Northern Lao - Day 1 - Louang Prabang to Oudom Xai

02/04/2012 7 AM

Morning Market - Meat Vendors

So I’ve just got back from my morning out. I woke up at about 4:30 AM this morning and couldn’t go back to sleep so I decided to go out and check out the alms giving procession as well as the morning market. Out of respect, I have no photos of the former, however, the later I found much more my thing. The alms giving was interesting, its pretty much a line of monks who walk about dressed in orange robes who collect rice from the locals. It is to some extent a give and take relationship; the monks get fed and the givers get what you might call good karma. So this was somewhat interesting, however, anyone who knows me knows that I will take anything regarding food far more seriously. 

The morning market is fantastic, it is literally around the corner from my hotel. All the vendor set up at about 5 AM and close down at about 10 AM. They sell everything from meat, to produce, to local medicines to clothing. I also saw some very, very fresh fish.... still wiggling and all.

All for now, need to get packed and hit the road.

02/04/2012 6:13 PM

So. First day out on the Bike; we road 220 km north to Oudom Xai. We left just after 9 AM this morning and got in just before 6 PM so its been a pretty long day. The roads here are spectacular, they wind through mountains and rice fields with drop cliffs on both sides.

My Bike - Loaded up

It was a fantastic ride, I'm exhausted but I`m loving it. I did have the unfortunate experience of getting a flat tire, but pretty much any local knows how to fix one. Fortunately I was near a town so there wasn’t an issue, it took about twenty minutes in all to have fixed. I told Tom and Ann to go on ahead and I would catch up to them which I did about 30 minutes later. Tom and Ann are both from Nova Scotia. Tom is a retired from a search and rescue job and Ann work part time in Lao as a Vet. So they spend half of the year here and the other half back in Canada. Tom has been riding a bike for 40+ years, but Ann is a bit of a nervous passenger so they tend to ride relatively slowly, which works out well for me because they are on a much bigger bike.

Fixing my flat tire

I do wish I had a somewhat more powerful bike with some knobby tires, but the 250CC I`m riding is doing me well. I am not sure whether it will get me to Phongsali, but we will find out tomorrow. Oudom Xai is not a very appealing town, but my registration for school starts at 5PM my time tomorrow night, so I`m to some extent forced to spend an extra day here. Tomorrow morning I will ride part way with Tom and Ann to Phongsali to see what the roads are like. If they are decent, I will head up the day after tomorrow, if they are bad, I will stick to my original plan simply skipping the two days I would have spent riding to and from Phongsali.

I love this. Motorcycles are the way to see Lao. Forget taking buses, forget flying. Rent a bike for a few weeks and just do it!

All for now. I`m exhausted from my ride.... but in the best possible way.

Day 1 - 225 KM