Amping it up in Zhong Li

This week has been spent hanging out with Jay and Keith at Jay’s place in Zhong Li. Hanging out with Jay and Keith means spending time around bikes all day long and not having much time to actually ride them because they work so hard. I went out late last night in search of something to ride. It was good to be on my bike, but I did not find much that was worth riding. Well that is not true I rode by a night club and saw … never mind.

I ran into Ryan from Astrix and he told me that there is a skate park not far from Jay’s place. Saturday afternoon Jay and I went in search of the skate park and some decent photographs. The skate park was not so good, but the pictures are. Check them out.

Keep riding …

Rob

Luang Pra Bang to Koh Phangan

          

The plan was to ride from Luang Pra Bang to the Thai border crossing in Nong Khai. It would have been four hundred kilometres through one of the most mountainous regions in Laos. We were going to stretch it out over seven or eight days and try to enjoy it as much as we could. Due to an urge to get to the beach and limited time James was going to take the bus to the border. Morgan and I were then going to meet him in Bangkok before he flew back to Taiwan. While discussing our plan James suggested that we all take the bus to Vang Vien which is half way to Vientiane. Then he would spend a couple of days there with us and when we started riding for the border he would take the bus onward. When we got to the bus station the next morning the price for a ticket to Vang Vien was the same as the price to Vientiane. James did not want to have to pay for two bus tickets so he purchased a ticket to Vientiane. It did not take long before we talked ourselves out of riding to the border and into sitting on a beach in the south of Thailand.

We boarded the bus at 2pm and did not arrive in Vientiane until two or three the next morning. The border is 25 or 30 kilometres outside of Vientiane and does not open until 6am. We rode around Vientiane looking for something to eat and then decided that we would just start out for the border. Arriving an hour before the border opened we tried to fall asleep on the side of the road.

 

We crossed the border and booked a ticket on the night train to Bangkok. We biked into town and booked a hotel for the day to try to get some sleep. The train we booked did not have any sleeper cars so we were stuck trying to sleep in what turned out to be the most uncomfortable train seats. Not as bad the the third class wood benches, but pretty horrible. And in third class there is always the option of sleeping on the floor.

 

 

James and I had to apply for Taiwanese visas so when we arrived in Bangkok we got a hotel room, showered and headed for the Taiwanese Visa Office. What is usually a painful experience turned out to be pretty easy and we were back at the hotel asleep in no time.

After another night on a train (sleeping car) and a boat ride we arrived on Koh Phagan. For the time being we will be trading the lycra bike shorts and helmets in for swim trunks and snorkels. I forgot my speedo so there will be no speedo shots this trip. We all have to leave Thailand before the 14th of February. James is going home, Morgan and I are not sure what we will do.

We will be using the bikes on the island for transportation. But it looks like the bike adventure maybe over. If we find anything worth riding I will get some pictures and post something.

I would like to thank:

Jay for the Viento frames. Some may argue that they are not touring bikes, but I think they worked out pretty amazingly. The roads in Laos are not in the best shape and I could not imagine riding on them on anything other than a mountain bike. Sure if I could do it again there would be things I would change on my bike … but I would still want to be on a Viento.

Gavin and Mike from Spank Industries. The Vomax rims are probably the lightest weight rims I have ever used and they have stood up to the abuse of riding day after day for the past couple of weeks.

 

Fritz from Kail Protectives for keeping my head safe. I did not think a dirt jump helmet was going to be the best choice for a touring helmet but, I was surprised at how comfortable and cool it really was.

My brother Morgan for being on camera duty for most of the trip. Any of the good pictures were probably taken by him. Derek from Race Face, the guys from Xtracycle and Thai Customs for the memories.

It has been a great adventure,

Rob Dunnet

Luang Nam Tha & Luang Pra Bang: Day Tripping

We were in Luang Nam Tha for a couple of nights. It was the first place that we have stayed that had a TV. For the most part we have been staying in the least expensive places that we can find. Most consist of two or three beds and a fan. In most places there has been a communal bathroom outside of our room. But in Luang Nam Tha we had a shower with hot water and cable TV. We stayed up watching HBO on our first night and did not get onto our bikes until later in the day. We took it pretty easy all day and just rode around town and to a near by temple.

   

I found a new way to ride my bike with the Xtracycle on it, but I do not think it will be too efficient in the mountains.

I spotted a little walking trail down one of the banks near the temple that looked like it would be easy to ride down. I think the pictures turned out pretty good. The dirt here kind of reminds me of the dirt at Bootleg Canyon.

 

The second day we woke up ate some breakfast and rode out to a waterfall. The ride to the waterfall was more rewarding than the waterfall and we did not stay for long. The weather took a turn for the worst, I am pretty sure it was the first day of rain I have seen since I left Taiwan.

Our most strenuous day was the three hundred kilometre bus ride from Luang Nam Tha to Luang Pra Bang that took around ten hours. The road was pretty bad and the bus stopped every couple of kilometres to pick up or drop off a local. When we arrived we found the cheapest guest house we could find a hit the local market for dinner. This morning was spent looking for a better guest house, which we could not find for a decent price. We spent the rest of the day riding to the Phousy Market and in search of a waterfall, which we never found.

  

The ride in search of the waterfall was worth it. We passed two local boys who found an interesting way to bath in a road side creek. We also passed a woman working in a field with her transportation parked at the side of the road. I wonder if my Xtracycle could be attached to her bike?

 

We took a bunch of pictures today. I picked out the ones that I think turned out the best. We are heading to a waterfall tomorrow (if we can find it) that is supposed to be pretty amazing. It will be a 35 kilometre ride to get there. I am looking forward to getting back out onto the road. The plan is to hang out here for another day or two and then start the four hundred kilometre ride to Vientiane, with several stops along the way I am sure. Enjoy the pictures.

 

Rob, James, Morgan

Into Laos: Night Mission

We left Chiang Rai Saturday morning with our bikes on top of a bus heading to the Thailand-Laos border.

We went through Thai border control and then had to load our bikes into a boat to cross the Mekong River.

On the other Laos side of the Mekong we went through passport control and started looking around the border town.

After riding around the town we started looking into prices for the bus and boat to Luang Nam Tha. The prices that we were quoted to us were drastically inflated so we decided to ride the nine kilometres to the bus station. It seems that every bus station in Laos is never very close to the city centre. I guess it benefits more people if the foreigners have to pay for a taxi to the bus station.

Starting out for the bus station we had to ride along the Mekong river. It was amazing the muddy brown waters and the bright blue sky was breathe taking.

After riding for a while we still had not found the local bus station. We stopped to buy some water and the lady running the shop informed us that we missed it a couple of kilometres back.

We decided that we would ride until dark and find a nice place to set up the tent. Every village that we passed the children would shout hello to us in English or Laos. The men and women would also say hello and ask us where we were going or where we are from. It made riding much easier to know that someone was waiting around every corner for us.

After the sun went down we were still riding. We wanted to find a place out of the mountains to avoid the cold weather.

As the night got darker the hills got steeper and steeper. We rode for hours listening to the sounds of our tires on the pavement and the sounds of animals in the bushes. We probably rode for thirty or forty kilometres in the dark.

We spent the night sleeping in the yard of a small village school at the base of what would turn out to be our most difficult climb to date.

We woke up in the cold before dawn, packed up our bikes and started riding in the dark. The mountain of death started shortly after we started riding.

For hours and hours we rode up hill turned a corner and rode up another hill. It was like this hour after hour. I tried to think of other things but all I could think of was the pain in my legs, the hungry in my belly and my dry mouth.

  

As the sun came up the small villages came alive and the locals started to greet us as we rode through. With all of the activity I was able to ignore the pain in my legs and enjoy the village life and the beautiful mountains of Laos.

 

We had not had very much to eat that morning and we were running out of water and village after village we could not find anything to eat or drink.

We finally found a village that had a small store where we could buy something to eat and drink. All of the locals from the village came to see what we were doing. We were met with a mixture of curiosity and fear. The children would come only close enough to see what we were doing.

Finally we decided to take a break near a small creek before riding to the next town, getting something to eat and finding a place to set up the tent. We do relaxing a lot better than we do riding up mountain roads.

And after riding for two days with out showering it was nice to take a bath in cold creek water.

 

We rode to the next town and the bus to Luang Nam Tha was waiting. We tossed the bikes on top of the bus and rode it the last sixty kilometres of the way.

     

We are going to do some day trips from here and then head to Luang Pra Bang. I am not sure how many more days like today I can take with out a big break in between.

Keep riding,

Rob