Todays ride was planned to visit the now abandoned town of Kaluem, which will be flooded shortly as part of a hydro project then continue south to Sekong.
Then cross the XE Don river on the old suspension bridge.
Soon approaching our first bridge crossing, the locals made short work of it on their lightweight step throughs.
The water was shallow so we decided on the wet feet route.
First of many bridges that had seen better days.
Pretty featureless landscape very very dry.
This bridge was a real belter, it had collapsed, but the locals had laid another structure over it to make a rather fragile crossing.
Riverbeds almost dry, wet season would be fun.
The once bustling logging village of Vangchan now almost empty.
Now starting the climb to Kaluem.
A maze of trails soon to be under water.
Reaching Kaluem.
Vietnamese sellers, carrying everything.
As we got into town or what was left of it, lots of worker slowly disassembling everything that could be reused.
Main market information boards.
Old clinic still in one piece, for now.
The old ferry point.
It was time to get out of town, pretty sad to see a town die this way, we stopped at Vangchan for a drink.
Back on the road south.
This lady weaving as her son watches smoking his bong filled with who knows what.
Pretty valuable commodity in these parts a herd of buffalo.
This was a no go, so we had to work around.
Then got hit by a series of storms, we sheltered in this mechanics workshop, as the roof was being blown off.
Another storm had us take cover in a small shop, lots of smiles form the kids.
Bug flavoured Laos whiskey.
The ferry in Sekong fully loaded during the storm.
Another great days riding, damped by the storms we hoped the morning would bring us sunshine.
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