We headed for Luang Prabang, Laos, in November with a plan to meander gently east, through the hills, then south along the Mekong river into Cambodia.

Stepping out into the tiny airport of Luang Prabang it was immediately hot and humid.  They were already unloading our bikes and luggage before we had walked the short distance through border control.   It was the hotest time of day, so we were steaming by the time we had reassembled the bikes and given our cardboard bike boxes to a delighted porter

We spent two nights in Luang Prabang visiting the morning and night markets, watching the Buddhist monks gathering alms in the early morning and visiting Buddhist Wats.  The town is geared up for tourists so generally much more expensive and with a different vibe to much of Laos.

Early the next morning we set off on what would be a four day cycle through the hills and remote hill villages to Ponsavanh in the direction of the Vietnam border.  We always plan to start our tours with short days until we get acclimatised but here the first day was a lot more than we had bargained for as we didn’t really know what to expect.  We could see there was some accommodation marked at 84 km which was a bit far and a campsite at 35 km which wasn’t far enough. 

As we started the first climb the sun broke through the early morning mist and we started to roast.   Luckily we soon headed through the forest with the road cut deep into the hill so there was a lot of shade.  There was tarmac mainly on the straight bits but none on the many corners that were fine powdered mud (with no traction), rocks and loose stone with half meter deep pot holes. Generally the gradient was not too great and fairly steady.  Luckily there was little traffic so we could weave around.

As we got higher the views over the trees down over the valley was amazing, but being new to the heat we were really suffering.  In a tiny village we stopped at a lean-to shop and sat in the shade for an hour drinking quantities of bright orange, sugary, fizzy drink and a coconut juice and bits concoction with an impressively high calorific content that powered us up the rest of the 13 km, 700 m high hill.  I had learnt some phrases of Lao before starting which were understood in Luang Prabang, but of course up in the hills a different dialect was spoken so a lot of miming was needed while they giggled at us.

We had a wonderfully scenic roll down the other side to the river.  We had seen a cafe marked on the map but could see no sign of it, so we started the next climb, which was longer and higher than the first.  We would end up climbing 3050 m that day.  We did find a hut with a tiny bit of a shop, so we bought the only food she had, a pot noodle, and having added some lukewarm water forced that down, yuk!  We sat at a little table in her shed and waited for the day to cool a bit before continuing our climb.  Of course, it gets dark very quickly here at 5.30, so we ended up still climbing in the dark and hoping that there would be room in the guesthouse when we got there. The night insects in the forest around us were deafening and there was a full moon and lots of stars.   We finally rolled in, exhausted, at 7.30, to be told they were full!  Luckily, someone had not turned up, so we got their room, but when we went to their restaurant that had also sold out of food and only had noodle soup, that tasted as bad as our lunch.

Being at 1500 m had its advantages as the next morning it was much cooler.  The road surface was steadily getting worse so we were wearing buffs that we could pull up when one of the mainly empty lorries came past in a cloud of dust.  As we didn’t have so far to go that day we took it easier and stopped in the tiny village shop/cafes for an over coloured drink. We even ended up with a proper lunch and supper, so things were looking up.  We mainly kept our height but it was very undulating and energy sapping.  Again, the views across the hills and valleys were amazing, and there were lots of butterflies,  some as big as small birds.

The next day, keeping our height, we rolled through lots of small villages with wooden houses and thatched rooves. The children were always delighted to see us, waving and shrieking with delight like a flock of noisy sparrows shouting Sabaide, or hello/goodbye and giggling.  Coming home from school the little girls looked lovely in their local woven skirts and the little boys looked like little boys do!  When we stopped at a shop we were greeted warmly with Sabaide and a smile.

We crossed from Luang Prabang Province into Xieng Houang Province and it was noticeable quite quickly from the state of the villages that this area was much poorer, and the road was worse again.  After another long climb we had the joy of a 20 km downhill.  We arrived at the bottom expecting to have to camp as there was no accommodation shown on our map but not only found a new Chinese guesthouse, but three restaurants.  We were so covered in dust that we were white all over, so I was more than glad to find a shower in the room.

Inevitably what comes down has to go up again, so the following day started with a 14 km climb up 750 m.  Luckily the empty lorries coming the other way could only descend at about 5 miles per hour due to the lack of tarmac and made a loud rattling din, so we could cycle on whichever side of the road looked best.

It was still beautiful up here but there was a lot more agriculture and deforestation, and noticeably less butterflies.  In the afternoon we dropped down to the Plain of Jars, a flat plateau at about 1000 m.  Here there were almost no trees, no shade, paddy field and maize fields, hay stacks and traffic.  In the hills there had just been motorbikes, pickups and some lorries but on the Plain with good roads there was fast moving traffic.

We planned on spending two nights here in Ponsavan, famous for its world heritage megalithic Plain of Jars.  Many were destroyed during what was called the Vietnam War in the 1960’s, although more bombs were dropped on Laos than anywhere else, and more than in the whole of the Second World War.  30% of these bombs are still unexploded and they have killed 20,000 civilians since the war ended.  In fact about 3 go off in this region a day and we heard one explode while cycling through the forest, we could feel the ground shake. It gave us quite a scare and we watched the hillsides in case there was a slide.

Tomorrow we are going to continue cycling through even higher hills in Laos to Paksan. This will be in the next blog.