We weren't planning on making this pit stop in Laos but too many people that we had met in Don Det insisted that we do--and I am extremely glad we did. Thakhek is city in Southern Laos in between Don Det and and the capital, Vientian. The main reason tourists stop here is for the starting point of the "Thakek Loop", a three to four day motorbike trip.
We arrived in Thakhek around 8:30pm and decided to stay at a popular travel lodge for tourists preparing to do the loop. We met a few people that night and had heard from some travelers who attempted the loop that morning that the roads were almost too muddy to ride due to the rain. We therefore decided to do the loop the clockwise rather than the more common clockwise route so that we would ride on he paved roads our first day and hope that the muddy roads would dry up by days 2 and 3. This turned out to be the correct move because it barley rained during our four day trip.
The next morning we woke up bright and early and congregated with the random group of travelers we met at the lodge. We were the only two Americans-- there were 3 British guys, 1 British girl, 1 Dutch girl and a Czech guy. We rented 6 semi-manual bikes from the lodge (I rode on the back on Andrew's bike and the British girl rode on the back of her boy friend's). Most of them had never ridden a motorbike before but were very quick to learn and we were on the road by about 10am.
The first 3 hours we rode on perfectly paved roads with mediocre scenery. After a quick stop for lunch and gas we turned off the main highway and the scenery immediately changed to lush green rice fields and magnificent limestone mountains. We spent the next 3-4 hours riding through windy mountain roads and couldn't resist stopping to take pictures of the amazing views. There were very few vehicles on the road and we barely saw any other westerners. We drove through many villages where there were always villagers with smiles and waves.
Our final road for for day was the road that led to the main attraction: Konglor Cave. This road was so enjoyable to ride down because the sun was slowly starting to set and we were surrounded by towering mountains and rice farms on all sides. This one drive in itself made the trip worthwhile. To make things even better, we found the most charming guesthouse with unbelievable views and amenities. The 8 of us celebrated a successful first day on the road with some beerlao and delicious food from the guesthouse restaurant. One of the craziest parts of the guesthouse was that it appeared to be run by two kids in their teens-- we never saw where their parents were. Tipping is not custom in Laos but this was the first case that we thought it was deserved and necessary.
The second day we woke up early to get to Konglor Cave which was a quick ride from our guesthouse. It is the largest cave in Laos measuring up to 80 meters with 7.5 kilometers of river running through it. The size seemed similar to paradise cave in Vietnam but we were able to go completely through it from one side to the other in a small boat. It was pretty magnificent but probably was not the highlight of our biking Adventure.
After the cave we had stopped at a place for lunch where a group of Vietnamese tourists were having a lunch break. These tourists seemed to find us more amusing than anything they'd seen in Laos-- they took tons of picture of us and even gave us all of their leftover food!
After our free lunch we continued on the bike for about 45 minutes searched for cool springs that were labelled on our map. The cool springs were nothing too special but what made this activity worthwhile was the spectacular view of farmland and mountains (sounds repetitive but the views truly just seemed to get better and better). We then drove for about 2 more hours and spent the night in a somewhat dingy town called Laksao.
The next day we knew was going to be the "difficult" muddy part of the loop and we were prepare to turn around if necessary. Travelers are even known to call this stretch "the road to hell." At this point of the trip two people in our group had already turned around back to Thakhek because of a time constraint. Although the roads had dried up a bit it still was not an easy ride. For about 1 hour we charged through thick muddy roads and I occasionally had to get off the bike and walk while Andrew fanagled the bike through.
At about 2pm we reached a guesthouse that was highly recommended and decided that since we weren't in a rush and already had a difficult drive we'd just spend he rest of the day and night relaxing there. This guesthouse was probably one of the best I've stayed at so far mainly because the owner was one of the most cheerful guys I've ever met. They had delicious food, the owner gave us a free bottle of whiskey and made a bonfire, and at night local Laos teens came for drinks and kareoke (they were extremely amused by Andrew's hair and skin). The icing on the cake was when the owner offered to take us fishing with him and his kids for free the next day. We of course took up the offer but caught no fish (his 10 year old son caught 5).
After fishing, we had about a 3 hour ride back to the lodge. We made a stop at another cave which had bright colorful lights lighting up the interior.
We drove back to the Thakek lodge with new friends, amazing memories and beautiful pictures. Laos was quickly becoming a highlight of our trip.
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