Hi LP Team,

I have been cycling in Laos, December 1997. Well, this is some time ago,
sorry, but I still think it is interresting because this country doesn't
change much. I've done some of the less popular and more scenic roads, so
maybe you want to read it.

Regards,
Martin


I was using the Laos Handbuch from Reise Know-How series, author Michael
Schultze (German) but now and then borrowed the LP.

Comparing Schultze and LP guidebooks: The LP contains much more information
and is generally more correct but the prices quoted in the Schultze are much
nearer to the truth than those from the LP.
Some maps of the Schultze are better, however if you look at the LP Atlas,
you will find absolutely nothing to compare, definitely not locally.
The author's personal opinion shines through in the Schultze and sometimes
it seems he hasn't been to certain places he describes.
If I had to decide again, I would buy the LP guidebook because it contains
everything the Schultze has, plus some more.

So I arrive in Vientiane, Laos the end of November 1997.
Stay at Saylom Yen Guesthouse, Saylom Road (parallel Lane Xane Ave). Nice
place, clean, quiet, speak English, can help with travel, pay 13500 for a
double with fan and bathroom. However, when I came back a month later, they
were about changing their prices to dollars, like all the other places. It
depends very much on the xchange rate, rooms in Vientiane are not cheap and
prices change any time.

Novotel is open now, just near the airport. Check out the bookshop.

I brought my own bike from home. 50 year old 28" lady's bike with 3-speed
hubgear. I think this is best for what I plan to do, it ain't the first time
I go cycling in Asia. I also bring a nice selection of tools and spares,
especially those things that I may not find in Laos.

One night I visit a nightclub together with a swiss guy. People at the club
stay together in groups and never a female approaches us. The manager is a
bit interrested where we may come from, so his son asks us. The band does a
proper job, plays one song after the other, mixture of "English" and Lao
songs. After a while some people dance. They often dance with those of the
same sex or with their own wife. Many dances go without touching each other.
None really dances, people basically move with the music. Just the manager
and his family seem to know some dances. A few expats sit together and sip
their beers. My fellow traveller asks a girl if she wanted to dance, she
rejects. The night ends very unspectacular and everyone goes home. The girl
my companion set his eye on vanishes in the crowd of her family. It felt a
bit like a communist night club. However, I have heard of other clubs.

My companion likes the idea of cycling and buys himself a bike, too. You
cannot find good bikes in Vientiane, most are Thai and some Mountainbikes
are Chinese or Taiwanese. Many bikes are 24" wheels because Lao people are
small. A 26" mountainbike is already "big". 28" bikes are not available. For
a lot of money (more than in Germany) you may find a mountainbike with
Shimano gears and suspended fork. This is nothing special, in Germany you
would buy this in a Supermarket for less than DM 500. Don't consider it much
more than a toy. The gears will work for a while, the brakes may not be
effective and so on.... Norman bought one of the best Thai cycles, strong,
heavy, no gears, no light. I don't want to go into details but we had a lot
of trouble with it. Every little screw and every bearing was rubbish. While
my real old German bike had no more than a few loose screws and consumed
some oil and several brake blocks within the 5 weeks of my tour, the Thai
bike had massive problems with bearings, brakes, tires and ALL screws. I was
getting angry because I couldn't cover long distances with Norman on such a
bike and he was exhausted every evening. So he sold it after 10 days and
continued by public transport. I do not recommend to buy a bike in Laos.
Bring one from Europe, if you have the option, and bring a spare tire if it
is 28".

So, Vientiane is a nice little capital, perfect to explore by bike. Lao
people don't have much experience with traffic, take care, be prepared for
the many mistakes the others make. Even motorbikes go without lights
and brakes, here.

You can buy extra visa days at $3 / day at the immigration office. If you
overstay, it is $5 / day.
Some info from the Web said I could extend in Luang Phrabang. In
Luang Phrabang I was told I could extend in Boteme at the border crossing to
China, when I was there I found out that I need a visa for China and none
would want to extend my visa, they would rather give me trouble as soon as
it expired. So I had to go to Thailand, buy it there and come back. Price in
Thailand is also something like $3 / day, so don't try to save money, they
get it this or that way.
It is that simple: You can only extend in Vientiane and the cheapest way is
to pay what they ask from you.

We wanted to buy a detailed map of Laos, it turned out to be a complicated
job. Need permission and letters from several offices, so we gave up. I
should have bought the LP Atlas, this is the best map of Laos that I have
seen. The Nelles Map is not detailed enough for cycling. LP Guides can only
be found in the bookshops of big hotels (Novotel etc).

Lane Xang Kodak Express (12 Hena Boun Street, 214688) is a good place for
prints. They know their job, have well-maintained equipment and use Kodak
paper that gives better results than the Konica stuff.

Morning Market is the place to buy (and sell) most things, I managed to find
a second hand, East German compass. Baguette is sold every morning near the
market, however it is not easy to get a crispy one. Bikeshops can be found
in the vicinity of the market.
Two western-style bakeries offer an acceptable breakfast at a high price
(easy to spend Kip8000).

Telephone is now very good, local calls are often free (cost less than the
smallest coin, so they sometimes don't charge).

Wat Xieng Khuan (Buddha Garden) is worth a visit. Entry is Kip400 /
foreigner, Kip200 / Lao, Kip400 / camera, Kip600 / Video. They don't always
collect the money for camera / video. Parking is Kip300 / car or motorbike.
Bicycle free.

Near the Friendship Bridge, there is a park that has buildings and produce
of many Lao tribes / areas (like Taman Mini Indonesia Indah). It is not
worth a visit and buildings were already closing at 16:30, when I was there.


Finally we get going north on route no.13, destination Thalat (southern tip
of Nam Ngum Reservoir). I wanted to take the more scenic No.10 but people
didn't know it. I dind't find route no.10 though I asked again and again, so
we were happy with no.13. Only you know if this road still exists.

Night catches us still far from our destination. We are in the middle of
nowhere, some small villages, no hotels. Then, 50km (trust my cycle
computer) north of Vientiane, we find a place called "Vientiane Star". This
is a Restaurant plus some huts around a lake. These huts are for rent and
come with Russian aircon and refrigerator. We pay Kip10000 for a hut. There
were no foreigners and none spoke English.

Next day brings us to Thalat. We deviate from the no.13 in a little town and
follow a smaller road that is not always asphalt but still good to cycle.
Thalat is 43 km from the "Vientiane Star" (93 km from Vientiane, by route
no.13) and the road is flat.
We try to go around the Nam Ngum lake but cannot get very far. We try to
cross the lake on a boat from near Thalat to Tha Heua. This is suggested in
the Schultze. We find out there is no boat nowadays, all traffic goes via
road no.13. It is possible to hire a boat, but this is expensive (60000). So
we end up going back to the no.13, then further north to Vang Vieng.

It is easy to miss the Vang Vieng town center, the no.13 passes east of the
town's mainroad. Vang Vieng has some nice caves but lacks a bridge.


At the southern tip of Vang Vieng is a nice resort, inside are the Tham
Tjang Caves (5.7km from bus station). The upper cave I haven't checked out,
travellers said it was very much commercialized, nothing special and too
expensive. So I only did the lower cave, the one with a stream running out.
It takes some effort to get in against the current. With the underwater
lamp I got quite far. I swam the "mainroad" until I reached an aisle going
left, with a low ceiling and heaps of bats inside. Very nice to float back
out. Cave walls are sharp-edged, wear shoes.
One can cross to the other side of the river (watch how the locals do it or
jump on a big truck or get on a boat) and walk between ricefields and huge
rocks. Looks bizzare, a bit like Halong bay in the dry. On that other side
is a place called "Buddha Cave". It is difficult to find and many tourists
get lost since someone has taken away the sign. Branch right about 4 km from
the river ford. Ask around in the next village (they understand "cave
buddha", not "buddha cave") . From that one it is still 20 to 30 minutes
walk. Pay entrance to cave either at the village or at the cave entrance.
Ask if someone is at the cave. If it is locked, you have to come back to the
village to get a key. There are actually 2 caves. I have only seen the major
one and do not know if the other one is worth a visit. If you have seen many
caves in Asia, you may want to skip this place.
If you don't branch right after 4 km from the ford, you come thru a series
of villages and past a school with hundreds of kids following you. After 10
or 15 km you get to a little dam. You can cross the stream there and go on
thru more and smaller villages. All very scenic, with all these rocks and
rice fields. You can buy Opi um in these villages. What seems to be the last
village has a little path leading out after the last house. Follow that, the
path winds around and comes back north, according to my compass. It then
gets wider and better, now you walk between rice fields and water buffalos.
At around 30 km from the ford you come to a village with a large soccer
field. Believing my compass and my cycling computer, this isn't too far from
Vang Vieng, but people said I cannot go this way. From there, trucks seem to
find a way out but I didn't and had to go back the way I came.
In Vang Vieng, there is a good restaurant / guest house just on the corner
south of the bus stop.

Bus from Vang Vieng to Luang Phrabang stops in Kasi, but maybe not. It is
best to get on the bus in Vang Vieng. This bus trip is very nice and scenic,
the road is good. We were sitting on top of the bus and it was getting real
cold in the evening. Still better than suffering the curves and bends inside
the bus. When there were police posts, we had to get off the roof but after
the next bend, up we went again. No bandit attacks on the way.

Luang Phrabang is a nice place, many good restaurants, good guesthouses and
not as expensive as Vientiane. Boon Gning Guest House in Ban Thatluang was
cheap, clean, friendly. 6000 for a double-bed room, 8000 for a double with
seperate beds. Hot shower outside.

There is a computer shop between Phou Si and Nam Khan River, they offer
e-mail service. They connect to the internet by dialing into Thailand. Often
the system is down. Know that Lao authorities allow nothing but e-mail
(SMTP), so you won't be able to check your hotmail account via HTTP.

The pagodas I consider nothing special after I've seen Burma, still they are
nice places. Particularly the one on Phou Si hill (can't beat Mandalay Hill
!).

The tour to Pak Ou Caves is a must. Boats leave from the jetty below Wat
Xieng Thong. Takes 1.5h upstream, 35 minutes downstream on a good slow boat.
The river has many strong vortexes, it seems tricky to master. I can imagine
that sometimes a boat hits one of the rocks.
Boats go for Kip25000 both ways. We bargained down to 17000 but took us a
long time and seems to be the limit. A cheaper alternative may be the pickup
to Ban Sang Hay (village where they make whisky), from there it is just a
short boat trip over to the caves. I have not tried this, but in Ban Sang
Hay I have seen a sign offering trips to the caves.
A good and honest boatowner / guide is Mr Tanh, speaking French not too bad.
In Pak Ou, there are 2 caves. The lower one is the well-known one. The upper
one has been cleaned and stairs have been built, it is not as spectacular as
the lower one but still interresting. On the way up one can buy snacks and
soon there will be a little restaurant.
We met some development aid workers, and they told us that people bring so
many Buddha statues since they take care of them, clean them and count them.
Now there is hardly enough space for all statues as they dig out more and
more precious old ones from the dirt. And after the rainy season, the
cleaning process would have to start again.
I think you should encourage travellers to steal some of the statues...

The Museum / Palace costs Kp1100, no cameras allowed.

Waterfall Tat Kuang Si is 29km from Luang Phrabang and is worth a visit.
Nice to go by bicycle. One can get on top of the waterfall without risk.
There are two paths, one on the left side and one on the right side of the
fall. Some people get lost in the rice fields, up there. Best way may be to
go up on the right side (start near one of the picknick places) and when you
reach the plateau with rice fields, follow the path for a few meters, then
walk left into the little stream on the first occasion. Follow the water for
a few meters and you will find a path that takes you to the top of the falls
with shallow pools shaded by trees. You can walk thru the water to the other
side, there's a path that takes you down. Entry to the falls is Kip1000.

There's another fall in the area, it is east of the no.13, south of Luang
Phrabang. Forgot the name. I went there and they charge for parking, for
entry and for boat going there, seems to be no way to go without a boat. So
I decided it is not worth the money and pedaled back. The fall is said to be
not as spectacular as Tat Kuang Si but its location in the forest is said to
be very nice.


The stretch from Luang Phrabang to Pak Mong was scenic and a bit hilly,
security no problem, people in villages on the way friendly. Pak Mong is the
crossroad and bus interchange village where no.13 and no.1 meet. Several
basic guesthouses are in sleepy little Nambak, a few km east of Pak Mong.

Via Muong Say (has a bus station, not seen much else) we go to Nateui, then
Boteme, all by bus. When we arrive, the immigration office has closed early.
Boteme is a real unfriendly village with not just a few people who are just
too much Chinese. They drink, gamble (Mahjongg) and tell you all guesthouses
are full, go elsewhere. We spent the night in people's home, don't find much
to eat, go to bed early get up early and see the immigration office. They
start late, give us no police stamp, won't extend our visa and so we go on
to Luang Namtha, glad to be away from this place that is so much like China.
The people in whose house we spend the night are not particularly friendly
but not unfriendly either, they are just normal people, honest, busy, and
probably a bid sick of the many travellers (often Chinese) coming in every
night.

The road from Nateui to Luang Namtha is hilly and partly sand / gravel,
still OK to cycle. The last part is a windy plateau with rice fields. I see
hilltribe people in their traditional Thai jogging wear. This is very
popular, nowadays.
Luang Namtha itself is quite big, has an airfield, a big police complex
(where you get your daily stamp), several markets, bus stations, a boat
jetty, a choice of restaurants. There are hotels and guesthouses, when I was
there it was hard to find a room, many places were full.
The town has a PA system, when I was there some Japanese tourists had been
overcharged on a boat. Next day, it was on the PA announcement how much the
boat should cost. Other tourists tried to go on the boat but the boat owner
refused to go at all, because it didn't pay for him to come back upstream
without passengers.

My companion sold his bike in Luang Namtha and got on a 4WD to Houay Say, I
planned to take the boat to that place. The boat didn't go due to a lack of
passengers, the 4WD refused to take my bike, so I cycled alone.
There are two cars going from Luang Namtha to Houay Say: One hardtop 4WD and
one heavy truck. A trip on any of these is said to be 12h of hell.
A trip by bike is not as bad but takes 2 days instead of one and gets you as
dirty. The first 75 km are done on a hilly track partly through shady
forest, inside the forest often muddy ditches block the way and streams run
across the road. In many cases one can just cycle thru them, the rest is
tricky, apply good judgement. Several times, rivers have to be waded. Many
hilltribe people walk the path and they will guide you thru the water and
mud, when they see you standing there with no idea how to get thru.
The further I go on this track, the less friendly the people get. Many carry
a rifle and shoot birds. Sometimes I ring the bell so I am not mistaken for
a deer. Some respond when I say "sabaidi" but often they are just puzzled
seeing me and they stare at me until I'm gone. My speed averages 8 km/h,
peaks up to 20 km/h.
After 69 km, there is a town called Vien Phukha (or so). You'll find some
guesthouses, a hospital and a truck going to Houay Say if the driver is not
down. When I was there, he was sick with Malaria. Many people have Malaria
there, I visited the hospital.
75 km from Luang Namtha is a coal mine. A little restaurant rents out very
basic accommodation and serves instant noodles, eggs, sticky rice, bisquits,
tea, coffee. Actually, I didn't have to pay for sleeping there, they only
charged me for the food. The owner of this restaurant is in charge of the
mine and has 3 spare chambers and mattresses for his friends, he explained
to me.
Heavy trucks transport coal from the mine to Houay Say. The trucks go at
night because then there is less traffic and the drivers can see other
vehicles early from the lights. Also the engines don't run so hot, at night.
So beware, these trucks don't stop and even if they wanted to, their load is
very heavy.
I cycle this road next day, it is not as scenic as the first part of the
way. The forest soon ceases and it becomes an open mountain road. The road
is wide enough for two or three heavy trucks but it is very sandy. The sand
is very difficult for cycling, I cannot go faster than 8km/h with stones
hidden in the sand. I try to find a car that takes me. A government vehicle
stops, but is already too full to take me with my bike. The people give me
some water and food and say sorry !
At about 50km from the mine, the regular truck from Luang Namtha catches up
with me and takes me. I can confirm, the trip is hell. The driver doesn't go
very fast but he also doesn't slow down a lot for the holes. So everyone on
this adventure is very much shaken up and covered in dust. My bike doesn't
stay were I put it and two people help me hold it. I wonder why the rice
bags remain on the floor while my bike jumps around.

Finally we arrive in Houay Say, I find a car wash for my bike and a
guesthouse for myself.
I need to extend my Lao visa here. Extension is not possible but new 2-week
visas are available. They costs about the same on the Lao side as on the
Thai side. If you want to get it in Laos, your agency takes you over to
Thailand with a special permit, you fill in some paper and they take you
back. Later, they take you to the immigration office where they stamp you a
new visa. When you do it in Thailand, it works just the same: Fill in the
application, pay, cross the river to Laos, receive your visa and that's it.
I had it done in Thailand at Chiangkhong Tour. Cost B1500. Prices vary
between B1400 and B1800.

From Houay Say to Pak Beng I take a boat, calm river, nice ride on the top.
All passengers spend the night in Pak Beng, there is no real good place to
stay, all the guest houses are basic and none is really clean. From Pak Beng
to Luang Prabang, it was a small boat, all passengers had to stay inside and
the river was difficult to maneuver, lot's of eddies. Shortly before arrival
in Luang Prabang, we saw Pak Ou Caves on the right side.

I cycle south to Phou Khoune, where I arrive late at around 8pm and cannot
find a hotel. Actually there is one right by the main road junction, but the
owner doesn't open. So I eat a soup, check the hospital (also doesn't open),
until eventually, the hotel owner comes down, tells me the price (it was
just normal, can't remember), sends me up to a basic room, fills up the
bucket in the toilet / bathroom and leaves me alone.

Next morning I check for the safety of the road to Phone Savan. The people
say, safety no problem, but the road is "destroyed". They agree that one may
try it with a bicycle, cause they have the idea that a motorcycle - maybe -
can get through. Well, I buy some food and try. Not far out of town, I pass
a little hut beneath an open barrier, I go through, someone shouts after me
but this someone probably just means to say "Hello" or "falang", obviously
has no vehicle to follow me and I also don't hear any shots.

The further I go, the worse the road becomes. This road changes between mud,
gravel, dust, rocks. It is not too steep, and slightly more up than down.
Not far, I met 2 huge Chinese trucks fighting their way towards Phou Khoune,
they are 16 wheel offroad monsters.
The road continues winding up and down mountains, between the mountains it
descents into dark and cool forest, sometimes villages, always a few
hilltribe people walking between villages. Some of them carry rifles and
look unfriendly.
Apart from the scenery, there is not much. The villages are very simple, the
people too. There is nothing you could get there, well, maybe a handful of
sticky rice and an egg if you are lucky, but people are very shy and I don't
try, have my own food.
Later I run out of water, so I refuel every time when I'm high on a
mountain. The water tastes very nice and clean, I still put some Micropur
inside to be safe. After 62km, just when it gets dark, I reach a place
called Nam That. The only restaurant in this village feeds and accomodates
me (extremely basic, get a bucket of water to wash outside after sunset,
sleep with the cat). They make me a meal from canned food which is
relatively expensive, compared to what they normally eat. They enjoy
Vietnamese cigarettes, there. The people here are friendly, compared to
those I met in the hills. Or maybe, they are just not afraid, as they may
have met foreigners before. We go to bed early, they get up with the sun.

From Nam That it is 23km to Tjom Si, the place where I take my breakfast.
After Tjom Si, the road is faster to cycle. Tjom Si to Phone Savan is 57km,
not much forest but getting very dry with broken desert ground. Along the
road, one can see many remnants of the war like torn car bodies and bomb
fragments. It is an endless and dry day, but along the way are a few lakes
that invite for a swim with the water buffalos.

After nightfall, I arrive in Phone Savan. Many smaller villages surround it
and it is stretched out over the hills, so I'm not sure if I'm there until I
am really there. I find a hotel, forgot the details, but I remember that
they decorated it with mines, grenades, rockets, bombs and UXO warning
signs.
With a group of travellers, I do the Plain Of Jars. We visit several spots.
Yes, it is nice / impressive, but I can understand that not everyone is
ready to spend 2 days cycling effort to get here. Of course, our guide and
driver tells us his idea of how the jars happen to be here and what they are
made of, he even spent a night in one of them when he was a kid, caught in
night and rain with his brother.
We wonder if we can go to the hot springs but our driver tells us they'd be
very small and tourists were often disappointed, so we skip this.
Phone Savan is not too spectacular, just a good place to meet people,
several expats work here, clearing UXO. The choice of travellers that make
it to this remote place is also interresting and the food is not bad.
Phone Savan was all more or less like described in the Lonely Planet, but I
don't have it now, so can't remember the names of the good places.
At the Lao Aviation barn I buy a ticket to Vientiane (2 days notice). The
airport is more like a bus station, crowded with local people who bring all
sorts of things along with them. No problem with my bike and in no time I
make it back to Vientiane.

EOF