Phonsavan - Mouang Khoune - Mouang mok - Chomthong. Road update
Update on the dirt road that runs from Mouang Khoune to Chomthong via Mouang Mok.
Chomthong is 35kms North of Vieng Thong, and its where the new Tar road, and dirt road meet.
There is accommodation in Vieng Thong if you need it.
The road is 100% dirt, and its hard pact, with rocks and gravel most of the way, making it a slippery and slow ride.
There is a report on the new tar road here.
Update on the road that goes south from Phonsavan to HWY 8 at Lak Ha.
The start of the road, which I eventually found after taking a few wrong turns.
Although this photo doesn’t show it to well, there some big mountains to the east that border Laos and Vietnam.
It was dry and baron until I got to Mouang Mok, the trees seem to be in a losing battle with the chian saws.
There’s some nice scenery around Mouang Mok.
South of Mouang Mok the road narrowed and it was a great ride.
About 20 kms North of Chomthong there was a amry check point. I arrived there about 4pm, and the boys looked like were on an extended lunch, with Beer Lao the only thing on the menu.
They wanted to know where I was going and wanted to look at my passbook, and tried to look important, as well as sober…they failed at both. Id been turned around in this area a few years earlier coming the other way, and I was hoping it wasn’t going to happen again.
But lucky for me they were more interested in adding to the pile of empty bottles, and let me go on my way. I didn’t take any photos of the check point, or any of the logging trucks that were going in, and coming out of the mountains to the east.
From the check point to Chomthong the riding was magic.
I stayed at this guesthouse in Khoun Kham which is on hwy8 which is a cool little town. The ride down from Phonsavan was 227km. It took me 10 hours, because apart from taking a few wrong turns, I had picked up a bug with made it slow going.
Moto-Rex
Update on the dirt road that runs from Mouang Khoune to Chomthong via Mouang Mok.
Chomthong is 35kms North of Vieng Thong, and its where the new Tar road, and dirt road meet.
There is accommodation in Vieng Thong if you need it.
The road is 100% dirt, and its hard pact, with rocks and gravel most of the way, making it a slippery and slow ride.
There is a report on the new tar road here.
Update on the road that goes south from Phonsavan to HWY 8 at Lak Ha.
The start of the road, which I eventually found after taking a few wrong turns.
Although this photo doesn’t show it to well, there some big mountains to the east that border Laos and Vietnam.
It was dry and baron until I got to Mouang Mok, the trees seem to be in a losing battle with the chian saws.
There’s some nice scenery around Mouang Mok.
South of Mouang Mok the road narrowed and it was a great ride.
About 20 kms North of Chomthong there was a amry check point. I arrived there about 4pm, and the boys looked like were on an extended lunch, with Beer Lao the only thing on the menu.
They wanted to know where I was going and wanted to look at my passbook, and tried to look important, as well as sober…they failed at both. Id been turned around in this area a few years earlier coming the other way, and I was hoping it wasn’t going to happen again.
But lucky for me they were more interested in adding to the pile of empty bottles, and let me go on my way. I didn’t take any photos of the check point, or any of the logging trucks that were going in, and coming out of the mountains to the east.
From the check point to Chomthong the riding was magic.
I stayed at this guesthouse in Khoun Kham which is on hwy8 which is a cool little town. The ride down from Phonsavan was 227km. It took me 10 hours, because apart from taking a few wrong turns, I had picked up a bug with made it slow going.
Moto-Rex
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