Laos - Vientiane to Vieng Kham

We have 240 miles to cycle from Vientiane to the Vietnamese border at Namphao. We are in Laos’ hot dry season before the rains start in May. Temperatures are in the high 30s - hitting 40 one sweltering afternoon - making cycling slower and more tiring. The first half of our week in Laos mirrors the Mekong, before continuing east on highway 8, which is also the top of the Thakhek Loop. This is a popular 3 day motorbike route through southern Laos renowned for beautiful limestone karst landscapes, caves and rural villages.

22 March - Vientiane-Pakngum, 51 miles

It felt good to be leaving Vientiane where we’d lingered too long. Good to be back in the saddle. As the legs turned my irritating ear worm of the Spice Girls’ ‘Two Become One’ returned: an incessant and unwelcome soundtrack 😑. Luckily the roads out of the city quickly deteriorated, developing huge craters, ruts and large-scale roadworks, so my concentration to stay upright and navigate the obstacles banished the girl band from my head. When I could look up from the road I saw tall white apartment blocks, newly constructed, standing strange and empty on the city outskirts.

Once back on tarmac we found our cycling stride. We deciding to skip the Buddha Park - a surreal open-air concrete sculpture garden founded by a shaman - when we saw three large coaches parked outside and a throng of gabbing Chinese milling about the entrance. We stopped instead at a local cafe looking over the Mekong to escape the heat and use the facilities. All around the cafe the family were clearing debris. The owner explained last night they’d had a huge storm: we’d not had a peep in Vientiane only 20 miles (32km) away. Instead, we’d learn Vientiane later today, would be hit by giant hailstones the size of baseballs, so violent they tore through people’s roofs. Good thing we left early in the morning!

At the 30-mile mark we left tarmac behind, happily cycling along a red dirt road for over ten miles. Hardly any vehicles passed which made us totally relax and take our time appreciating what’s around us. Colourfully this was farmed bright orange marigolds, peppered with insect raves in tree copses, glimpses of the Mekong, and the odd incongruous mansion with elaborate domes, chandeliers, ionic columns, and grand gilded gateways.

Shops were few and far between - when we did see one we topped up our water, and glugged cold drinks and if lucky ice lollies. At 4.30ish we rejoined highway 13 and pulled into the wat grounds of an unusual silver temple hoping we could ask for permission to camp. Away from the trucks and dust it was peaceful… but also deserted. We waited an hour hoping the resident monk would return. As evening approached we decided to get back on the road in the hope we’d find a guesthouse in the small town a few miles on. The sky was dramatic with golden tropical clouds as we rolled around more roadworks and finally into a basic guesthouse.

23 March - Pakngum-Paksan 55 miles

The poor road quality through the morning made us consider we’d under-estimated how long today’s cycle would take. Instead of 7-8 hours, we recalculated the gravel and potholes would slow us to 9-10hrs in the saddle. Fortunately the poor conditions were due to extensive roadworks and once cleared the road was great for the rest of the day and we recovered our speed.

We started seeing closed petrol stations. Thailand supplies Laos with 90% of its oil and due to unrest in the Middle East Thailand has cut Laos’ supply by 25%. Until Laos can source oil from Vietnam (in agreement stages) queues were building up at the pumps that remained open.

Places to eat were much less plentiful and more basic than our experience in Thailand. As lunch rolled around we pulled up at a place where a wonderful woman, with no English, communicated with us perfectly to find out what we wanted to eat. Smiling, she led me into the kitchen where we did a series of pointing and head shaking to indicate no meat, no fish, but yes to lovely veg and egg. Two enormous bowls of delicious pho followed!

When we reached Pakxan early evening it was much bigger and busier than we’d anticipated. Tucked away from the noisy main road our Homestay was surrounded by a very cared for garden and our host ceased her watering to greet us. The house had been in her family for three generations and she proudly showed Lilz around whilst I stayed with the bikes. This suited me: I am often self-conscious arriving hot, red, v sweaty, and dusty and sometimes through tiredness am not the best at mustering the small talk required. Lilz delighted in being shown her star fruit tree, being given bananas from the garden and shown the orchids that thrived. Once checked-in I could finally have the longed for shower and clean clothes! Our host’s restaurant recommendation for dinner was pretty swanky - instead of leaving us our beer bottle, staff hovered to refill our glasses for us. Looking out over a tributary of the Mekong the sunset was a beautiful pink.

24 March - Paksan-Pakkading, 39 miles

It rained heavily during the night so we decided to stick to the highway rather than take the gravel road alongside the Mekong. It was a hot ride through Laos’ countryside.

We noticed Chinese influence - signs and trucks with Chinese writing, large new developments / infrastructure being built, and more rubber plantations replacing rice paddies.

We noticed signs of Laos being the poorest country in Southeast Asia - one-quarter of its population lives below the poverty line. Basic tractor vehicles are common, people live in more traditional low-cost structures, we saw more labour done by hand or water buffalo, and the farming was on a smaller scale (subsistence?)

We noticed aspects of Laos’ socialism in action. We cycled past about 100 villagers toiling together to lay a concrete section in the middle of their hamlet. The whole community, young and old, worked together on the project under the hot sun.

Wed 25-Mar - Pakkading-Vieng Kham, 18mi

A short day to the junction where we’d join hwy 8, the road that would take us to the border. The road was built above the surrounding farmland giving us good views.

We tried pale green palm sugar juice. Not as sickly sweet a drink as we had both feared - oddly refreshing.

Slowing to marvel at a row of roadside stalls selling beautifully hand-crafted knives I noticed at the end a wee food stall. A tiny elderly lady in traditional sinh (sarong-style skirt) served me. She had the most beautiful wise eyes. Realising I only wanted a small knob of ginger she gave it to me, refusing any money.

In Vieng Kham we stayed in a new Chinese built hotel. Everything was shiny and clean. ✨ There was a glass separator for the shower so the floor didn’t flood. 🤸 Simple things make us happy.Read more