The train from Luang Prabang to Vang Vien was completely packed. There were about 25% Westerners and the rest either Asian tourists or Lao. At the Kasi station about a dozen Lao got off…and then me. No other Westerners exited the train.
So why did I get off? Simple: to learn how to ride a motorcycle in Laos. I got to spend four days with “Uncle Tom” going from scratch to doing 75km rides through the Lao landscape. Tom is a Welshman and a former competitive trials rider who moved to Laos 12 years ago. He looks like fellow Welshman Tom Jones, but unfortunately, while his voice is much better than mine, it’s not at that level.
My only experience on a manual motorcycle to that point was a few hours in a parking lot three years ago to get my official California motorcyle license. I knew I’d be doing a lot of scooter riding in SE Asia, and maybe at least one motorcyle tour, and I wanted to get really comfortable on a bike.
He picked me up from the train station in his trusty sidecar and off we went, bag and all, for the 10 minute ride to my guesthouse.
The view down one of the two main streets of Kasi from outside my guesthouse. There’s wasn’t much there for a tourist, but seeing it through Tom’s eyes, it was a wonderful place with really engaging people. The overpass above is for the recent Chinese built railray that bisects northern Laos.
The next day, Tom took me to the “playground” where I started out on a small bike to get my balance and start getting comfortable with the gears and turning. He was on a microphone connected to my helmet and walked around giving instructions while I rode.
After about 90 minutes he left and came back with “Moose”, the slightly larger bike I’d be on for the rest of my time there. He uses Chinese bikes because he can easily get parts for them in Kasi. He says they are like the Japanese bikes were 20 years ago and are definitely good enough for what he needs.
I got about another 90 minutes running around the “playground” on the new bike.
And then we had lunch at a local restaurant his friend runs. The food was fantastic.
After that we drove around the back parts of Kasi for a while, then went for about a 40km roundtrip ride on paved roads to finish off the day.
The next day we headed off to the village of Muang Meth, which is about 75km away. It was a nice mix of paved and unpaved roads. The riding was getting more and more comfortable and the scenery was beautiful.
We stopped at a small temple next to a river for a short rest.
A large herd of water buffalo just off the road.
The entrance to the village of Muang Meth.
On the third day, we took a completely different route back to Kasi. It was even more scenic and a bit more difficult for me.
I set up my GoPro for the first time for this ride, but I had some battery issues and only ended up with a few videos, and none of them in the really scenic parts. But I hope the pictures give you a sense of how beautiful parts of the ride were.
A friend of Tom’s makes the drive every day from Kasi to Muang Meth to sell food she can buy for much cheaper in Kasi. He saw her, stopped her, and bought a few really nice treats for us.
A nice temple in a small village just outside of Kasi.
This bridge collapsed twice in the past 9 months. Both times it was because of stupid truck drivers going over it two at a time. The truck drivers were OK each time when they fell into the gulley, but it shut down a main village transportation route for the weeks it took to repair the bridge.
Tom was incensed when we saw them doing it again. He took some pictures and was going to report it to the local authorities when we got back.
We ended up at a farm two friends of his just started up. Her mother had the land and over the past few years they built it up. There’s 75 avocado trees, tons of other crops, chickens, ducks, goats and cows. It was a really tranquil place and it was fascinating to see how they developed it all to work together.
Some neighbors sold long term leases to the Chinese who used chemicals to grow their produce (just like most of the world does). They ship it all back to China, as the locals won’t eat any produce grown from chemicals. She lauged and said she doesn’t use chemicals because all her animals provide more than enough natural fertilizer.
The last day Tom took me on a 4.5 hour journey up and down a local mountain to a town at the top. It was a great experience and, as you can see, wonderfully scenic. Because I knew the GoPro was working I didn’t stop to take any pictures.
The main square at the town at the top of the mountain.
The restaurant we had a break in before heading back down.
