Wet Place to Ban Long

Day 2 From a Cold wet place to Ban Long

25 Km in FIVE Hours :-(

Well as i mentioned previously i had almost no sleep and since i expect the first day to be relatively easy i carried no food (normally carry a couple of tins of tuna) and had just about run out of water.

First job was to get the bike down the hill to where i slept which was easier said than done with all the debris and now super snot mud, eventually got to base and packed the bike. Biggest problem i could see was the mud was choking the rear wheel and was a bitch to clear.











It was very misty due to the altitude and moist, i was deliberating to sit around till the sun broke through and hopefully dried the track, hunger and lack of water decided for me i would push on.

Less than 100 metres first tree down, time for the machete, not the best thing to be doing with a still painful wrist from an earlier break.









This scenario repeated itself several times for the next 7 Km and i was cream crackered, eventually broke out into the sunshine and wonderful scenery.







This really is a great trail, although only around 40 Km looping around Ban Long.





Reached the village of Chommok which would have been the perfect place to stop for the night, pulled up at the local store / gas station to the bewilderment of the locals thinking where the hell i had come from.


After two cans of Red Bull a Pepsi and a bottle of water i was back in the land of the living, i bought the kids some sweets (28 which soon became 47) the guy next door gave me a couple of shots of Lao Lao and wanted to ride my bike so all was good.



I could have stayed here for a week, a great place and a good opportunity to get good pictures of the kid’s, sadly the call of a hot shower and soft bed was calling me and i bid my farewells to the now growing masses.







Very basic looking Temple



Simple village





Just leaving the village is a rather wide and rather deep river crossing that kept my bum cheeks clenched and the trail continued down what was essentially the river (should be fun in the wet season).









Arrived in Ban Long had two bottles of beer and noodle soup from the owner of the Siseng GH 60K kip and slept for the remains of the afternoon.



Went to the local restaurant on the main street and another huge storm came over, making my thoughts turn to another fun day on the trail to Nalae, an early night was in order.