Tha Kaek - the loop (Laos)
Tha Kaek – The loop
Even though we took the VIP bus which was supposed to take only 5 hours from Vientiane to Tha Khaek, it took us 7,5 hours. There have been rumors that the PDR in „Laos P.D.R“ stands for „please don t rush“. Being from Austria, where efficiency is a top priority, makes it more difficult to getting used to the Lao speed, everything takes a while and a little longer :-).
When we finally arrived the Lonely Planet recommended guesthouse was full therefore we had to go to a hotel. The hotel looked pretty fancy and out of our price range BUT we were lucky, for 120.000 KIP = 12 Euros we were able to get a double room. Luckily the receptionist made a mistake and we got it for 70.000 = 7 Euros.... hurray that s an excellent deal.
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this pink room was my room in the first night at the loop
After a local dinner (shrimp soup with egg) we went anyway to the other guesthouse to meet other backpackers and to get some insider information about the loop. There at the campfire Manuel and me, met Rene... a swiss guy who is a professional motocross driver. We was also planning to do the loop... so we teamed up.
The next day we hired semi-manual motorbikes and off we went. Well... as some of you might know, I can t ride a motor bike and neither do I have a licence. I am anyway not sure whether a semi-manual motorbike with 125cc qualifies as a REAL motorbike. Anyway... i got a 2 minute handling course and off we went. The traffic is fine on the Lao country side and the scenery just amazing. For the first 50 km the road was fine and we even went a little bit offroad to take some pictures.
The loop is usually done either in 3 or 4 days and we did it in 3. Therefore the trip was diveded into 3 parts and at the end of each part we were sure to find a guesthouse. At the end of part 1 the road got pretty bad and the top speed slowed down to max. 40 km/h. Pumps and pebbles just made it hard to ride faster and I was strongly concentrating on not causing an accident....(I am sure the experience of a Lao hospital would not be very pleasing).
Finally we arrived at our guesthouse and I got an amazing room ... own bathroom, hot shower, double bed and mosquito net!!!! The room was bright pink with a baby blue mosquito net .... defenitely a girls room :-) We were exhausted and so after a night cup we fell into our beds.
The rental company had already prepared us that the road on the second day/part would be pretty bad but I didn t expect such a road. Topspeed went down to 20-25 km/h. It was basically a road for a dirt bike... with a dirt bike it would have been fun, but in that case with our city-scooters, after 4 hours bumping into hole and crashing over bumps, my butt hurt and I was praying to god not to have a flat tire... no villages around for 30 km.Even though the ride was hard the landscape turned better and better.
Fortunately after Laksao the road got much better and after a relaxation „Radler“ (beer with sprite) the world looked differently – much better. From there on it was mainly mountain roads but built with serious concrete. The actual destination of the trip were the Konglo Caves – the biggest caves in Lao. Shortly before the caves we got a room in a guesthouse and after an amazing dinner (fish), we passed out in our beds.
mechanic in laos reparing our flat tire
The next morning we got up very early to be the first at the caves...and we almost were the first ;-), just a few Germans (of course German!!) were there before us. The cave is full of water, therefore you need to enter the cave by boat. It was actually quite scary cause in there it is pitch-black and the boat is rather a rice bowl with an engine which is VERY fragile. Once in a while we had to get off the boat and walk through the water as currently during the dry season there is not enough water in the cave.
Two days of bumps, holes and strongly vibrating bike sattles had stressed our butts. As a result we just wanted to get home and have a nice shower.... As the road was very nice, almost no traffic we were speeding home, to get a room in the backpacker accommodation. We were lucky!!! The rooms are just great and very affordable!!! The loop experience ended with a few beers next to the camp fire.
Regards from Tha Kaek
Astrid and Manuel
PS: this is for all my friends who work in hostability! The language barrier on the country side of Lao is huge: When our Swiss friend asked in the hotel whether he could pay the room tomorrow the smiling answer was: Yes, Yes coffee is for free!
Additionally when we returned to pick up our luggage after the loop, it took them 45 minutes to find the key... while we were waiting they were feeding fish and enjoying their lunch. So every time your boss bitches at you that you are not fast enough... think about the speed of service in Lao :-)
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