Cape York & into Asia via Timor-Leste, Indonesia, etc

Great stuff Bigfella, keep it coming

Shall do then Rob. The brain's awake too damn early, but the body wants more rest. I'll take a look around Luang Prabang today methinks... and try and get some tape on my boots... they were found wanting yesterday



But... let's at least get the Laos pictures into some sort of order....

I set out from Houang Xai a bit later than planned because of the morning rain, but when I hit the dirt, a few km out of town, it was dry and traffic was raising dust



I stopped for a gander at the new Thailland to Laos bridge over the Mekong, not far from town. Won't be long now and the ferries will be gone.



and the immigration / customs won't entail finding two different places in town



The road narrowed down to single lane and followed the Mekong.



I wasn't sure I wanted to get my socks wet (holes in the boots) at the first water crossing in Laos... but did it anyhow.

Five minutes later, I was in water above my knees.

Not a bad track



Pulling up near a school and taking photos of kids in Oz is a no no. Here, the kids (and teachers) love it.



That's a pretty standard school... tin roof, half open walls

Heading down to the bank of the Mekong - time to jump a boat for a 20km trip down and across the river....



I found this bloke in his shed... building a wooden boat.



His one tool... a machete



Couldn't see a set of plans anywhere... it all just happens.

Damn... having problems with getting my photos in here.

Here's those boots...



and that piddly little water crossing where they started being perpetually wet again (like they were on Cape York)




So... here I am... on the riverside with boats galore and no boat guys... but they knew what was happening and soon showed up



I tried bartering with the guy... no go. It was 1000 Baht.... and given there were two of them (three plus me for the lift aboard)... and they did the return journey without a load, $30 wasn't too bad. Just on that issue of Baht (Thai money) and Kip (Laos money)... plenty of places in Laos take Baht... near the border and in the tourist towns.

So... here's my transport... a wooden skow, powered by a lovely sounding Toyota 16v four.. running on LPG.



Here's what they look like at speed



We lifted her in and I grabbed a shot while they figured out the ropes.



Not that the ropes did much... you couldn't compress the forks or you'd be pulling the bottom out of the boat. The boat owner was loving it... no way in the world was he letting me on the bike... he wanted that job.



It was lovely, blasting downriver at 65kph (about 50 for the boat and another 15 for the fast flowing river). We pulled into the other bank at Pakop if I remember correctly.



A bit of grunting and slip sliding away up the bank and I pulled up behind the local freight interchange...

There's not much OH&S here. Those drums coming down the bank in the background were full too...



Here's the view back upriver



The workers were grabbing a bite, so I did too.





Not bad for $3. (23,000 Kip)



It wasn't just a restaurant, but a shop... and yep, home too. There's the bedroom and there was a small, old TV behind that woman



I was on the right side of the river now, heading for Hongsa. Justin, who I'd bought the bike off, had said to find accom. if it was after 2pm when I got to Paksop. It was 1pm... so, off I went.



The old slash and burn is still the order of the day up here



Can't say I've ever seen a factory made out of plastic shade cloth before...



It ponged a bit. Looked like some sort of root vegetable processing plant.



The villages were all small... some with modern roofing, like this one, but its still a walk out of town for a bath and to do the laundry



Road conditions varied... but at least it was dry



"What did you do at school today Dear?"... Well Ma, I brought home a big bit of bamboo...





That's B. Na One Cultural Village off in the distance



Pretty typical water crossing



.... and you have to love the local kids, playing "shop".



It pays to keep your eyes open. I was scooting along in 6th but decided to slow down for this one...



Topped up here. Ended up having the bike die on me later on. Probably from a water crossing, but who knows? When I finally made it to bitumen, I got into it a bit... and it farted, backfired and totally died. I switched to reserve, checked the fuel filter and it started, I dunno? All the carby breathers have t pieces and run both ways, so she's not likely to pick it up there, but the airbox on the 525 is a disaster relative to the Super Enduro. The 950 can deal with double the water depth.



.... and just after that fuel stop, the fun started

So... a few km down the road, at this stage a perfectly good two lane truck road, the GPS says "turn left"... up here...



Yeah, OK... and after a couple of "Oh that's interesting" moments with washed out, rocky ruts, I ended up going up the ridge line, until...



OK, so back to that fork in the trail... and up it...



This was as far as I got up there. Steep enough to have lifted a wheel and ended up double-rutted and going nowhere.



Damn photos never show how steep it is eh? Anyhow, I cleared some logs off the track and had a go pushing with it in gear... no go... dragged it around and headed back to that apparent blockage.

Got a bit further



But at this stage, the GPS was still showing 750 metres to the next road....



It was dark in there.... this is a flash photo



I dragged it back around and discovered it was time to let the tyres down... didn't go too far down with the pressure, but was able to push the bike back up. Got to the top, jumped on and discovered ... no clutch. OK... lets not deal with that up here... so I rode the 4km or so back down without stopping. Lovely views from up there





I didn't stop at the bottom when I got onto the good road.. did 20-30 km without the clutch, nice riding, lots of streams etc.

Here's the other end of that "track" - still an access point apparently, as a local had his bike there, but all the vegetation was at least 3m high.



I must remember to change over to "shortest time" from "shortest distance" at some stage.

Nice scenery, of course.



This bridge experience and eventually enough rocks appeared for me to stop and pump up the rear tyre.



I was on the wrong track on the bridge, because of a pedestrian, but another bike appeared. Not having a clutch meant I didn't want to try and change tracks... so... I found some shade.



The clutch issue looks like a leak at the slave cylinder. I'd had to top it up in Chiang Mai. II didn't have time to get one, so, I'm carrying a bottle of Johnson's Baby Oil. Being a dingbat, all my tools were in the bottom of my bag. At least I'd packed the oil and pump somewhere easy. I used the Leatherman to get the mastercylinder open, filled up and pumped the clutch enough to get me started again without bleeding it. For the next 30 km or so, every now and then I'd pump away at the clutch until I got pressure ... and then leave it. Sure enough, the air bled to the top and I've got a clutch again without needing to bleed it.... btw, the essential tools are now packed higher... Pump, saw, clutch bleed spanner and plug spanner.

The road was pretty chopped up over the mountains







Plenty of rockfalls.... it wouldn't be Laos without rockfalls and landslides



Typical Laos scene... lots of people walking.



Its nice bitumen from maybe 10km or a bit more from Muang Nguen (the border crossing I used last time I came in... which I haven't written up yet) I headed down towards the border, but 1km short, a rain squall turned me around. Didn't need to get wet to see something I'd seen before.

Something you don't see every day... although I have two days in a row now...



I'd stopped and gotten a more distant photo of this last time, but this time I decided to try and ride in. I got past the first checkpoint



But they got all serious at the next barrier and rolled out the barricades. Wouldn't let me in



That's a Thai 1400Mw coal-fired power station being built in Laos. There'd be some interesting deals behind that.

I stayed at the Souphaphone GH again and ate at the nice restaurant Phil had introduced me to 3 weeks earlier. I got invited over to a table of Lao people. It turned out they were all taxi drivers and community workers. The guy who invited me over had lived 27 years in New Zealand, been back 5 years... now marred to a 23 year old and has a 4 year old kid (he's 51). "You can do that in Laos" says he. I should point out, its illegal for foreigners and Laos people to have sex. 6 months gaol / jail. It bucketted down while we were eating... really poured... and the taxi guys gave me a free ride back to the guest house.... and I've now got his phone number and the offer of phone help if I get stuck.

Now here's where I make things difficult for myself... because the present has caught up to the past... or something like that. I'd been to Hongsa 3 weeks ago and here I was back there again... and I haven't posted up the first trip yet.

The first trip was a 5 day ride from Chiang Mai to the Thai/ Laos border north of Nan to Mueang Ngeun, overnight at Hongsa, tried to get to Luang Prabang via the "dirt" road, Route 4B... ended up sliding backwards down a hill 30km in, turned around and got there via Xayaburi.

I think its best if I write that up first, to show why I ended up back here on this bike... I've just had to stay over an extra day in Luang Prabang to wait on a report to review.... So... this is the new bike in its element.



There's undoubedly folks out there who'd have got the 950SE up there.... maybe, but certainly not me. More on that later though. I'll mix some of Phil's riding photos in, as they show the 950SE (and me), but I won't borrow his people shots. He's got some great ones over on the rideasia.net site that he helps run.

First up, The route





Bit of a wet ride through Thailand



But some nice dry twisties too



Border formalities... Thai side



I had some "issues". I didn't have a Temporary Import Permit for the bike... but I could show its Oz registration and so on. In the end, the customs guy gave me what amounted to a Temporary Export Permit.... which he wanted me to hand in when I came back. WTF? That'd just perpetuate the problems. But... just smile, say thanks and off we went...

Laos soldiers made us leave our bikes parked here and walk down to the Customs building,



There's been a few deaths on these roads lately... Thailand drives on the left, Laos on the right.... so its all swap at the border.

We rode the 30km or so to Hongsa and checked in. I'll lump all my Hongsa photos in together, to save travelling the same place twice...

Here's the 1400Mw Thai-owned coal fired power station being built just outside town



First time there, we didn't try to get in, but I gave it a go this time. Got past the first checkpoint

But it got theatrical at the next one... a big show of rolling out the barricades and a bit of arm waving and pointing by one guard. I smiled and rode off



Down at the market, there was some tasty grub on offer. Oops, hang on, that grub is grubs....



and baby eels



Second time around two days ago, there was a lot more bushmeat on offer.

Dead forest birds



Live river birds. A pair of young Bittens that never made it off the nest on their own



A couple of dead Giant Squirrels



I've seen plenty of them btw... but these seem redder in colour. I could've sworn one that ran across in front of me the other day was bluish.

Frogs anyone? What size and colour would you like? In bulk? In meal-sized plastic bags... hundreds of them



The fish ranged from this



to big cut up river monsters that must've been more than 4' long when caught.

Plenty of butchered meat, hooves, offal and all









I dunno what it was... presumably sun-dried





How's this for a hat?



G'day



I've seen a few different types of claw on sale. A bear claw up on the China Border was offered to me for 6000 Yuan - about $1,000. This one was offered to me for "2"... presumably 200,000 Kip - under $30.



Plenty of them. I've also seen tiger teeth and claws, but I'm wondering what else there might be? I think there's some arboreal mammal - I'll do some research. No... I'm not buying.



I was tempted here. No space to carry though...



I'll digress a tad... shot this in Hongsa, but they are everywhere. I've seen brand new chassis for sale beside the road, through to ancient ones. Just bolt in your cheap Chinese diesel and off you go... 4WD. Oh, off you go... slowly.



Market inspection(s) over, we saddled up and tried our luck at Route 4B to Luang Prabang. The turnoff is about 10km out on the Xayaburi road.

Not far in, there was this quaint old bridge



I say "was" for a reason. Same scene two days ago



It absolutely bucketted down in Hongsa when I was there the other night. Trapped me in a restaurant for hours, until a table of taxi drivers called me over for a chat... and eventually gave me a free ride "home". It was enough to flood up over the rice here and the bridge was washed away.

Not to worry... the almost finished bridge 3 weeks ago



is now fully operational.

Here's what its like riding over these.... this one was a good one compared to another one I've done.

sorry... I'm not sure if its embedded, but here's trying, along with a link to the video

... edited to try one last time... and yeah... I've read the instructions... at least I know the link below will work...


<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/80aXPR_OVGs" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

http://youtu.be/80aXPR_OVGs

... back with more, soon.

Hi Bigfella, are you going through Huai Noun , Nang Lew way or further north through Thanoun. I'm watching with interest in the conditions, I'll be there next month

Oops... the post poofing bug just bit me again. Now... where was I?

That bridge and its replacement is why I'm keen to be in Laos now, not in five years time. Change is rolling down from the north and in from the west.

So, we headed in on the dirt... which turned to mud.



If it wasn't mud, it was damn greasy clay... both times. The third member of our group was Adrian, from Bellingen, just a hop skip and jump from where I grew up (and Bellingen is where my grandparents lived). Small world eh? Met him in Chiang Mai. Adrian's a damn good dirt rider... but here he was on a rented Versys, in the clay, on street tyres.



He did bin it once on the clay... but I haven't got the evidence



It was so damn slippery that going downhill Phil and I were having to pull the clutch in to stop the engine braking sending us sideways

Speaking of sideways... I was in the lead coming down here, spotted the crash marks from a local rider and was going dead slow. Adrian came whistling past, unable to stop... but did about 15' ahead of me... and I pulled up next to him and then Phil arrived at a rate of knots.... with nowhere to go





Look at it this way Phil... you might have gone over the edge if I hadn't forced you to grind to a halt in the ditch.

Going back down through that corner two days ago, it was "school's out" time and the kids from the village were racing me down the hill. I really needed that... a swarm of kids all around me on a greasy corner.

There's a river at the bottom, not too deep



and another lovely bridge...



I rode the bridge on the 525... and videoed it, but the lens was misted up. I might edit a clip out of it when I get home.

We stopped for a drink in the village and heard a truck coming, so were thinking we'd be OK... until we saw it



Some locals





This is as far as Adrian got...



... and this is as far as I got, this far above him, before I started sliding backwards down the hill



We turned tail and headed back to the tar at that stage... but not without incident. Same corner that claimed Phil on the way down got him on the way back.



Helping him pick it up was when I decided it wasn't going to be smart to be in these conditions on my own on a big bike



.... so, here I am, three weeks later, on the KTM 525. That hill over the other side there is as far as we got on the big bikes



I stopped in the village for a drink again... bought a couple of orange juices and after I'd finished one, noticed a kid helping herself to the dregs of it... so, gave her the last third of my second one... then nailed that nasty hill.

We'd never have made it without pushing each bike the whole way.... and then repeating that and repeating that.... itd take days and a lot of energy to get big bikes through.

It was hard enough on the 525.

Even on the flat it was a bit nasty



It'd started raining just as I left Hongsa on the 525 and I ended up in the clouds. It sure made it greasy. I was at 90 degrees to my intended direction when I took this shot



.... but that's the easy stuff... on the flat. The hills were gnarly. The ruts were cut out further by the rain and some of them were 750mm deep. Not nice to see them coming up... "am I on the right bit of track... or not".

My boots failed me...



I hadn't seen a living thing for an hour when I came across this scene



I said G'day to some guys up on the bank, sitting around a fire, then went up to have a look. Oops.



I ended up with it...



.... they were keen to see if I had cigarettes. Sorry guys... I gave up the ciggies when they stunted my growth.

From there on, conditions eased up a bit... but bloody hell, those four hills marked on the GPS are "interesting"... I ended up doing a lot of the down sections with the engine off.... just sliding down slowly

I started to see people again. No school for this lot...



or here





There's one of those claws again



All the kids there were chewing on those green lemons or limes



The Victoria's Secrets sales staff hasn't found this territory yet



Lots of kids were running around with a pet cricket. This poor thing was a hell of a lot bigger than a cricket...





I last used one of these before most people on this planet were born

A couple of women beside the road...





Which had improved out of sight



Lots more villages, more afflluent ones too



I met three guys from Bangkok on D-Trackers with knobbies. I gave what I thought was a reasonable assessment of the road ahead, told them they couldn't get through before dark and suggested they wave some Kip around in one of the villages. I scared them when I told them they'd have to let their tyres down to get through.... they weren't carrying a pump. WTF? I didn't do anything to change their mind, but I hope they turned around. They'd taken 3 hours to get to there ..... and I did it in 1 1/2 after I left them - including waiting for the ferry. The stuff they'd just done was a doddle compared to up in the mountains. I wonder if they're still there?.... at least they could walk out just as fast as they could ride out I guess.



If you come across them... let me know how they got on please.

There were four river crossings between meeting them and Luang Prabang. I walked all but the supposed deepest one, which I just rode through because the locals were walking it. One of the earlier ones was deeper and 3 locals on scooters got stranded as I was riding the other way. I didn't stop, because there was a village there... and there were enough of them









a "made" one



Here's one of those water crossings. Check out the sinkhole at the end as I wheelie past it. Wouldn't have pulled the wheelie if I'd spotted it....

<IFRAME height=315 src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/M2PlSRSxv0Q" frameBorder=0 width=560 allowfullscreen></IFRAME>

Crossing the Mekong, yet again, by ferry





It was 7 hours for 120 kilometres... moving average of 28kph according to the GPS.... and I was somewhat knackered.... especially my arms and hips... which had done a lot of work. I'm quite frankly amazed that 1) I made it, 2) I didn't bin it and 3) my lower limbs survived.

So... that got me to Luang Prabang... and a couple of days rest and a few touristy things.

Don't you hate it when some idiot walks into the frame at just the wrong moment?



We'll have no similar comments about this shot... The lovely ladies are from Chile



Lot of water going through here at present



Some idiot slipped on the "trail" going back down from the top of the waterfall and dropped his bag... which contained his passport, registration and numberplate, SPOT transponder, phone, GPS... etc.



Bit of a landslide happened just after this. The bag got retrieved about 50' down the "hill"side.



Another one from back up at the top. It was rather slippery, so people were being a bit careful. Its about 100' to the next step down.



Down a bit further







Watch out for the bears though. Yeah... they are behind a fence.



Who needs freeboard?




How many snakes can you get in one bottle of booze?



There's a lot of this beautiful timber around here. They are 12" flooring boards



It isn't every day you find 100' boats on the back streets



Love the turnbuckles



I just missed the last race, but I think I counted 53 people in one of the boats





A victory lap



... I'm the Boss lap



Overloading? Never





.... and she's not making pocket money... she's earning her family's income. I watched her pick one bottle up and drink the dregs.



I ran a bit later than planned yesterday morning due to the rain.A quick check of the bike... tyre pressures, filled the clutch, oiled the chain, checked the oil... threw the bags on and it was off to Phonsovan

The rest of the earlier trip up to Boten on the China border can wait. Internet is a bit difficult now, and its only going to get worse from here.

I did the ride from Luang Prabang to Phonsavan in 9 hours... all but the first five or so and last 44km is dirt... or mud.

Here's the route

There's a few bamboo and stick bridges to cross along the way



Loading onto the boat here was much easier than the other day... no lifting here...





I had a few "swap" requests



Wanna buy some white powder? Yeah.... it wasn't salt...



The guys there would have given me some, but, no thanks... I did accept a shot of Lao Lao (rice wine) and a slice of melon... sorta like a waternmelon sized cucumber. They were here



The powder was on all the flat rocks on the road and they had a barricade there to stop people driving through. I'm not sure if they were doing it as a toll or what.. I gave them 5,000 kip (65c) for the Lao Lao. They offered me some boiled pumpkin too, but I had to make tracks, it was getting late.

No AK47s here... its all home made.... using iron balls and gunpowder from old munitions









The safety is a bit of inner tube under the hammer



I saw a couple of ex-military rifles... complete with bayonet, but it isn't an AK. Not sure what this one is.. Chinese?



Still weaving the old way...



I had my sphincter tightened more than once, but this was a ripper ....



That's a 200' drop on the left, its wet, slippery and less than a metre wide. Yeah... my heartrate was up too. The little I know about landslides is that unstable soil and water are the key ingredients... and there was far too much water for my liking.

Nice scenery.... not a sign of human occupation here...



Bit muddy in places though



That came from this little puddle. It was a hell of a lot deeper than I expected and it drowned the bike for a brief moment... my guess was an electrical short that dried out pretty quickly. Yeah, there was plenty of this, but in isolated areas... this was the longest stretch of it, but I could see I was headed into different terrain, so I didn't let the air out. The slipperiest stuff I encountered was just before I got to Route 7.... real nasty, greasy red clay - no photos of it though.



Did stop to take a photo of how deep the ruts get.... this one was only one-sided... but you do get footpegs dragging on these ruts...



Nice views every way you look



Non-stop landslips in some areas... countless landslips.,..



This was an interesting stone and stick dam I passed.



I rode into this village to check I was on the right road... there were a few landslips and diversions that meant I was "off-route" a bit.



Pick your plank and away you go... I chose the fat one on the right... the ones on the left were falling down



"Found" some jars on the way in... a long way from the tourist spot ones...



It was a bit naughty wandering around there.... no UXO clearance signs, but I reckon they've been well picked over by locals looking for scrap munitions now.



You'd want some spare filters with you if your bike had fuel injection...



It was a fair way out of the village for these ladies, collecting their clean drinking water for the day



This is as close to a titty shot as I'll post.... She was sitting on the stool, buck naked, combing her hair.... and no, I didn't take any titty photos of the ladies hanging them out while they bathed...



.... and yes, I'm on the Ho Chi Minh Trail now. This particular area, around Phonsavan is the most heavily bombed place on the planet.

I'm not so sure about the medical services here though. Came across this on the side of the trail... nice dentist's kit... a few good sets of pliers... even had anaesthetics.. no single use needle though and certainly no sterilisation.



Extractions only... the spitoon was the ground... and it weren't pretty.

Scared quite a few locals on the way through...



The older kids were often OK



but some just dropped their bundles and dived into the jungle



I'd have loved a shot of those two kids... poverty personified, but it wasn't to be.

I was going to say something about lift and separate... but that'd be crass





Nice cafe decor... I got into Phonsavan about 6pm... just in time for lunch



Doing 9 hours on just a bacon and egg bagel was a bit taxing.... but I sure as hell enjoyed the day. Sore today.

Damn... had to post that quick smart when P'Bucket froze up again...

Here's the missing photos I was going to put in...

Interesting village name



It wasn't all mud and slush. There were some 6th gear tracks, some 4th gear stuff... and some 1st gear stuff. This was great



at times it got a lot rockier than this, but nothing too hard to ride



As usual, the butterflies were stunning. This pair are enjoying a nutritious bit of buffalo shit



This guy went past while I was taking a leak. The scooters manage OK but don't get any speed up



Oh, that landslide... the GPS had told me to take the right hand fork here... but I went with the left, as I could see the local motorbike tracks were going that way and that the two tracks joined again....



Should've gone with the GPS... Would've missed a chat with these kids though



Another stick bridge





A bamboo one that wasn't rideable. There was a sign saying "teeth cave 200m"... so I wandered in for a look



Left all the gear on the bike, thinking I had my wallet an passport in my backpack... nope.. in the tankbag, but all was there when I got back

She wasn't touching it...





I only crashed through it once

I stumbled around in the jungle in full riding gear looking for the damn cave



I called a local farmer over and he re-cut the path...



All to no avail





At least he let me walk back through his field. They were harvesting the rice



Oh yeah, while I think of it... I spotted an LC4 that parked near the Joma Bakery while I was having brekky yesterday. Didn't see the owner...



and can someone tell me how to overtake these things? This was back at Luang Prabang, taking a diversion around a street market... at walking pace. Sheesh



... and on that note, I'm off to take a look at the T72

Good stuff Ian.
From Phonsavan are you heading down to Xaisomboun? That was the road I had the most muddy sphincter-tightening 'fun' on. Ruts as deep as those deep ones you showed, but full of flowing sucking clay, etc, etc. 7 years and the opening of the restricted zone may have improved that road though. It seemed like there was something of a road going east from Xaisomboun but it was pretty hard to find information when I was there (particularly as we weren't mean to be there).

It must have been raining a lot in Luang Prabang. That waterfall was a pure milky aqua blue when I was there.

Have a blast, I'm very envious.

Great report Ian.
Fellow inmate here ( Gav), myself and our partners arrive in Vientiane on the the 21st of next month for a 10 day trip so it's good to get an idea of what to expect.
Thanks again for the post. Has been thoroughly entertaining.
Dave.

subscribed!

great thread, pics


This is a SKS. developed in Russia shortly before the AK47.

Specicfically, the Type 56 Chinese made.

Just signal him to drop one of the ramps......

Gawd, if its not the internet, its me... I just somehow deleted a post. Damn big fingers, little keyboard.... speaking of which, I finally snagged a massage here yesterday evening. All above board... organised by the lady who owns the Maly Hotel. The girl that turned up was tiny. I almost asked the owner to see if she could get someone who could actually do the job. However, she turned out to be great... got stuck into it, stretching using her arms and legs... and what body weight she had etc... but on the subject of big fingers, little keyboard... I did catch her taking a peek or two. Yeah... my knickers were on! She was also fascinated by my chest hair. I have had a massage lady call me a monkey earlier in the trip, because of that chest hair....

So - thanks guys. Hans - I'm not sure mate. I'm out of here tomorrow, I think, current route is down the trail, but I would like to go over and see the airstrip. My current thinking though is that I'll leave this bike in Siem Reap and come back for another ride.... but Siem Reap is a long way from here yet.

Yesterday turned into a funny day.. as they often do. Cruisey morning... updating here, etc.... then slipped the shoes on and went out for a look at the Jar sites. Don't believe everything you read on the internet... a lot of sites that should proffer better advice say that their purpose is unknown, not many lids found, etc. I saw a dozen or more lids yesterday and there has been proper academic research. These things held human bones. Over time, burial practices changed and some have smaller openings - because cremated remains were going in. I didn't see any with the smaller openings at the sites I visited (2 & 3)... but I think I did up in the mountains the other day



Here's some from Jar Site 2



Yes, that's a lid

One with bomb or bullet damage



.... and a bloody great bomb crater right next to one. The crater is maybe 40'-50' across and 15'+ deep.



The ride out was a bit rough... the Lao government has "improved" the road so the tourists can get there... bloody big sharp-edged rock rolled into the clay. Its as rough as guts. I was regretting my decision to ride in shirt, trousers and shoes (and helmet). There's a local restaurant at Site 2 and they sell some of the souvenirs made at the war scrap village. They melt down shot down plane scrap and make spoons, bottle openers, bracelets, etc.

So, I got there in the middle of a tour bus invasion of the restaurant.... walked in and heard a table of Aussie greyhairs talking, so said "G'day". It got funny... especially with one of the guys. "Where are you from?" says he... 'Sydney'... "How'd you get here?" ... 'rode my motorbike' "Nah, how'd you get here from Sydney?"... 'rode my motorbike'... "Bullshit".... so I leant over and flicked back a couple of photos from the day before on the camera. They turned out to be a nice mob.

Nature, as always, will win out with these things. This tree has claimed one...



Here's another lid, from Site 2.



I went over to the waterfall that's between Sites 2 and 3. No tourists there.... although they have dumped loads of rock along the middle of the road, so it looks like they are trying to "improve" it.

The only living thing I saw there, apart from birds, was the snake I nearly trod on. About 3' long, green, yellow and blackish... not a python. He buggered off and I got a couple of shots. Doesn't look much in the photos, but I liked it more than most I've seen. The water was absolutely charging down... and it was a cascade rather than a vertical fall...

Up top



Further down



There was a little creek crossing, about 18" deep on the way in there. Bugger of a thing... concrete pipe in it that had to be climbed, which was easy enough, but bloody big rocks you couldn't see. I should've walked it... but it wouldn't have mattered... I stalled it both directions... both feet down... so now all my footwear is wet.



Plenty more at Site 3



There was a writeup on UXO over at Site 3... which I got to read while I waited for a rain squall to mostly pass over.



and I'd figured out these



.... stay in the white. But I need to go have a chat to the MAG folks. They do the de-mining ops here. I may have been a bit naughty. There was a fence around the Russian tank... and I climbed it. Got back to the hotel and read a tour brochure which talks about a visit to the "Russian tank and minefield" Oops. It did cross my mind at the time that there weren't any MAG markers showing it'd been cleared..... but the tank had certainly been picked over for any removeable scrap. Served me right anyhow, because I ripped the leg out of my only pair of trousers on the way out.



There's a bit of spatter damage on the back of the turret... not much, but enough to know what it was...



and there was a hole in the floor just behind the engine bearers, dead centre of the tank, but towards the rear... and spatter damage on the bearers. I'd say they went over a magnetic mine at speed. I wouldn't like the chances of anyone who was inside when that went off. I've got a photo of the internal damage... which isn't much. I've had to lighten it up with Photoshop... and if I can figure out how to reduce its file size, I'll post it up later.



I have been told its a T72, but I seriously doubt that. Its turret is welded, not cast. Its overall construction is too thin to be a late model Russian tank. Any tank experts?

After the rain, it was, of course, bloody slippery for the ride "home".... and it rained again.

Bit hard to see, but the long dark buildings on the hill to the right, which look like horse stables are the high school



Speaking of war scrap. Its everywhere here... The candle holder next to my computer now in the dining room is the rear half of a mortar round. Here's my hotel. There's four 50 calibre machine guns in this shot, including the gate post. There's a series of bombs in the gate and the seat out front is an aircraft fuel drop tank.

Love catching up on your travels Bigfella, well done

great update Ian,we used the same hotel a few years back and it was really dry and dusty when we there,we had to laugh when you mentioned the mine field around that tank,we too climbed all over it!