Champassak To Thakhek To Lak Sao

Champassak completed.

We didn’t really wonna stomp the same ground twice but didn’t have much choice unfortunately so we knuckled down and got into it, was like a new trip going the other way LOL.

Taking a side road out from just past Savaanakhet was cool, slightly lesser condition than the main but a distinct lack of big trucks was our reward.

Visions of romance and a waterside homestay quickly diminished as al lot were closed, we found one that was open but it looked dodgier than back yard drug deal at night.

We had done 313 km already, to be fair 90% of it was pretty reasonable main road/highway so not a biggie and we had left early because a fuckin rooster started chiming off at 5.00am…little bastid.

Deciding to carry on we stumped up the last 48 km and got to Thakhet and got a dodgy hotel there, backyard parking for Xiao Lyu so sweetas.

Planning our next day was firstly to The Giant Wall near Thakhek is a 15km-long sandstone formation, sparking debate about its origins. Some believe it's a natural geological wonder, while others suggest it was built by an ancient civilization. A 75-meter section, 16 meters high, is accessible to visitors, with a historic Christian shrine nearby. (that by Gooooogle)

Pics

It was ok, geologically cool but not much to write home about, the tentative desto was Lak Sao, piling off down the No 12 road we soon hit WW3 super mega bombholed road and literally hundreds of truck pushing and shoving trying for a undamaged road, the only bit was very short and the WW3 section lasted 30 km, about 10 km into it we were thinking bugga this and turn around but I thought won’t be much longer and it will be done.

Well…it didn’t, took us over an hour dodging trucks, undertaking, overtaking, stopping for on coming trucks in our lane (what there was of it).

Finally it started smoothing out to WW2 so not as bad, we stopped and decided to air down a bit then not far up an intersection and a sign….”no heavy trucks past this point”, a blessing from the Moto Gods, the truck all going to the Vietnam border.

So the road went from the undisputed worst in Laos to an epic hill climb followed by beautiful twisties up at 600 cooler meters with no traffic, black and white or night and day.

Then up on the tops which was laced in lakes

You would not credit the difference within such a small distance…but we weren’t complaining as after the bad part the rest was well worthy and pleasant.

Reaching Lak Sao we decided that was enough, a 200km day was done and dusted, I really REALLY wanted a coffee once we had settled in, jokingly I put in coffee near me in google and beside our hotel and down an alley it said there was a cafe, we checked it out and sure enough there it was, a café and the owner could speak English.

We had our best coffee in Laos right there, was sorta surreal

These two cheeky little buggas, I know they were pissing the piss outa the whiteyfoo LOL

That evening after a chowdown saw a quick walk around the village in lite rain, to finish we watched a lady weeving/sewing/making some small material thingies.

  A vid of today

Back to the main road tomorrow.  

Vang Vieng Down To Champassak

Vang Vieng done and dusted and what a cool place is.

Travel days, ok, so every now and then you gotta tuck in and get on with what you are doing, given the imitation irritation immigration gave us 30 logical days for humans but Xiao Lyu an illogical 14 days so we had to think how we are going to make the most of want we don’t have.

Normally in true TMK fashion we would slow right down, get on the ground level and enjoy Laos for what it is, for us it is a mission as we are here on our own transport which is how we love to travel and get to see what we want to then we a not stuck on a bus with a bunch of old people going to somewhere they take you to which is normally the hotel which are stark and they get a kickback from and the eating venues where the bus driver gets a free lunch, this is pretty obvious here without sounding like a fat shammer (but the people here have no idea of the shit that sugar does to you, they getting podgy bro).

So blasting down the main road in 450 style (90-100), stunning flat nice new road for a change took on a hole new dimension, I will explain.

So, there are two types of Hilux’s here, one that comes with only 1.5 gears and only does 30kmph with steering that is ridiculously unpredictable at best.

The second is the 38 speed fast and furious model, these come with wankers in them who think the entire road is theirs and they do 130kmph in heavy traffic, there are assertive/aggressive drivers which I like cos ya know what they are goin to do…then there are complete fucktards who pull out into oncoming trucks, flash the lights and they go through and fuck them….and us …which I don’t like, the appeal of being a hood ornament is less then enticing.

I think China has sent their worst drivers to Southern Laos and said…go make a fucken mess. We saw Utes that had been considerably shortened and they were not hit by flies.

That off my chest now it was a drive and survive day and we survived somehow, getting our accommodation sorted in Paksan we had a good kip and very nice homestay guesthouse, the lady bent over backwards for us, a diamond she was.

Next desto, Savannakhet, again another death defying day of “will the Kiwis get killed today”, nah, easy done. Was a long hall but remember we are busting a few km to see what we wonna.

Our first sunset since leaving home

 The second mission in Savannakhet is to figure out when and where we can extend Xiao Lyu’s temporary import permit (TIP). Off we went to the No2 Friendship Bridge which is 6km away from town center. A nice customs officer who can speak a little bit English which was very helpful. We were told that we can only renew the TIP on the expire date. We can do it at any international boarder town. Even weekends. They are working 7 days. Here you go, google said we have to do it at least 3 days prior, don’t rely on the net get the info from the guys who know.

Valet parking sir, why not

We went out to the river (MecKong) for dinner. Here we found the biggest night market we’ve been in Laos. Lots of lots of eateries here. Most of food Ellen still can’t eat – being cautious for not getting her hives back. We finally chose a big bowl of mushroom soup. It’s delicious. Unfortunately, neither of us didn’t slept well, not sure it had something to do with the green colour.

Savannakhet to all the way down to Champassak to the ruins, reasonable day at 220km but, well big for two old farts on a Chinese Donkey anyway. Deciding to stay near to the ruins we stopped at a hotel, checking it out the beds were like bricks and the courtyard was empty as a ghost town ….NAH. I had in our nav a guesthouse just around the corner where I am writing this from so yeap it panned out cool being on the waterfront and all.

The place we stayed at the kitchen was not working that night (his son and daughter were away) so we piled next door for a romantic dinner for two, riverside with nice music, green curry chicken, coconut banana pudding…and mosquitos, to be fair the mossies only come out at a certain time which funny enough is dinner time, we were it LOL.

Dinner, the view and the pud

The ruins, just some of many pics

The ruins provided us with a pretty cool afternoon, amazing the craftsmanship that went into building the walls, building etc...then we went to the museum, Ellen liked it but I would rather go to the dentist.   

We left the ruins, the skies quietly darkened behind us and we made it back before mum nature rinsed the place. So, having firmly reached the bottom of our Laos attack, nothing like a firm bottom (that I can remember) it was time to do a 180 and head back up to get Xiao Lyus extension done (she is a trouble maker).

That to come.

 

Vang Vieng

Vang Vieng

All settled in at the place we weren’t at was cool, small bungalow, pretty budget but comfy and quiet and an electrocute yourself style shower.

Street fud 

There are many caves, viewpoints and walks here, the backdrop surrounding the town is nothing short of abrupt stone sharp mountains with masculine lines.

Our “day off” we chose to go to a cave and swimming area, it was very nice indeed and being around the 30 degrees mark it was nice to ditch the moto gear and do some civvy stuff.

147 steps to start

The caves were pretty cool, very touristy and lit up with LEDs.

We watched the young punks have a competition of out jumping each other and people swimming, it was really relaxing.

They also had a cave system in which you can hold onto a rope and pull your way through, it was very cool indeed.

Just back under saftey of our roof the rain started...it came down our driveway like a wall

Spotted this on a dinner run, a pork cooker rotiscary all rotating by a car windscreen motor quietly whirring away...yeah I know but the midnightpsychoengineers amoungst you will have a chuckle. 

Will let Ellens vid do the rest including the 147 step climb at 30 stickie degrees.

The Bike Review - How Does Xiao Lyu Stack Up

The bike

6000 km on ride review.

So was our choice any good compared to other motos, we believe yes.

Is it perfect, no but Grace Jones song comes to mind, it is our perfect compromise.

Fuel efficiency is outstanding, sometimes a little too outstanding as is has a typical EU5 fueling lean as hell feel right at cruising speeds which of course is how they all “comply” and get through the emissions tests.

One day cruising mountain roads, combo twisty and straight, some main road cruising it used only 2.8 liters per 100 km, I will qualify that by adding our maximum achievable speeds was about 80 kmph due to so much traffic.

The goodies we added are,

Front and rear cameras 

Hard luggage 87L total

Heated grips

Mount for Nav

Front mudflap to keep the radiator cleaner

Chain Lube bottle

Barkbusters

Radiator mesh protection

Setup, bought the handlebars back to the third position for shorter reach.

Set spring preload for two of us.

Set Ellens seat 8 mm higher at the front, the thickness of M8 nuts we have on board.

Problems we have had, the fueling wasn’t quite right from new, went back to the dealership at 1000 km and they did some tests which showed no error codes and reset the TPS, and its great now, right hand side fork seal started leaking and had to be replaced, usual as they are KYB forks, thus far that is it and not a biggie in the scheme of things.

Moto Morini sent a complete new right hand side fork stanchion, new disc and pads as they had sucked up the leaking oil, well done and thank you, it took us less than an hour to complete the job so very happy.

Handling wise it does everything we want it to with ease, granted we are not hammering it off-road but we are still taking it back country where longer wheel travel and 21 in front wheel are a huge advantage for rough, wet and muddy roads, not that we have found any of that LOL.

Dislike or Disappointment, radiator guard…that’s it, would be a $2 buck part but there was nothing hence we put mesh on there, it is an adventure bike and the radiator is steering and the back of the front wheel in direct line of fire, prior putting the mesh on we had to hose out the rad cos it collected half of China.

Oil Change At both 1000 km and 6000km

The magnetic drain bung was as clean as my Tenere and far cleaner than any Ducati I have owned.

The oil came out still pretty clean looking despite running in up to 37 degrees temperatures and riding up to nearly 4600 meters, it has had our two fat arses complete with partial house and contents from new so straight into hard work.

Conclusion

Now I know some critics are harsh on the Chinese bikes, I have to be fair the initial CFmotos etc we got in New Zealand were crap, the Moto Morini fit and finish etc are as good as my Tenere which is a well respected benchmark, the quality of the components are as good as it gets for a mid range adventure bike.

This is NOT a bike to take on hefty offroad and I can’t understand why some testers then dis on them for what they are not designed for, conversely you won’t see Valentino Rossi on the MotoGP circuit with one either, horses for courses.

As an international moto traveller the bike is perfect, twin cylinder, smooth as, comfortable and pretty snively on fuel, coupled with an 18.5 liter tank you have an adventure ready piece of kit that will more than do it, it has enough tech to be cool but not overboard, it will keep up easily with open road traffic and has ample power for us two up for overtaking etc.       

Would I recommend one, at this point notwithstanding anything catastrophic I absolutely recommend the Moto Morini for adventure touring and riding, having ridden the CFmoto 450 MT I would choose the Moto Morini any day due to looks, fueling, comfort and ease of riding, the only advantage the Cfmoto 450MT has is a minimally lower seat for shorties, having paid for ours we stand to gain nothing from this other than satisfaction and acknowledging Moto Morini as a smaller brand doing it well.

While there are a plethora of 450 ish bikes on the market there are very few that all add up to a good all-round trustworthy bike.  

  

Laos...What A Start

Laos

Exciting, poor, exciting, fucked, exciting, wet, exciting, hard enduro main roads….sounds like me.

Exiting Boten from the border our eyes were opened very wide very quick, the concrete pavement lasted maybe 2 km.

Then it was road works, then bomb holes and rocks, lakes of mud and water…and these were the good sections.

First day took nearly 5 hours to do 144km, I was completely spent when we stopped, both shoulders had a full on workout.

Our first night in Laos we stopped ata Chinese run hotel and chinese run cookery, comfort fud for Ellen from the stress of the border..

Thinking we must have just caught a rough bit the next day was not any better, it was very wet (rainy season) and very muddy, our tires are good combo road and gravel but in mud they lack big time, always a tradeoff.

Yeap ...fun

177km to Pak Beng was faster tho as the roadworks were shorter, funny thing is once we turned off the main road the road got better and our average speed went up, however you just get the train rolling then you have to throw the anchors on hard to avoid a 2, 3 or 400 mm deep hole with sharp rim kinking edges.

Again in one set of bombholes I carefully plucked our way through then the last section was the almighty with no way around, our centre stand took the brunt of the hit which was big and jarring, no damage other than full nappies again.

Some scenery along the way, stunning countryside

Typical road conditions that went on for many km. 

This dude needs an award for skilly driving, he handled it like a boss.

The one thing that is heartening is the kids all wave like no tomorrow, we alway wave withing missing one of them.

This riding does tires you out and again I was feeling pretty used, we had already done our homework and semi sorta organized where we were going to stay.

Arriving at desto Pak Beng in one piece we rocked up to our accommodation, looked at the room and the view …sorted.

It wasn’t until we walked into town and came back we realized we were in the wrong place which was next door…age…overated….LOL.

Relaxing to my first G&T on our trip

This old story book was the menu

Long boats, they call them slow boats

 

Our next day was to Xayabouly, looking at the road we were planning a  l o n g  day, part way along we came across two trucks side by side on the road, one clearly not right, turns out he had run out of traction and a large tractor was just arriving to help, we squeezed through the blockage and motored on coming across even worse bits that were wet clay, not sure how he would have go on. To our surprise with the massive electrical station part way through a lot of the road was majestic once passed the bad bit and we were clipping along at 75 – 80 kmph.

Another small truck incident

We hit 6015 km on arrival, time for an oil change as as the Moto Morini travel god presented a shop 650 m from where we had stopped, oil done and dusted.

Xayabouly was a good stopover then on our bike again to a touristy spot called Vang Vieng, we pulled up to our preorganized stay …which we could not find, didn’t matter there were heaps and we chose a place one block off the main which was way quieter.

Two nights to have a small break and it was worth it, on our “day off” we hit the caves and swimming area, very nice indeed, I even took some premix G&T with me.

Van Vieng next..

The boarder crossing to Laos....Popcorn Time

The boarder crossing to Laos, as written by the right honorable Dame Ellen Delis....or thereabouts. 

We’ve done heaps of boarder crossings in Central and South America. But crossing the boarder from Yunnan Province Mohan to Laos Botan is another level, prep, paperwork, bullshit and expense.

Yes, we can take Xiaolyv to Laos but there are a few hoops and loops we have to cross off first.

First thing first, we need an agent for Xiaolyv. I checked online, there are a few agents I can contact. I sent one message to an agent, never heard a thing. A step back, 3 weeks ago when we were in Bingzhongluo, we came cross an ADV friendly hotel. Unfortunately, we had settled in another hotel before I spotted this one. Never mind, we still went and met the owner. It turned out he is minding the hotel for his son. His son is the ADV rider and is doing business in Tibet. We had tea with the nice man – he is the same age as Andi....so just a young punk. We bought some maps and stickers from him and had our dinner there. He also connected us with his son on Wechat. His son then passed another ADVer contact in Kunming. While I don’t have any contact for export Xiaolyv, I thought about the ADVER in Kunming. A quick message to him and I got a contact in Mohan- her name is FangFang.

I contacted FangFang 2 weeks before we need to exit China. She was not quite sure how to go about a Foreigners owning a Chinese bike. All her clients were Chinese citizens with Chinese bikes. Never mind, let see. So she started asking us questions, what do we have etc. We have most of the document except we don’t have a temporary Chinese residency. We said we had one but now we are travelling around China and we don’t have an address. After consulting her boss, she said that’s ok, now we need to contact her 5 days before our departing day.

It turns out we need to pre-book the date we want to exit and have to do on that day. No problem for us! We have to leave China otherwise our visa will run out and we will be overstayed.

On the day of  5 days before our departure, I sent her all the documents she needs....we thought, Driver’s license, 4 pages all needed be to photographed. Xiaolyv’s rego and again all 4 pages too. We have an app of Chinese rego and license and it allowed us to download a digital vision, guess what, the Chinese customs doesn’t accept that...who woulda thought an officail document was not official. Ok, do as what we were told. Then 4 photos of Xiaolyv, 45 degrees, right and left front and back. Then photos of engine number, frame number and so on. Did that too. We also have a green booklet for Xiaolyv, it also needs to be photographed. Driver’s passport of course. Well, all done.

Then FangFang said we need to pay $20,000 Yuan (about $5000.00 NZD) instead of $10,000 Yuan deposit as we were told earlier because we are foreigners..white faces LOL. They want to make sure we won’t take the bike to some other countries and sell it. You kidding me! If we paid 75% of Xiaolyv’s value, there is no way we were going to lose that amount of money not to bring it back in China. We haven’t finished our travel either....and it is much easier than walking LOL.

Anyway, that’s fine as long as they refund us the deposit when we come back, no issues.

Then, FangFang said we also need to write a letter to promise we will bring Xiaolyv back to China in 28 days. At this point, Andi is getting annoyed. He thought it’s the agent being unreasonable. I was fed up too but I have to tell him to calm down. Because we – the Twomotokiwis never do things normal. What we are trying to do is new to everyone apparently. Fang Fang has to figure out what to do as she goes. 

She has no control of all of these whatsoever. I asked her if she can give us a template of the letter. The next morning, she sent me one. Good start. We were still in a hotel, so I went to see the reception they kindly printed out for me so I only need to fill in the gaps. Then I wrote Andi’s name wrong. In China you have to write surname first! Receptions again, another print out.

The second one was accepted. Well done me. We geared up and rode to our next destination for the day, bearing in mind we are still NOWHERE near the border so this is Chinese homework on the fly.

Being aware there might be more need to do, I kept my eyes on my WeChat. Sure enough, Fang Fang sent a messages soon after we left hotel. They need Andi’s thumb print on that letter!

Dear Me! Where on earth can I find an inkpad for Andi to put his thumb print in the middle of nowhere. Anyway, we were stopped at a checkpoint for questioning again. We were sent to the office. I spotted an inkpad on the window sill! It really is a miracle! I quickly got the print out from our pannier and made Andi put his thumb print on the paper and photo’d and sent through. Wrong, you need the thumb print on the name. OK, round two, thumb prints on the names. Photo’d, sent. This time. All good. Thank God for the check point. I’ve never been so grateful for checkpoint before. All documents sent and accepted.

Nothing happened in between. Our exiting day finally arrived. We meet Fang Fang at her shop, she took us to the travel agent. We have to sign another contract with the agent (we paid the money but haven't signed anything yet). After we paid $115 Yuan for Laos motor insurance and another $40 Yuan for the agent agreement. Now time to pay the $20,000 Yuan deposit. I pull out my China ICBC bank App from my phone. Name account amount all done, pay – No, I have to go to a branch to do the transaction in person! In Beijing...only 3500 km away...no prob, I think it's because I opened the bank account as a foreigner – everything is more complicated if you are a foreigner. I can’t pay. We are waiting to cross the boarder! It’s hot and we are in our motor gear! Jacket off. I rang my friend Weiping. She was on her way to see her granddaughter on the bus. Anyway, she took the challenge. I sent her the name and the account. Waiting and waiting, a reply, payment failed. Name and account don’t agree. I checked the name, Weiping had accidently enter one word wrong. Change the name. Another 10min later, bing!  The money come through.

We arrived at the border with 5575 km on the clock.

Finally, we were sent to the boarder. Andi and Xiaolyv was escorted by a young lady from customs. I, as a passenger, went to another entry.

Our $20K we had to pay

My exit from China is quick and easy. Andi and Xiaolyv took 20 mins longer but no issue, just formalities bein a white face.

We were then reunited went to Laos boarder together. Pay your $100 USD, we got visa on arrival and then $50,000 LAK =$15 Yuan =$4 NZ dollar for Andi’s temporary driver’s license and then we came out of the office, went to another room that has all the machines. Here we entered Xiaolyv’s details then paid $90,000 LAK =$27 Yuan = $7 NZD for her temporary import permit, we are all done.

The total cost of going to Laos from China taking our bike cost about $1500 Yuan, mostly is the agent fee of $1300 Yuan (short of $400 NZD) which is quiet expensive compared to Central and South America. We only get 14 days from Laos for Xiaolyv although we get 28 days from China. We then have to renew her permit but only for 7 days. We were told this is the only boarder we can get 14 days renew. Go figure!

Anyway, it’s long story. We are in Laos.

Andi's perspective, the China side was torture...as usual, the Laos side was easy just step by step. Language barriers where there but easy enough in the end. The only thing is where XiaoLyu was parked, only 15 meters at most from the barrier arm Ellen was not allowed to sit on the back of the bike till we got the the other side of the barrier arm, about some 15 meters and 1 mm...then it was ok ...LOL.

For every border crossing the is a shiny side, in this case it was a ...something on wheels, dude had one tooth and skinny as a rake, supsected druggie LOL..enjoy