Our Second Campaign

Thank you again to all of those who have supported or followed our cause. Our second campaign to raise some funds for the extra books and uniforms we purchased is now up to $315 USD! This combined with our previous campaign and other contributions bring the grand total raised so far to just over $600 USD! Great effort all.

Thanks for the continued support and look forward to sharing this amazing experience with you all.

http://igg.me/p/1009386/x/5037689

Good Morning from Luang Prabang

Sabaidee folks,

Yesterday we visited the UXO Laos Visitors center in Luang Prabang, whilst it was closed for the weekend we took some snaps and it again brings home the reality of what these people have had to endure and still do to this day due to the relentless and unwarranted bombing of their land during and post the Vietnam war. A little bit of trivia for you, the United States Government was spending literally billions of dollars dropping a bomb every 8 minutes for 9 consecutive years on this land making Laos the most bombed country on earth per capita. The previous US Administration was funding approx 1million USD per year to help clear the UXO, with the Obama administration this has increased to just above 10million USD per year and still rising, still a very large gap there. Whilst this act is a disgusting example of Democracy gone wrong and military contractors becoming filthy rich, it is so heartwarming to experience the love and warmth these people are prepared to show to all visitors regardless of race or background. See some pics below.

Last night we went to the night markets to get a few trinkets and we tried dinner at a pizza shop near the LEOT school (I know right.... no Joy's for one evening) Just felt like some pizza and it was amazing. Will be visiting Joy's for brunch today before heading off for Vang Vieng down Route 4. We will have the go pro's on and will stop to take some quick snaps with the phones on the way to show you when we arrive tonite. Seriously Route 4 from Luang Prabang south until it meats with Route 13 to Vang Vieng is seriously one of the most amazing roads in Laos with some breathtaking scenery! We can't wait!

Since arriving in Luang Prabang, due to some slight confusion with our postal delivery of books, the Hotel thought we had posted them the books to distribute which they did to the some of the local kids before we arrived. Thankfully there were still many left in the box when we arrived so we took some of these last night to the laos kids around the night market and brought out some smiles and lots of excitement, gotta love these kids! Sorry there are only two pics of us giving them out but after David fumbling around with the camera and feeling a bit funny about taking their photo randomly, I took the camera and snapped a few quick shots.

Time for breakfast at the hotel before we begin packing and head off on our way.

Look forward to posting some pics of the ride for you this evening with some breathtaking scenery we will have the privelidge of riding through!

Some photos of the riding

Howdy Folks :)

After quite some time going through the thousands of photos we have taken, we made a collection of what we think are the nicest ones that show some of the fun and beauty of laos roads and landscape. After selecting the photos we began the process of uploading them via Google Photos to post to the blog. Whilst some of them have uploaded, many are still sitting waiting to sync and have been battling this all day today so i'm afraid this post won't have all the ones we have chosen yet. We will continue battling google tonight to get the rest uploaded to post for you here.

Enjoy some of the pics from the rides below!

Vientiane to Ban Namsanam then onto Phonsavahn (With almost 30kg's of luggage strapped to the back of each CRF)

Sabaidee from Luang Prabang

Hello all,

We are having a fabulous time and are currently relaxing in Luang Prabang at the Legend Hotel. Hotel is wonderful with one of the best showers and beds we have found.

We arrived yesterday late in the afternoon after a long ride from Phonsavahn. Whilst it was long, the ride along route 7 and 13 were quite technical at times and proved to be an exhilarating yet exhausting ride with more corners and switchbacks than you can count. Below are some of the photos taken on the phone from the ride. Some amazing scenery along the way, we were very glad to arrive in LP shortly before the sun went down completely.

As soon as we arrived, after a lovely shower to wash the day away, we headed to our favorite restaurant in Luang Prabang, Joy's Restaurant. For any one that comes to Luang Prabang, you must try Joy's, she is an amazing cook and speaks very good english. Her husband Alan is a lovely chap (he will get a laugh out of that) from Brisbane, Australia and he lives here with his wife Joy, and their awesome little boy Dan. After an amazing dinner we retired for the night in one of the most comfortable beds around.

Today we started the day at the hotel breakfast which was nice, then we headed out to find a new bolt to replace the one that conveniently fell off my exhaust on the bike half way from Phonsavahn the day before. Until that point it was held on by Bungee Cords (Macgyver Style) which did the job short term. We then headed to the M2 Car Wash in town to get the bikes cleaned, boy did they need it.

We cruised around town for a bit before heading to Joy's for another amazing meal before heading back to the air conditioned hotel for some RnR. As i am typing this blog entry, my Laptop is currently processing the 9000 odd Go Pro Photos from the previous weeks riding which we will be going through tonite to post the best of on the blog. Stay tuned for the next blog post which will contain pics of some of the most amazing scenery and roads we have ever seen taken whilst we were in motion.

Thanks to everyone for supporting and following the blog, we really appreciate you tagging along and hope you enjoy the trip as much as we are!

All the best, i'm out to meet David at the markets where we will do some shopping to post back to Australia before we head to Vang Vieng on Sunday. David also just messaged me to tell me that he has found a man that authors books for Lao Children's learning, will be going to say hello and check it all out, pretty exciting!

Korb Jai Lai Lai

The ride from Ban Namsanam, Khammoune to Phonsavahn, Xiangkhoang

Sabaidee,

Yesterday we headed off from the Sainamhai Resort in Ban Namsanam headed towards Phonsavahn. Whilst this was meant to be a single day trip on a lovely new road, we somehow managed to end up on the old road which is more like a rocky cliff face in parts with pleanty of mud. After 8hrs on the trails we stopped at Muang Moc for the night in a nice Guesthouse. We went out for dinner and karaoke which ended up being a fantastic night out with many Beer Lao's and some Lao Whiskey.

After dinner some Lao folks arrived and invited us to their table for some more drinks and snacks. When i say snacks, i mean two plates of fried Grasshoppers which we tried and weren't too bad once you found the will to swallow them.

After a nice nights sleep at the Guesthouse we awoke for a 7am start to head to Phonsavahn.

Thankfully the road was a lot better towards Phonsavahn but still very muddy and rocky so it was pretty slow going at parts.

We arrived in Phonsavahn around Lunch time and after a lovely shower headed out for some well deserved lunch. (No Grasshoppers). We luckily found a lovely place called the Laofalang Restaurant which served lovely food. We sat with the owner Marcello and talked for a few hours whilst relaxing and letting the abundance of food digest and our bodies recover.

We then rode out to the Plain of Jars site 1 to check out this archaeological site. No one know for sure what they were used for but there are many rumours, our favorite being that they were used to store Whiskey to celebrate after battles. Pretty sobering to realise that 127 UXO were cleared from this site back in 2004, so many bombs left in this country.

We rode back to the town and relaxed in the hotel for a while charging our accessories and copying hundreds of gopro pictures to the laptop for later posting.

We then headed back to the Laofalang restaurant to try some of their other menu items, all of which were fantastic, very glad we found the place. Whilst we were there we met a lovely lady named Karen from the UK who was working with Health Poverty Action, a UK non govt organisation that supports Lao families in need, providing animals and seeds and education to assist in their self sustainability. Check out their website here for more information or to see the great work they do.

All in all it was a fantastic two days, very sore bottoms after the many hours of bumps and boulders but glad we took the wrong turn in the end, such an experience!

Tomorrow (Thursday) we head for Luang Prabang via Route 7 and Route 13 which is approx 250kms away. Hopefully the roads are alot nicer for this trip as our bikes and bums could do with the rest :P