Not been washed away!

I cant believe the last update was the police station. Well obviously a lot has happened since then as I am back on the road. This means my bike is fixed (well kind of!) and my injuries are healed (well, again, kind of!).

I got back to LP and got some welding and reshaping done on the machine (as yet unnamed so any suggestions are welcome!) and it was up and running again alot sooner than I was. Anyway, spent about 5 days in LP recovering as walking was a bit of a problem in the following couple of days and so kneeling by the bike and fabricating repairs was well out of the question! luckily I had mechanic Graveley to hand so the repairs got underway as soon as he felt he wasnt doing ALL the work. I have to admit LP is a nice place to get stuck in for a few days but next time I'll do it with my lady and it hopefully wont be forced!

So a few days later and we're heading North. Now, there are better ideas than to head North in Laos when the rainy season has been the worst and longest people can remember and you've got one bike not exactly at full strength and a jockey who cant walk up stairs! However, we didnt have any other ideas so went anyway! The first day was easy as the roads were paved and we made it past 'the scene' and onto Oudomsay. As we arrived the heavens opened and if it wasnt for the kind guest house owners clearing room in the garage, the bikes would have got an unscheduled wash! The next day (undeterred by the rain) we headed north again. Thios time we werent so lucky as when we got to our turning off the 'highway', it started to lash it down again. luckily there was a lovely little cafe right on the river banks so we stopped for a coffee and biscuits. As sarcasm is difficult to get across in text I shall point out that the term 'lovely' is ladled with sarcasm - this place had squirrels in a cage tied to the ceiling ready to be slaughtered for the right customer!
Following our refreshment we headed on but unfortunately the road was no longer so well paved. Dont get me wrong, there were bits of tarmac, but then there were also bits of 18" deep mud and bits of road that had had the mountain collapse on it so we had to wait while the diggers cleared what they could. Oh, and there was also one bit that actually didnt exist any more! A stretch about 30m long had been completely washed into the river which ran alongside the road. This meant we had to take a mud detour!
Needless to say, our progress wasnt as fast as we'd planned especially as when tackling one particularly deep section of mud I managed to drop the bike (yep, the tally is still rising!) and crack the 'bodge it and scarper' excuse for a repair we had fabricated in LP. Anyway, my bike was now leaking coolant and you wouldnt believe home remote we were. The only habitation we saw were the wooden and reed huts that made up the villages and these were about 10km apart. And trust me, you wouldnt want to stop the night in any of these! So, with coolant at a good pace and tackling mud upto the foot pegs, whats the worst thing that could happen......yep, the fuel light comes on! luckily I have a spare bottle of coolant so mixing it up with our drinking water we get a few more Kms until Ive finished the spare coolant and filled the radiator with the last of the water. so now I resort to turning the bike off when going down hills so it doesnt pump coolant around and so leaks lower (it also helps conserve the fuel!). Anyway, as you have probably guessed we made it! We stopped in a little place called Boun-Tai and manufactured a better bodge repair and found a particularly lavish guest house which ahd the cleanest river water for washing in and had electricity right up until 8pm!
And then it rained, and rained and was still raining in the morning. So that was the final straw. We did have a better idea than going north in the rain...GO SOUTH! So we turned back and took on the fun of the mud tracks again! This time I tackled it with a full fuel tank and just as we thought a working bike as well...it starts over heating and bubbling all my new coolant out of the overflow. Well the decisions were whether to go on or go back. Go back wasnt exactly to a town with many options for fixing the bike and going on wasnt the best thing to do either but it got our vote for the simple fact we didnt want to spend another night in Boun-Tai! Anyway, after stopping another few times and refilling the radiator again an again getting to the end of my spare coolant reserves we end up draining and refilling the system at the side of the track to see if there's an air lock. Turns out...no! Then Mechanic Graveley has a brainstorm of hard wiring the fan on. Anyway, as I am getting sore fingers and you are no doubt getting sore eyes, the story gets cut short again...we made it back! We still dont know exactly what is up with the bike but it seems to be operating ok with the fan on solidly. Lets just hope that doesnt pack up or I'll be right up the swanny!!!
So back in Oudomsay then onto Phonesavan, and back on good roads; you would have thought we'd have learnt our lesson but no, we decide on the 'fun' route to Paksan. So even though what is marked on my map as a main road had sections missing and mud upto the pegs, we decide to take 200km of tertiary roads south to Paksan. Well, I now know that primary roads run along side rivers and tertiary roads run through them!