Day 85! Wow, it’s been an incredible 3 months of motorbiking… but today marks the end of motorbiking across countries, for now! This style of traveling has been eye opening, but it’s time to take a break as my butt is starting to get tired of it! But we’re not done with Laos yet! Time to enjoy a new town.

I finally went to bed early and set my alarm for 7:30am! I woke up just before my alarm went off; hopped out of bed, and ate my classic free hostel breakfast of fried eggs!

After a filling breakfast of carbs, I packed my bag, strapped it to my motorbike, and set off on my last long ride for a while!

After topping off my gas, I was on the road down mainly flat streets! These quickly turned into gorgeous countryside roads, where I was surrounded by mountains on both sides!

I wasn’t expecting this and was very happy that I was smacked with some beautiful nature! But what was coming later on my ride, I was completely not expecting!

An hour into my drive the roads started to get a little rocky… figuratively and literally.

I was met with a steep ascent where the road was completely dirt, gravel, and big rocks.

It was a challenge to get up, but eventually the roads turned back to actual roads!

As I kept driving I was continuously met with more breathtaking views! I was climbing and climbing up steep mountainside roads and it really felt like a mini Ha Giang Loop, that I really had all to myself!

These roads were absurdly steep though. I had to downshift to first gear multiple times to make it up a road. Most of the times it was because I stopped my motorbike to take a picture, but sometimes it was just that steep!

Just over 2.5 hours into my ride, I pulled over for gas.

The roads were very winding which made my gas consumption a little different than my other rides in Laos. But I was not complaining since I was having such a fun time!

I thought I had reached the peak, but I set back off again even further up the mountain! This led to even more views that I just had to stop and admire!

I just couldn’t get over how amazing the views were. Here I thought Laos was a super flat country because of the south. But then out of no where I’m met with amazing winding mountain roads that reminded me of all the fun I had motorbiking Vietnam!

Part of me was questioning if I should keep riding in Thailand… but most of me was arguing back saying it was time to be done for a bit.

Four hours into my ride I stopped for gas. This was to ensure I didn’t need to fill up again before entering Luang Prabang!

By this point I had descended the mountains and was met with some terrible bumpy roads. I was back to the classic Laos game of avoid the pothole!

An hour later, I made it to my hostel in Luang Prabang! I had to take a picture with Kilby for the end of a wonderful 3 months of riding across counties together!

Never in my life did I think I’d be motorbiking across countries… at all! It’s been such an amazing experience and I’ve learned so much from it, whether it’s motorbike related or the different parts of the countries I got to see because I had to stop more.

I really think most people would really enjoy and thrive motorbiking across a country. I’d highly recommend it to be Vietnam, but I’m sure most countries (at least in SE Asia) would be great for it! It puts you in situations you’d never be in otherwise.

After getting sentimental, I checked into my hostel, immediately showered, and set out to find food!

I found a cheap restaurant a few minutes walk away called Restaurante Local! The food was local, cheap, and very tasty!

I ended up accidentally pigging out and ate a plate of chicken with basil and rice along with a plate of big spring rolls! In total it was 60,000 Kip or just under $3!

After lunch I headed back to the hostel to lie down for a bit. But it was quickly interrupted as my tattoo artist, I’d been working with in Luang Prabang, told me to come over so we could finalize my Laos tattoo!

We sat around his iPad working out the details of the design that we couldn’t hash out over the phone.

His friends were visiting him and I had a nice 20 minute chat with them about their lives in Laos while I waited for the tattoo artist, Thong, to come back from an errand.

They told me about their university and they asked me about life in the US. Specifically about guns and mass shootings in the US, which was interesting to discuss. We also chatted about how the police are corrupt, even to the Laos citizens, not just tourists.

I also learned about how they both knew Thong. Apparently, Thong’s parents both passed away when he was young, so one of their families took him in until he recently moved out to this new house to pursue his passion in tattooing! It made the experience even better knowing I was getting a tattoo from someone whose life’s work has been put into perfecting his craft!

Now, I thought this was only a sit down to discuss the tattoo… but Thong was ready! So I got onto the tattoo bed and he went to work on my culmination of Laos.

I’m really happy with how this turned out, especially because some of it I designed and drew! Pretty cool to have some of my own artwork, even if it’s minimal tattooed on my body!

The tree is my favorite tree in Laos, the monkey pod tree! I’ve seen it everywhere and this is actually from a picture I took earlier in Laos. The river is the Mekong River that flows along the entire country and divides it from Thailand and Cambodia. And of course, I had to include one of the beautiful Laotian sunsets!

For me, this tattoo not only represents my time in Laos, but also has deeper meaning. Trees represent growth and from time, wisdom. While on the road, I’m experiencing a ton of growth and learning. From the countries I see to the people I meet, I’m always shaping my world views and growing into the person I want to become! The river represents constant flow and to keep moving forward. It’s easy to get caught up in things that have happened or might happen. But it’s important to keep on moving and learning from the situations at hand and not worrying about the things I can’t control. And the sunset is a reminder to appreciate the little things, there’s only a finite amount of them in our lives!

After I finished, I drove to the local night market to meet up with my friends from Vang Vieng! Tia, Abi, and Sam are all in town as well and I got dinner with them.

I had spicy stir fried Chinese noodles and some sort of dumpling for very cheap. I also had a mango smoothie to tie it all off!

We played cards along with their new friend Nadine. After many games of Shithead, we decided to move locations to Sam’s hostel which nicely enough was right next to mine!

We continued playing cards, where I met 3 new friends: Mia, Pascale, and Alfie all from England. My other friend from Thakhek, Dan, joined us as well!

After finishing up a long and fun day, I headed back to my hostel to call it a night!

I actually have an early morning tomorrow as I’ll be partaking in a jewelry making class! I’m not sure exactly what it entails, but I’m excited nonetheless!

See you then!

– Elie