Scooting the Loop - Thakek

An Adventure on Two Wheels

In November  '13 I had a conversation with a friend about doing the "Thakek Loop". A few friends had done it and it looked like fun. Four days on motorbikes scooting around the Laos countryside. What's not to love? We started planning.

The Loop is a set circuit around Koumanne Province in southern Laos. It starts in the once-French-Colonised town of Thakek on the Mekong; passes through stunning valleys and mountains, small villages, frontier towns; includes caves and underground rivers. Four days. Via Chinese motorscooters.

Fresh, excited and no idea what we were about to face

For a while there it looked like it might just be we three women without the backup of someone who knew how to realign a chain, fix a flat or lift a bike out of a ditch. Unfazed, we booked accommodation, arranged some leave and planned what to wear.

http://awaygowe.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Loop_Map.jpg

Luckily for us (and them) Jorge and Elcira scammed some time and came too (phew!).  A 6 hour bus ride south brought us to Thakek, a town known for the pretty riverside setting, sleepy small town vibe and interesting, crumbling French colonial buildings.

 

Thakek was also the site of a battle in 1946 with the French. In an attempt to regain control over Laos, French troops descended from the Vietnamese border, reportedly killed 3000 soldiers and civilians and are thought to have thrown hundreds of bodies into the river.

The Loop, Day 1.

We awoke in Thakek on the anniversary of this battle. Hundreds were expected in town for the official commemorations.  We left before anything official kicked off.

We collected our bikes, filled the tanks and headed east.

  

We rode through small towns, valleys surrounded by stunning karst mountains, past herds of goats and buffalo and caramel coloured cows.

After winding up and up a mountain range through villages, past decimated (burnt, flooded, logged) forests, we arrived at our first night's accommodation. The night was cold, the barbecue was delicious, the backpacker company was young and full of stories of themselves.


Sabaidee Guesthouse

Day 2: The long and muddy road.

The day dawned overcast and cool. We were assured it wasn't going to rain. We layered up, putting on all of our clothes at once and set off for what we'd heard would be a tough ride. If only we'd known how tough! (we probably would have still done it).

It started raining. It was cold, our hands hurt, we were miserable. When it really started to bucket down we took refuge.



Day 2 - hiding in pipes from cold, sharp and bloody annoying rain

The road got worse. Muddy, sludgey, slippery. Hard work.

Amidst the mud and curses we got filthy, dropped our bikes several times and kept trying to laugh. The promise of hot and tasty noodle soup kept us going...





Hot, tasty noodle soup! nom nom nom

Lunch stop

We saw lots of smiling people

Everything got wet!





Dirty but still smiling!



more smiling people



smoking people too





Traffic lights at the frontier town of Lac Sao - a relief to get off the dirt!

The mud finished but Day 2 continued. Arriving in Lac Sao was just a short stop. We kept going - over another mountain range, through a little more rain (softer this time) and through some more stunningly gorgeous valleys. 

We arrived at our booked bungalows, muddy, tired and relieved.

Clean, showered, warm again and drinking tea!

We had survived a muddier, harder, more spectacular Day2 than we'd expected.

Day 3: A slower, easier day. Konglor cave.

herds of water buffalo - I'd never seen pink ones before



Arriving at Konglor we headed straight for the cave. It's a long underground river through a mountain. Lots of boys paddle lots of tourists. The water level was low so we got our feet wet a few times. There were stalactites and stalagmites but mostly it was just a big dark cavern.

A Konglor oarsman



Konglor cave - coming out the other side

On the other side there is beer and chips



a cute little shop keeper

After boating through the cave and back, we headed for a late lunch and then just enjoyed the scenery of Konglor village

 

Late lunch at Enjoy Boy.



Day 4: Heading home

Expecting a long straight ride back to Thakek, we set off early. We overtook the school bus and few vehicles transporting dried tobacco leaves. We zoomed along reasonably good, paved roads through villages and towns.



School bus



Trouble! A tyre blew, a bike bucked and a couple of us got into a bit of a scrape. Nurse Camilla and her trusty First Aid kit came to the rescue. 



Day 4: a bit scraped and bruised but still smiling!

We journeyed onwards. Back to Thakek, to the bus station and... eventually (at around midnight) home to Vientiane. We were tired, hungry, dirty, sore but very happy. With memories and photos (and possibly scars) to be bragged about and exaggerated for years to come.





Thanks heaps to Julie, Camilla, Elcira and Jorge for being fabulous loop buddies but also for sharing your photos.