The Thakhek Loop, Laos – February 4th – 9th, 2017

Having already purchased a “ticket” (really a ticket receipt) for our onward travel from Don Khone to Thakhek, we were packed and ready for a local boat to pick us up and take us off the island. Since we have had trouble getting off islands in the past, it came as no surprise when mass confusion ensued. Although our mute hotel owner finally spoke to tell us that the boat that had arrived was not ours (maybe he was bitter that we didn’t book with him), we took the boat anyway. We were dropped off on the mainland where the driver pointed down the long stretch of street (as if that was supposed to indicate where the bus was and how you were supposed to exchange your receipt for a real ticket). Rather than walk aimlessly (been there, done that), we leached onto the boatman until he was finally annoyed enough to find someone who could curtly explain where the bus station was (we would have never found it). Fair to say that the Laos people are not as friendly as Cambodians. We were shocked when we arrived at the ticket counter and the attendant took our paper and exchanged it for an actual ticket without asking us to pay double. Boarding the bus was akin to vultures swooping in for the kill – except the locals/tourists were the vultures and the kill was the bus. There were about 30 bus seats and 50 passengers so the slow vultures had to sit on plastic seats lining the isle. We were fast vultures. Our bus managed to stop so frequently that after 3 hours we had only traveled 72 km (45 mi). We eventually arrived at Thakhek bus station at 12:30am and had to argue with the tuk tuk driver to bring his cost down about 400% to a rate that was still double what we should have paid. Finally in the town center, we set about trying to find a place to sleep. We woke up hotel owner after hotel owner only to be rejected five times. We eventually settled on an expensive ($20) room by the river, leaving our other three traveler friends to fend for themselves at 1:30am. We were just happy to have a place to sleep.

Slow vultures in the bus isle and some sights in Thakhek (that's Thailand on the other riverbank!).

The next morning, we ventured to the motorbike rental place to try and rent bikes for the Thakhek loop, a 450 km (280 mi) loop through Laos’ beautiful southern scenery. To our surprise, the place was packed, and we were too late for a bike (Wang Wang’s is very popular I guess). Instead, we settled on reserving motorbikes for evening pickup and spent the rest of the day catching up on travel research, running errands, and recovering from yet another horrendous travel day.   

Fueled up and ready to go the following morning, we headed counterclockwise on the loop towards “cave alley”. We stopped to visit three caves as well as a refreshing swimming hole. All of the caves, except the first, doubled as Buddhist shrines. Buddhists have a thing for taking over natural wonders for meditation (and to create homes for Buddha statues). Tham Nang Ene cave was such a big deal that a tour group of Thai monks were also there visiting. The huge cave cathedral was decorated in a way that only Asians can pull off (or can they?): multicolored CFLs lit the cave creating a trippy Star Wars-esque scene. After exploring the caves and eating a snack of a strange variety of nuts that a local woman was selling (super good, we have to figure out what they are), we continued on our way, eventually stopping at a visitor’s center for a newly commissioned hydroplant. Although the plant produces a massive amount of energy (most of which is sold to Thailand), the resulting lake also displaced many villages and the dam construction uncovered about 25,000 unexploded ordinance (UXO) from USA’s secret bombing of Laos between 1964-1973. Several casings from cluster bombs that had been uncovered were on display accompanied by gut-wrenching stats about continued suffering in Laos due to hidden UXOs throughout the country. Ashamed of our country’s actions we attempted to apologize to the visitor’s center guide (who had clearly been personally effected) – it was quite an uncomfortable situation. At least, he said, Obama had vowed to financially support some of the clean-up effort before he left office (hopefully that still happens…). The last stretch of road brought us through a stunning mountain pass before driving through a portion of the newly created lake. Everywhere the water had flooded, the trees had died, creating an eerie landscape. We finally arrived at our guesthouse, where we enjoyed the company of about 15 young Dutch tourists (who strangely didn’t know each other previously). We all sat around a campfire while gorging on all you can eat BBQ!

The first and second caves in cave alley and the swimming hole.

Tham Nang Ene cave.

The end of the first day on the Thakhek Loop, including Sabaidee Guesthouse, some UXO at the dam visitor's center, and our first views of the reservoir.

After breakfast the next day, we continued to drive through the land of drowned trees and onward through picturesque scenery. We stopped at many roadside overlooks to take pictures and even spotted a few “bomb boats” (boats made out of B52 fuel tanks). The final stretch of road was flanked by limestone cliffs creating pinch-me type scenery. Laos is an incredibly beautiful country! Now in the village of Konglor, we settled into our quiet guesthouse, played cards, ate, and went to bed early (after all, staying up with the college aged kids the night before took a lot out of us... and we went to bed at 9).

The drowned trees at the hydroplant reservior.

The second swimming hole of the Loop along with beautifully massive scenery (and lots of cows).

The final stretch of road on the second day brought us through incredible scenery up to Konglor village.

On the third day of the loop, we ditched the motorbikes and walked to the entrance of Konglor cave. Here, we hired a boat to take us through the 9 km long cave along an underground river. With the way lit by our headlamps, our driver navigated the river with a small engine powering the 4-seater canoe. It took about 45 minutes to go one way to a small village on the other side of the mountain. We got out several times to explore the cave features and for the driver to push our boat up rapids (we made it too heavy). It was so incredibly cool! Back at the guesthouse after spelunking in a boat, we packed up and continued on our way. After a short 40 km drive, we checked into a guesthouse, dropped our bags, did some laundry, ate some delicious local food, and went to hike to a nearby waterfall. The waterfall was beautiful, but would have definitely been more spectacular in the rainy season. While hiking back, we pondered how getting on a bus to Vientiane was going to work out the following evening. So far, the information we were able to glean was inconsistent and incomplete. Back at the guesthouse, we inquired with the staff who were nice enough to call the bus company for us. Turns out that the night bus we had planned to take would have involved waiting around all afternoon and evening at the bus station (4 km outside of town) waiting to be told if there was room for you or not. If you were lucky enough to get a bed (it was a sleeper bus), it may or may not arrive between 10:30pm and 1:30am. Although this plan seemed like a lot of fun (and definitely would have been entertaining to write about), we opted to check out of the guesthouse (still paying the full room rate) and continue driving through a mountain pass to the next town. This enabled us to get up before the sun rose the next morning to finish the loop, return the bikes, and make it to the bus station on time for the 9am tourist bus. We would normally have just hung out an extra day, but we had to make it to Vientiane to get our visas for Vietnam before the weekend. Perhaps the biggest positive to the last-minute switch was that we got to drive the stunning mountain pass while the sun came down, making the drive that much more spectacular.

You can definitely tell which of us is the morning person! Also, Konglor cave was unbelievably gorgeous, though our camera was quite useless at capturing it.

The waterfall hike was hot and sweaty, but good for stretching our legs.

Our unanticipated sunset drive rewarded us with some of the most beautiful views of the Loop.

As planned, we left the next morning at 5:00am, and drove in the dark for the next hour. We soon found out that Laos in February is really cold when the sun is not awake. Frozen in a driving position, we eventually made it to the bus station, bought our tickets, returned our bikes, grabbed some breakfast, and shared a tuk tuk back to the station in plenty of time to catch the bus. Success!

Although the last leg of the Thakhek loop was a bit hectic, it was still an incredible journey with mind bogglingly beautiful views. We were also lucky enough to finish the loop completely unscathed – many travelers came away with road rash as an extra souvenir to bring home. The potholes really do come out of nowhere.