cycle laos - muang khong -> vientiane?
Replies: 9 - Last Post: Jun 17, 2012 11:56 AM Last Post By: SimonHill
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cycle laos - muang khong -> vientiane?
putting together this summer's tour - will be circuiting myanmar for a month,fly to bangkok, then into cambodia for 10-12 days. i had planned on heading
north thru vietnam, but have decided against. maybe a better ride would be
along the mekong to vientiane.
if anyone has done this ride (yes, i've read some blogs), what did you think
of this route? exciting? interesting? boring after a few days? pretty much
the same scenery for the entire 800 km?
........originally posted in southeast asia.....
1
Hi Chou, - for a man of the (Chinese) mountains like you, I would say boring, boring, boring. Its OK up to Kratie on the back river road, but after that it is flat and tedious all the way to Vientianne. There are some interesting things on the way, eg The Bolaven Plateau near Pakse, Kong Lor cave near Pakson, Champasak near pakse, etc but its a long way for little reward. I wrote a bit about the Thai side here recently - better food, accom, scenery, etc.Have you thought of riding the HCM Higway Saigon to Hanoi - i rode a couple of months ago and found it pretty good,
Enjoy Burma - mind the hordes of other tourists and businessmen.
2
thanks for that excellent post, just what i was looking for.already did hcmc-hanoi, i was originally going to ride to hcmc, then train
to hanoi, then cycle to china. didn't really enjoy the riding in vietnam,
(traffic + horns) which is why i'm changing plans.
i've covered much of laos north of LPG, and was hoping the south was
as exciting as the north. apparently not.
burma shouldn't be a problem, as i'll be going in july (monsoon season).
anyway, i've decided that after i fly RGN to BKK, i'll cycle south
to SIN and fly back to china from there.
3
Have you thought about doing the ride from Luang Prabang to Vientianne? Loved that road- crazy hills, beautiful scenery, Vang Vieng in the middle for "recuperation"... Hear its very flat south of Vietnianne, met cyclists in Vientianne who found it boring, but didn't ride it myself4
Oh, if it helps I found it super easy to stick a bike on a bus in Laos6
Again the same as Simon I've ridden that stretch between Vientiane and Savan but I'd add an extra boring. Savan I enjoyed. And there's little else but mileage. Totally different in every way to north of Vientiane. If you want to ride along the Mekong the Thai side is far more interesting.7
The area around Muang Sing south has it all. Jungle, tribes and beautiful scenery and little traffic. Have a look at this link for routes that are rideable and please note that they are spread over four pages: http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF&msa=0&msid=201920652538405310535.0004c2a1623a9392d96f0
