CYCLE TOUR IN LAOS

Vientiane to Khe San, Vietnam
The Ride:
This is a 750 km 7 day ride, first south near the Mekong River and then east to the Vietnam border at the Lao Bao and then on to Khe San. The guidebooks describe Laos as having a pristine countryside and near the border with Vietnam one expects to see jungles where the Ho Chi Minh Trail once passed. However the countryside has been ravaged by Thai and Vietnamese logging companies and, in March, is very dry. The people are however wonderfully friendly and cycling through the villages and staying in the towns is a delight.
The Road:
This varies from an excellent newly surfaced highway to the most awful roads we have ever travelled on. There is little traffic except for school children on bikes, logging trucks and buses but the latter raise clouds of dust and many people including the stoker used a nose and mouth mask!
Accommodation:
Hotels and guesthouses abound in Vientiane, Thakek and Savannaket. New guesthouses are springing up in the smaller centers. Only in one small town did we find the government guesthouse fully occupied by Japanese aid workers. We were however offered a room in a Forestry Service House.
THE RIDE IN DETAIL:
It is 23 km from Nong Khai in Thailand across the Friendship Bridge to Vientiane. It is not possible to ride or walk across the bridge. The tandem was simply loaded onto one of the passenger mini buses and transported across the bridge to the Lao border post. The crossing was easy and 15-day visas for Laos were issued on the spot. Vientiane is a delightful laid-back place rather like a large village. There is very little traffic in town and it boasts some excellent restaurants. After rural Thailand where bread is not available to wazs great to breakfast on fresh baguettes.
DAY 1: Vientiane to Paksen (150 km on Route 13)
A long but easy ride. The road is flat and has little traffic. Early in the morning we shared the road with hundreds of school children cycling to school. We were answering the cheerful greetings, "Swabadee" all day long.
DAY 2: Paksen to Tha Khaek (210 km on Route 13 by bus.)
Laos is very lightly populated compared to Thailand and Vietnam. Villages are smaller and further apart. So, although this would not have been a difficult ride we decided that the distance was more than we wanted to do in a day and put the tandem on top of a bus. We spent a day in Tha Khaek and attempted a side trip to Mahaxai, a village to the east. The Lonely Planet Atlas showed the road (Route 12) as surfaced but 2 or 3 km out of town it deteriorated into a dusty sandy track that the tandem could not cope with. We made the trip on a local mini bus and although we arrived covered with red dust we were delighted with the village and its lovely setting by a river.
DAY 3: Tha Khaet to Savannakhet (130 km on Route 13)
A long ride on a road which wound its way over small hills in an arid ravaged countryside. Savannakhet is another pleasant sleeping village-town on the Mekong River. It is worth visiting for a few days.
DAY 4: Savannakhet to Atsaphangthong (68 km on Route 9)
The villages and small towns along this road are not always clearly labeled. This village is recognizable by the TV antenna on the left side of the road. The guesthouse was full but, whenever one stops, someone wanting to practise English appears for a chat. With the help of Mr. Sounthorn we soon found a room in a traditional teak house on stilts where we could hang up our mosquito net and put down our sleeping pads. The road to Xeno (or Uthonphon) is surfaced. Then for twenty km we biked along the new Japanese highway. The last 18 km along the old Russian built highway was awful. The road has deteriorated into 50m badly pitted surfaced sections and long stretches where the road is nothing more than a stone or sand track. No doubt in the next few years the whole road will be rebuilt.
DAY 5: Atsaphangthon to Muang Phin (93 km on Route 9)
We had a long hard day. There was a strong head wind blowing, the road, except for 20 km of completed new highway, was appalling. It is hardly surprising that we had two punctures! There were new guesthouses at each end of the small town as well as a government guesthouse.
DAY 6: Muang Phin to Sepon (36 km on Route 9)
At last, another pleasant easy ride. The old road has some fairly long good sections. Sepon is the jumping of point for visits to the Ho Chi Minh Trail.
DAY 7: Sepon to Khe Sanh (64 km on Route 9 and 14)
The road to the border was bad; the border crossing easy and the climb up to Khe Sanh hard but very rewarding. We hadn't seen hills and lush green countryside for a long time. Vietnam is very different: the people seem more prosperous, the villages more numerous and the food much better!