For adventurous travelers, one of the best ways to explore Laos is by motorcycle. For the past four years I’ve been taking a trip in November when the cool season arrives, and in February before it starts heating up again.

The country is home to deserted sealed roads winding through dramatic terrain and dense forests. It’s also covered with a network of red-dirt tracks leading to hill tribe villages in the mountains, and, thankfully, far off the backpacker trail.

Two of the main hill tribe areas are Luang Nam Tha and Muang Sing. Although there are dozens of different ethnic groups in Laos the most concentrated in this particular region are the Akha.  Subsistence farmers living in the highlands, the Akha are thought to have originated in Tibet, moving down through China, into Laos, Myanmar and Thailand a hundred or so years ago.

The Akha are a feisty and hardy bunch, far from shy and retiring like many hill tribes in Laos. There currently thought to be are 60,000 Akha in Laos, and unlike in neighbouring Thailand their culture and rich traditions have not been assaulted by rabid American Baptist missionaries. And long may it remain so. In more remote areas of Laos they are not particularly welcoming of outsiders and in fact are not that well liked by other ethnic groups.

Akha women wear distinctive head gear decorated with silver coins and hand woven tunics – although these days it tends to be a mixed of traditional clothing and western attire. Generally the Akha men wear western clothing. As subsistence farmers they plant mountain rice, grow vegetables to eat and sell in the markets, and hunt a variety of wildlife, again to eat and sell. Raised on low stilts, their houses are made from bamboo and timber and have a steeply pitched thatch roof.

The Akha in Laos are animist who believe in spirits. Entrances to villages are protected by totems and often a skinned dog with its mouth open to scare away evil spirits.

You can see more images in the Laos gallery.

If you are interested in motorcycling in Laos or Thailand, check out www.gt-rider.com, a super website managed by Australian expat, David Unkovich. Resident in Thailand for the last two decades, David is a motorcycle enthusiast who has mapped many trails in northern Thailand and Laos. The website is packed with information covering the ins and outs of motorcycle touring in both countries. Visitors to the site can find out where to hire bikes, check out itineraries for day rides or longer tours, look at a gallery of pictures, and contribute to the forum.

A few years ago I was sitting in a bar of ill repute in Chiang Mai nursing a beer when a BMW motorcycle pulled up outside. The rider dismounted, strolled into the open fronted bar and ordered a cold one.  As soon as I saw the rugged biker I knew he had a tale to tell. Unable to suppress my curiosity I struck up a conversation.

His name was Glen Heggstad. As a biker myself, I was immediately interested to hear that he’d spent months travelling the world on his bike. I’ve always fostered the desire to do the same so I asked him if he’d experience any problems along the way. He replied in an almost offhand way, ’Yeah, you could say that.’

It turns out that Glen’s ‘problem’ was capture by the ELN rebel army as he rode through Colombia. He was ripped from his motorcycle at a roadblock, marched for days deep into the jungle, held hostage  for five weeks, and subjected to torture and brutality. Eventually he was released as part of a Red Cross prisoner exchange. His shocking story is told in his first book, Two Wheels Through Terror: Diary of a South American Motorcycle Odyssey. Remarkably, after his release Glen declined hospitalisation and continued on his round the world motorcycle journey.

The day after my chance encounter with Glen, we arranged to meet up again so he could tell me more about his travels. The result was an article I wrote entitled, Four Wheels Move the Body, Two Wheels Move the Soul which you can read below. Now, the reason this is all brought back to mind is because Glen has recently been in touch and brought me up to date with his fascinating life.

His new book documenting his global motorcycle adventure, One More Day Everywhere, has been released. In fact, according to Glen it quickly sold out and is into its second printing. Also, his first book, after being in hardback for four years, is also slated for an international re-release in the autumn in paperback.

Glen was also the subject of a National Geographic docu-drama based on the book. It was originally scheduled to be shown five times in one year but it immediately became the most widely viewed programme of the series and has been aired 60 times around the world so far. It has also been translated into 34 languages, including Mandarin for the Chinese market.

Two months ago, Biography Channel sent Glen a request to be in a show. He shot the piece a few weeks ago and it should air in the autumn. He is also currently in negotiations with a company discussing the possibility of hosting a moto-adventure reality TV show.

WorldFlix recently purchased rights to Glen’s life story in order to make a compelling feature film on the former Hell’s Angel turned adventure motorcyclist. He is now entering pre-production stages of an anticipated classic with top Hollywood players seeking leading roles. An A-list team of influential industry personnel will be announced in the upcoming months.

You can find out more about Glen and watch TV interviews on his website http://www.strikingviking.net/

It is always great to hear from Glen and I am thrilled to know that things are going so well for him.

I don’t usually put my articles up on this site, using it primarily for my photography but I make an exception in this case. All images used in the article are courtesy of Glen, except the two on the first page. Enjoy.