It's drizzling a bit when I leave Phonsavan so you have to be careful as the road is often slippery with gravel and sand that vehicles drop as they come off the unpaved side roads. As soon as I'm outside the town it's dry and luckily it stays that way for the rest of the day.
The road to Luang Prabang is 260 km long and goes exclusively over mountain ridges. The landscape is enchantingly beautiful and I am treated to great panoramas, small villages and rice fields with workers all day long. The little traffic on the road consists of mopeds and large trucks that supply a dam that is under construction.
The trucks are responsible for the biggest problem on this road: dust and broken asphalt. Every turn the gigantic, heavily loaded trucks squeeze through the mountain passes, resulting in corners with gravel, asphalt with holes and a lot of dust.
Today the first 3 (of 6) gears of my motorcycle are enough for me because my average speed does not exceed 40 km/h. After 8 hours of almost continuous driving on this adventurous route, I arrive at the hotel exhausted and fall asleep early in the evening.
The next few days I will take it easy and enjoy the surroundings. Luang Prabang, a Unesco World Heritage Site, is a beautiful town on the Mekong River and was once the capital of Laos and an important location on the Silk Road. The French occupiers have clearly had their influence on the architecture here, which makes the town a tourist attraction.
