Long Cheng Rainy Season Ride.
Sept 2015

The track in to Long Chieng from Xaisomboun direction is graded hard packed all the way.
I was honestly surprised to see the road works finish at the edge of Long Chieng.

It is a mostly easy ride.. No real issues.. We came via Vang Vieng and joined up with the Phu Bia mine road.
Unfortunately lost my pics for that days ride in.

The track from Vang Vieng is good..
Just the last bit a few wash outs and cleared land slides. Had we been earlier we may have been slowed down or stopped by the now cleared landslides.

Unlike back in January 2015.. When the army really didn’t want us staying over night.
But relented. Though we could go and eat and had to be back in the Guest House and leave early the next morning.

This time.. No issues what so ever.. No visit from the army.. Rode around the old base / town. Allowed up to the Kings house this time.. Pretty much free to do what ever we wanted.

Having more access to move around town. There are actually a few restaurants to chose from.

Leaving Long Chieng for Phonsavan is a bit different.
We had to stay one extra night as a land slide had blocked the road.

This time around I really didn’t notice much progress to the road works.
The track is much more deteriorated in the wet..

We certainly had some fun getting to Phonsavan in the rain..
Approx 90 km in 4 hrs.. Amazingly no offs. But we all had a few close calls.
Thrity percent of the track is like riding on ice..
Take you hand off the handlebars to press to Go Pro and you go sideways.

 

 

The main paved road, runway on left in to Long Chieng

 

The haunted temple

 

We were informed the landslide is about 60 km out..
Hopefully when we get there is is cleared or we can at least pass.

Otherwise back to Long Chieng or camp over night at a nearby village.

We bought our camping gear just in case we did get stuck somewhere.

Breakfast view of the haunted temple

 

Chris filling up before we head off.

 

It is taking some time to move the petrol from the containers to the drum..
So I head up and take another pic of the mighty KLX on the Long Chieng runway.

 

We head off in rain gear and pretty miserable weather..
It has been raining now for two days non stop. Started just after we pulled in at Long Cheng the first afternoon .

We slipped and slid and spun in mud, rode through the ruts and watch land slides slowly crumbling and creeping across the track..
In some parts recent land slides had just been cleared.

There were parts of the track with rocks and a torrent of water across.
You could see a crack in the earth. But unsure how deep it was. Decided to test the depth before riding through.

It was tricky enough.. But if really deep, need to power on over and try not to lose it on the wet rocks once clear.
It turned out to be shallow.. But best to check these things first than get stuck for an hour or two or worse.

 

We reach the big land slide that had blocked the path the day before.

 

Peep Peep..

He pats down the area he is working on and moves out the way.

 

I was leading. Looking at this and thinking… Will I go up to my arm pits here?!

Powered on through with a bit of slipping and sliding but no dramas.

Another land slide slowly happening as we pass.

 

You can actually see the soil and rocks slowly crumbling and rolling out on to the track.

Lot of slipping and sliding.. The down hill bits were tricky and like ice in some parts

Go to press the button on my Go Pro and slide right across the track.. Just managed to keep it under control.

 

This is the track from Long Chieng to Phonsavan in the wet season.
90 KM approx, took us 4 hrs with a couple of stops for a warm drink.

It may be a shorter distance from Phonsavan. But the track is much more difficult.
There was not much progress that I noticed since the ride in January 2015.

The other way from Xaisomboun is good graded all the way to Long Chieng.

Do able on any bike with decent tyres if it has been dry.
The other track to Phonsavan a little more challenging.

Cheers
Brian