6 Days China-Laos Cycling Tour from Boten to Luang Prabang and Vientiane
Cycling Route of Jinghong(景洪) Xishuangbanna(西双版纳) to Laos and Thailand No.2 (Mohan(磨憨) China — Vientiane Laos)
Introduction of Area: Cycling starts with Mohan(磨憨) China, which is a bridgehead of China catering to Southeast Asia, and ends with the capital of Laos, Vientiane. You will experience the original ecological northern mountain area of Laos.
Route of Cycling: Mohan(磨憨) town in Mengla(勐腊) County of China-Boten-Udomxai- Luangphrabang-Vangvieng-Vientiane
Climate of Area: This area is rich in heat, warm all the year round and trees are evergreen. A year is only divided into two seasons, the rainy season with 5 months, (from middle or last of May to October) and the dry season with 7 months (from October to middle or late of May of following year).
Best Time of Cycling: The best cycling time of this route is in October each year to April of following year (it’s warm, foggy and less rain). In addition, there is Water-Sprinkling Festival, the traditional New Year of Laos, in every year of middle April.
Transfer station: Kunming(昆明) or Jinghong(景洪)
Length of Cycling: It takes 6 to 8 days to arrive destination at normal speed, maximum 10 days if you are in a bad comdition.
Content of Cycling: Primary forest + Original ethnic minority customs of Laos
Evaluation of Route: Whole journey: About 650 kilometers Spend Time: 6-8 days Degree of Difficulty: Medium difficulty Difficult Point: Rise exceeds 1000m. Be concerned about protecting yourself from the sunburn.
Riding levels: The highest is five stars
Labor Intensity★★★★
Technical Difficulty★★
Thrills and Spills★★★★
History and Cultural★★★
Natural Scenery★★★★★
A Suitable Number: 1-18 persons
Best Route: Mohan(磨憨)-Boten-Nabo-Udomxai-Louangphrabang-Vangvieng-Vientiane
Equipment: If you are going to camp out, bring tent, sleeping bag, moisture-proof pad, head lamp, compass, stove, matches and so on. It’s also good to go with a light pack, for there are a lot of nice lodging spots. Staying in the original ecology village is one of highlights in this cycling activity and the original ecological scenery of Vangvieng area is picturesque.
Itinerary:
Day 1: Mohan(磨憨)-Boten-Nabo-Udomxai 95KM
The whole way road is built recently. You’d better set out early this day, because it takes time to pass the customs in Mohan(磨憨) because of inspection. If you set out from Shangyong(尚勇) town of China before 8 am, the customs is just open when you arrive there. Before you pass the customs, you can exchange money first. One RMB yuan can exchange 1200-12600 Lao kip. (There are many individuals, like Zhou Xianghua 15925410287, who I exchanged money from. And she is a reliable person.)
You don’t have to have health certificate with you when you pass Chinese customs. The customs in Laos won’t check it, either.
After you pass Chinese customs more than 100m, you can see an old boundary marker between Chinese and Laos on the left-hand side of road. Then the road is leading down, more than 200m. The tower-type national gate of Laos (which is repaired just this year) comes to your eyes.
The Laotian customs is not far away from that. You need to pay 20 thousand Lao kip for seal fee. Around 200m away from customs, there is Boten small county, which is a bustling casino before, but now empty, only some Chinese who are doing business.
Then, the road is slowly leading down about 5km long, leading to a junction of Kunming-Bangkok Road.Turning left is the way to Vientiane while turning right across bridge leads to NK Nafta province, Ban Houayxay and the Kunming-Bangkok International channel.There many stores at the junction, so you can recharge yourself.
It’s about 35km from the junction to Nabo, with mainly slow uphill (the longest one is about 5km) and common scenery.There is a roadside fair at one of the downhill about 3km (selling many characteristic goods).
Another 6km up-and-down road, you will arrive Nabo town, whose entrance has a Monument of the Chinese Road builders on the right. Across a bridge, there are several Hunan flavor restaurants, next to an inn, which is named Wang Pa Zhang Bing Guan(望帕张兵馆) (reading on the sign), and is cost-effective (having a newly-built French building, with 40-50 thousand Lao kip for each standard room, and quite environment). Easy cycling group can think about resting here. And if you go further, the road is leading up about 15km from Nabo to Udomxai, which is a difficulty because of many turnings but little trees. Be concerned about protecting yourself from the sunburn.
Udomxai is the northern transportation center of Laos, the capital of Oudomxay province, whose center a river is crossing by. And many Chinese businessmen are there.
A hotel at bridge head is a bargain (30 thousand Lao kip for each standard, but only equipped with electric fan). There is a Chinese restaurant, too (the owner is Pu’er people of China). And a stupa on a nearby hill is a wonderful place to enjoy sunset.
If you cross a bridge and go little further, Chongqing(重庆) hotel and Hunan(湖南) hotel are available. There are plenty of Chinese restaurants nearby, but the price here is higher than in China.
Day 2 Udomxai—Pameng 80KM
It’s best to take some food for lunch this day.
After you go out from Udomxai and cycle around 5km following a river, a junction is there. Then, turn left to start going up. This uphill is about 12km, with a beautiful view. By the way, there is a nice waterfall on the mountainside (sometimes, there is a guard.).
Next, the road is up-and-down, about 30km, with 3-4 mountain passes. Each of mountain passes has a village (which is primitive, but has small stores). Then, drop down more than 20km, and arrive Pameng which is a bigger and busier city at a junction. Many Chinese businessmen are here, too, so you won’t have trouble in communication or accommodation (if you can speak Chinese).
Day 3 Pameng(transliteration)- Louangphrabang 96KM
The view of this day is very enjoyable. And there is no long or steep uphill. Most of road is following the Nam Ou up-and-down, with many small villages. So the situation is much better than the day before.
Across the Nam Ou Bridge, the road is leading up about 2km and there is a department store owning by a Chinese and several restaurants on the foot of the hill.
Next, the road is mainly leading down slowly. After entering the ancient capital, the accommodations near to Chun Kong (春孔) Temple are the first choices (cost-effective). We have lived in two of them, which are symoungkoun guesthouse 071-254901, 020-7775666 and Chilatda.
Saylomkhemkhong guesthouse071-212304 is an old inn (river view room and cost-effective) without much decorating, which has a distinctive flavor, near to a wharf in Binjiang(滨江) Road of Lantsang River .
There is a great deal of food in Louangphrabang, including Western-style food and bars.
But they aren’t cheap at all.
We weren’t interested in the nearby scenic spots, so we just rode bikes on Binjiang (滨江) Road and went to the Buddhist temple to feel it a little.
More details can be found in my travel notes:
Day 4 Louangphrabang-Kasi (English name is kasi or Kaxi(卡西) in Chinese) 170KM
Only experts with light packs can accomplish today’s itinerary (because you need to go up three steep slopes and each of them is about 20km). Besides, there are only small villages with few restaurants and accommodations on the whole way.
The first mountain pass of the first steep slope is located at the place of “354KM” of Highway 13 (141km away from Kasi, and the top of first steep slope is 5km further). It’s a good place to overlook the mountain scenery. And there is a department store, so you can lay in the straw shed with beer and enjoy the beautiful view.
If you have taken tent, you can rearrange the itinerary into two days. (Both top and foot of the second steep slope are good place for camping, because of convenient water source and nearby village.)
After the third mountain pass, scenery becomes extremely wonderful. (If you want to get a lift, you’d best get off at the third mountain pass. Nearby, there is a very big village, named Mengpukun, which is the starting point of Highway 7, leading to Phônsavan. In this village, there are many Miao people and you can recharge yourself at the market.) At the mountain pass, you can see a high mountain with sharp-pointed peak at a distance. But, when you are going down with bicycle in this road around 18km, be concerned about pits and speed. (I dropped down once. Luckily, I just got a slight injury.)
It’s around 35km from the third pass to Kasi. Definitely, the scenery in part is the finest part of northern Laos cycling. (Of course, scenery depends on weather. We met good weather when we were cycling there, where the highest mountain is the Pupula holy mountain.)
Kasi is a big market town and also a good place to have a rest and recharging.
Day 5 Kashi-Vangvieng 56KM
This day, the road is mainly leading down slowly and only has 3km up-hill. Karst landform covers the whole way, with beautiful field and mountains. What a relaxing day it is!
There are many small villages nearby Vangvieng (it called vangvieng in English), and I will take time to roam here again. The scenery here is as good as Guilin’s in China. Compared with Guilin, here is even more ecological.
However, the city of Vangvieng is a mess! Not neat! Not planned, either.
This is the paradise of hippie. In recent years, many Westerners have come here to take drugs. So, be careful! By the way, prices here are not cheap!
Day 6 Vangvieng-Vientiane 145KM
The scenery of this day is not as amazing as before! After leaving Vangvieng more than 10km, you will meet a 6 km slope and a downhill. Then, the most part of road is flat!!
Finally, it’s time to say good-bye to mountain and say hello to the fertile region of Laos. Houses are better and better as villages are more and more!!
There is a flow of traffic in Vientiane. (You can’t adapt it in short time, because just a few days before you didn’t even think about any traffic jam in Laos.) And you may lose your way by accident.
Certainly, hotels in the capital aren’t cheap. It’s more convenient to find board and lodging along the Mekong River in the Mixc. (Then, go to small streets if you want to get cheaper ones. Otherwise, it’s easy to get lost.) Both Pha That Luang and Triumphah Arch of Vientiane are worth visiting.
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