South to Paksan!

So, we head South and do about 40km on nice roads until its time....we turn left and immediately it turns to dirt tracks and the classic mud bath awaits us! after about another 40km we get to our first river crossing. Now, nobody told me we were crossing rivers. In fact nobody told anyone! Now this river was definitely that, it wasnt a stream! It was about 20m wide and got to about 2' deep! Needless to say I was a little nervous about this so not wanting to risk the hefty amount of electrical goods I was carrying, stripped down to my boxers and carried my tank bag over with all my goodies in! then it was time to give it a go! Well we started nice and slowly and then as it got a little deeper, gave it a bit more gas, and then a bit more and then basically gunned it and blasted out the other side alot drier than I thought I was going to be!

So back in the saddle and back on the road we come across another crossing. And then another crossing and yes another crossing too! Anyway, my confidence was bubbling away nicely by now so I was happily blasting my way through these obstacles with the kind of confidence that ONE river crossing should not have given me!!! Anyway, we both made it through all 4 as dry as can be expected and stopped for lunch in an actually very nice little town about 3-4 hours away from our destination (according to a local!). Now, it was 2pm and its best to be where you want to be by 5 as it starts getting a little dark from then on. So we were kind of hoping for the 3 side of his estimation! So after some tasty beef noddle soup (this was the first of 4 straight meals of beef noddle soup!) we cracked on with the vigor of the duracell bunny (there were obviously a lot more similes available to me but with the possibility of the grandparents reading this I thought I should keep it clean!) Unfortunately it was only about half an hour in when we reached our first of river crossings and this on was far and away the toughest; it was wider, deeper and had a softer river bed than any of the others! this meant we were stripping the bikes of everything we could and wading through the river to deposit it on the other side and then riding the bikes through with one in the saddle and the other walking behind to help keep things upright! Well nick went first with me supporting him and made it through whilst giving me a decent river bed shower. unfortunately with Nick going through and with us walking the shallowest line we had softened up the bed even more so when I went through the bike sank good and deep until probably two thirds of it was underwater. Luckily the sir intake and exhaust are both high level and so with a good few revs and some sturdy support, I made it through without dropping the bike and we had a good old american style whooping session on the other side!

About 30m after that crossing was our last crossing and with the help of an elderly Laos lady from a nearby village pointing out the best route for us, we both madeit through that one unscathed too! So we were loaded up, back in the plate and back on the move again and again (not for the first time this trip) we were chasing daylight! All we didnt need now was a puncture and we could possibly still make it. And if the worst was to happen and we did get a puncture, what we didnt want was for it to be a rear tyre because they take twice as long to fix. So you'd never guess what...yep, Nick got a rear puncture! So, soaking wet and with the bikes again covered in mud we set to strippingthe rear tyre to fix the puncture. So we got that fixed in record time and then because nicks rear swing arm is bent it then took about half an hour to get the rear wheel back on. By this time we knew we werent making it in daylight but we thought we might me able to make it to a decent road which was rideable in the dark, so we cracked on again. Well we cracked on for 4 more Km until nicks rear tyre blew again! Now it was all over. 45 minutes of daylight wasnt even enough time to fix the puncture let alone get to any sort of road worthy of the name! Fortunately, a farmer and his wife were trundling along this track in their Laos tractor and trailer. Now there is a good few differences between a Laos tractor and a uk tractor but I think the key one to mention now is the fact that Laos tractors have a top speed of about 8mph! Anyway, we loaded Nick and his bike into the trailer and the fine farmer fellow carried the load on to the nearest town. The luck continued as I decided that as we were in the middle of nowhere and the likelihood of finding a guest house and restaurant was pretty slim, I was on the look out for a shop of somesorts to buy some food. Anyway I passed 2 possibilities and settled on one. It was in this shop that the shopkeepers son came out to serve me and could actually speak a little english and informed me that about 1Km further on was indeed a guest house with restaurant! Well thats what they called it. But for us it really was any port in a storm so we got shipped up there and fed more beef noodle soup and slept like babies on our hardboard bed!

Following that little episode we have learned our lesson and promise to stick to highways all the way to the South of Laos and we are half way there already! Its amazing the distance you can travel on a good surface! So right now I am sat in an internet cafe in Laos' biggest town, Svannakhet. We've had a rest day today and some tinkering on the bikes so its time to move again tomorrow. No doubt they'll be stories to come, its when I get around to posting them thats not so certain!!!