FROM THE MEMOIRS OF Z. SHAARANI " WE ARE ALMOST HOME "
Today is September 26, 2001. I cannot believe we are just one day away from completing our epic journey across the Asian Continent. The Petronas Silk Road Adventure 2001 is about to come to an end. Two months on the saddle. Across Turkey, Iran, Pakistan, China and now we are in Thailand. Tomorrow we return to Malaysia.
Let me continue from where I left off last. September 17, we were in Kunming, China on a one day rest stop. From here, we traveled to Jinhong which is a small town near the Laos border. From Jinhong it is about 190 kilometers to Mohang – the border town between China and Laos. The paperwork formality was surprisingly fast for entering Laos.
Surprising because the more developed countries like Turkey, Iran, Pakistan and China took at least double the time. We were at the border for just under 2 hours and – goodbye China, hello Laos. Here we met a group of Malaysian bikers going the other way into China headed for Kunming. The stories they told us about the road conditions in Laos were not encouraging. Huge potholes, flooding and rain. Just what we bikers love. In fact, the ride from Kunming south to Jinhong and Mohang was plagued with intermittent rain all the way.
LAOS SECTOR
From the border crossing at Mohang, we rode about 120 kilometers to Luang Namtha in the rain. What the Malaysian bikers told us started to come true. Laos is one of the poorest countries in Asia. What little money they have must go to priorities like schools and hospitals. So the road system is left in disrepair. Throughout the 120 km ride to Luang Namtha, we averaged 70 km. per hour, avoiding potholes, cows , pigs and children.
We arrived in the dark and in the rain at our hotel in Luang Namtha – a small village town with one hotel. The group was split into 2 and put in 2 adjoining hotels. It was very very basic but adequate. We had electricity from 7 pm to 10 pm after which the generator was turned off. The beds all had mosquito nets. Mine was pink. Wow! Sleeping under a pink mosquito net.
None of us could expect what is to come today – September 19, 2001. It would go down in my biking history as the toughest bike ride of my life. Because of the prior warning about the rain, floods and bad roads, we left Luang Namtha at 4 a.m. in pitch darkness. It had rained the whole night and there was a steady drizzle this morning. Today’s ride is from Luang Namtha to Huausai, 190 kilometers to the Mekong River. Here, we will take a ferry across the Mekong from Huausai in Laos to Chiangkong in Thailand. Then from Chiangkong, it is 220 kilometers to Chiangrai. We have to make it to Huausai before 6.00 p.m. because Customs and Immigration close and there are no places to stay at Huausai.
About 15 km out of Luang Namtha, the potholed asphalt road suddenly ends. In its place, a wet, muddy track. I thought this was just a short muddy patch where the road was under repair. Little did I know that this was in fact the start of the main road that runs all the way to Huausai.
All our bikes were not equipped for the mud. We had street tires front and rear. In the rain and in the mud, they became slicks. Next thing I knew, Azman who was in front of me skidded and fell. Right after him, Wan Mokhtar was next. The rest of us could not even put our bikes on the stand to help them. The ground was that soft. A few participants from the 4WDs who were following behind the bikes rushed forward to help. After a few more minutes of trying to manhandle the bikes in the mud, we pulled to the side and let the cars pass. Otherwise, they’d be crawling and stopping for the next few hours while we slip, slide and fall.
The road was really bad. It rained non-stop. In places the mud was so thick, our rear wheels spun while the bike remained stationary. We had to have a few guys to push us forward. Azman gave up after falling more than 5 times. Gazzi, our spare rider who thought he would enjoy the cool airconditioned comfort of the Mitsubishi had to take over. All of us fell at one time or other. I fell 3 times to kiss the mud. At many places, the road was so rutted by the huge trucks that sometimes pass by ( during the dry season ) that we rode in the deep muddy water in the ruts that were about 2 feet deep. The worrying part was that all the water on the road was muddy, so we could not see the bottom – if there were rocks, or timber that was laid down to provide traction for the trucks. At one of these deep ruts, Faruk was thrown off his bike when he ran over a motorcycle rim that was thrown into the mud. Gazzi was next - the rim stuck under his engine guard and had to be pulled out before he could proceed. We crossed numerous rivers ( no bridges ) which were wide and deep. River crossing was another scare because we could not see the rocks at the bottom and the flow was quite fast due to the flooded situation. Should we fall in the river, the main worry was water entering the engine block causing a cracked engine. In fact, there was mud and water everywhere and from the sky, the rains continued to fall.
Laos is a very poor country. We passed villages which were really remote. The houses had bamboo walls and thatched roofs. Many children everywhere – small 5 to 10 year olds with no shoes and very rudimentary clothing. A few places had schools but we saw many kids as young as 5 years old already carrying loads from the fields. The villages had very poor sanitation. There were many pigs and pig waste everywhere. In the wet and rainy conditions, in the mud, the kids were moving around barefoot.
We forget how lucky we are until we see for ourselves the sad conditions others have to endure.
Despite the falls in the mud and the countless times we had to ford deep water with the bikes, none of the bikes broke down. It took us 13 hours to complete the 190 kilometers to Huausai. We were dead tired. We were completely soaked. And we had no lunch. At the ferry terminal, the cars which went ahead had already crossed into Thailand at least 4 hours ahead of the bikes. The ferry crossing was uneventful. Each ferry took about 5 cars and about 20 minutes to cross.
THAILAND SECTOR
As soon as we got off the ferry at Chiangkong, it was like entering a whole new world. The town is clean, there were shops well stocked with groceries. There were even European tourists in Hawaiian shirts walking around. The roads were paved and well maintained – I wanted to bend down and kiss the road after the 13 hours in the muddy track.
We did our Customs and Immigration formalities at the ferry point. It was a breeze. Thailand has a computerized entry and exit system. Furthermore, the customs official inspecting my bike is a bike enthusiast and he was more interested to hear the sound of the Africa Twin than to look for the chassis and engine number on an extremely muddy bike.
We followed a Police escort into Chiangrai, a distance of 220 km from the border . But it was a really tiring ride despite the excellent highway. The welcome at Chiangrai, our first stop in Thailand was excellent. Organized by the Tourism Authority of Thailand, it included local dance troupes, theatrical plays and fantastic food. Despite our muddy attire, we were presented to the mayor of Chiangrai. We also shook hands with some pretty clean and well dressed officials.
After a day of rest in Chiangrai, it was yet another marathon ride to Bangkok – 872 km. The ride was uneventful, on beautiful highways but the weather was a little ugly. We were caught in intermittent rain all the way to Bangkok. One memorable event, at least for Wan Mokhtar was that just outside Chiangmai, a piece of rag was caught in his front sprocket with the result that it pulled apart the oil seal from the block. His bike had a ride on a local truck that had to be rented for that purpose all the way into Bangkok. The next day being a Sunday, we could not source spares from the local bike shops plus this particular part was not an easy item to find. We scoured the bike shops in all of Bangkok without success. Finally, the part had to be ordered from Malaysia, to be couriered to Hatyai, the border town.
At the time of writing this, we are currently in Hatyai – just a hop, skip and jump away from Malaysia. Tomorrow, September 27, 2001, we will cross the final frontier and ride from Hatyai to Putrajaya where the Petronas Silk Road Adventure 2001 will finally come to an end.
What am I going to do after this ? One thing is for sure. I am not sitting on a bike anymore. Well, maybe at least for a week or so. We shall see !
