Today we have a 390 km drive to Luang Prabang. Driving out of Vientiane is very slow as the city just seemed to keep going and new year celebrations are continuing with balloons still being sold.
We struggle to do more than 70kph as we wind through the urban sprawl and into small villages selling fish along the Mekong river with steep jungle covered mountains to our left (west).
After morning tea the road becomes more winding which gives Kay a good drive as the BGT soaks up the road.
We find a picturesque lunch spot on a small river with the dramatic mountains in front of us.
The local ice cream man turns up much to the delight of the team who swamp him to buy an ice cream! A shrewd move by the ice cream man.
We even have a spirit house for good luck on our journey.
After lunch we have to climb over the mountains to join the road into Luang Prabang so Michael takes the wheel fortunately. The scenery is really stunning with dramatic mountains.
The road becomes windier & steeper with the gradient getting to 12% at times and Shiraz is mostly in 2nd gear and going back to 1st at times. With the ambient temperature in the high 30’s and the elev
ation climbing to around 2,000 metres above sea level the temperature gauge climbs to just under the “H” so we pull over to cool the motor down.
Shamrock pulls over further down the mountain as it boils and Burgundy stops with them, the remainder of the team make it up to Shiraz. When Shamrock & Burgundy join the rest of the team we discover a hole in the neck of Shamrock’s radiator. Michael mixes up some sunfix, a magic putty that becomes metal after 30 minutes which he placed over the hole and we take off to complete the climb to the top.
The ambient temperature drops a bit further up & the carbies take a gasp of cool air and Shiraz lunges forward and takes off with the extra burst of power! The views at the top are worth the climb!
On the drive down the mountain we are stopped at a Police checkpoint where they ask us where we’re going, they just smile & say they like our cars & wave us on, with no local tax to pay!
We arrive out our beautiful hotel which is overlooking Luang Probang and is surrounded by mountains after 9 hours on the road. We jump into the lovely swimming pool order a beer & cool off with magnificent views of the mountains, it doesn’t get much better than this!
After our 6pm meeting that we have in the swimming pool we head into town for a lovely French meal at l’elephant restaurant. French bread, pastries & good coffee can be purchased here, a wonderful legacy from a French colony.
So good almost to be travelling with you. Thanks so much for your articles.