Vientiane to Na Hin
Our first stop on the way out of Vientiane was a bike shop run by an expat Frenchman who was involved in competitive cycling. He pulled a few sharp wires out of Alison’s front tire, which will hopefully stop the continual punctures. We paid him with a spare saddle and set of pedals that we had been lugging around for no discernible reason since Kunming. His description of the first 160 km of our journey west was not tantalizing in the least. Flat, featureless, dusty and urbanised, it sounded just as dull and unattractive as the 160 km north of Vientiane had been. On his recommendation, and with our soon-to-expire Laos visas in mind, we decided to take a bus east and save a few days.
Looking out of the window confirmed his warning, so the bus was definitely a good idea. The bus also provided confirmation that our decision to ride bikes on this trip was generally a good idea. It was cramped, crowded and noisy. After we pulled out of the bus station, the bus immediately stopped and filled up the aisles with more passengers on plastic stools. Thai pop music blared for the entirety of the trip, toilet stops were scarce and the bus station sandwiches were not good. But then, the last one is probably true in any country. We got off the bus in Pak Kading, and were surprised to discover we had only been on the bus for three hours. It felt longer. Pak Kading had a reasonable guesthouse, so we decided to stay there.
The next day we hoped to make it 90 km, which was an ambitious target. However, as it was almost entirely flat for the first 70 of these we thought we’d be able to manage it. It was a pretty route, and it got prettier the closer we got to our target, Ban Na Hin. The road wound through quiet villages, none as poor as we had seen in the north. After about 50km, we started to see small limestone ‘mountains’ jutting out of the plains, and a picturesque back drop of steep mountains to the north. These were made more picturesque by the knowledge we wouldn’t be climbing them. At about the 70 km mark, just as we were tiring, a road sign warned us of a steep ascent. This was no joke, and the 6 km of super steep road nearly did us in. Frayed tempers were soothed by the reward at the top. Sala Viewpoint overlooks the ‘limestone forest’ of crazy jutting peaks and jagged edges stretching over several kilometres. We enjoyed a beautiful sunset there, and then dropped the last 10 km into Ban Na Hin in the dark.
Ban Na Hin lies in a large valley, and is popular with tourists due to its proximity to Kong Lor Caves. There were at least 10 guesthouses, and even an excellent Italian restaurant where we stuffed ourselves with pasta, pizza and tiramisu.
AW + MD
Photos from this post can be found here
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