Thakhek Part 2

Main street of the city. There wasn't much going on.

Town center. Not much going on here either.

"What a shit hole (Thakhak) but do "the loop" only reason to come to this God forsaken town." I guess it's a good thing I decided to do the loop. 

"The Loop." 360 mile loop starting at the south west intersection near Thakhek, then counter-clockwise starting at Route 12. The loop is dotted with many caves to explore. The great thing about being on a motorcycle is having complete freedom to choose when and where to stop. 

This is the typical view for most of the ride. Took this just after leaving Thakhek.

Thakhek

I arrived in Vientiane, the capital and felt completely alone and very lonely. This city seemed to be filled with mostly bars and restaurants, activities usually enjoyed by groups. I had to get out and decided that the next day I would get on a bus and leave to the next stop. I took out the map and tried to figure out whether I wanted to do a northern loop in the country or travel directly south. I had read a lot about each place and remembered that Thakhek had something cool to offer and so I purchased myself a ticket and arrived there the next night.

I found myself a hotel and headed out to get something to eat for dinner. I decided now would be a good time to figure out what to do next. I read through the Wikitravel article on Thakhek and realized the single reason people come to this town is to do a 360 mile motorcycle loop through the jungle. I had two options, get back on the bus and head somewhere else or learn how to operate a motorcycle. I opted for the latter and picked adventure over wussing out.  

I inquired at my hotel where I could go about getting a motorcycle  The attendant said he could have his friend there early in the morning with a motorcycle. I retired to bed and woke up early to get started learning how to ride a motorcycle. The man showed up and he gave me a five minute lesson and then tossed me the keys. 

At this point I assessed the state of the bike. Various parts of it were falling apart or already broken. I remembered from months ago, reading a blog about the motorcycle loop and how the guy had a broken odometer and indicated its value. If I was recalling correctly, I was now sitting on the same bike with the same broken odometer value. The rental price for the bike was $8 a day so I couldn't exactly complain about the state of the bike. 

I grabbed a few key articles of clothing and other necessities from my big backpack, filled up the gas tank(with a broken gas gauge), and headed off for mile one of the journey.