Mayan Prophecy Countdown

After breakfast I got myself down to Fuark’s place using a TukTuk, but at 20,000kip a time, I would have to think about maybe hiring a scooter, I could be here for a while 😦 Now, technically I can pull the bike down a long way by myself, but when it comes to the engine side of things, well, I have never had to do it before, so I was lacking practical experience in this area. Who would have thought my Vstrom engine learning curve would start in Laos!!!I had brought a long the service manual, in PDF format, but I was going to let Fuark do the diagnosis while I provided some of the grunt labour and watched and learnt 🙂 I started off by stripping the top end off, some of the plastics and the tank of course, stuff I have done heaps of times before.

After that, I now had access to the rear cylinder head, so I proceeded to remove the valve cover, which is a simple process, only a few screws.

By this stage Fuark had done his daily disappearing act, gone for breakfast, so I had no real idea what I was looking for or at? While I waited I decided to replace the spark plugs, it has been a long while since I did these and judging by the amount of electrode missing, this was most likely the cause of the stalling I had been experiencing over the last little while.

It took me a little while to do all 4, and they were all the same colour and aged. The front lower one is a real prick, trying to get in behind the radiator. Fuark still had not come back, so I was at a bit of a loss. I decided to go and hire a scooter, which after going to 3 different places I did manage to do. By then it was lunch time, so it was not until about 2pm that I got back, lucky for me Fuark was now back 🙂 We inspected the rear cam chain and valves and everything looked hunky dory, so the next job he said was to take off the front cover. Well that was a PITA to get to, in the end I removed the whole radiator and fan assy so we could access the front head cover, and we found the same thing, everything looked fine!!! ❓

This now had the mechanics thinking. Fuark himself and the other tradesman, I can’t remember his name, had heard of bad things happening down near the flywheel, especially if it had unwound it self or something along those lines. So, the next step was to take the side cover off and have a look in there as well, for anything that may have come adrift. One thing we noticed was the front sprocket was about knackered, severe shark fin, so whatever happens, I need a new one of them. I had sold my spare to Na Cho when we were travelling through Mongolia, his was so bad it was slipping and had more need of it than me at the time. Now I need it, I have to order one in, but that’s the way it goes on the road. 🙂

There was actually nothing loose or wrong down in that part of the motor, so we bolted that all back together and called it a day. Tomorrow we would try something else, but at this stage I had no idea what. Now that I had transport, and as it looked like I was going to be here a long time, I went and found a bottle shop that sells Canecutters Cordial, commonly called Bundy Rum. What a brilliant concept, a shop with booze 🙂

That small red scooter is my new means of getting around, quite nifty actually 🙂 The rum takes up a whole section of shelf in the middle, the old square bear, I love it and the best part is the price 😯 A bottle here costs only $14AU, that is less than half price I would pay back home, I could get used to this I reckon 🙂 I went down to the Kongkau place again for dinner, while there I was amused by the dunny door labels, the first time I have been in there and seen them 🙂

After my new favourite BBQ Lau I went back to the hotel and sat under a fan and drank some rum while reading the service manual for the bike, it made more sense as the night wore on 🙂 It must be a common thing to have celebrations on a Wednesday, because once again there were fireworks happening across the Mekong river in Thailand. I just happened to be in the right spot and could see between the trees and buildings, a very nice ending to the evening 🙂 It was not a late one as I wanted to be clear headed for the bike tomorrow.

Cheers from Vientiane again
TravellingStrom