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Adventure Laos & Vietnam (3LV1701)

Sunday, January 29, 2017 | Holger Homann / Michael Göbel | Asia

Welcome in Chiang Mai, Thailand
The motorcycle group arrived for the tour start and we did our welcome briefing.

Wayne from Canada, Mac from USA, Taiga from Brazil, John from USA, Michael from Germany, Gaby and Rainer (on this picture incognito from Edelweiss, Simona and Daniel from Romania...
...Andreas from Germany, Shelley and Denie from New Zealand but living in Las Vegas, John from Denmark (hidden), Neil from USA, Simona and Daniel from Romania.
Michael in action
And the bikes ready to go at the hotel
The Tuk Tuk experience...for our group dinner
Here we are

Chiang Mai to Houayxai, Laos
Briefing in the morning, before we are on our way to Laos!
Coffee stop in the morning... It seems that the people,(including Rainer enjoy already!
John without his cigar is not John
A stupa on our way to Chiang Rai
The white temple Wat Rong Khun, build in 1997 only from the artist Kositpipat. Currently only 20% completed of the whole planned areal
Nice mountain roads on the way to Chiang Kong
Our lovely and colorful ) couple Shelley and Denie
First sight of the Mekong!
..and a late border crossing to Laos
Simona holding a speech ) in our first hotel in Laos. The hotel had 2 (!!) beers on stock for our whole group...we had to send the staff for picking some more in the town
Special lubricant ) from Daniel, made in Romania. Strong stuff!

Houayxay to Oudomxay
Our visit to a Hmong hilltribe village is a great experience
Gaby and Wayne talking to the locals...beautiful people and the children partially look at us like we came down from the moon
Laos has about 90% mountain range....one curve follows the other...great riding!
Arrival in the hotel

Oudomxay to Dien Bien Phu
Morning briefing
Andreas, John and Michael..
...in our offroad section
Teiga, our Brazilian team member
some fun!!!
On our way to the Vietnamese border
The border. A smooth process because of all the preparation of the paper work in advance!
paddy fields on our way
Arrival in Dien Bien Phu

Dien Bien Phu to Sapa
In the morning it is still foggy, though a beautiful and quiet ride
She prepares our Vietnamese morning coffee...some of us like it and some will never try it again ) Though IT IS coffee, it has really a different taste!
Our cool (really) Vietnamese tourguide..in the morning he explained a lot about the history. Here he shows us how to smoke a water pipe
Group Foto!
Beautiful rice fields on our way
And here we go: mountains, mountains and mountains!
One curve follows the other and the scenery gets more and more dramatic
View from the pass on Sapa...the fog approaches the city. We had such a wonderful weather today! Lucky we!!!
View from our balcony: 2 meters of sight. We cannot even see the street!
Group dinner in a cosy restaurant

Sapa to Nghia Lo
During the night it was so foggy,in the morning we have great visibility again!
The door lady with traditional clothes in our nice hotel in Sapa
Business woman already
Rice terraces everywhere on our way to Nghia Lo. The rice just has grown about 10-15 cm, that is why it is relatively brown
Michael and Denie
Gaby, Teiga, John, Neil and Rainer and some hill tribe people on the left hand side
Trying the medicinal herb liquor after dinner. Each of the bowls is for different diseases and pains

Nghia Lo to Hanoi
Breafast in our hotel in Nghia Lo: Noodle soup. Once in a while also yummy!
John with myself (Holger) at lunch. His clutch cable broke and we had to fix it. So we were about 1.5 hours behind the group. Here we got our noodle soup and I even managed to get a vegetarian one with tofu. Just with hands and feet communication)
And just before entering Hanoi we meet the group again. Perfect timing!
Scenes in the outskirts of Hanoi...
Despite the chaotic traffic and some worries upfront we had a very smooth landing in Hanoi. Great job!

Hanoi and Halong Bay
Mr Tanh, our Vietnamese tour guide, offers us a city walk, thru the busy alleys, even into a typical house...very interesting. On this picture the Buddha fruit which one cannot eat but is offered at the home shrine. One can keep this fruit for months.
Market everywhere
She prepares the beatle nuts for chewing
Mr Tanh says, the most disgusting food is offered here: Embryo ducks in the egg shell
The Vietnamese follow the lunar calender like the Chinese. Everyone prepares for eight celebration days. On the 28th it starts. People buying all this stuff and decorate their homes
Traditional pharmacy
Coffee break: Denie, Shelley, Michael, Daniel and Simona
While we were faszinated by Hanoi, Andreas, Wayne and Mac went to the Halong Bay
From left to right: Mac, Andreas and Wayne
In the cave on one of the islands
And Andreas made the best out of the trip: He went by water airplane from Hanoi to the Halong Bay and back!
Great scenery!
And in the evening a very nice dinner in an old villa
Simona trying to learn to play the Dan Bau, a traditional Vietnamese instrument. Veeery difficult, also Michael said.

Hanoi to Mai Chau
First foto stop and our Brazilian friend is in full action)
Shelley buying some oranges
At our lunch stop nice scenery
Local travellers on a scooter. Why not, they are happy!
Market booths on our way at the road. The yellow fruits are Pomellos (different sort of)
Our nice bungalow hotel in Mai Chau, a small paradise! Quiet, tranquilo, located at a hillside overviewing paddy fields...
And one can use their mountain bikes. Michael and myself on tour...
...meeting some locals
...nice houses...the area neat and clean
other locals on our single trail. These dogs were so happy meeting us!
Weaving looms. In these villages around Mai Chau live the Thai, one of the 54 different ethnic groups which came to Vietnam around 200 years ago to find new land.
The gang waiting for food.
In the evening the Thai made a nice music and dance show for us...
Lots of fun!

Mai Chau to Xam Neua (Laos)
An early morning start brought us up in the mountains...hilltribe villages along our road, children waving their hands! Soooo beautiful, as these rice fields even though they are not planted yet
Gaby and Michael wondering how they can transport this pile on a small scooter
The other Michael, our giant ) (compared with the locals
At the Vietnam - Laos border. Yes, today we enter Laos again!
We lost a lot of time at the border and the last hour we drove in the darkness. Everyone took care of everyone. Real teamwork and we arrived all safely in Xam Neua.

Xam Neua - Nong Khiaw - Luang Prabang
The next morning...guess what Again mountains, mountains, nice curvy roads, hilltribe villages and great weather!!!
Bougainvillea
Everywhere in the villages we pass by the women weave...
...and here is the hilltribe skirt
On the last pass before arrival in Nong Khiaw
Views from our balcony of our beautiful bungalows at the River (Nam) Ou
...and Michael happy
The next morning we ride along the Nam Ou towards Luang Prabang
Elephants crossing )
Luang Prabang with its french colonial style houses and beautiful Buddhist temples, UNESCO world heritage
Walking up Phu Si for the sunset over Luang Prabang and the Mekong
and of course you are not alone up there )
Our dinner in LP

Luang Prabang to Pakbeng
We stop at Kacham waterfall...nice and relaxing and we get some special show...but that's a secret )
Teiga fits perfectly to the paddy fields!
View from our nice resort on the - guess what - Mekong

Pakbeng to Chiang Kham
Michael doing the briefing on an elephants "docking station". Today 140km of gravel and earth road ahead...OK!!! Everyone is on!!!
Andreas approaching
And Mac...
Teiga...
...and Wayne
And over the clouds!!! Just amazing!!!
And then the first stop in a Kmeau village. So nice! Life in the village comes to a full stop...WE are THE attraction!! Sooo beautiful and everyone enjoys the moment! But we have to proceed...
Denie is definitely in a good mood )
And our second stop in a hilltribe village...just WOW! Not many motorbikers came here before. Maybe not any??!!
After 140km of earth and gravel road everone is covered with dust! But we did great!!!
Like brothers... Michael and John
Our resort in Chiang Kham...could be also in Africa. But this is Thailand. Welcome back after this adventure trip thru Laos and Vietnam!

Chiang Kham to Chiang Mai
Our resort, an oasis in the middle of nowhere...
We start for the final day on our adventure trip. Nice and curvy roads are ahead of us!
These police guys want to have a picture with us at our coffee stop. Denie and Cigar-John.
A temple on our way thru some villages
Michael sings a song at our farewell dinner...
Daniel, Simona and John enjoying it
Andreas, Gaby and Rainer, John...
Mac and Teiga
Holger and Denie...

A great group with very good riding skills and very different characters, riding thru the mountains of Thailand, Laos and Vietnam, visiting all these hilltribe villages, making everyone smile... made this tour a wonderful experience. These smiles are in our heart as our smiles are in their heart.
We hope to see you again on other tours!

Your tourguides
Michael and Holger
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Add a comment Rate this post
Teiga.
Wednesday, February 1, 2017 at 19:58
O hope so my friend. Hugs
Teiga
Holger
Thursday, February 2, 2017 at 18:55
Of course! Hugs
Holger
Teiga
Wednesday, February 1, 2017 at 19:54
Hellou my friend. Nice blog and amazing trip.
Thank you for all.
Hugs
Teiga
Holger
Thursday, February 2, 2017 at 18:47
Oi! Brazil, Oi Teiga, my friend!
Thank you very much! So, you arrived safely in Porto Alegre.
My best wishes to you and keep in touch!
Holger
Hans
Sunday, January 29, 2017 at 11:39
Hello Holger thank you for your work and frequent updates of the blog! Congratulation for the successful end of the adventure tour through some South East Asian countries.
Regards from snow covered Switzerland!
Hans
Holger
Monday, January 30, 2017 at 05:22
Thank you very much Hans!
You will be soon in Thailand. We will fly now back home into the coldness!
Our best wishes to you!
Holger
Gerhard Schmittlein
Wednesday, January 25, 2017 at 12:04
Hey Holger,
Good to be back in Laos, isn´t it?
You look like having a good time there again after you came through that beautiful and stunning country when guiding the Asian world tour section.
Enjoy and say regards to Luang Prabang! I really envy you ...
Gerhard
Holger Homann
Friday, January 27, 2017 at 13:30
Hallo Gerhard,
thank you very much for your wishes and our greetings to Mieming from all of us!!!
C u!
Holger
Manuel Marabese
Tuesday, January 24, 2017 at 17:53
hello everyone!!!
It looks like a great adventure!
Big hug and greetings to Shelley&enie!!
Shelley
Thursday, January 26, 2017 at 01:55
Thanks Manuel! Missing you! Loving the trip. Wish you were here.
Andreas
Sunday, January 22, 2017 at 15:27
We made it out of Hanoi, the worst traffic I ever been on! Thanks to Micael an Holger, who did a great Job to bring us save in and out the City!

Andreas
Holger Homann
Tuesday, January 24, 2017 at 13:06
Dear Andreas,

thank you for your comment and it was a pleasure for us!!!

Thumbs up and we are looking forward to the next riding days with all of you. Great team!

Holger and Michael
Ying
Friday, January 20, 2017 at 01:03
Dear Holger,
You've got great group with lovely people from different countries. A wonderful sceneries from these three countries and I think you all guys have had sofar good tasty food. It seems like you all had real fun on the Offroad track. I wish you all a great safely trip and the perfect weather though the coldness. Take care and have fun !!!!

Holger Homann
Tuesday, January 24, 2017 at 13:06
Thank you my dear!
Ursula Peter
Wednesday, January 18, 2017 at 05:04
Hi John,
greatings from New Zealand. Nice to see you again! Enjoy your cigar
safe travels
Ursula
John Sörensen
Tuesday, January 24, 2017 at 16:31
Ursula: you need to talk to cigar-john about his cigar consumption. Even the locals are complaining about the smoke.
Ursula Peter
Wednesday, January 25, 2017 at 08:57
Hi John Sörensen,
nice to hear from you.
let cigar-john enjoying life. Take care of your luggage
Regards from Wellington
Ursula
John
Wednesday, January 25, 2017 at 11:00
I have rented a tuktuk only for my bag. Nothing can go wrong this time.
Enjoy NZ
ursula.peter@edelweissbiketravel.com
Friday, January 27, 2017 at 17:28
Ha,ha, good idea. You are the best
Regards
Ursula
Hans
Thursday, January 12, 2017 at 15:46
Hello Holger I wish you and the groupe a good start and then an interesting tour!
Holger Homann
Tuesday, January 17, 2017 at 00:32
Hello Hans,
thank you very much!
My best wishes to cold Switzerland!
Actually here it is also cool in the evenings
Holger

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