a deal with myself; if I reached Savannakhet, the biggest city along the way,  before lunch I would continue all the way.

I didn’t manage to take off quite as early as I wanted but I made good time and by eleven I was already passed the junction with the Savannakhet road so I decided to … Read the rest

The Big Indochina Trip: looping the loop

The main reason people come to Thakhek is to do The Loop, a three day round trip by motorbike that not only goes through beautiful scenery but passes by a number of caves and lakes where you can go swimming. I decided to do the loop anti clockwise, starting with the caves just east of Thakhek.

Xang cave is reachable via a dirt road just off the main road and you have to ford a small river to reach it. The cave itself is not much, just a couple of Buddha statues and it’s not really worth the trouble of … Read the rest

Road to Laksao, 9:26 am

The road is on an embankment connecting I don’t know how many little islands. Around me, forested hilltops and flooded valleys, dead trees sticking up from the mirror smooth surface of the water. My eyes are streaming with tears from the chilly head wind as I connect swooping turn with swooping turn as fast as I dare go. I can’t help but scream with joy.… Read the rest

The big Indochina trip: the road to Thakhek 

I’ve been on the road for two days now. My goal was Thakhek  which is just a little bit too far to do in one day.

 Just a short distance outside Vientiane is a park called Xieng Khuan Buddha park. It is meadow full of Buddhist and Hindu statues. Though many of them look ancient they were made using concrete starting in 1958 by a priest-shaman called Luang Pu Bunleua Sulilat. The statues depict all manner of gods and creatures out of Buddhist and Hindu mythology; it’s a mix between weird and scary. The most prominent statue is a large … Read the rest

Road 10 to Vientiane, 12:58 pm

Well this is new, the road is actually straight, and not just for a few hundred meters; no, it has been straight for at least a couple of kilometers and it looks to be straight for several kilometers more. Sure there is only one lane in each direction, sure the surface is kind of rough but it’s neither bumpy not twisting. This is the closest thing to a highway I’ve seen in all of Laos so far. Amazing!… Read the rest

The Big Indochina Trip: Back on the road

Many of the people I’ve met on this trip seem to be masters of the ancient mystical art of hanging out as they get stuck in places for days. I am but an amateur of the art, and after staying a few days in one city I start to feel restless. So, eye healed and the major sights of Luang Prabang ticked off from the list, I set out towards Vang Vieng. I was there back in 2009 so didn’t have to come back but I wanted to see how much has changed since then. You see, back then Vang … Read the rest

The road to Vang Vieng, 12:14 pm 

It’s like I’m not in Laos anymore, the mountains are still green but they are covered in grass rather than jungle. Here and there dark grey, almost black cliffs shoot up, bare rock against the blue sky. The lower slopes are covered in a kind of tall grass with white plumes at the top that makes it look like some giant has shaken out an old feather pillow over the hills.… Read the rest

The Big Indochina Trip: waterfalls and caves 

When I awoke this morning my eye was much better, well enough, I decided, to go sightseeing. A short distance from Luang Prabang lies the Kuang Si waterfall. Right next to it is a center for rescued bears. I’m not an animal lover so I didn’t find it that interesting, but if you are, you will like it.

A bear in the rescue center 

When you approach the waterfall from below you will see a number of smaller subfalls and pools, each more beautiful than the previous ones. You can go swimming in some of them and normally I would … Read the rest

The big Indochina trip: off to Luang Prabang 

My next goal was Luang Prabang,  northwest of Phonsavan.  It’s a fair distance between the two and I had heard that the roads were bad so I was expecting a long and arduous journey.  Turns out that the road was one of the best I’ve been on in Laos so far and I was able to go relatively fast. It still took me the whole day to get there, but I could stop as often as I wanted and didn’t need to stress.

Just a few shots along the way 

After checking in I went for a short walk before … Read the rest

The Big Indochina Trip: to Phonsavan 

I’ve been doing a lot of riding the last few days and I didn’t really want to spend yet another day on the bike but I had to reach my next goal, Phonsavan. The road was better than the one from the border but still not up to Vietnamese standards; it shows that Laos is a much less developed country.

Well, I’m kind of getting tired of riding and, strangely enough, bored with the scenery, even if it is very beautiful. I guess I just want a bit more variation. Because of this, and the incessant drizzle, I didn’t take … Read the rest

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