For sure Vietnam felt like the eas-
iest country to travel, but maybe it
is exactly the lack of challenges that
made it a little less exciting for us.
As part of our journey heading to
the south of Vietnam we couldn't re-
sist crossing into this curious country;
Laos!
After crossing the Na Meo border
we were greeted with a deep red set-
ting sun, gravel making way for dirt
tracks and untouched wilderness.
Helmets closed to keep the dirt out
of our mouths, eyes on the road and
tractoring uphill in first gear, slowly
to not slither back down. Oh, we had
a blast! Finally, our dual sport bikes
could show what they were worth.
If you want to improve your off-road
skills, this certainly is the place to be!
Here we had our first real off-road
adventures with the most challenging
one being a 118-kilometre track from
Muang Hiam to Phonsavan that we by
accident discovered and couldn't re-
sist.
Never in our life did we cross so
many rivers in a day! Five river cross-
ings, one with a mysteriously saved
slither, one getting stuck and one
starting off in too high a gear with the
common result of wet feet. A dream
come true and yet we couldn't have ex-
pected such small distance to be such
a big challenge.
Dirt tracks filled with ruts, pud-
dles, ridges and suspension bridges.
Strangely, the latter was one of the
scarier experiences of the ride, totally
throwing us off balance, literally. Ev-
TRAVERSE 97
ery move made the bridge swing and
as such the swinging only got worse
the further we went, making the idea
of falling into the water quite real. To
add a little to the adrenaline the ridge
was next.
Straight down on both sides for at
least a meter and no place to put a foot
on the ground. The only solution was,
try to get up and keep on going till the
end. The funny thing was, even if it felt
like being in the middle of nowhere,
suddenly a village would pop up with
children waving along the way, trying
to give a high five while riding along
and smiling the moment you put your
hand out or waved back.
So much undiscovered nature, but
nature carrying the remains of a re-
cent war.