For some time I heard about the Thakhek loop in Laos, a 450km bike ride in the Khammouan region, the central part of the serene Asian country.
I start collecting some information and decide to leave.
I spend a few days between the relaxing Vang Vieng and the sleepy Vientiane. I’m in the Asian country during the New Year’s Eve, a funny party that lasts for several days, where you go to the temple to honor the Buddha, you celebrate with friends and relatives, you drink a lot and, traditionally, you throw “ritual” water balloons with the smiling local people shouting the auspicious “Sabaidee Pi Mai”, or “happy new year” in Lao!
I go to the bus station in Vientiane after a couple of days of celebrations and I get on a battered bus that takes me in about 6 or 7 hours from the capital to Thakhek: a small town on the banks of the Mekong, not really to be considered among the most beautiful in the world, but it is from here that begins and ends what is now known as the “Thakhek loop”. It is more than anything else a good starting point as it is easy to reach and offers a good availability of motorcycles to rent.
I arrive in the evening and I am pleasantly surprised to receive a message from a French friend who is reaching me from Bangkok to join the adventure. In anticipation, I begin to look at the scooter rental prices, which are quite expensive compared to the country’s average. Speaking a bit here and there with other travelers I discover a place with good bikes at a decent cost, which bargaining a bit ‘becomes acceptable: 70000 kip per day (about 6 €) for a semiautomatic Chinese scooter.
The next day I meet with my French friend and we organize a couple of things before to start. We hit the road the following morning, using the indications of the “map” provided by the bike shop: a hand drawn and photocopied sheet of paper with some road signs and some references on where to go and what to see along the way, in the end it’s all we need!
We leave the city along a dusty road and after a few kilometers we stop at the “elephant caves”, where it’s possible to notice a big rock with the appearance of a pachyderm. We find friendly people who want to take pictures with us. Wherever you go in the world, as soon as you leave the tourist spots or the cities, people become more pleasant and smiling.
We go back to the saddle of the scooters and drive along other kilometers to the caves of Tham Nang Ene, truly impressive and evocative. The rest of the afternoon the route is on a busy road with several trucks heading for the nearby Vietnam border.
All Laos, from the capital to the smallest village I have seen, is crossed by an expanse of electric cables that carry the electricity everywhere, on the way I see one of the hydroelectric plants from where all these wires depart. The landscape is completely devastated, but the locals have the opportunity to take advantage of all this. Unfortunately, the environmental impact was not considered during the construction.
Then we pass through the Laotian forest and finally the road becomes pleasant and free of heavy vehicles.
The first day ends after about 180 dusty kilometers at the Sabadee guest house, well marked on the maps. Despite the massive advertising in the backpackers circuit, the place is a great choice: welcoming and cheap. The manager is really a nice guy and for dinner he organizes a delicious barbecue with homemade bread and pizza.
The second day is probably the most interesting route-wise: we pass through the jungle of Laos and for villages that do not seem too visited by tourists. An American girl joins us with her bike.
A chat along the road with the locals and lots of good smiles.
A stop at a restaurant for a good plate of noodles in Vietnamese style. We are in Lak Sao near the border, which is also noticeable from the presence of truck drivers almost all from Vietnam, who stop to eat around here. They welcome us with a “Xin Chao!” (the welcome greeting in Vietnamese) and offer us to drink whiskey … not the best if you ride a bike but we allow ourselves a sip just to not be rude, especially after all the welcoming and friendly smiles that they did.
The lady of the restaurant as well as serving delicious dishes is also at the head of the gambling that take place in front of a television that transmits a local box meeting. The audience is warm and ready to play the bet on the winning fighter!
Superb surprise of the day is a lagoon of green water, perfect after all this road in the sun brutally attacked by dust! An off-road path leads us through a plain along a spectacular landscape to the cool destination where we take a bath in the company of some locals.
The day ends in the Konglor village, after about 170 kilometers, in a home-stay where a friendly Laotian family welcomes us in their simple and serene everyday life.
They take us to wash in the river and organize our room with blankets spread on the wooden floor of the house on stilts.
After an exquisite Lao-style dinner cooked at home, the lady chief of the family takes us to the village party. Here they are still busy in the festivities of the year’s end… now almost a week has passed since they started to celebrate it!
They offer us a drink, invite us to dance with them and try to communicate with the few words of English and Lao that we have in common. In the meantime they keep on filling the glass with the ever present Beerlao, one of the best beers in all of Asia, ending up drunk with so many toasts to the sound of “Sabaidee Pi Mai” (happy new year).
At night we cannot sleep because the room used for our temporary bedroom is 10 meters from the speakers from which they shoot at full volume Laotian and Thai music all night long. Entertainment ends at about 5 am, just before the cock starts to sing. I imagined the life of the village much less lively, but despite not having slept that much the stay was exceptional!
After a quick breakfast and the greetings to the family that hosted us we put our 3 international backs on the bike’s saddle and in just over 10 minutes we are at the Konglor Caves entrance, which represent the main attraction of the Thakhek loops.
We leave our vehicles at the park’s parking and take a boat that lead us in the magnificent exploration of the huge cavern. It seems to enter Dante’s Inferno as we are engulfed by the hole in the rock. I just imagine the man driving the boat as a personal ferryman of souls.
The huge cave-tunnel is semi-dark, except for some walking areas. The absence of light, however, has its charm in this place: you go through the tunnel in the bowels of the earth, in an excellent and fresh temperature. When the engine of the boat stops and we are without any noise but our breaths, I have the sensation of floating in the immense, there is no longer the perception of space. Unforgettable experience!
We get back to the scooters having one last gift from the journey represented by the beautiful and picturesque landscape made of gray limestone formations immersed in the deep green of the Laotian forest, an excellent natural contrast that fascinates us. It starts to rain, not bad after all this sun!
The final part of the loop is on another dusty road, on the Highway 13, where buses and trucks run to Thakhek or to the south of Laos, to unload goods and tourists.
We arrive in the city at sunset, with memories that are about begin to be happily digested.
Thakhek loop is simple and adventurous, it pass through wonderful places. There are no problems finding accommodations, food and supplies or places to repair motorbikes. You can do it comfortably in 3 days and 2 nights, some take longer than others … the important thing is to get on the bike and have fun, discovering this fantastic part of Laos!
Who is around here should think about trying this experience !!
The place where I rented the scooter, for those interested, is called Wang Wang and is located in Thakhek main square. The staff speak English, friendly, they also provide a (approximate) map of the Thakhek loop.
