Wravern Tourer: April 2008

Introduction

We have 11 bikes, 12 people, 18 days and more than 8,000km of dusty roads to cover. The vision clear and unmistakable; ride through Laos coasting through its borders with Myanmar, China, Vietnam and Cambodia. A new trip heralds a new adventure and much to look forward to. This is finally it - the Singha Laos Riding Expedition. We have all packed and are geared up for anything we can think of and all that is left is to ride into the depths of Lao’s rural and rugged landscape. This will be a great escape from the hubbub and routine drab of everyday life. The lure of the open road is a never-ending source of release for me. Any rider on the road will love the freedom and passion to live every mile to the fullest.

Rewind back to a year ago, our team leader and organizer Alex Quah was in the midst of planning his latest project. Another bike trip was on the cards, this time going beyond Malaysia or Thailand. Each passing year warrants a new location. After exploring much of Thailand, the Golden Triangle and even Cambodia, he is targeting Laos as his next destination. But this is no ordinary tour. Indeed, we will be giving the well-beaten tourist trail a wide berth. This will be a trip of discovery, uncovering the mysteries Laos and its people have to offer. A huge amount of legwork is involved in planning and organising any kind of long distance travel, especially a road trip by bike. After months of preparation and sorting out all legal and official documentation needed for the trip, he realized that funding was the real main issue he needed to overcome.

Sponsors were hard to come by given the short amount of time until we set off, not to mention other trip issues that needed our dire attention. The expedition was planned on a tight budget and our resources were just about adequate. Moreover, Alex found he lacked a writer/videographer for the trip. I was invited to join him and his team for this event initially. Due to my own personal commitments, I had to back out. However, just by a fluke, it was finally resolved and I jumped onto the last bandwagon and signed up for the ride.

DAY 1 – Set off

So here I am, at the day of set off at LC food court in front of all our friends and family members that came to support. Not to mention the publicity from Mediacorp Channel 8, for whom I have become their unofficial videographer. After all the media interviews and photo taking, we strapped on our gear and gunned our engines for the ride out of Singapore. Negotiating through a weekend jam all the way to the Tuas 2^nd Link, we pass Immigration and finally begin our 900km leg on the North-south highway.

Reaching Seremban R&R, we encounter the first problem before even touching Thailand. Uncle David our oldest rider of 67 punctured his BMW GS650 rear tyres on the highway and rode for a while with a flat before entering the rest point. It was the wee hours of morning and we were all contemplating changing his inner tube on the spot. Luckily, we managed to get a local 24-hour mechanic to ride over and change the tube for him. It was a fast and efficient service, as the tyre was fixed within an hour. The rest of the journey to Hatyai Thailand was uneventful.

DAY 2 – DAY5: Delay in Schedule

Our transit through Thailand starts from Hatyai. In an effort to save time and energy plus the unforeseen wear and tear on our bikes, we had initially planned to travel by train. Taking a train with our bikes on it, we will stop at Bangkok before heading all the way up to Chiang Mai. Nevertheless, things did not pan out as smoothly as we envisioned. Problems began through sheer miscommunication and confusion with the railway station staff and officials. Our 11 bikes were split into four different train schedules enroute to Bangkok and if that was not enough, one of the trains broke down. The wait for a replacement train head resulted in a one-day delay in our expedition plan. By the time we arrived in Chiang Mai, we are one and a half days behind our schedule.

We had to push off from Chiang Mai to Chiang Khong with haste. It was a race against time to cross over to Huay Xai, Laos’s border before they closed at 6pm. Although we made it on time to clear customs we were told that, the bike registration counter closes at 4pm every day. It was only around 3pm, but we cannot seem to make headway with the custom officials. Having no choice, we found a guesthouse to stay the night and waited until morning to complete our registration procedure.

DAY 6 – 1^ST Day Riding in Laos

After dealing with all the paperwork and a refreshing breakfast of eggs and toasted French loaves, we are at last beginning our expedition ride in Laos. Maybe it is the jitters and excitement of starting our actual journey or probably just the fact that the bikes were too laden by luggage. Chris, who rides a BMW GS1200 Adventure lost his balance while stationary on his bike at a petrol station just 100m from the main town of Huay Xai. He dropped his bike with a loud thud and marked the opening of being the first bike fall. A few of the team members rushed to his aid to pick up the huge bike. Due to the frame guards, his new bike only suffered minor scratches and nothing was broken.

After the petrol top-up, we rode northeast towards Luang Namtha. Laos’s vehicles are left hand drives which is the reverse from Singapore. I had to constantly remind myself that I am riding on the right side of the road as I unconsciously drift to the left. The initial roads were newly paved, as they were still sand and dust trails a year ago when our two person recce team came to check out the routes. These new roads are like unfinished projects as we came across numerous stretches with road tar caked on them. It was a splattering feast for our bikes as the tar was flung onto the framework and plastic parts. I even got tar flicked onto my helmet visor. It will be some task to clean off later.

Aside from the tar-laden roads lies the positive aspect to brighten any rider’s day. We got some good roads with wonderful corners and twists that formed “A” roads cut right into the mountain range. Not to mention the beautiful scenery along the way added a magical touch to the ride. We constantly stop to take pictures and videos of whatever that caught our fancy along the scenic route.

From Luang Namtha, it was a torturous and badly paved road to Muang Sing. It is a necessary route in order to cut west to Xieng Kok, which borders Myanmar. After Muang Sing, the challenge of this trip began in earnest. This stretch of road is predominantly grade 3 red earth tracks. The terrain is mostly flat and straight, but there is soft sand area on top of the red earth and stones that provided no traction for our tyres. Even so, I had a fantastic time riding through some rear wheel skids with certain impunity as I have the lightest and most suitable bike in the team. My Suzuki DR650 simple pranced around the trail with ease. It was most fascinating to see the incredible amount of red dust our tyres churn up as we ride by. Sajit, Ah Khong and Charlie faced a battering journey amongst our group as they are riding road bikes. Ah Khong had the worst of it because his bike is a sports-tourer with pretty hard suspension and low ground clearance. The three of them cannot afford to go into any potholes for fear of cracking their rims or worse, crash and fall.

Enroute to Xieng Kok, we pass through several topless tribe villages that are indigenous to the area. However, they are more civilised now and most of them wear clothes. Even so, we still manage to spot some of their women baring their top while doing everyday chores. It can be quite a distraction between eyeing the road and the next soft spots while abstaining from staring too hard at bare top women walking about along the villages. Nevertheless, the women are the least of our concern as the main danger is the perpetual danger of road kill. We need to be extremely cautious no animals like pigs, chicken, ducks or even buffaloes and cows cross into our riding path.

I had quite a few close shaves, with one right before we arrive at Xieng Kok being the most unnerving. This time, it was not some poultry standing in my way. There was a lot of dust churned up by the previous bikes riding off before me. The choking billow of soot and dust marred my vision and I cannot see a thing in front of my path. Suddenly, out of the smoke and dust, a big truck appeared and I was on a head on collision with it. I got a grip on my reflexes not to freeze and swerve my bike at the very last moment to evade the truck to the right. After that heart stopping moment, I rode out of the air of dust and reached Xieng Kok very dusty and parched from the off road action. It would seem that I am not the only one with a tale of two to tell. Robin and Eric made the first kill of our trip. Robin’s GS650 Dakar slammed into the side of a dog hard. The dog limped away, blood trickling out of its thin body and most likely will not survive. As for Eric, his bike’s rear wheel went over a piglet, killing it instantly. Both of them were lucky and did not crash in the process.

We all rest early that night after the tiring ride. The resort we stay in is eco friendly, which means no hot water to bath. After a freezing shower and a not very appetizing dinner, we discovered that the power generators shut down at 9.30pm. With only candles to illuminate, it sure leaves little else to do but sleep early.