Advise for northern Lao Trip

Jun 26, 2011
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Hello Everybody,

I am new here and need a few advises from the experimented drivers that you are!:thumbup:

My Friend and I are planning on doing a 4 days trip to Northern Laos, I have some question that would help me prepare the trip, hope you can help!

- We'll be riding Honda XR650 from Ventiane to Luang Prabang, we are a bit rush on time so is it possible to do it in 1 day if we leave early morning?

-Is there any alternative road from Luang Prabang to Ventiane on the way back instead of the main road that pass Vang Vieng... We'll have 1 and 1/2 day to come back and planning on sleeping somewhere around 100km away to Ventiane.

Many Thanks :wink:
 
Oct 12, 2005
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Yes you can get from Vientienne to luang Prabang in one day.

There are options if you're up for offroad riding on the XR650 to get from Vientiene to Luang Prabang? Let us know.
 
Jun 26, 2011
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Thanks mate for your help, and yeah i am definitely open for off riding options between VV and Luang Prabang, as the point of my trip is not to ride on asphalt all day long..:)
How many hours do you think I should I count to reach LP from Ventiane?

Cheers
 
Jan 16, 2010
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Yes it is possible to reach LP from Vientiane in one day but it will be a long and hard ride up Highway 13. I did the trip a couple of years back 2 up on an xr 250 but split it into 2 days, stopping at VV. From there to Luang Prabang is slow going. Someone told me how many hairpins but I can't remember - hundreds. The longest piece of straight road is maybe 400metres. To start with its a bikers dream but can turn into a nightmare. Watch out for tour buses, logging trucks, high speed SUVs offering high speed transfers between LP and V. All of these will overtake with little thought for other 2 wheeled road users. Road surface can be poor, especially on the outside of bends. Would I do the trip again? You bet!
We took a detour on Highway 10 via Thalat and Nam Ngum lake which only added a little more time and got us off 13 for a while.
 
Jun 26, 2011
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Ok, thats what i was worry about, i know what you mean by "the nightmare" especially if the weather is bad...I think i need to think about it again.How long it took you to reach VV from Ventiane?

By the way, how's the weather these days over there?

cheers
 
Jun 26, 2011
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Hi,
Thanks guys for all your replies.
finally, We are going for a loop from Ventiane, via paklay and Xayabouri (stop one night)
then Luang Prabang and get back to Vientiane (still 2 night left for this 2 cities)
Maybe spend a night in VV.
I couldn't find any report about this trip, which I think should has be done many times by bikers,
I also saw the video of Vang Viang flooding, is it gonna be that tough these days for riding ?
if you have any advices about off road and any others stuff, don't hesitate,
Cheers,