We left on time at 7am and for 2½ hours it was a terribly bumpy road. Afterwards the road was mostly new and good – I guess, built by the Chinese to get easy access to their many power projects in Laos (Mekong dams). As expected very hazy, curvy and hilly - though it surprised me that there were few double-digit hills and they were mostly fairly short. The first 6 hours I had the rear 5-bed to myself and the following 2 hours to the border only one other guy..