Vang Veng to Khon Kaen
It was a pleasure to meet Somsuk, a very friendly and helpful guy, at the appropriately named friendship bridge. The crossing into Thailand seemed to go very smoothly. The only disappointment was the underwhelming switch from right to left hand drive. Steve had been eagerly awaiting the “scalextric” style crossover point but in the end was just like crossing the road! The bridge itself was impressive with views over the Mekong.
Have you ever been really close to making an error only to see the light at the eleventh hour? I mean a really massive error of which the ramifications will stay with you for a lifetime. An example would be agonising over a food menu, full of panic about what to choose before “settling” for pasta. As the waiter is about to leave you see the dish you have ordered turn up on the table next to you. Good god, you ordered pasta what the hell were you thinking? You can whip that up in the comfort of your own home any day of the week. You change your order to a steak, medium rare with pepper source! Lovely! A close one I think you’ll agree. Read more →
Location – Luang Prabang to Vang Vieng
High Point: First day on the road for Stage 4 crew and what an amazing drive
Low point: ‘rest breaks’
No point: ‘rest breaks’…….for girls !!
Day 81 and our early start began with an emotional farewell to Ross – it has been great to have a couple of days overlap with him and ask lots of questions and to get the low-down on our partners in crime to Singapore – Steve and Paul!
Day of preparation and handover in Luang Prabang including Mekong river boat trip.
Today was a planned transition day for the stage 3- stage 4 cross over. Ross, Paul and Steve completed a long drive though the magnificent mountainous jungle and reached Luang Prabang a day early, enabling a morning adventure before preparing the new crew for the road.
We hired a private river tuk tuk for an early morning boat trip on the river Mekong. We would be taken to some local villages including the whisky village and the Pak Ou caves. A 2 hour cruise up the river gave some stunning views and chance to experience some of the local villages, fisheries and river life. The first stop was the whisky village where we were greeted with some locally distilled whisky, followed by a visit to the local village temples and market. We moved on to the next stop the Pak Ou caves caves where we explored an ancient Buddha sculpture temple hidden in the depths of caves which are only accessible by boat.
High Point – Finally arriving in Luang Prabang, Laos to see the remaining members of the Stage 3 crew!
Low Point – All highs today folks!
No point – N/A
On the 2nd Oct and after months of planning it was finally the turn of the Stage 4 team to head to Luang Prabang to begin our stint of Follow that Fire Engine! Read more →
High Points: Zipping through the China and Laos borders in no time at all and the road of many children to Luang Prabang.
Low Points: Goodbyes.
Author’s comments: Today was border day, and through past experiences these need to be had early. With this in mind we departed our hotel in the pitch black at 6.45am, and drove the short distance to the China – Laos border. After watching the impressive flag raising ceremony from the Chinese side we elbowed our way through the melee and Paul and I were out of China within twenty minutes. Steve had the task of bringing Martha out and amazingly thanks to the mountains of paperwork Navo and Sun Ji had prepared they followed shortly behind. The entry into Laos couldn’t have been more comical; it was like stepping into the nursery rhyme Old McDonald had a farm. After a bit of chat and some strange looks, we located the passport stamping zone. Next was the insurance documents for Martha, $10 and a big smile seemed to do the trick, so much so we were awarded with three cans of larger, our first test?
Location : Yuanjiang to Mengla
Ever had a bad day, week or even month at work? Who hasn’t right? Quite possibly you’re in the midst of one now and reading this in an attempt to escape for a few minutes. Wow, I feel for you, things must have got really bad. However let’s put this into context.
Imagine your month was a follows:
You are a good person, hard working and go the extra mile (I’ve probably lost half of you already). You are hired by four 30-somethings from China to hand hold them around the UK for the best part of 4 weeks.
Hello to everyone back home,
Beijing really is a wonderful city with lots to see and do. The crew went off to have some fun and meet up with friends, including Ben, who had left us at UB, whilst I was left in the car park as usual! Still I mustn’t grumble, it was a good opportunity for a bit of Martha time.
Location : Lake Fu Xian to Yuangyang
Low Point : On the day that China launched a lunar probe into space (Chang’e 2), the stage 3 crew had bigger fish to fry : to fully circumnavigate the island in the middle of Lake Xian in a rubber dingy (Challenger 4). This would test our team ethic, physical endurance and mental strength. With confidence high the first hurdle was just to hire the boat. As per normal in China, it takes at least 9 people far too long to perform a task that would warrant just 1 person in normal money. The usual, “no no no no maybe maybe no no no maybe yes” fun and games kicked off until we finally got the sign off for launch. Dominate !!! Let’s take this island doooown
High Point: Being alive is a fantastic feeling.
Low Point: Starring death in the face isn’t a great feeling.
Setting the scene: After a bit of a torrid time navigating out of the hotel car park in Kunming, four very excited lads were looking forward to heading to one of China’s major lakes for some swimming, boating and any other water based sports we could find. Unfortunately our desire to see water came a bit prematurely as the heavens opened a down pour of what could only be described as torrential rain followed. Driving Martha in good conditions is an absolute pleasure, driving her on smashed up roads in Russia is scary, driving her in any form of bad weather is dicey to say the least. Martha does not drive like my fiat punto, with Martha weighing in at just under 7.5 tonnes she has a tendency to get a bit excited on the descents, the trick to managing this has been through a mixture of engine and foot braking.
