Steven Raucher's World Tour

2001-07-07 in Savannakhet, Laos
Bangkok (Thailand) to Hue (Vietnam) in three days

All the pictures on this leg come from Laos. Not surprising really, this country is the most photogenic one I�ve ever seen.

It may be a good time to point out that the reason for such a hurried approach to Vietnam was the fact that Vietnamese visas stipulate both an entry date and an exit date, and since my detour to Bangkok we had only two weeks left on our visas to see Vietnam. We crossed the border into Laos at Savannakhet on the second day of our three day sprint to Vietnam. We previously had not ventured that far south in Laos so we were happy to be there. Savannakhet is a very picturesque French colonial town set on the Mekong River.

From Savannakhet we drove North to Highway Number 8 to the Border with Vietnam 400 kms away. There is a closer one only 200 kms from Savannakhet but it does not allow motorcycles of more than 175cc into the country (this is due to a recent law in Vietnam banning the import of large motorbikes). After crossing some beautiful scenery and having to negotiate some serious rock-falls (see pictures) we managed to get within 30 kms of the Laos-Vietnamese border that day. This town turned out to be a rather pleasant surprise, it is a major logging town and had great guest houses with parking, not too mention fantastic noodle soup!

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Ariella and the bike on the ferrry to Lao

The colonial squares of Savannakhet

About to drive into a monsoon storm - batten down the hatches

good roads these, if you don't mind the rivers

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