The Worst Days of my Motorcycling Tour Ever | Part 2

Day 23 – Day 29 | 11th June 2016 – 17th June 2016

I continued to be moving on the road for 3 hours after the 3 dreaded falls, when I went over an abrupt pothole. GOSH, I did not have time to slow down as I spotted it late and the motorcycle went over it. I wasnt travelling really fast either! It was most probably between 60 – 70km/hour.

As the pothole was pretty deep, the bump was abrupt and hard. The kind of bump which makes you go “***”. I got down at a village to check. True enough, there was a hissing sound. Damn, located the source of sound and found the hole. Oh my god, this isnt a normal tyre puncture which could be fixed easily. The tyre’s wire mesh came out. Holy crap. Greatest freakout ever. Stay calm and rectify the problem.

I stopped and had a check. Sure enough, there was a hissing sound from the rear tyre. I stopped at the village to patch it up.

While I was patching up the hole, loads of village kids and some adults started flocking around me. No idea where they come out from. They just pop out quickly around me like ‘pop!’ they appear. I guess they have never seen a machine like this before, nor have they seen some weird ass guy like me before. Overall most lao people on the streets are pretty friendly, though they dont smile as much as Thais.

So this was how big the darn hole (below) became in the rear tyre after forcing patches in. The more I put in, the bigger the hole became as the foundation of the tyre was gone.

I have helped more than a handful of bikers to patch up their tyres, usually only “1 rubber worm” is needed, occasionally 2 “rubber worms” to cover up the hole and seal up the hole completely.

Considering this is my first time getting a tyre puncture after 3 years on the road, this is a damn bad start to a tyre puncture. 6 bloody “worms” was needed to cover the hole.

Patched it up in 15mins. Unfortunately it wasnt the end. It’s the start of a damn big problem. The moment I saw the tyre’s internal wire mesh before i fixed it, I knew that its gonna be “Good Game” for me. 

After the first initial patching of the rear tyre was done, I went for a short distance before I felt the vehicle becoming wobbly. Stopped by the side of the road to check (with curious village children looking at me) and I found that the patches all came out and the hole grew bigger.

Re-patched with new and more worms, and pumped air in (Below). This time reinforcing the hole with a huge load of tapes. Glad I brought tapes as emergency purposes. I never knew when would I need one but I still brought rolls of tapes with me. This time it serves its purpose.

I stayed with this lady for 2 nights (Below). As it got dark and my flat tyre was not fixed (air kept gushing out despite putting in more than 10 patches), I was offered to stay with her. Im glad that she is kind enough to let a stranger into her home.

For 2 days she cooked me meals. Simple meals like in this photo. Rice, omelette and a bowl of vegetable. Reasonable amount of carbohydrates, protein and fibre to prevent me from being malnourished. It is good enough for me and pretty ok for me. I learn about how traditional lao people actually eat, Im very surprised. I learn something new. This is my first time seeing how they eat, something different.

Im not sure whom the baby belonged to as she does not speak a single english word.

Luckily I am able to communicate with the lady through basic body languages. Its strange that I talk to her in english while she replies in Lao Tian, both not being able to understand each other most of the time. ?

The following day, I managed to borrow their 100c motorcycle and went to the small motorcycle shops around the nearby Sub Modern villages. None of them were willing to help, nor able to help. Either one. I have the feeling they are more to not bothering to help as they are lazy. The amount of stuff they need to go through for me might not be rewarding enough for them most probably.

I managed to contact  family using a Guesthouse Wifi in a nearby town 8km away (Data doenst work in that area nor does the village have WIFI). Thought it was free.

When I finished using about 20mins later the man demanded 10,000 Lao Kip /USD $1.8. Ridiculous. He did not mention that that I need to pay for using it. Rubbish. I was pissed. I paid him half of it after 5mins and went off instead, though he demanded 2x more.
I stood for my rights and I have had enough of bullying when I was young.

I scolded him ( I dont give a s*** when you are trying to f*** me up ) before I left. It shouldn’t even cost anything! Pissed. Why should I pay you 10,000 Lao Kip for 20mins of usage? I can get a data for my phone (2 weeks) for myself at this price.

5000 Lao Kip isnt much but people whom are trying to earn at any slightest opportunities shouldn’t even deserve it.
Story would have changed if he mentioned that beforehand.

It was not a wild goose chase for me even though the shops could not help me in the area. I got a very very valuable info from one of the handphone shop owners (Also a new friend now).
Was passing by his shop when I saw a small sports bike inside his shop (150cc Yamaha R15) Now having a R15 in this kind of country means you know something about bikes and know where to change tyres/ parts if his own vehicles wear and tears. I approached him and thank my lucky stars, he knows basic english!

After talking for some time he gave me location on where to head to. I marked it in my offline GPS map. 60km to Luang Prabang.

Distance is 60km to Luangprabang for a new tyre change. He said its a big town and that shop does have my tyre size.
Yup, I passed by that place few days back when going north from Vang Vieng to China. Now I have to travel backwards. Its ok, get that darn tyre and i can fly again (better not in this country).
60km is not far at all with a fully functional vehicle. 60km is darn far for me now with a handicapped vehicle.

Got back to the lady house (she cooked for me dinner), hanged out with the village kids for a while and slept for the night.

I gave her some money as a sign of gratitude and thanked her dearly.
It is much lesser than the cost I would have to spend if I will to stay in a hotel and buy my own food, it’s ok for me.I will be back next time. 

June 14th 2016 (it is time to move off south to Luang Prabang) :

Following day, as I know there are no shops nor any men in the village that can help me around this area, I had to move off by myself.
So for the final time I am repatching the hole as my whole lot of spare patches are gonna be used up. Inside the tyres now, there are about 20 tube “worm” patches now. I made up my mind to add more despite having the risk of making the hole bigger. The hole gets bigger the more I move/ add more patches. I have no choice as, if I do not add more patches, the air escaping is too fast.

As long as I can hear the air escaping, I better not move. I strengthened the hole with whatever I have as pictured below.

1) Add in more “worm patches” to the hole.
2) wrap a load of tapes to cover the hole.
3) add the 1st layer of rubber layer (which i cut off from a salvaged tube tyre from a truck shop)
4) another layer of tapes to hold the rubber layer
5) final layer of rubber secured with cable ties (really glad i brought many). Pumped to about 30psi (able to hear the air escaping still), and I try to go as far as possible to Luang Prabang..

With the reinforced patch, I wanted to try my luck if I can make it to Luang Prabang, which is 60km from where Im in a rural village.
I went really slow at 40km/ hour. At the start no sound could be heard. I told myself I would get down and check at every 10km.
Every single second Im thinking, how long more can I go? Terrifying feel.
First 10km reached, I got down to check, everything still ok and secured as what I made (previous post). Pumped in abit of air and continued my journey.

I reached the 15km mark and hear the slapping sound of the rubber flap getting prominent. I have no choice but to get down and check. Damn, this is what I saw, my entire tape and rubber protection already slid away from the “worm” hole (Circled in Red). And part of the “worm” patch was also dragged out from the hole.

Lousy, low quality reinforcement I had done. If only I had reinforced more and did a better quality job..

What the hell. Really feeling frustrated and hopeless at this moment especially in this hot weather. I just feel like leaving the vehicle there, abandon it and take a flight home. Really. Damn. Seriously.  That kind of thought, but of course, I wont be doing it.

I tried to patch up the hole again with my remaining “worm” patches. I was starting to feel worried as I have used 90% of my “worm” patches.

I brought around 40 – 50 “worm” patches and I am only left with abit. I was thinking 40 – 50 patches was overkill before the trip. No its not. Having more is better than having less. It doesnt take much space anyway.
In anyway i learnt: Never ever buy those lousy Black Worms. Those are of worse quality than the red, fatter ones. The black ones really doesnt really “grip” into the hole.

At this point of time, the more patches put in with abit of pumped air in, the air manages to force its way out of the hole.
No matter how much of remaining patches I added in, the air just keeps escaping.

I feel really..lost and hopeless at this kind of place. But I did not verbally curse at all. No point. It will make me feel worse. I stopped a few locals on small motorbikes and a few tried to help but all those whom helped (by calling someone), no output was done too.In the end they left me without saying a word too. Its ok, they cant help me anyway. I have been stuck here for 2 hours now. I stood and think hard. No towing exist in Laos (or there probably is, but in LaoTian, which I cant read), no mobile mechanic, nothing.

I observed the occasional vehicles going pass me. A minority of them are pick up trucks, lorries. Thats good. I had an idea.

I decided to stop a passing lorry that can fit the motorcycle in. This Hyundai lorry looks like it can fit the motorcycle. Its meant to hold around 10 or more people at the back. I told the local my problem. Pretty straight forward, they get me within a few mins of body language and pointing to the flat rear tyre. I decided to pay them as they are gonna help me get out of this “dire” situation.

The driver agreed but the driver quoted me 400,000 lao kip intially (USD 51). I brought it down to 300, 000 lao kip (USD 38).

It is actually very affordable already considering the distance they need to bring me. Back in other countries, cost is equally the same or more, for a shorter distance.

They agreed. I told the driver to come back with at least 4 people including me as it is risky to bring up this motorcycle up the truck with just 2 people. No problem waiting awhile as they live down the road in the village ahead.

The man came back with 3 people. I took out my boxes as it easily weighs another 20kg with the contents. I had to remove my mirrors and #windshield as it was too tall for the Hyundai. Even so, had to slant the bike to the left at the peak of the slope as the dashboard was higer than the back of the lorry. 2 men at front, 2 men at the back. Just right. Luckily the bike fit into the back of the lorry, and now my 45km journey continues to Luang Prabang.

I finally reached the recommended motorcycle shop in Luang Prabang. Unfortunately the boss doesn’t have my tyre size. Good thing is that he can order from Thailand. Bad thing is that it cost a bomb here for the set of new tyres. I will be paying USD 124 more than what back in the damned country for this exact model of tyres..

He has to pay his friends for hand carrying the tyres from Thailand to Laos, and for his profit of course.

Well its better than getting stuck here.. next time I will be bringing a spare new set of tyres as emergency.. save the hassle, save the cost and save time..
Money is never enough no matter how much we earn.. and money can be earned back.. Time and safety can never be earned back..

Finally close to a week from that dreaded tyre puncture, I finally got new tyres to continue my journey. Super duper happy.
Total extra I need to pay (including “Towing”) compared to a change back in other countries: About USD 162.
For close to a week just because I am waiting for my tyre, I was staying in a hotel room.

It sucks to keep on paying every single day for lodging. Good thing was, this is the cheapest ever I have for an entire room to myself. It is even cheaper than most backpackers inn. That is what makes me feel it is ok to part with my money.
I was pretty shocked that I can get an entire room for myself at 30,000 Lao Kip/ USD USD 3.8!

Shared bathroom, Fan only room, with Wifi and Unlimited water, why not?! I didnt mind the shared bathroom anyway, not much people use it. Most importantly is that I could keep my belongings safe while I go out exploring the area.

Realised that the tyres were air flown from Thailand, Udon Thani (passed by there too, should have bought the spares there) to Laos, Luang Prabang, within 2 nights of order.. I already brought down the price.. well its actually very fast the new tyres reach me.

For USD 134 extra air flown and a few people to deliver by land, just for the tyres compared to changing back in other countries, i feel its ok. Pay for convenience, the usual.

Next time i will bring  another spare set of spare tyres with me, because I only brought 3 sets of clothes with me to lighten my weight. 80% of my carrying weight is from my photo equipments. Sometimes I wish that I dont need to bring proper camera equipments, but I cant bear to photograph beautiful sceneries here with a crappy sensor in a handphone.

Finally new tyres for the rear after this dreaded week. Changed the front too for an even pair.

This time its more to Off Road tyres (Metzeler karoo 3) (70% road, 30% off road capabilities as specifications online).
Though it looks more of an #offroad tyre to me.. Compared to the previous Pirelli Scorpion Trail which is made for 95% road, 5% Off Road.
The Off Road Metzeler Karoo 3 definitely wont be as lasting as the previous Pirelli Scorpion Trail Tyres, but the Karoo 3’s grip and large, spacious, far apart threads are definitely far superior than the former for Off-Road conditions.
Which is exactly what I need now in these bad, bad, baddd road conditions!

Off I test the new tyres around the shop in this area, in case anything happens. Boy I noticed a huge difference in the sound when the bike is moving. As it was road tyres before this, there was no sound at all when moving. Now because its more to off road threads, and I guess its how the road reacts to the large spacious threads, the sound is pretty loud. The faster I move, the louder the sound comes out.
It takes a little time to get used to it. Its been 2 months with these tyres (as of writing this on Aug 5th 2106) and I am pretty used to the sound. Most probably it can be barely heard if one is wearing a full face helmet.

I had my first hair cut overseas in the later day, after this ordeal and this is when I bump into the 2 French motorcyclist again (First bumped into them in Vang Veing).

I met these 2 french motorcyclist Bruno and Victor back in Vang Veing at the same hostel they are staying in. Both of them are younger than me but they look so much more matured than me! Victor is tall. Very tall, maybe about 1.87 meters, while Bruno is short, shorter than me, about 1.65. An asian in the middle. Not that bad!

They approached me because they are intrigued by the size of the Motorcycle I was riding. I learnt pretty much from talking to them in just in an hour.

These 2 childhood buddies flew to South East Asia from France, each buying very old motorcycles from Vietnam and they travelled to Laos so far. Here in Vang Veing, I bump into them. They have not showered for a few nights and this is their first night that requires them to pay for lodging after a few days.

They tell me that they have been staying in huts by the roadsides to sleep in the night. They are really very cost savy. More than me. This is when and where I start to actually learn alot from them to cut cost. I learn so much from them in the upcoming nights with them.
Unfortunately I had to leave them first as I have to catch an early night rest for my trip to China the following morning.

I cant believe they caught up with me because of my Tyre Puncture!
Though this time, theres a new girl behind Victor now. A french girl. A french girl called Celestine. Very nice name. She had been travelling in SEA alone and she bumped into Bruno and Victor. They decided to travel together to cut cost.
How open minded are westerners, really! I got to learn from them, I told myself.

They spotted me parking by the side of the road from far again in Luang Prabang here due to the motorcycle size. It is just too prominent in a 3rd world country. Everybody stares at me while I ride past them as they have not seen such a motorcycle before, or less often.

Chances of spotting my asian face among a few hundred asian faces around me is likely to be 0!
I brought them to the hostel I was living in to put down their stuff (At no cost for the incoming night as they are not staying in any room), while we caught up on what happened between Vang Veing and here (Luang Prabang).

The 3 french and I decided to go out on a small adventure together the following morning..