Summary This tour took in N East Laos, from Pak Beng to Udom Xai to Luang Prabang and then south to Vientiane. We covered approximately 800 kms over 9 riding days, including 2 days of major hills. Although it was the dry season and hazy because of the “slash and burn” agriculture still practiced in the mountains, the views were spectacular and the people friendly and welcoming. Food and accommodation ranged from excellent in the main cities (Vientiane, Luang Prabang and Udom Xai), to the most basic of a room, a bed, a mosquito net, with communal squat toilet and washroom. Nevertheless, the trip was thoroughly enjoyed by all involved. Laos is a great place to travel in and may be the best kept secret in S E Asia. How long it will remain this way? Maybe another 5 years before it is discovered and over-run by tour groups? A more detailed account, including distances and gradients follows... Our Trip Arnold, Marikje and I flew from NZ to Bangkok and met up with Harry from the USA at Bangkok airport where we boarded Bangkok Air to fly to Luang Prabang. As the flight from NZ arrived in BKK late in the evening we left our bikes in storage at the airport (Baht 90/day) and stayed at a hotel close to the airport. Day 1 Flew from Bangkok to Luang Prabang. Arrived at 1.30 pm, issued 14 day visa on arrival (US$30); 2 photo’s required; and assembled our bikes at LP airport, to the considerable interest of the airport staff. Rode about 5kms into town and booked into the Mano Guest House – we can highly recommend this place. Day 2 By boat up the Mekong from LP to Pak Beng – a trip of 8 –9 hours. Bikes were loaded on the top of the boat (refer the video). We were in tourist class – wooden seats – left admiring what looked like aircraft seats for the lucky few who got to the boat early. A boat change somewhere along the way caught us by surprise  – our clue was the rapid departure of our fellow passengers to another boat and the transfer of our bikes. Despite promises from the travel agent who sold us the boat tickets, there was no stop for lunch but we were able to purchase some sticky rice (with fish sauce) and fellow passengers gave us some fruit. At Pak Beng we were met by an interested crowd who beseeched us to stay at various GH’s. In the meantime facing a rather daunting climb up a flight of steps with our bikes and panniers, payment of US$0.50 cents seemed a pretty good investment as well as helping the local economy. The accommodation was probably the worst we experienced on our whole trip and was like camping indoors. A fire had destroyed a GH and the local electricity supply so we stumbled about in the dark except for a few places that had generators until these turned off. There was better accommodation available but we allowed ourselves to be persuaded to take GH’s close to the boat landing. An interesting experience; not much sleep, a lot of noise from fellow guests, and of course the obligatory rooster from 3.30am onwards. Breakfast on cookies and fruit purchased from a small stall the previous evening, and on the road by 6.15. Day 3 Pak Beng – Muang Hun Distance:                    51km Riding Time:              2 hrs 51mins Average Speed:        17.8km Terrain: First 15kms fast and undulating; followed by 30kms of climbs and descents. Last 5kms into Muang Hun very easy riding. Stopped at a restaurant on the Northern edge of town operated by an obliging lady who made coffee for us. We returned for dinner – no menu but good food. Although we stayed at the best-known GH on the Southern edge of town, it turned out that the restaurant we had stopped at first was also a GH and looked a great deal better than the one we stayed at. Day 4 Muang Hun – Udom Xai Distance:                    90km Riding Time:              5hrs Average Speed:        18.0km Terrain: Again no traffic, good road. First 60kms undulating like a NZ country road. At 64kms we hit a 2.5km climb with a 7% gradient. Then a very nice descent and an easy 13kms into Udom Xai. Many small shops along the way; at Muang Beng very good coffee and herbal tea. Many good hotels and GH’s in UX, including a resort hotel that looked untroubled by guests. Big Chinese influence in the town, including 3 Chinese language TV channels (from China) and Chinese spoken by many of the market shopkeepers and restaurateurs. We stayed at a very new hotel on the edge of the shopping district. Thriving market where we exchanged money at a better rate than at the bank. Good meal at a Chinese restaurant and then luxury after the basic amenities of the GH’s in Pak Beng and Muang Hon. The setting sun was a spectacular blood red colour – Marikje said she had seen the same in Europe from pollution – perhaps an indication of the amount of slash & burn in the district. Day 5 Udom Xai – Pak Mong Distance:                    79.5km Riding Time:              5hr 31mins Average Speed:        14.4km Terrain: A day of big hills! Left UX at 6.05am and first 3km easy - flat, rolling country. Climbed from 760m to 1260m over 22km. 3km downhill and then 7km climb to 1150m. Dubbed “Harry’s Hill” as he was sure that we reached the summit at 2.5kms but was bitterly disappointed with the additional 20km of climbing. Heartbreaking to turn a corner and see the power lines disappearing into the distance. We stopped to look at a waterfall and 2 other cycling tourists who had spent the night in a local lean-to by the waterfall. Another “Harry’ism” stood us in good stead: “stop early, stop often” which we did to drink water and gain energy for these brutal (another Harry’ism) hills. 11km climbing to the 43km mark. 3km ride along a ridge at 1309m with thunderstorms threatening and then a 6km climb to Song Chan village at 1390m as we targeted the radio mast. Food and coffee at 40km - with a very friendly and communicative local pig. 3 km of descent, a flat interval and then a fantastic 20km descent to Pek Mong. Only hiccup was a massive pothole the width of the road that I hit at about 40km an hour. Got the front wheel over but the back wheel took the brunt of it - no problems however - 36 spoke wheels are strong! Pek Mong - 2 GH’s at the crossroads neither of which would set the world on fire but we chose the one on the left on the road to LP. They made us very comfortable - fans and hot water for the showers. PM is a crossroads town - a lot of trucks pass through carrying goods from China so a lot of traffic noise at night. Not a lot of traffic during the day. Good food at the main restaurant and interesting and tasty food from street vendors. We meet to go on to Nong Khiaw, reportedly very pretty but the 80kms had taken its toll and we were happy to kick back in PM. Good breakfast of coffee, fruit and cookies and then on the road to Luang Prabang. Slight delay as Harry had to change a tube and then the 110kms to LP. Day 6 Pak Hong – Luang Prabang Distance:                    110km Riding Time:              6hr 3mins Average Speed:        18.2km Terrain: First 25km easy riding - Harry was “in the zone” and setting a cracking pace. Following the Nam Ou River - very beautiful and green. At 48km a 2 km hill, but nothing compared to yesterday. Little traffic though Marikje incensed at the speed of the trucks through the villages and planning to start a “speed bump” fund. Drank coffee and watched Thai MTV at a modern house/restaurant. Further 2km took us to Tap Tiek village and a debate ensued as to which side of the river we should be on, suggesting that the maps were wrong. Further on took a break and a splendid lunch of sticky rice and canned sardines in tomato sauce - don’t laugh - no food ever tasted as good. 18kms from LP we crossed the Nam Ou (refer video) - extremely beautiful river - the photo’s don’t do it justice - and from then onwards we rode the watershed between the Nam Ou and the Mekong before riding into LP. With the temperature at 39 degrees (or “stinking hot”, as Arnold so eloquently described it) we were starting to weary and Enervit tablets were a godsend to provide an energy boost. The Lao New Year (Sabaidee Pi Mai Lao) was about to begin and we were splashed with water going into LP - this felt really good in the heat! Back to the Mano GH where they could not believe what we had done and that we did not appear insane. Shower, shave, shampoo and Lao Beer. A rest day tomorrow; in the evening a look around LP. If you have the chance in LP, try “Ot Lam” or LP stew - fantastic! Day 7 Luang Prabang = Rest day Marikje bought a lot of stuff from the market so that Arnold could balance his panniers. Day 8 Luang Prabang – Kiew Kacham Distance:                    76km Riding Time:              6hr 12mins Average Speed:        12.2km Terrain: As you can see from the average speed this was hills, big time! 55km of climbing in which we gained 1900m. Nice lunch of noodles and vegetables at Namming village, then a 22km climb. Taking Harry’s advice we stopped often as the temperature reached 42 degrees at 2.00pm! Incredible scenery - experienced vertigo just looking at the road we had just climbed! Few villages because too high and steep I guess until our mountain top finish of this stage at the village of Kiew Kacham. Nice place - cool temperature - no air con required here, just a blanket. The Bountham restaurant run by a delightful lady called Persimmon was very obliging, including hot water for me though Arnold, Marikje and Harry missed out. Good food and beer for dinner and Persimmon rose at 5.30am to prepare breakfast for us including omelette. If you stay in Kiew Kacham, this is the place to stay. Met up with 2 Thais who had ridden in from the other direction - not much easier when we saw the road. Day 9 Kiew Kacham – Kasi Distance:                    97km Riding Time:              6hr Average Speed:        15km Terrain: Not much better than day 8 although easier going in to Kasi. Great view of the limestone Karsts. 1000m climbing even though reference books had indicated a few hills between KK and Muang followed by an extensive downhill to Kasi. 3 GH’s in Kasi, none of which offered very much. We stayed at the Southern end of town at a GH with a new addition at the back. Fan helped make it comfortable but if you could skip Kasi you would not miss much but to continue on to Vang Vieng in one day is probably impractical. Good English conversation with a school boy whose English was remarkably good and unaccented. Day 10 Kasi – Vang Vieng Distance:                    58km Riding Time:              3hr 10mins Average Speed:        18.1km Terrain: Good riding with 1 small hill at 25kms. Stopped at a village whose sole business depended on selling fresh water crabs. Elaborate woven baskets contained the crabs. Again stunning scenery wit the limestone mountains an amazing backdrop. Mixed emotions about Vang Vieng. Nice town, many restaurants including western food but a feeling that it is over-run by hippies who are in Laos for the passport stamp. Perhaps typified by most Westerners lolling around the restaurants, drinking beer and watching re-runs of “Friends” on video or in the advertising fro VIP buses that will whisk you away to other S E Asian cities in air conditioned luxury with good DVD’s to watch in case you are bored with the scenery. A good GH but my cycling shoes were stolen from the shoe rack which made cycling the next day very uncomfortable. Good variety of food and the scenery memorable. Day 11 Vang Vieng – Phon Hong Distance:                    77km Riding Time:              4hr 10mins Average Speed:        18.4km Terrain: Climbs at 35km, 50km and 67km mark. Last 7km flat/ slightly downhill. Nothing significant along the way. Stopped for breakfast/coffee at Ban Hing Heung village where a member of the surly waitress club reluctantly served coffee. This village is on the tip of the Nam Aung reservoir and its main income source seems to be dried fish - every shop seemed to sell it. The reservoir which provides hydro-electricity to Laos and for sale to Thailand was low (dry season) but must be quite an impressive after the rains. Phon Hong had the worst accommodation that we experienced during our trip in what appeared to be the only GH in town. It is on the southern end of town just after the road splits, with the left fork going to Nam Aung reservoir. The route by the reservoir and Thalat village is a lightly longer (+40km) route to Vientiane but more scenic and it is doubtful that the accommodation could be worse than that of Phon Hong. Found a bike shop 15km out from Phon Hong and purchased plastic platform pedals - made the riding easier though they broke after 70km and in Vientiane, fell off the spindle. Day 12 Phon Hong – Vientiane Distance:                    8km Riding Time:              3hr 30mins Average Speed:        19.6km Terrain: Flat, built up, much, much more traffic, hot! Vientiane The capital city and a very relaxed place. Nice GH “Phonesepeuth” in Pakham St - air conditioning, cable TV and close to the Mekong and we can highly recommend it. Good fruit shakes round the corner and also the Swedish bakery for a good breakfast. Over the road form the GH a small café serving good coffee, croissant and baguettes, while the GH does a reasonable breakfast also. On the banks of the Mekong, at least when it is not raining, there is barbecue with an assortment of meats and very delicious fish. Good architecture, good market and an international pharmacy at the hospital where we could stock up on all the medicine etc required. It was Lao New Year and as well as considerable amount of water throwing, beer drunk and loud music played from noon until 5pm by which time the beer had kicked in and the protagonists retired to nurse sore heads. A lot of fun though a little tedious after 3 days, especially when getting soaked on the way to dinner, being blind-sided by water throwers on trucks from behind. If your tolerance is low, avoid these 3 days. As Arnold, Marikje and Harry were going on to Vietnam they needed to renew their visas for and additional 5 days. We rode to the Vientiane international airport in the hope of persuading an immigration officer to renew. He advised crossing the Friendship Bridge into Thailand and getting new visas on the return to Laos. We rode out to the Bridge and the other 3 crossed into Thailand, enjoyed lunch in Nong Khai and then returned to Vientiane around 5.00pm. The following are notes on various aspects of the trip that you may find useful: The Road We were on Route 13 most of the way. The road was very good – better than New Zealand roads. ie smoother, smaller chip, and no traffic. Most days if we saw 5 vehicles it was busy! However as we approached Vientiane traffic built, as you would expect in a major city. The road is so forgiving you could ride this on virtually any bike with reasonable gears. 3 of us had bikes with rigid forks – better for climbing – and suffered no discomfort. The gradient on the hills was 3 - 5% - manageable although some of the hills were long: 20+ km. In the mountains many people either walked or travelled in small trucks and consequently the gradient is not too severe. In some places the road had suffered damage from heavy trucks carting merchandise – there is no railway in Laos – and some mighty potholes. Generally, however, the road was excellent and easy to ride on. Safety/Health At no time was this a concern. The people were incredibly pleasant and helpful, trying hard to understand us and meet our needs. We all contracted at one time or another diarrhoea so amongst the necessary requirements for this trip is good anti-diarrhoea medicine. One of our group was a nurse which came in handy after a fall on loose gravel. Other than this we had no problems whatsoever. Food This ranged from very basic - sticky rice and fish sauce - to wonderful: Laotian dishes, baguettes, fruit juice, and of course beer Lao - an elixir of the gods at 5.00pm, after a day of hot, hard riding. Especially in the mountains there was not much choice but always had the staples of noodles and rice. Chicken, pork and vegetables generally always available in various forms. Became heartily sick of cookies for breakfast as with an early start no food available other than that which we bought the night before (cookies, orange juice, UHT packaged soy milk and in Vang Vieng, muesli). Bottled water was available everywhere, though seldom cold until we reached the lowlands were the electricity supply was more reliable. As it became hotter and our water more tepid we drank more Pepsi and other soft drinks. Good coffee (café dam) was only available after 8.00am and generally only in the larger villages where there were established restaurants. At times we drank tinned coffee (Nestle) and at other times instant noodles for morning tea provided an energy boost. Accommodation We stayed in Guest Houses of varying quality, ranging from very comfortable with en-suite in the main cities of Vientiane, Luang Prabang and Vang Vieng. However in some of the smaller towns the GH’s were very, very basic and in some instances the rooms were designed like sensory deprivation chambers – no windows, hot and the only noises being snoring from the next room and the wake-up call from roosters beginning from 3.30am. Tariffs were incredibly cheap – ranging from US$3 per night to US$13 at the deluxe accommodation we used in Vientiane. The Bikes As mentioned, the road was so good almost any bike could handle this trip. In our case, 4 riders, 4 different bikes and an opportunity to evaluate 700c wheels vs 26. Bike 1: Hand-built touring bike, drop bars, CroMoly frame, 26” wheels, Shimano LX gearing, “rapid fire” shifters; Presta valve tubes; Bike 2: Trek 4200, alloy frame, MTB bars with aero bars, 26” wheels, Shimano LX gearing; “rapid fire” shifters; Presta valve tubes; Bike 3: Cannondale “Silk Tour”, 700c wheels, Drop bars with aero bars, bar end shifters, Shimano LX gearing; Schraeder valve tubes; Bike 4: trek 520 Touring bike, 700c wheels, drop bars, CroMoly frame, bar end shifters, 105 Cranks/Chainwheel set, LX rear cluster; Schraeder valve tubes. The 700c bikes rolled faster and consequently descended faster than the 26” bikes. The steel bikes climbed faster than the alloy bikes but rider strength is an obvious factor in this. Concern about the availability of 700c Schraeder valve tubes is a genuine as few, if any, shops stocked these tubes and I was advised to get a new tube from Bangkok. However, as the roads were good and we did not puncture, new tubes were not an issue. NB: all bikes had and needed 2 bottle cages to carry water for use while riding and we generally had an additional 1 or 2 more bottles in our panniers. The Gear 3 of us had Ortlieb panniers and 2 of us used Ortlieb handlebar bags. No need to say anything more about Ortlieb – fantastic and worth every penny you pay for them. The handlebar bags are equally good and practical – as well carrying camera, information, snacks, basic tools etc, they are easily removed from the bike and function well as a shoulder bag. Mosquito nets – we carried these but did not need them as anywhere they were considered necessary, the Guest House provided a net. The Weather April was the dry/hot season and temperatures certainly supported this. We tried to start riding around 6.15am by which time the temperature was in the mid-20’s (°C). By late morning it was up to 38 degrees and by early afternoon, around 40 degrees. While we were cycling this was not a problem as we generated a wind but when we rested we could certainly feel the heat! It made water stops important and at all times we had a minimum 2 bottle of water each, and generally 3 or 4. Next time I will take electrolytes in powder. While the guidebooks consider October – March the best time to visit Laos, by riding intelligently and staying hydrated we all managed to get by OK without anyone suffering unduly from the heat. The haze from the slash & burning took a little from the view but in general we had no problem with this timing. Other: The most striking aspect of the trip was the people we met and saw. The Lao were incredibly obliging and despite having next to nothing were amazingly hospitable. Poverty was obvious in the mountain villages but development was obvious - power poles on the side of the road suggesting electricity was to extend to the more remote places. Very basic living - one room huts at the side of the road and perched precariously on steep hillsides - vertigo just imaging missing your footing as literally the hillside dropped away hundreds of metres. Subsistence farming - in the mountains everywhere we went people were either working in fields or going to them. Cultivation was on incredibly steep slopes emphasising the scarcity of suitable land. CLICK HERE to download a PDF copy of this document