Exploring Southern Laos.
- Thread starter brian_bkk
- Start date
G'Day All,
Apologies for the lapse in finishing this report.
After the nights camping out and sleeping in the bush..
We couldn't get get through, but part of the mission was accomplished.
The river can be crossed and you can get out.. Just need a little bit bigger boats.
Or the risk of bike / gear and rider going for a swim.. Not this trip thanks.
Expect there will be bigger boats for larger bikes as the dam progress ramps up.
Back to Attapue we go.. R&R for bikes and riders.. few repairs and some good food
A glass of Vietnamese coffee to get you started for the morning.
Magnum Central.
After a feed and chatting every trip to Attapue.. We always stopped at this lovely Lao families shop for a Magnum.
Very friendly people.. Very welcoming.. When ever we ride past in the day always a big smile.
When we come back on other trips... ' Back again to laughter "
The daughter was fun and wanted to practice English with us..
They have two German shepherds. Reminded me when I was a kid with German Shepherds.
They are either incredibly smart or incredibly stupid..
The old dog was the smart one.. The younger one the stupid one.
We came back a couple of months later.. The older one comes towards me very directly at a swift pace.
The owners yell at him as they think he is going to have a piece of me..
All he did was put his head against my leg..
He didn't give the locals that turned up the same treatment.. LOL.. Usually a few good barks..
More to come.
Cheers
Brian
Apologies for the lapse in finishing this report.
After the nights camping out and sleeping in the bush..
We couldn't get get through, but part of the mission was accomplished.
The river can be crossed and you can get out.. Just need a little bit bigger boats.
Or the risk of bike / gear and rider going for a swim.. Not this trip thanks.
Expect there will be bigger boats for larger bikes as the dam progress ramps up.
Back to Attapue we go.. R&R for bikes and riders.. few repairs and some good food
A glass of Vietnamese coffee to get you started for the morning.
Magnum Central.
After a feed and chatting every trip to Attapue.. We always stopped at this lovely Lao families shop for a Magnum.
Very friendly people.. Very welcoming.. When ever we ride past in the day always a big smile.
When we come back on other trips... ' Back again to laughter "
The daughter was fun and wanted to practice English with us..
They have two German shepherds. Reminded me when I was a kid with German Shepherds.
They are either incredibly smart or incredibly stupid..
The old dog was the smart one.. The younger one the stupid one.
We came back a couple of months later.. The older one comes towards me very directly at a swift pace.
The owners yell at him as they think he is going to have a piece of me..
All he did was put his head against my leg..
He didn't give the locals that turned up the same treatment.. LOL.. Usually a few good barks..
More to come.
Cheers
Brian
After a couple of days R&R..
Riders and Bikes given some well needed maintenance.
It was time to go off and explore behind the new Xekeman Dam site.
This is just up from Pa am, the SAM missile site everyone stops at and gets the obligatory snap.
Instead of going straight ahead over the mountains towards Xekong.
Take a right which leads to the quarry and Dam site.
We came in a different way as there is a great seafood restaurant on the main road leading to the Vietnam border.
We stopped for a big feed before heading in to the bush.
Spent three days and two nights exploring in here. Trying to find a way out with out back tacking.
Unfortunetly.. Most of the Google Earth tracks showing possible ways out are dead.
There are a lot of other new tracks not on GE. But these are mostly logging tracks and dead ends.
Clearing out the logs before the dam water comes in and floods the area.
We had to come back out the way we went in.. So the pics will be grouped together.
After going through the quarry site.. heading up to the dam.
Jim taking a pic past the dam site of the view.. Really is lovely in here.
I wonder how long before we are island hopping in Laos..
Note the tree line that has been cleared.. High water level or what? ( Back mountain where it is brown )
Here comes Jim.. You really had to separate out or you eat dust... Enough dust to make a semi trailer proud
Remove the greenery before the water comes.
Couple of pics from the phone.
More to come.
Riders and Bikes given some well needed maintenance.
It was time to go off and explore behind the new Xekeman Dam site.
This is just up from Pa am, the SAM missile site everyone stops at and gets the obligatory snap.
Instead of going straight ahead over the mountains towards Xekong.
Take a right which leads to the quarry and Dam site.
We came in a different way as there is a great seafood restaurant on the main road leading to the Vietnam border.
We stopped for a big feed before heading in to the bush.
Spent three days and two nights exploring in here. Trying to find a way out with out back tacking.
Unfortunetly.. Most of the Google Earth tracks showing possible ways out are dead.
There are a lot of other new tracks not on GE. But these are mostly logging tracks and dead ends.
Clearing out the logs before the dam water comes in and floods the area.
We had to come back out the way we went in.. So the pics will be grouped together.
After going through the quarry site.. heading up to the dam.
Jim taking a pic past the dam site of the view.. Really is lovely in here.
I wonder how long before we are island hopping in Laos..
Note the tree line that has been cleared.. High water level or what? ( Back mountain where it is brown )
Here comes Jim.. You really had to separate out or you eat dust... Enough dust to make a semi trailer proud
Remove the greenery before the water comes.
Couple of pics from the phone.
More to come.
There is some lovely riding in here.. Shame it will be flooded out soon.
A few pics of the scenery.
Camp site the first night.
Our neighbours. They watched everything we did.. Camped out, logging the next day.
Nice and friendly.. Woke us up late at night running around up and down the creek catching and cooking up frogs.
Luckily not ripping along here.. You can barely spot the contrast as the track comes to an abrupt end / drop.
Jim decided it was hot and wanted to cool off.
https://bangkok-weekend-warriors.smugmug.com/Southern-Laos-February-2015/i-sgrzTnQ/0/X2/vlcsnap-2015-08-01-16h59m16s608-X2.png
A real little adventure the next night camping when some poachers turned up
More to come.
A few pics of the scenery.
Camp site the first night.
Our neighbours. They watched everything we did.. Camped out, logging the next day.
Nice and friendly.. Woke us up late at night running around up and down the creek catching and cooking up frogs.
Luckily not ripping along here.. You can barely spot the contrast as the track comes to an abrupt end / drop.
Jim decided it was hot and wanted to cool off.
https://bangkok-weekend-warriors.smugmug.com/Southern-Laos-February-2015/i-sgrzTnQ/0/X2/vlcsnap-2015-08-01-16h59m16s608-X2.png
A real little adventure the next night camping when some poachers turned up
More to come.
It was getting late and time to look for a camp site.
We can see on the GPS map that there is a river to the right, not that far in.
No tracks on the GPS that lead to the river..
Take what looks like a couple of previously well used logging tracks that go in the river direction.
Couple of wrong turns, rather over grown.. We finally make it to a trail leading to the river.
We make camp for the evening and think.. That was tough and over grown.. We shouldn't not see any visitors tonight.
Wrong.
There was a little loggers camp spot here already.. Not recently used.
We tidy up the area a bit and cut back some of the bigger branches with prickles and put them around the back entrance to the camp site.. Stop animals or people getting in from behind us.
Collect some wood.. Move the fire place a little away from the edge..
We are ready..
A short stroll down the embankment to natures bath tub..
- This spot is special..
Fill up the water purifier for the evening.
Jim bought this a long.. A ripper.. Packs up small and gravity does the work
To my surprise. The remnants of a camp fire on the river bank.. Upon closer inspection.
There were hot embers.
Jim doesn't drink.. I have a few nips on my JD and we have dinner..
Picked up a great little flash light / lamp here in Bangkok.. You can see it at the top of the picture.
When the charge runs out.. There is a mechanism to manually wind up and charge it..
We crash out in our hammocks.. I am half deaf anyway.. so I don't hear much in the bush.
30 minutes later.. Jim is up and shaking my hammock.. We have visitors.
I am like.. " What, Can't be.. who can get in here "
Sure enough.. At the top of the hill before the decent to the river.. There was a vehicle and headlights.
Barely visible through the bush.. Then we could hear voices..
Really not expecting to come across other people out here.
We just stand there at our bikes and wait and wait and wait.
They are running around all through the bush with flash lights up and down, across the trees.
Eventually they came to us.. May be spotted the red fire embers in the pitch black..
They were on the other side of the trees and flashed there lights through to see what / who was there.
Jim flashed his light straight back at them.. It seemed like a while but was probably 4 or 5 seconds and they went off.
Both of us standing next to our bikes with a flash light in one hand and our machetes on the handlebars in the left hand.
We heard them running all over the place then they spent a fair bit of time down by the river.
(The next day I found a load of black feathers)
One of those times where it is best to say nothing.. Neither side knows who or what the other is up to.
For all we know.. They could have an AK.. For all they know we could have had an AK.
The next morning Jim made a joke.. Nothing like bringing a machete to a gun fight.
Have to say.. That was a bit of a tense feeling until they buggered off.
We have expensive bikes, cameras, gear, cash..
No one had a clue where we are.. Just a rough idea in behind the dam area.
3 in 1, campbells soup for breakfast..
Fill up our camelbaks with filtered water and decide to head out back towards Attapue.
So many times on the GPS we were 7 or 10 km from places to the north / west / east.. But the trails were either gone or impossible to get over the mountains to link it up.
Went up the side of a few mountains that were steep only to come to a dead end where the logging had finished.
More to come..
We can see on the GPS map that there is a river to the right, not that far in.
No tracks on the GPS that lead to the river..
Take what looks like a couple of previously well used logging tracks that go in the river direction.
Couple of wrong turns, rather over grown.. We finally make it to a trail leading to the river.
We make camp for the evening and think.. That was tough and over grown.. We shouldn't not see any visitors tonight.
Wrong.
There was a little loggers camp spot here already.. Not recently used.
We tidy up the area a bit and cut back some of the bigger branches with prickles and put them around the back entrance to the camp site.. Stop animals or people getting in from behind us.
Collect some wood.. Move the fire place a little away from the edge..
We are ready..
A short stroll down the embankment to natures bath tub..
- This spot is special..
Fill up the water purifier for the evening.
Jim bought this a long.. A ripper.. Packs up small and gravity does the work
To my surprise. The remnants of a camp fire on the river bank.. Upon closer inspection.
There were hot embers.
Jim doesn't drink.. I have a few nips on my JD and we have dinner..
Picked up a great little flash light / lamp here in Bangkok.. You can see it at the top of the picture.
When the charge runs out.. There is a mechanism to manually wind up and charge it..
We crash out in our hammocks.. I am half deaf anyway.. so I don't hear much in the bush.
30 minutes later.. Jim is up and shaking my hammock.. We have visitors.
I am like.. " What, Can't be.. who can get in here "
Sure enough.. At the top of the hill before the decent to the river.. There was a vehicle and headlights.
Barely visible through the bush.. Then we could hear voices..
Really not expecting to come across other people out here.
We just stand there at our bikes and wait and wait and wait.
They are running around all through the bush with flash lights up and down, across the trees.
Eventually they came to us.. May be spotted the red fire embers in the pitch black..
They were on the other side of the trees and flashed there lights through to see what / who was there.
Jim flashed his light straight back at them.. It seemed like a while but was probably 4 or 5 seconds and they went off.
Both of us standing next to our bikes with a flash light in one hand and our machetes on the handlebars in the left hand.
We heard them running all over the place then they spent a fair bit of time down by the river.
(The next day I found a load of black feathers)
One of those times where it is best to say nothing.. Neither side knows who or what the other is up to.
For all we know.. They could have an AK.. For all they know we could have had an AK.
The next morning Jim made a joke.. Nothing like bringing a machete to a gun fight.
Have to say.. That was a bit of a tense feeling until they buggered off.
We have expensive bikes, cameras, gear, cash..
No one had a clue where we are.. Just a rough idea in behind the dam area.
3 in 1, campbells soup for breakfast..
Fill up our camelbaks with filtered water and decide to head out back towards Attapue.
So many times on the GPS we were 7 or 10 km from places to the north / west / east.. But the trails were either gone or impossible to get over the mountains to link it up.
Went up the side of a few mountains that were steep only to come to a dead end where the logging had finished.
More to come..
Ive been looking forward to this instalment of the Exploring Southern Laos adventure report.
Im stunned as the size of dam project. That's going to hold a lot of water.
If you had been eating bake beans like in the movie Blazing Saddles, you wouldn't have needed the machete to keep the people in the dark away
Im stunned as the size of dam project. That's going to hold a lot of water.
If you had been eating bake beans like in the movie Blazing Saddles, you wouldn't have needed the machete to keep the people in the dark away
Recently informed the billionaire Vietnamese that owns all the rubber plantations and " sponsored" this airport.Nearly forgot. On the way back from the day loop we passed the NEW Attapue International Airport.
So new it is not even open yet.. Scheduled for some time end of this year - 2015.
We had a ride around and checked it out.. All looks good.. Just need to staff it and of course.. planes.
Cheers
Brian
Is in financial difficulties. The central bank had to get involved with the commercial banks to ensure no default and ensuing damage to the economy and confidence such an event would have.
Cheers
Brian
