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!