Shane
Active member
This trip report starts and finishes in Phonsavan. I decided to do this trip around the start of December 2019 right after spending time at the the Hmong New year celebrations. The route took me up against the Vietnamese border quite a few times along some really nice dirt trails. The mountainous scenery was really beautiful and the remote villages were like something out of a national geographic magazine. It a relatively sparsely populated area compared to other regions. The elevation is quite high up and in December it was bloody cold!
Part 1: From Phonsavan - Nong Het - Muang Quan - Viang Xai - Pahang
The main way points of the whole route were basically as follows:
- Phonsavan
- Muang Khoun
- Nong Het
- Muang Quan
- Vieng Xai
- Pahang
- Muang Et
- LS 85
- Sam Nua
- Muang Hiam
- LS 36
- Phonsavan
As usual, no fancy GPS tracking system, just maps.me on my phone and asking around with the locals.
Nice crisp morning departing Phonsavan on the way to Muang Khuon. Beautiful rice terraces.
Turn off at Muang Khoun and straight into the dirt roads.
Hmong new year still in swing.
Beautiful dirt trails just weaving their way through the rolling countryside.
Nice little villages along the way.
The trails were small but it was nice compacted dirt. Easy to ride on.
Beautiful trails that just seemed to go on and on.
This part is only a few meters from the Vietnamese border. The mountains in the distance are Vietnam.
Vietnam straight ahead.
There was a river crossing at the river below which was fairly deep, rocky and fast flowing water. Annoyingly I had to put my feet in and the water came in over the top of my boots and fully soaked the insides. Not ideal at 4pm in the afternoon. When the sun fades a little later its bloody cold and there was no way in hell that those boots or socks were going to be dry the following morning. Oh well...
When I eventually popped back out on the main road, I decided to check out the Laos/Vietnam border just to have a look.
I then headed to Nong Het to find myself a guesthouse. As usual, my guesthouse finding methodology is to ride around the town on a reconnaissance mission and pick the guesthouse that looks like the best prospects. In this case, this one looked the least crap and had a restaurant attached. Nong Het looks like a nice enough little town situated in between some cool limestone karsts. It was absolutely freezing that night so I didn't get to check out much. I ate my Pho noodles had one beer and hit the hay.
Day 2
The next morning I was on my way. Obviously my socks and boots hadn't dried one single bit. They were nice and cold when I put them on.
I thought I might make it to Vieng Xai.... but alas It wasn't to be. My departure was delayed until the weather warmed up so that cut into my riding time. The distance and terrain were also a factor and as a result took longer.
There was also significant sections of the route that weren't on maps.me. Having research the region beforehand and chatting with some of the lads in the online forums. It was clear that there was trails going there so I felt confident. I also just asked around when I got to villages just to make sure I was going the right way.
This beautiful road just hugged the Vietnamese border for miles.
This is definitely one of the dodgiest bridges I have ever come across. From a distance you are lulled into a false sense of security as the metal structure looks pretty solid. Upon closer inspection, its actually just the shell of a bridge. I asked a local whats the story and he replied that the construction company ran out of money so just ceased work on the project and just left it like that. There are gaps in the floor that could damage the wheel of the bike and no real on and off ramp sections.
The creative locals, not wanting to let the construction work go to waste, installed some flimsy on and off ramps. There's about a 10 meter drop into the river below. The water would not be deep enough to cushion the fall, but certainly sufficient to drown you if you fell from that height and were incapacitated.
Obviously I walked it first and watched a local lad ride over it before before I did it.
This was another bridge down the road. It wobbled a fair bit but at lease it was fully constructed.
Evidence of a few land slides. I can only imaging what it would be like i rainy season.
Endless trails
Caught this beautiful sunset....
However I was still miles from the nearest town, which meant I was going to be enjoying some off road riding in the dark. To make it even more fun, this was one of the sections that wasn't on maps.me. So, off road, in the dark with no map. Nice combo.
I obviously didn't have a hope of making it to Vieng Xai. My plan B alternate stopover of Xam Tai was also looking like a pipe dream. So it was going to be plan C, a town called Muang Quan. I never heard of it before but the writing on maps.me showed up in slightly more bold writing so I had to assume it was more than a little villege.
After over an hour of off road in the dark I finally rolled onto some pretty decent asphalt. Muang Quan actually turned out to be a reasonable sized town. I was very surprised. A lot of locals were also very surprised to see me... especially from the direction I was coming.
I found a brand new guesthouse to stay in, which was one of the nicest guesthouses I have every stayed in (in the 100,000 kip price range).
Got a nice meal a local karoke restaurant in the town. Then got a good nights rest.
The next day I set off for Vieng Xai. The road was in very good condition and much of it was paved.
I rolled into Vieng Xai in good time that afternoon. The sun was shining so I decided it was time to enjoy a beer Lao and the surrounding views.
I stayed in the main hotel in the town beside the market. It looks fairly dated and crap on the outside but the rooms are totally fine. It was way nicer than the place i stayed the last time opposite the visitors center.
This is a view out the back window.
The following day it was freezing!!!! I had planned on exploring some of the outer area and caves as I had already been to the main Prathet Lao caves.
I didn't make it too far other that a brief ride around to check out the immediate area that I hadn't checked out on my last visit. In fairness the immediate surrounding areas are beautiful, with some nice little trails that are easy and fun to ride.
Had a look in some of the villages off to the right of the reservoir in the town.
The main reservoir in the town.
Some cool little trails weaving through the Karsts. This is very close to the town itself.
Cool dramatic scenery.
When I couldn't take any more of the cold weather, I pulled into this little local restaurant and just got stuck into some beer Lao for the afternoon.
Obviously this place wasn't designed with insulation in mind. I had to purchase a few hot coals to put under the table to keep me warm.
Cool little restaurant actually. The staff told me that no foreigner come there. Surprising as its fairly close to the "main" town area.
As the day turned into night, the beer Lao flowed and the Lao karoke chunes were cranked up.
The next day looked a lot more promising weather wise. While I was waiting for it to warm up I headed for the viewpoint to check it out.
Really cool views of the surrounding area.
Day 3
I was leaving Vieng Xai and not 100% sure where the destination was. All I knew was that I was heading up by the Vietnamese border somewhere and that I would just see where the chips fall in terms of accommodation for the evening.
I decided to talk a turn off up to the Vietnamese order to check it out. I ended up and the Pahang border at the top of a huge mountain. Cool ride up, but now I was freezing and looking forward to getting back down.
The surrounding hills seemed to have lots of cool trails. But I was freezing and didn't really have time to explore....
Well eventually I just couldn't resist. I had to hop back into the dirt. This one just looked too good and offered beautiful sweeping views.
I came across a Hmong festival in full swing in the absolute middle of nowhere
To be continued in part 2.....
