Luang Prabang to Vientiane

It’s been a while since my last post.. Since then I left the Mekong and rode over some big steep hills to return to the Mekong at Vientiane. Here’s the story.

In the end I spent over a week in Luang Prabang. Quite a bit of this was spent at the Utopia Bar- can you blame me when it looks like this?

At the end of my time there I met up with a Spanish friend I’d first met on the bus back from Tiger Leaping Gorge. It’s always nice to see someone you’ve met before- instead of always meeting new people each day. We hung out and had a picnic at a temple on a hill overlooking Luang Prabang.

Part of the reason I spent so much time in Luang Prabang was that I knew there were some big hills ahead that I was putting off riding up. In the next 3 days I climbed over 4000 vertical metres!

The first day was pretty brutal- a 700m climb followed by a 1000m one. I met a few cyclists on the road that day, including an Aussie guy who I hung out with over the next few days. It was good to save some money by sharing guestrooms!
I’m getting better at managing my body on the way up the hills- taking my time, keeping my fluids and food intake up, and resting regularly. It made the climbs pretty manageable, even in the heat.

The climb definitely made for some nice views though. We met a Scottish couple near the top, and we all stayed at the same place that night. The guesthouse had an amazing view out the back- here’s what it looked like! (They also had some caged monkeys)

The next morning it was pretty misty, and I tried to make the most of it by starting early before it got too hot. This day was spent sort of following the ridges, with a lot of ascending and descending. All up this day still had almost 1500m of climbing, but did include a nice long 1000m descent at the end. That night was spent at a guesthouse beside some pretty average and lukewarm hot springs. Boon, the Aussie guy graciously slept on his bedroll so we could share a room and keep the cost down.

The next morning saw a nice ride out of the hills and through some great karst landscapes to Vang Vieng.







Here we bumped into 3 other cycle tourists at one cafe! Two more Aussie guys and a Belgian (called Niels). 3 of us rode around town together, looking for somewhere cheap to stay. It felt like we were in some sort of cycle touring motorbike gang! :-)
We found a really nice place for pretty cheap- we all got individual bungalows with private bathrooms that weren’t too far from town (and were even closer to the nightclub!). I recommend the Molina Bungalows if anyone’s passing through.

It was a good few days, hanging out with Boon and Niels and some other backpackers, drinking a lot of beer, and partying. We arrived on Christmas Eve, and it was a great party atmosphere in town. On Christmas Day we went via tuktuk to a lagoon and cave which was really nice (sorry, I stupidly didn’t take my camera). Unfortunately because I lost my headtorch in China I didn’t get to explore the cave which was disappointing.

For dinner that evening we went to one of the places doing all-you-can-eat for pretty cheap and stuffed ourselves silly.

I spent another few days in town doing some work, hanging out and exploring a little bit. I really enjoyed Vang Vieng, but that might be because the touristy places are still a bit novel for me after China. Vang Vieng also had a bad reputation for drunkenness- you can go tubing on the river, and there were a heap of bars alongside the river where backpackers used to get absolutely written off. Apparently on average one backpacker a month was dying doing it so the government stepped in and closed it down. It definitely didn’t feel like the cesspit of debauchery I’d been lead to expect.

Vang Vieng was the site of an American runway used during their secret bombing of Laos and it’s still there, just hanging out!

I went for a walk across the river, and climbed a little karst knob there.. It is a pretty beautiful place

I finally pulled myself away and got back on the bike. It was a 2 day (200km) flat ride down to Vientiane, the capital of Laos. I left the mountains and hit the flat plains of the Mekong.

The guesthouse I stayed in that night was interesting.. The lights outside were all red, I was asked multiple times by the management if I wanted a local woman, and the pillows and sheets were pink with lovehearts, but you could feel a rubber/plastic mattress protector underneath! (Shudder)
But it was a fast ride to Vientiane- I was on the road at dawn, and arrived in town by 10.30! I then proceeded to ride around for an hour trying to find a cheap guesthouse before settling on what’s turned out to be a nice place near to the Mekong River.

I did some work on my bike yesterday- had the chain changed, and finally swapped out my Marathon XR tire on the front. As I was riding to the bikeshop I noticed a regular bumping, and when I looked there was a bulge in the tire. I’ve been carrying two spares, hoping that this one would wear out. So I swapped it over and look forward to riding away on a fresh tire tomorrow. The old one had been on the bike before I came on this trip, so had clocked up 15,000km of pretty heavily loaded touring- not bad in my opinion!

So last night was New Years- I managed to find a group of backpackers to celebrate with, and had a pretty decent night, even with the Lao Lao – the cheap local spirit.

Tomorrow I head to the Thai border to cross over and come back to get another 30 days in Laos- tomorrow’s day 30 of my 30 day visa so I don’t have a choice!

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