The Golden Triangle Rider

[domrault]

Hello, we would like some ideas of 4-5 days trip in Laos in july. We are two on a motorbike and we don t have that much experience, also we did one week trip in north west vietnam two years ago outside main roads. So we can handle dirty road, and rocks but not all the way.
We nee to rent a motorbike too.
Have you got any advice for us ?
thanks a lot
Emmanuelle and Erwan

[Craypot]

OK,

Coming to Lao via Vientiane then there are plenty of rental shops for Honda XL250s. (BTW PVO has a new outlet on Fa Ngum Rd near the Lane Xang Hotel)

This time of year is wet season so you can expect rain and when there's rain there is mud and that aint fun. 4-5 days its tricky to advise. If you take it easy then Vientiane - Vang Vieng - Luang Prabang return is doable but dangerous - safer is the route south to Champassak and Wat Phu but the ride is less scenic. You could do some short rides out of Vientiane (head west along the river then north to Hin Houp and return which would be a long day ride or maybe two days for eg but the roads are dirt and could be mud and shit).

If entering via somewhere else it is all difficult (rental, travel everything this time of year - its the off season and its wet).

Don't forget there is nothing like western standard medical facilities here in lao so don't be a hero.


<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by domrault</i>
<br />Hello, we would like some ideas of 4-5 days trip in Laos in july. We are two on a motorbike and we don t have that much experience, also we did one week trip in north west vietnam two years ago outside main roads. So we can handle dirty road, and rocks but not all the way.
We nee to rent a motorbike too.
Have you got any advice for us ?
thanks a lot
Emmanuelle and Erwan
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">

Mike

[domrault]

hello,
thank you for your answer. For the trip from Vientiane to Luang prabang, i read thatt there is quite a lot of traffic, so we were thinking more around Luang nam tha - muong sing or around pakse paksong sekong.
Have you got any information about how the road are and if it possible to rent in those places ?
thanks a lot
Emmanuelle and erwan

[Craypot]

I don't know about bike rental in those other towns. Check the Lao Rental thread for any info on that. Traffic is relative - when its said that Rte 13 north has heavy traffic it is compared to the rest of Laos. If comparing to Thailand you would say it has lite traffic. Its true that from KM52 to VTE the traffic is shite but its not a jam just madness.

Mike