Across the Border and into the Trees.

I am now in Laos in particular I am in Attepeu. This quiet dusty town is on the southern edge of the Boleven Plateau. I arrived here at midday after a long ride from Bo Y on the Vietnamese side. The journey began this morning at about 8:00 am from the town of Pleican (or Ngoc Hai). I motored all the way to the border on this new development road. Not a single other vehicle passed me on the way. It was almost surreal. I thought there might be something wrong or that I would suddenly encounter a motorcade full of dignitaries and such like. No such luck. When I finally got to Bo Y it became clear that the road I came in on was  not the one most used by the plethora of timber trucks that were to be found parked everywhere  waiting for a driver to clear immigration/customs.

I parked up and went into this huge empty hall. It was only empty in the middle on one side there was a hive of activity around 2 windows. One was customs and the other passport control. I presented my passport to Customs only to be told to go to Passport control. The man took the passport sliding the $5:00 US into a convenient drawer beside him. He did the usual with the stamping and then asked me with very obvious signs where my bike was. I pointed in the general direction. This was when the problem started. They told me with sign language that I could not take the bike over the border. Apparently I could not import a bike into Laos. It took another 45 minutes going back and forth between customs and Passport control. Eventually I was able to convince them that I was not importing the bike but was a tourist and was planning to take it from  Vietnam into Laos and then into Cambodia.I did not mention my intention to come back into Vietnam.... that is another story for later. Anyway suddenly It was all OK and I was allowed to leave Vietnam. The Laotian side was a completely different storey. They didn't ask about the bike and I didn't mention it either. I got my visa, I got on my bike and I got the hell out of there as fast as I could go. Yeeha! For a while there Icould see the trip grinding to a halt prematurely. I give thanks to my natural luck!

The trip to Attapeu was fantastic. At first it was jungle clad  mountains, incredibly steep and quite fantastic. The views were awesome  and  I was constantly drawn to these huge vistas. The road was a disaster. Potholes and 30 meter long swathes of rough potholey gravel. Speed was kept to about 25Kph. I had visions of arriving in attepeu in the dark after a 9hour slog. Once I got to the flat the road and the country changed. The road improved remarkably and the country got dry and scrubby. A wierd contradiction but that is Laos. I got to Attepeu at lunch time and found this quiet guesthouse that is  very pleasant. Tomorrow I head to Tad Lo and chill time.