roads <\/em>vary from passable (reasonable tarmac but with random large potholes) to abysmal (ruts, rubble, stones, holes but with random flashes of tarmac). <\/p>\n\n\n\nThere\u2019s no money to fix any of this, and 40-tonne trucks lumber their way up and over the mountain pass every day, grinding away what\u2019s left of the surface. For me on a trail bike, it\u2019s challenging. For a scooter rider, unimaginable (but they manage, somehow).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And so it took probably more than seven hours (I didn\u2019t really track it) and every part of me aches \ud83d\ude05<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The mountain pass.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n Of course you can tell you\u2019re ascending. The landscape changes, the air cools. I had to stop to put on another layer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The cloud cover grew closer and closer, until I was in <\/em>the cloud. Did you know? Clouds are cold, and wet, and not especially seethrough. At one point I was down to about 10km\/h, peering ahead to see where I was going, while negotiating with the road surface, lorries and nature in general, to stay the course.<\/p>\n\n\n\nBut the views. The views. <\/h2>\n\n\n\n All that concentration on the road conditions makes it hard to take in all the epic landscape. But when the chance arrives to pause and drink it in, it is (sorry) jaw-dropping. Pictures won\u2019t do it justice but anyway:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\nNear Nan<\/em> on the 4C road. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nNear Nan<\/em> on the 4C road.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nNear Kasy <\/em>on the 4C road.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nNear Kasy<\/em> on the 4C road.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nNear Kasy<\/em> on the 4C road.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nNear Kasy<\/em> on the 4C road.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nNear Kasy<\/em> on the 4C road.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nNear Vang Vieng<\/em> on the 4C road.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nThat wonderful road surface. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\nOne of the aspects I love of this kind of travel is the reactions from little kids as you ride through tiny villages. They range from wide-eyed amazement, to waving, to (for the second time now) flipping the bird, to an in-motion high-five as I passed two kids riding in the back of a farm wagon. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I don\u2019t know how much more of these road conditions there are to come. I suspect a lot, so I\u2019m glad that tomorrow I will have a rest day, and play tourist again. <\/p>\n
<\/div>
<\/path><\/svg><\/i> <\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It finally happened. I found a motorbike, a real motorbike. Turns out the first place that I tried, who were all booked up, split in two a while back so the other half of it had a bike for me. Big thanks to Harry for going through everything with me and setting me up with […]<\/p>\n
<\/div>\n
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