Last day on Vientiane

It was a lazy start to the day with breakfast at the hotel.

After relaxing around the poolside we decided to head to the shops to pick up some souvenirs and presents for those back home.

We got a bit carried away and ended up with a rather large bag of trinkets and presents that we needed to offload before heading to Vang Vieng tomorrow.  Thankfully Amarin helped us organize with Fuark to take the bag of goodies cross the border to Thailand tomorrow when Fuark will drop off at Amarin's shop for us.

A lovely lunch at Kop Chai Deu we headed to our laundry lady to pick up the washing before we head off tomorrow.



Chris then begin creating a video using some of the footage taken with our action cams whilst riding around Vientiane and after a few hours wrestling with Adobe Premiere our first video was ready to be shared on youtube using the hotel Wi-Fi.

We begin uploading the video which should be finished in about 4 hours time, internet certainly isn't what it is back home.

For something different we decided to head to the Lao kitchen for dinner before heading to the night market to do a bit more browsing. Looking forward to heading to Vang Vieng tomorrow for an overnight stay before we had to Luang Prabang on Monday.

Picking up the books

This afternoon we headed to the EDF Laos Offices (Educational Development Foundation) to pickup the books. Complete success! They had all the books we were after and they were all ready to go! Thank you Martin Momodo from Momobooks, Khamiane and Jamie from EDF Laos, you made this very easy for us!

We ended up purchasing close to 350 books for this years tour as well as of course the uniforms for all the children at the Ban Oh village school. Book party is scheduled for the week beginning 9th November and we can't wait!

With the books packed in our top boxes we headed to Kop Chai Deu restaurant for some food whilst we waited for Luna to come and meet us to collect the books and money for the Uniforms. Thank you Luna, Angela, Nana, Guut and Vongsamay for helping us bring it all together every year.

After a quick hello with Luna we realised that everything is now organised, books and uniforms are paid for and will be on their way to the Sainamhai Resort in Ban Namsanam which is the base for our Book Parties in Khammoune province, as well as being a beautiful place to stay with the one of the nicest families we have ever met!

As such we decided that it was appropriate and warranted that we get drunk this evening to celebrate the achievement so off to the supermarket to get a bottle of Lao Lao (Lao Whiskey/Moonshine) and snack which we took back to the air conditioned comfort of our hotel with YouTube on the TV :)

As i type this i can feel the alcohol taking effect and getting tipsier by the minute. On that note, thank you again to all for supporting and following our trip, we really couldn't do it without your support and generosity.

Tomorrow will be a relaxing day in Vientiane with plenty of time for the Pool, Good food and whatever else is required to mitigate the inevitable hangover (Lucky Chris doesn't get hangovers but David on the other hand will likely be moping around for the first few hours tomorrow).

Good night and see you all tomorrow :D

Fixing the bikes in Vientiane

We headed down to Fuark Motorcycle on Asean Road in Vientiane this morning after breakfast to drop off David's bike to have the luggage rack replaced and the air filter cleaned.

Whilst we were waiting we decided to head to the air conditioned shopping center in town to grab a coffee and cool down. Vientiane Center is a large upmarket shopping center with very little of interest unless your female and have 50 billion dollars to spend on makeup, jewelery and bags.

After our coffee's whilst watching the shopping centre staff awards ceremony (bit random) we headed out for a ride (David on the back of Chris's bike) before then returning to the hotel for a light lunch.

After lunch we were a bit happier and headed back to Fuark's to drop off Chris's bike to get the air filter cleaned and top rack replaced as well just to be sure we have no more issues.

Whilst waiting for Fuark to finish Chris's bike we were still a bit peckish so whilst we were waiting we found a nice little restaurant that clearly wasn't frequented by foreigners. We had a bowl of Beef and Organs soup with noodles which really hit the spot. Spicy and awesome!

With the bikes ready to go we headed back to the hotel to collect the top boxes and shortly heading to the EDF Laos offices to pickup the books for the book party as well as collecting our washing from our lovely laundry lady.

Fun times! :D

Border crossing into Laos

After a brisk ride to the Friendship bridge from Udon Thani we arrived at Nong Khai at about 10am. Upon arrival we realised that the luggage rack on David's bike had snapped leaving  the top box held on by a couple of bolts. Being that we were alot closer to Vientiane we decided to engage Macguyver mode so out came the bungee cords to save the day. After adding some support, securing the box to the bike we very cautiously headed through the Thai border crossing and over the bridge into Vientiane.

Upon arrival at the Laos border, everything seemed to be going well until it came time to head to Room 105 {The Laos Customs officials} to finalise and stamp the export papers for the bikes. It was at this stage that the official pointed out that part of the paperwork had not been completed by Amarin specifying who was authorised to take the bikes out of Thailand. (The only form completely in Thai}. As such the official advised we would need to return to Thailand to have this completed by the registered owner before we could proceed across the border.

As you can imagine we were somewhat frustrated at this point and attempted to contact Amarin back in Thailand to see if he could fill out and fax new papers to the Laos border to permit us to pass. Whilst waiting for s response from Amarin we got talking to the officials and explained we do this every year and exactly what we were coming to Laos to do {Good causes etc}. Once this was established and it was clear from our passports that this was a regular thing for us, he decided to go and speak to the head of immigration and customs who very kindly authorised our crossing with incomplete paperwork. With a sigh of relief and many Kop Jai Lai Lai's we were on our way into Laos.

Amarin organised with a good man Fuark in Vientiane to replace the luggage rack on David's bike while we were here before heading north. A fun ride through Vientiane and it's immensely insane traffic  and we arrived at the Leuxay Hotel, our favourite stop in VT.  Back into air conditioning to cool down before we headed out for some well deserved lunch at Joma Bakery in town for a nice sandwich and cold drinks. That hit the spot!

We headed to the local Mini mart to purchase our Laos Unitel simcards and then back to the hotel to escape the heat and get us back online. Tomorrow morning we will be heading to Fuark's shop to get the rack replaced which we hope is the last motorcycle related issue for the trip. Touch wood!

Tomorrow we will be heading for the EDF Laos offices to pick up our book order and then meeting up with Vongsamays daughter to arrange transport of the books to the Sainamhai resort for the Ban Oh village book party in just over a week.

Currently eating dinner at Kop Chai Deu Restaurant, another favourite in VT and our food has now arrived so time to push the button.

All in all a long but good day and happy to be in Laos once again.

Here we go :-)

And so it begins. This morning we ride for Nong Khai and the border crossing into Vientiane Laos.

Bike loaded, strapped and ready to go, we leave Udon at a reasonable 9am and should arrive In Vientiane approx midday.  (Depending on how painful the border crossing is). Thankfully we have done this crossing numerous times so shouldnt be much of an issue unless of course they make a mistake which as we previously established isn't uncommon.

Next post should be from within the Peoples Democratic Republic of Laos.

Woohoo. Let's Ride!

Last day in Udon Thani Thailand

This morning we took Chris's bike down to Mr Moto to have the fork seals replaced as these started leaking fork oil. Good thing to as there was not much oil left in the forks which would have made from some interesting bumps and braking on the trip.

Whilst Mr Moto was hard at work on the bikes, we headed back to the hotel for a massage and some more relaxing in the pool, sauna and spa! Tis a fabulously hard life we lead :)

After picking up the bike, we sat down with Mr Moto to complete the paperwork required to cross the border into Laos tomorrow. Fingers crossed we got it right for the always fun border crossing from Nong Khai Thailand to Vientiane Laos over the Thai - Laos friendship bridge.

We spent the afternoon catching up with a good friend in Udon before returning to the hotel to pack our top boxes for the journey. Thankfully we fit it all in with a little room to spare :)

Not much else to post about today but i'm sure that will change very soon!

Tomorrow will be a relatively early start after breakfast which should see us arrive at the border approx 10am, at which time we will begin the Laos border experience! Fun times!

Hopefully tomorrow's crossing will be uneventful and quick, we have done it a number of times but its easy to forget the process and end up wandering from building to building to get the approval to bring the bikes (and ourselves) into Laos where the real adventure begins.

Stay tuned for more updates over the coming days to let you all know how we are going.

Don't forget, to see our position live on GPS on the way, you can click on the link in the top right of this page.

Kop Kuhn Krab, Chris & David

Relaxing in Udon

Another day of relaxing in Udon before we leave for Laos on Thursday.

This morning we took David's bike to Mr Moto to get the gearbox looked at as he was stuck in 4th gear yesterday and refused to shift down. Turns out it was a bent gear selector which Mr Moto ordered and fitted today.

After both bikes had an oil change and David's bike got it's new gear selector, they seemed to be good to go and again running well. 

Later we ran onto a friend in Udon we met last year and decided to catch up for dinner before we left Udon. Good to see you again Captain.

I have to say right now I'm in relaxation mode so not looking forward to the thousands of kms ahead in the coming weeks. Who am I kidding we can't wait but definitely enjoying the unwinding and pampering before we go.

After some riding around we noticed a funny sound from Chris's bike which after some inspecting turned out to be a slightly loose chain. Back to Mr Moto to get that adjusted. When we arrived back at Mr Moto shop we also noticed some oil leaking from the front forks on Chris's bike. Amarin inspected the seals and determined they needed replacing. We agreed due to the late hour to return tomorrow to have the seals replaced. Fingers crossed that will be the last issue with the bikes :-)

We headed to dinner at Sizzler and after a long day, decided to stagger through the night markets to let our food go down before returning to the Hotel and passing out for the night.

All in all a good day and looking forward to getting the seal's fixed tomorrow.

Getting Settled in Udon Thani

Today we awoke to a lovely day in Udon Thani, Still getting used to the time difference so pretty hard to get a sleep in (Body clock keeps waking up at 5 am local time). That said we certainly made use of the day and the early start.

After going for a ride on our trusty steed's to our favorite laundry lady in Udon to drop off the smelly travel clothes we headed to Central Plaza (Big Shopping Center) for a spot browsing and to get help loading our mobiles / modem with plenty of data for the time in Thailand.

At 10 am Chris headed off to the local dentist to get a much needed filling. Whilst the quote from a dentist back home was approx 440 AUD for the work, ended up paying the lovely Udon dentist 40 AUD for the same work! Bargain!

After the drilling and filling and with half a numb mouth we headed over to see our good friend Amarin to say hello and get some adjustments made to the bikes. After some tinkering we were good to go, or so we thought :)

After returning to the hotel we headed for the spa centre and spent some time relaxing in the Sauna / Spa's. Feeling very refreshed we headed back to the room for some well deserved bludging, tis a hard life. :)

After a spot of KFC for lunch (Chilli Cheese Chicken which nearly blew our heads off) we began slipping into a coma (As you do after eating KFC) and again decided to head back to the hotel to chill out.

Later in the day we went browsing the shops and generally just enjoying being back in Thailand. With stomach's grumbling, later we headed to the T Bar Restaurant which was highly rated on Trip advisor. On the way there on the highway David changed his bike into Sixth gear and found he could not shift back down (Stuck in 6th gear which isn't great at traffic lights). The reviews for the T Bar were great and  certainly weren't wrong, the food was awesome and the service and atmosphere just as good. After another head exploding chilli thai sensatiom.

On the way back to the hotel we found David could get into 4th gear but now lower. All you need in Thai/Laos traffic. The problem seemed to stem from when David crashed the bike a few years ago and whilst it mostly lasted last years fix, turns our it has now givven up and just doesn't want to change gears. (Can't get lower than 4th gear).

Tomorrow we will be dropping David's bike back to Mr Moto to pull the gearbox apart and replace whatever is required to get it back running normally. Hopefully we can make this happen before we leave for Laos on thursday, thankfully we are very confident in Amarin's abilities and should have no issues. David then headed to bed whilst Chris decided to go out for a late night ride through Udon. (Trying to stay up late to allow me to sleep in and wakeup at a normal hour.

Thanks for tuning in and for the support from all, we really appreciate it and so you know we are having an absolute blast so far! Keep the good times coming!

Arrived in Udon Thani

Good evening all,

After two days of travelling and a few hiccups, we have arrived in Udon Thani. 

Our good friend Amarin (Mr Moto) had our bikes setup and waiting at the VIP Parking at our Hotel and they look great! Thank again Amarin, you are a legend!

We have 4 nights in Udon Thani before we head to the Laos border on Thursday. It is so good to be back in Udon again, really do love this place it's like a second home to us and a fantastic starting point for our adventures.

Tomorrow Chris is off to the Dentist to get a filling done as it is so much cheaper here for any dentist work, seemed silly to get it done before we left Australia.

Good night all and let the good times roll!

Here we go! :)

Only 9.5 hrs till take off and in true Aussie style, just finished packing and finally ready to go!

Just a quick recap with our fundraising, so far we have raised Approx $1225 AUD, below is a breakdown of where these funds came from:

Indiegogo Online Campaigns: 540 AUD (Still running with 4 days to go!)
Downer Golf Clubs Auction: 55 AUD
David and myself painting the pillars in our office: 380 AUD
Cash donations from family and friends: 250 AUD

So far, we have used the money raised as below:

• Books secured so far - 240 AUD (Only a small amount of stock left in vientiane so we are looking to purchase more books in Luang Prabang on our way)
• Uniforms for the Ban Oh school children - 370 AUD

This leaves approx $615 AUD left to spend. At least 100 of this will likely be spent on more books in Luang Prabang to compliment our already purchased books (Momosign books which are currently not available in Vientiane - Fingers crossed!).

The funds left over after this purchase will be put aside for the next step of connecting the Ban Oh village school to the Water and Electricity from the village (Approx 1km from the school). Whilst we won't be able to be there to see this happen, we will be working very closely with Mr Vongsamay to facilitate and fund the cost of materials required to make these vital connections. So excited to see this come to fruition very soon!

There is still time to contribute to this years event, feel free to visit our campaign by clicking the Donate link at the top right of our blog page, CLOSES IN 4 DAYS!

You can also see where we are on our journey in realtime with our GPS Tracker, see the link at the top right of our blog page.

Thank you again everyone for your immense support and well wishes for our adventure, we are truly blessed to have so many good friends that are willing to share in this experience with us.

Oh well, best be off to bed to get some ZZZZZ's before our early start to the Gold Coast Airport tomorrow morning.

Best Regards, Christopher & David

Only a week to go!

WOW, how quickly the last few months have passed. Here's hoping our month away passes somewhat slower.

We leave the beautiful Gold Coast next Saturday 24th Oct bright and early and fly to Udon Thani Thailand, the starting point for our adventure.

Our good friend Mr Moto (Amarin) has our bikes prepared and ready to roll! New Tyres and heavy duty tubes and we should be right.

Only a few weeks left on our latest fundraising campaign, feel free to check this out here of you can use the link on the top right of our Blog Page. Thanks to your support, we have raised enough money to purchase the uniforms and books for this years event. We had learnt that the school we are visiting doesn't have electricity or running water as the building is located approx. 1km from the village and they have not had the money or resources to make this connection happen. Well that's going to be changing very soon!

Any more funds we can raise will be used to help make this connection, meaning the kid's will be able to have electricity and running water to the village school in the near future. Imagine your child going to a school with no electricity and running water (For drinking and sanitation), something we take for granted in the first world.

Thank you to everyone for helping to make this happen each and every year, we are humbled by your support and dedication to this cause which we are so passionate about, without you, none of this would be possible!

We look forward to sharing this trip with you via our blog, with pictures and stories of our experience throughout this amazing journey. This year we will also have a GPS Tracker so you can see where we are live and watch our progress on the map in real time. Below is the link to this site (Note: It will not show a location until Saturday 24th onwards). There will be a fixed link at the top right of our blog page so feel free to follow us and leave us messages on our journey.

Track us live on GPS!

Kindest Regards, Chris Jilley & David Burrows

2012 Blog Posts Uploaded!

Hey Folks,

We have uploaded our blog from our first solo (Non Guided) tour back in November 2012. This was the longest trip we have ever done and was a real doosy! Check it out, some really cool pics and incidents along the way :D

Will upload a summary and photos from our first Guided Tour in 2009 in the next week to share with you all.

Don't forget, last chance to donate to this years events in the village Ban Oh. Check out the last blog post for details on how to donate. Feel free to share with others and follow us on our adventure beginning 24th October (Under 3 weeks now!)

Last Chance to make a donation to this years events!

Sabaidee!

Only 2.5weeks until we fly, so excited!!!

We have secured the uniforms as well as arranged the books for the party with extra's to give out throughout southern Laos.

The village school we are visiting this year in "Ban Oh" is located about 1km from the village and they have not been able to run plumbing (Water) and Electricity to the school building from the village as yet.

Any extra money we raise for this trip will go towards purchasing cabling and works to help complete this connection meaning the children can have water to drink at the school as well as being able to use a toilet and have lighting/audio etc in the school building. Something we take for granted for our children in the western world.

You can help to make this possible by simply sharing this cause or making a donation at the link below. Donations close Oct 26th 2015. (Book Party currently planned to be held on the 10 - 12th November).

Click Here to Make a Donation!

Whether or not you donate, we would like to invite you to follow us on our journey this year to share in the amazing experience we know we about to embark on.

Stay tuned for more updates and if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me directly at illyjay@gmail.com.

Finally, a special thanks to some of our amazing friends without whom none of this would be as easily possible.

• Mr & Mrs Malibayphit as well as their amazing daughters, Angela, Luna and Nana Malibayphit of the Sainamhai Resort in the Khammoune Province of Laos - This family has been helping their communities for many years prior to us meeting, since meeting they have spent a great deal of their own time and resources helping us to help so many children in southern Laos on their learning adventure, giving hope and promise to so many.
• Mr Martin Momoda the creator of Momobooks who has invested much time in creating and publishing these amazing resources as well as the Momosign learning program which has helped thousands. Great work Martin, we are truly blessed to know you.

And of course, all of you taking the time to read this blog and share in our adventure, we appreciate you all more than words can express!

Let's make this year's events fantastic. Happiness never decreases by being shared!

Kind Regards, Chris Jilley & David Burrows