Pakse – Xepon – Phonsavan, is it a easy access?

kchow24

kchow24

Junior Member
Joined
Aug 17, 2015
Location
Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia
Bikes
XT1200Z
Hi Guys,
Looking for some info concerning the road condition from Pakse – Xepon – Phonsavan, is it a easy access for a heavy bike? Planing to take this route during December.. Anyone travel to this area recently?

Screen Shot 2015-09-10 at 9.52.12 PM.jpg
 
 
Hi KC,

Pakse to Sepon and Phonsavan is doable on paved roads but the route you have shown is along the boring Rd 13 South. Personally I would take a slightly different route which takes in many of the tourist attractions like Wat Phou in Champasack, Tad Fane, Tad Sekatam and the Tad Lao waterfalls (there are quite a few more waterfalls along this route like Tad E-tu (Itou), Tad Champi, Tad Yueng, Tad Houa Khoun, Tad Faek, etc.) These can be reached all along paved roads.

Your route shows going north from Thakaek to Paksane and from there to Phonsavan via Thatom. Part of that road is very bad at the moment (Phamuang/Muang Huang to Thasi along Rd. 5101). Another option is to take Rd 8 at Viangkham to the east to Ban Nahin where you can go to the Konglor Cave (the last 2-3 km. to the cave is bad at the moment with big potholes in the road) and from there take Rd 1D at Ban Pakha to Muang Khoune and Phonsavan.

I have shown this route which is also all on paved roads (about 1630 Km.) on the GPS map (in 2 parts - top and bottom). In case you have more questions or need more info just ask but there is also plenty of information in the ride reports KTMPhil mentioned in his post.

Route Top.jpg

Route Bottom.PNG

For more info and some (bad) pictures of the waterfalls have a look at South-laos-january-2011-part-2-a with waterfalls
 
Have to agree with Auke route 13 is possibly one of the most boring roads in Laos
 
Thank you guys for all the details advise, really appreciate.
After reading the trip report, I also want to go up Long Cheng look see... hehehehe. Is it possible to get there with the GSA and S10? heavy loaded some more.
 
The road from the South should pose no problems in December even loaded up, the exit road North to Phonsavan is pretty steep and rocky, but with some care you should make it :dirtbike:
 
Agree with Bob for the access road on the south side but the road from the north (Phonsavan to Longchaeng) is tricky with some quite steep sections and, if it is wet even with some dew early in the morning or in sections in the shadow, it might be tricky on a road bike.

We were there in June and we met a few Singapore bikers who tried to ride up from Phonsavan to Longchaeng but at the first steep section they had to give up as it was too slippery for their big bikes.

Anyway, they haven't give up and in December they and me and a good friend will be there again and give it another try to get their big bikes up there as well as doing a trip with them along the Ho Chi Minh Trail

Here are some of their pictures. (Pictures copyright Ebrahim Adam)
11110257_475208562656155_2166867130678589004_n.jpg


11208664_475208775989467_8805925294096444551_n.jpg


Below is a short videoclip of us coming down from Longchaeng to Phonsavan on that trip in June which gives a good impression on how steep some of the sections are and how slippery it can be.

 
kchow24 said:
HI LR,

You mention December will do another attempt, possible to leak out the time frame?
Click to expand...

Hi KC,

I'll check with them if they could/would accommodate more people on the Longchaeng part of their trip and will let you know as soon as I have confirmation from them.
 
Lone Rider said:
Hi KC,

I'll check with them if they could/would accommodate more people on the Longchaeng part of their trip and will let you know as soon as I have confirmation from them.
Click to expand...

Not much luck up to now getting answers as they still have not decided when they will do the trip to Longchaeng. The only sure thing is that the trip along the Ho Chi Minh trail will be early December so the Longchaeng part will be either late November/very early December or sometime in the middle of December this year.
 
Lone Rider said:
Not much luck up to now getting answers as they still have not decided when they will do the trip to Longchaeng. The only sure thing is that the trip along the Ho Chi Minh trail will be early December so the Longchaeng part will be either late November/very early December or sometime in the middle of December this year.
Click to expand...

Hi LR,

Thank you very much for the update, we will only push up middle of December from our home land, most likely by the time we reach Laos already toward the end of December. Anyhow keep posting, see any chance to meet up or not.
 
Meeting up - well yes, that would be nice and as I might again be in Laos towards the end of December it could happen as I have plane to be in the south of Laos around that time. I'll let you know where I will be around that time.

By the way, I just got word that the road to Longchaeng from the south (which was good about 2 weeks ago) is at the moment washed out and my friend could not make it up there even though he was on a KLX 250. Don't even want to think how the northern access road is at the moment. Anyway, I have another friend riding in that area on a KTM 525 and he is anxious to get up there so I wait for him to post his adventures in the mud.
 
You cross that river by ferry as the new bridge they are building there is not yet ready but personally I would not try that route on a big roadbike - a trip report with loads of pictures describing that trip is here:

Saravan-phin-bombed-bridgesl

16618752144_b35608784a_b.jpg


17053434468_a0ee016db8_k.jpg
 
Agree with Lone Rider, the route is knee deep in bulldust in the dry season, right now i guess that bulldust is a nice knee deep mud bath that would make it very interesting on a big bike.
 
Too excited and had forgotten the important part of the trip.... by the way, border crossing at Chong Mek to Pakse, at Laos's immigration and custom, are there a trouble-free border? Any difficulty? Need anything special?
 
kchow24 said:
Too excited and had forgotten the important part of the trip.... by the way, border crossing at Chong Mek to Pakse, at Laos's immigration and custom, are there a trouble-free border? Any difficulty? Need anything special?
Click to expand...

Have photocopies of your registration docs and passport. This is an easy crossing and you should get 30 days with the bike too.
 
kchow24 said:
Too excited and had forgotten the important part of the trip.... by the way, border crossing at Chong Mek to Pakse, at Laos's immigration and custom, are there a trouble-free border? Any difficulty? Need anything special?
Click to expand...

Six of us from PJ Malaysia crossed at Chong Mek into Pakse early November. Easy and quick.
The usual documents ; Bike Cert/Grant, Certificate of Conveyance, Thai Insurance. Keep a copy of the Thai Customs form handy as the Laotians prefer to refer to that for our Malaysian bike details.

We rode Route 18a ( easy, really easy ) and also the HCMT from Ta Oy to Ban Along / Xepon ( also easy ) with no problems.
Since we wanted to have real fun, we left our GSAs at home and rode our Enduro bikes instead. You can do it on the heavyweight diesels but you will enjoy less of the route struggling with the biggies.
 
nikhuzlan said:
Six of us from PJ Malaysia crossed at Chong Mek into Pakse early November. Easy and quick.
The usual documents ; Bike Cert/Grant, Certificate of Conveyance, Thai Insurance. Keep a copy of the Thai Customs form handy as the Laotians prefer to refer to that for our Malaysian bike details.

We rode Route 18a ( easy, really easy ) and also the HCMT from Ta Oy to Ban Along / Xepon ( also easy ) with no problems.
Since we wanted to have real fun, we left our GSAs at home and rode our Enduro bikes instead. You can do it on the heavyweight diesels but you will enjoy less of the route struggling with the biggies.
Click to expand...

Hi CraigBKK and Nikhuzlan,

Thank you for the great info.
We are leaving Shah Alam middle of Dec, hopefully everything goes accordingly to plan.
 
Hi Guys,

Need some info on road 23, from Phin to the boomed bridge (prince souphanouvong bridge), how is the condition currently? Is it doable for 260kg machine to pay the bridge a visit?
 
The northern side (from Phin south to the bombed bridge (Prince Souphanouvong bridge) is difficult and you will encounter a lot of very fine dust which makes riding on a heavy bike like yours a very unpleasant ride. Don't know how you got to where you say are "trying but lost.." but to get to the bridge from there just keep moving to the south along Rd 23. to Toumlan and then on to the bridge

Rd 23.PNG

Another option is to head south to Toumlan and then turn east where you will reach the paved road 15B, head south to Saravane, then west to the junction of Rd 15A (paved) with Rd. 23 and then north till you reach the bridge (the green route on the map).

alternative.jpg
 
I rode in the Dong Phou Vieng Protected area a few days ago, though not on Route 23. As Auke states, currently conditions are very dry and sandy in places.
 
Just to Confirm what Auke said, on route 23 there are two bridges the first one at N16.27966 E105.9585 heading south from Phin the route is graded but sandy with a few bailey bridge crossings and should be doable,Prince Souphanouvong bridge the more southerly of the two would be very difficult on a bigger bike and would not advise it.

See me report from April on the conditions from Prince Souphanouvong bridge to Phin. http://www.rideasia.net/motorcycle-...ts/7089-laos-saravan-phin-bombed-bridges.html
 
Hi all,

At first we was at route 23 from Salavan day before, heading to north to Phin half way we turn back to Salavan, because we can't locate the boomed bridge, maybe we got it mixed up with the wrong bridge.
So the next attempt was trying to go from North (Phin), we ride from Salavan to Savannakhet than to Phin, but too bad no luck for us, we already left Xepon today. (by the time I saw the reply, we are already in Thakhek, anyway thank you for all the info)
 
Rode Route 23 south from Muang Phin to Toumlan and back to Ta Oy. The section from the bombed bridge to Toumlan is very sandy in places. Was hard work and not enjoyable. Don't advise riding this on a big bike.

In 2007 Toumlan to Ta Oy took me all day to ride. Now it takes less than two hours...
 
kchow24 you guys back home already? How far did you go?
We plan to do North Laos ( Phongsaly ) and work our way down after CNY 2016.
 
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