G'Day to all bloggees from blogger Rick!

This is a very brief update while I have a rare chance to have reasonable internet access and a few hours to spare! I've decided I'll complete this blog in full (with lots of photos and video) when back in Australia after the trip! A warning this update will most probably contain spelling mistakes, grammatical errors and half truths and for this I offer no apologies!

Sorry about the blog not being updated for......????? ages....but after leaving the northern central Vietnam area of Phog Nha we soon realised the pre-planned easy 300ks a day travelling and the rest of the day sight seeing was not going to be possible as it was taking all day to travel at most 200 we decided if we were to travel from southern Vietnam to the northern Chinese boarder then into Northern Laos then south to Cambodia and around Cambodia as originally planned the journey would have to become a road trip!! (sorry for such a long sentence but I have to get as much down as quick as possible to update this blog)

We travel all day along the lesser traveled routes to avoid the tourist traps and see the real country and meet local people.  After a very long day, cold and wet we reached the the northern viet boarder town of Sa Pa (popular tourist destination to visit hill tribes) in the dark and decided it was time to spend a day warming up washing clothes and resting bums! After 2 nights (the first time we spent 2 nights in the same town since leaving HCMC) we headed east to the Laos Border town of Dien Bien Phu hoping to cross into Laos the next day. Due to a complication with bike rego we were told we could cross boarder but bikes could not!!! Bugger! Five days latter travelling the mountains along the Viet/Laos boarder and several attempts crossing legally (may have been possible to cross without visas stamps etc but we aren't that stupid!!) we finally made it into Laos!  At least a week behind schedule and 100s of ks south of where we hoped to be we continued south in remote mountainous tracks and villages for another week arriving here Lak Sao (a central/eastern Laos/Viet hussling bussling boarder crossing towm) last night.  We intend on heading to the Mekong river town of Thakhek today and getting ourselves and our bikes on a boat and spending a few days motoring down the river (giving our bikes and bums a rest) to the city of Pakxe. From Pakxe head east into the mountains then to the Laos/Cambodian boarder area know as the 4000 islands on the Mekong River!

After out "hiccup" at crossing the Viet/Laos boarder we are a tad unsure of how successful us and our bikes will fair but on this road trip we treat every day as a new adventure and have adopted the phrase "ce la vie" to begin each day!

Bye for now and hope your day is as interesting or boring as you make it.......like ours!

Cheerio from Rick and Monty!

PS If you havent already add Andrew McQueen as a friend on facebook and follow his trip photos and comment!!