Jackspratt------ yeah,,,, that will help tremendously,,,, that way it won't hurt so much when the Chinese shove it in and yell "BOHICA" !!!

For those of you unaware of the infamous BOHICA, it's obvious you've never been ******* by the system or "higher ups".

BOHICA is "Bend Over, Here It Comes Again." Cheers

Maybe it will be a nice change to have a different world bully

Well Jackspratt,,,,, I guess we're guilty of wandering off topic again, eh? Hope the wet noodles don't hurt this time

In an attempt to regain the subject,,,, I would love to be able to tour Laos on a decent rail system. However, given the time projects take in this part of the world,, I think I'm going to have to leave that trip to the younger guys,, what say you?

I still want to ride it on a bike and that is already going on. You can do it by car just have to get the right permits, to take your car over. If they things don't loosen up on the bike side I may do that instead. yo can rent bikes there, but my back is not going to survive a dirt bike.

The Choo Choo would be cool. But, yuo don't have to wait on it. Imagine a trip through Lao, Vietnam and into China. hat would be somethign excitiong to do. Right now he real hangup is Vietnam. Haven't thought much about China cant get through Vietnam won't work. I think you would need an english speaking guide for each country. Yor Thai sweety isnl going to help you much in those countries.

Far as I know the highway already exists. it's the border crossing tha would stop everything. But, Lao can be done

The Map I got for the GPS actually includes all those countries

trains, bikes, cars or...

take the fast boat or slow boat Luang Prabang from the river port about 12km up river from vientiane.. Fast boat requires ear plugs and some butt cushions.. Slow boat stops all over and takes a couple of days..

Frazee how do you get past paying $30.00 for every visit?

I woudl like to spend some time ther but not all a once for example the boa ride sounds like a fun experience. But when you add $30.00 to it becomes a bit expensive

FrazeeDK,,,, that boat trip sounds like a lot of fun,, I've read reports from people doing quite long trips up the Mekong but the majority seem to be young types. I would definitely need some Butt cushions.

Git,,, the travelogues I've read about bike trips thru Laos and VietNam all seem to use dirt bikes. Are there "crossover" bikes that would have the best attributes of both types for you to use?

Rte 2 is supposed to be a good paved road all the way to Vietnam, that might be it on my bike. Or the occasional paved road I have a gtriders map of Lao, but haven't really done any trip planning yet. So there might be more. But, you right most of the guys use dirt bikes, rented in Lao. 250 CC normally, they have rental shops in Vientene

It would be a great adventure... but I think one would have to be absolutely comfortable eating local food of all types.

Possibly once you got past the big cities, But the Loa food isn't much different then what we eat here.

Malayasia is easy to cross into with a bike, probably will try that first. Cambo is easy but only one paved road that I know of, I need t follow uo on GTridres and see what he current status is getting into Lao and the hoops you need to jump through whatever it currently is probably would be the same for a car.

I know form NKP yuo see a very different Lao from what you see in Nong Kia and it is really beautiful.

I won't even consider it now until after the rainey season is over. After Lao language would be a huge problem as well, Worth hiring a guide to do,. Wifw woudl eb qwith me o sh xccould get by with Issan I think in Lao.