Laos – Adventure Motorcycle Perfection

If epic adventure is your thing, motorcycling Laos is a must.

It’s beautiful. Incredibly beautiful. Never ending mountains and valleys, covered in lush jungle and dotted with the small villages of the hill tribes.
Kids running from schools, homes and out of the jungle, screaming with delight, waving and giving you high fives as you ride by.
Epic roads – paved and off road. Never ending twists, turns and roller coasters.
Amazing food, culture and people.

Muang Hiam: Early morning.

We were awakened early by something other than a rooster for once. The daily morning news that is blared through loudspeakers every day, morning and night in every town we had been in. Apparently a carry over from Soviet aid times.

Well, we wanted an early start.

After breakfast at Tontavahn Restaurant (which cost 70,000 kip – the same as our hotel for the night), we were off – hoping to make it to Luang Prabang. This was a lofty goal as the previous day we had only ridden 155 km, and today’s ride would be closer to 300km. On the road for 8:30 am we were immediately hopeful. Although the road was still fun twists and turns, they weren’t as sharp as the previous day so our speed was already improved. And it was just as beautiful, if not more so. Low lying clouds hung over the valleys, and as we rode we watched as the sun burned away the cloud cover, first revealing wisps of white clinging to the mountain tops, then revealing lush, green jungle and the brightest of blue skies. The home of the Laotian big cats. The jungle was so thick and vast, I half expected to see a tiger dart out in front of us.

After 100 km we had a decision to make. Take the short cut to Luang Prabang, a road we could find almost no information on (Pak Xeng – Sam Soun Rd) or stick to the main highway (1C) North towards Nong Khiaw. To help us make this decision, lunch was in order – it was 11:30 am by this time. Luckily for us, there was a small town at this intersection. We stopped and “asked” (I.e acted out eating a delicious bowl of air) if there was a restaurant in town. Happy nods and finger pointing towards a roadside hut a short way up the road led us to an unnamed “restaurant” with a single table (1.5 km past the turn to Pak Xeng). A group of young men excitedly raced over to “hang” with us. With some help from the young men, we managed to order noodle soup with meat. We had no idea what the meat would be, but having darn near run over cows, pigs and chickens for the last 200 km, we figured it would at least be fresh. We weren’t disappointed. The soup with pork and pigs blood was wonderful, the best soup we’ve had in Asia so far.

After taking a chance on the soup, we decided to take our chances on the short cut. The town had a gas station 1 km past the restaurant, so after filling up we were back on the road for 12:10 m.

The short cut landed up being another great decision. The next 60 km proved to be the most breathtaking off road riding I’ve ever done. 60 km of hard packed dirt, deep ruts and gaping holes along a nonstop mountain ridge line. Phenomenal views on both sides, as the mountain cut away to reveal more jungle, more crops and more breathtaking beauty. Riding along the top of the ridge line, you could see mountains into the distance for endless miles, rows and rows of mountains growing dimmer until they were almost more imagination than reality. Between the crazy fun road and the incredible scenery, Laos quickly skyrocketed as one of the best palaces to adventure motorcycle.

After 60 km of fun, more surprises were in store. The last 80 km to Luang Prabang was a newly paved, wide road along a river that sparkles in the sun. The Honda 150’s proved to be a riot on the dirt track, time to see what the 150’s could do on open road.

Not bad. We kept up to the Honda 250 ahead of us no problem on the dirt, and no problem on the highway. The bikes proved to be the perfect all round bike for motorcycling Vietnam and Laos.

We arrived in Luang Prabang at 4:30 pm and decided to celebrate with a nice dinner. After checking into the wonderful and quiet Malida Guesthouse ($45 USD for the family suite), it was off to Manda de Laos for a superb meal. We had the Namkong menu and it was devine. Water buffalo, fish, chicken, vegetables, rice and coconut creme brûlée topped off a perfect day in two wheel paradise.