I've now racked up over 1700 kms in Laos and nearing the end.  Absoultely loved it here. One of the most beautiful experiences of my trip so far has been observing and occasionally being part of the seemingly utopian pastoral life of the mountain villages.

 

Strung out along high empty mountain roads the people of Northern Laos live an existence that has not changed for centuries.  Stopping for a cigarette (my smoking has got really bad on this trip and not even I can pretend to be just a social smoker anymore) or some water and the children, who up till now have been confidently waving as I pass through, scatter, too scared to approach.  Normally the village elder comes up, sometimes speaking a little English and usually able to answer my question of "where the bloody hell am I?".   Then one or two of the men might appear, to look at the bike, followed one by one by the children as they emerge from their hiding posts.     

 

To the casual observer it looks like paradise.  Each village has at least several broods of small chicks chaparoned by an indecisive mother hen.  Why did the chicken cross the road?  To avoid the mad falang biker.  Except they don't cross the road, preferring to stop half way in fear and confusion, their tiny brains unable to calculate speed and distance, and trusting to luck that they do not make an early appearance in a Green Curry.  Fortunately for them I always go dead slow through the villages, though this is more to do with the fear of an expensive collision with a fully grown pig, of which there are many, or worse a small child.

 

But behind the beauty it is a harsh life.  There is no electricity or running water.  Infant mortality is amongst the highest in South East Asia.  An existence is eked out with basic farming and selling their livestock at the local market.  But like so many developing countries, they have great spirit, and a gentleness that is almost uniquely  Laos.

O fuck, I crashed.   So I'm there happy as larry, the bike is running great, the sun has just made it's first appearance of the day, gently warming me after the cold damp misty conditions on top of the mountain as I descend down yet another glorious mountain pass. 

 

I start humming "I can see clearly now the rain has gone" not a song I really like but you can't always choose what your mind decides to dredge up from it's hidden neural jukebox.  I'm thinking that life does not really get much better than this, and my smugness probably accounts for my distraction from the task in hand, namely tacking the ever changing road surface conditions. 

 

I come to a steep left hander, my least favourite type of corner.  Added to which is a thick layer of loose sand over a hard mud layer.  Bang.  I loose the front end.  A combination of absent minded front braking and the loose surface and the front wheel just slides out from under me and the next thing I know I'm on the deck.  Shit it hurts, even with the cushioning effect of the sand.  I get off the ground, a bit dazed but manage to get the Honda up and over to the side of the road.  I'm shaking, I've not come off a bike for about three years and the violance of hitting the ground takes my breath.

 

I give myself a quick once over, both legs hurt, but amzingly I got away incredibly lightly.  A long graze on my left knee is already oozing blood, and I've got a burn on my right leg from the hot engine.  My trousers are in tatters and I'm covered in sand.  Next, a quick look at the bike, seems OK, was expecting a bust peg and clutch lever at the least but the bike is virtually unmarked, and it starts, thank Buddha.

 

I smoke a cigarette to steady my shakes and reflect that if I had broken a leg (the most common bike injury) I haven't seen a car for over an hour, I'm on my own and the nearest hospital is over 500 kms away. But also that this is what great adventures are partly about - a bit of risk taking and some luck.

 

 

Took advantage of my sisters PC to give my IPod a much needed re-fresh. Here is the soundtrack to my Laos adventure -

Jarvis Cocker - "Jarvis"
Excellent new long player from the former Pulper

From return to form Riot City Blues LP, this is a Rolling Stones meets Suzy Quatro rocker.

I never really feel that loney, I have too rich an inner life for that, but this track is great, especially the gentle calypso like chorus

Criminally over looked UK electronic band with a retro vibe. This has got many standouts, chief amongst them "Carbon Kid" featuring Brian from Placebo in a kinda goth techno track

Well somethings never change. Got back into this their first single as it features prominently on the recent Sofia Coppolla film "Marie Antoinette". By all account a shit film but great sound track. Sadly I cannot get hold of the slower original version on-line which I have as a 12 inch back home. Magnificent and Ian Curtis's last.

Matt Johnson where are you? This is one of the great lost albums of the 1980's and not a duff track on it, something that can't be said for most of today's releases. Even slightly dated production can't mask the freshness of ideas and songwriting

Well after a couple of relaxing days in Bangkok, spending time with my family and new niece Ava, getting a haircut, visiting the tailors and a night out singing Karoke with my bro' in law Lek, I am on the road again. 

 

Flew in to Laos on Tuesday and spent a few days in the capital Vientiane, which is probably the quietest capital in the world. 

 

Have now hired a 250cc Honda Baja dirt bike.  I was very lucky to get this bike as I had not prior booked one and most of the dealers did not have any left - it's a good one too.  Just done my first days ride up to Vang Vien which is a big travellers hang out about 150k north of Vientiane.  Good quality highway so far, though I doubt will last, and the last 20k was breathtaking as the road snaked between high limestone mountains.  Staying here for a day or so...currently killing some time in the internet cafe awaiting a guy called John to rock up from the capital.  I met him last night and he is up for some biking and a visit to the mysterious Plain of Jars and some left over relics from the Indo China War. 

 

Tomorrow plan to do some tubing - basically riding down a river in an inflatable inner tube and relaxing before saddling up again for the next ride.  The Honda is great fun, especially after the archaic Enfield, but the seat is a killer, very narrow and not well suited to all day riding.    Luckily Laos tradditional massage is very cheap and ideal for sorting out post riding tension.

 

Laos is very beautiful, but much harder travelling than Thailand or India.  There is a significant language barrier and the country is under developed though this of course is what makes it such an increasingly popular destination.

 

More in a few days depending on the availability of Internet connections.

 

 

It's my last day in India today.  I'm sorry to be going, and only the thought of more adventures to come, and seeing my family in Thailand is lifting my spirits.  It's an incredible place, and I'm sure I will be back before too long.  One of the main things to strike me about India is it's extraordinary diversity, of people, climate, and environment.  And a land of startling contradictions - a country where there has been a female Prime Minister but where women are still largely subservient to the men, and subject to the dowry system.  Where the women dress demurely in public, but switch on the cable TV and you'll see beautiful but scantily clad lovelies dancing to the latest India dance music.  Of enourmous wealth in Mumbai, right next to some of the largest slums in the world.  And the most exquisite countryside, but also where plastic bottles and raw sewage are never far away.  But what's made the biggest impression on me are the people. Of course, among them are a good sprinkling of scammers, thieves and no goods, and like most Asians they can't handle their alchohol, but the Indian spirit is a thing to behold - they are warm, generous and usually have a ready smile.  Fingers crossed I've manged to capture some of that spirit on my yet to be developed photographs.

The Indian's call Kerala God's own Country and with it's beautiful beaches, palm groves and the famous backwaters it's easy to see why. It's been a perfect place to have a unique motorcycling experience - riding an Enfield motorbike. A long forgotton British bike brand back in the UK, the Enfield continues to sell in India, though these days it is swamped by millions of cheap Japanese and Korean bikes.

By modern standards the optimistically named Enfield Bullet is a pretty crap motorcycle. But I've not had so much fun in years. Old - it's a 40 year old design, heavy, with a complete inability to hold any kind of coherant line around a corner, coupled with piss poor brakes and back to front back brake and gears, make it a right old handful for the first few days. But it does have a certain laid back charm and the engine, a 350cc twin, makes an enjoyably deep resonant clanking.

Riding in India is a superlative way to see the country and meet the people. A Westerner on a motorcycle is still enough of a novelty to attract baffled looks from the locals, quickly followed by broad smiles and shouted greetings of "Nameste" and "Where are you going".

The Enfield though, like it's rider, does have it's off days. Some days it refused to start, even after 30 minutes of sweaty cranking on the kick start under the humid conditions. After a while I start to lose it, and rather then thinking logically about how to get it going, I start to think the bike has taken on some human charachteristics, and is deliberately refusing to start to piss me off. I usually then treat the by now large crowd of Indian on-lookers with a non TEFL endorsed crash course in Anglo Saxon, as I berate the obstinate, inert Enfield with some choice four letter English.

But the days and evenings riding the back roads have been some of the most blissed out experiences I have had in India, or anywhere for that matter. Riding to the top of a 24 hair pin bend Tea Plantation mountain, amidst some alarming bangs and smoke from the engine, will stay with me for a long time, as will blatting around in the middle of the night, and coming across huge sound systems in the middle of nowhere, blaring out eerie Religious incantations at ear splitting volumes.