My bike was not powerful enough to negotiate steep hills… or muddy roads. In the rainy season, I went down the river road to Paksane with a few friends. We had two 185cc Suzuki trail bikes and a 200cc Suzuki road bike. In Laos at that time, they were giants of the road. The riders were Pat Hunt (Australian), Johnny Johnson (UK), and Rod Stanbrook (Canadian). Passengers were myself and two Hmong boys, Mian and Meo, who had been ‘adopted’ by Pat. The road was very muddy, and washed away in places. We went through a number of refugee villages as well as permanent settlements.