Changnoi1
Senior Member
Just back from a trip that should have taken a bit longer, but due to me being a bit sick we aborted the trip. But well next month we will continue again.
GreenKawaBird and I left from Khon Kaen to ride to Bung Kan via Udon Thani and Sawang Deang Din (lunch stop at Jing-Joes Pizza). We arrived in the afternoon and stayed for 1 night in Bung Kan and enjoyed a diner along the Mekong river.
The next day we took the ferry to Paksan. Very easy and relaxed, all together it took us about 90min I think. At the Lao immigration was a sign "Visa On Arrival for Foreigners" what would indicate that you can get an VOA here. We did not need it so due to the language barrier I am not sure if you really can.
Although a bit overdone for this touring road trip I started to use my Garmin Nuvi 40 with Lao map .... works great and indeed has a lot of POI.
After early lunch in Paksan we did ride to Vieng Kham where route 13 meets route 8. Until Pak kading the all road was an easy tarmac road without any problems. But after that the road had many constructions area's and side-tracks with dust, mud and put-holes. So we did arrived in Vieng Kham coverd in red dust. Sometimes the dust was so intense that I could not see the care driving 10m in front of me. We did stay overnight here and the next day we took route 8 to Kong Lor Cave, what is 40km thru an beautiful mountain karsten landscape. The road is good but there are a lot of big and very slow truck and there are a lot of big stones on the road (used by trucks that had problems). After the viewpoint it is 8km down hill to the road that leads another 40km to Kong Lor Cave. We did stay here 1 night and the next day we did ride back to route 13 again to go to Tha Khek. The road was easy riding again, with a few easy road construction parts.
Tha Khek is an nice old French colonial village with some pubs and restaurants along the river front. We did stay here for 1 night and continued our trip to Savanakhet. The road to Savanakhet is good and even boring easy to ride. Along the way we saw sign of an to be build PTT gasoline station ... with an to be build 7/11! After 1 day in Savanaket we took the bride back to Thailand to go to Mukdahan. Although with some hesitation from the immigration people we were allowed to exit Laos over the bridge.
After 1 night at Mukdahan we did ride back to Khon Kaen via the just as boring but easy to ride route 12 via Kalasin. Back home at lunch time. And time to get better and prepare for the southern Laos & Cambodia trip next month.
Well have a look at http://changnoi1.blogspot.com/2012/1...tral-laos.html for an full report
Chang Noi
GreenKawaBird and I left from Khon Kaen to ride to Bung Kan via Udon Thani and Sawang Deang Din (lunch stop at Jing-Joes Pizza). We arrived in the afternoon and stayed for 1 night in Bung Kan and enjoyed a diner along the Mekong river.
The next day we took the ferry to Paksan. Very easy and relaxed, all together it took us about 90min I think. At the Lao immigration was a sign "Visa On Arrival for Foreigners" what would indicate that you can get an VOA here. We did not need it so due to the language barrier I am not sure if you really can.
Although a bit overdone for this touring road trip I started to use my Garmin Nuvi 40 with Lao map .... works great and indeed has a lot of POI.
After early lunch in Paksan we did ride to Vieng Kham where route 13 meets route 8. Until Pak kading the all road was an easy tarmac road without any problems. But after that the road had many constructions area's and side-tracks with dust, mud and put-holes. So we did arrived in Vieng Kham coverd in red dust. Sometimes the dust was so intense that I could not see the care driving 10m in front of me. We did stay overnight here and the next day we took route 8 to Kong Lor Cave, what is 40km thru an beautiful mountain karsten landscape. The road is good but there are a lot of big and very slow truck and there are a lot of big stones on the road (used by trucks that had problems). After the viewpoint it is 8km down hill to the road that leads another 40km to Kong Lor Cave. We did stay here 1 night and the next day we did ride back to route 13 again to go to Tha Khek. The road was easy riding again, with a few easy road construction parts.
Tha Khek is an nice old French colonial village with some pubs and restaurants along the river front. We did stay here for 1 night and continued our trip to Savanakhet. The road to Savanakhet is good and even boring easy to ride. Along the way we saw sign of an to be build PTT gasoline station ... with an to be build 7/11! After 1 day in Savanaket we took the bride back to Thailand to go to Mukdahan. Although with some hesitation from the immigration people we were allowed to exit Laos over the bridge.
After 1 night at Mukdahan we did ride back to Khon Kaen via the just as boring but easy to ride route 12 via Kalasin. Back home at lunch time. And time to get better and prepare for the southern Laos & Cambodia trip next month.
Well have a look at http://changnoi1.blogspot.com/2012/1...tral-laos.html for an full report
Chang Noi
