Ho Chi Minh trail

We went out along route 9 to the Vietnam border to see one of the hubs of the Ho Chi Minh trail at Ban Dong. There is a museum there which the Vientiane Times announced had opened in December but as you can see is still being built.


They had moved some war debris from the area into the grounds—bombs, tanks, anti-aircraft guns, bits of plane.

A couple of km down the road on the bikes was this Vietnamese suspension bridge built at the end of the war which escaped bombing. From the bridge we could see the local canoes in this area are made of aluminium from US planes —a plentiful natural resource of the area.

This other major concrete bridge on route 23 to Saravan was built in ‘45 and destroyed in ‘64, an early target. Route 23 is still impassable because of this.

Further west, Sepon has been rebuilt a couple of km away from Seponkao or old Sepon which was obliterated. All that’s left is the bank strong room and a partial temple wall inside which the new temple has been built. The new Sepon still doesn’t have a bank 45 years on.

Katang villages

We did a 3 day trek in Dong Phou Viang protected area which involved staying with the Katang people who have different customs and language from the Laos. We stayed in these leaf-walled one-room houses with the whole extended families.

They took us to see silver langur—rare leaf-eating monkeys and to see their burial traditions which included hanging the bodies in trees then putting the bones in coffins in caves.

The bones from this coffin had long been taken by animals.They also demonstrated their biofuel extraction methods and water extraction from vines.

The treks were long and hot and most of the forest very disturbed and being burnt. The second family we stayed which held a baci ceremony for us which is done for journeys and major life events like weddings. They tie your spirits onto you so they don’t get lost during the change, and make wishes for you. You can see Willy getting one of his strings tied.

We took turns at singing each other folk songs. I was too crap at learning theirs but we have a video. I could post it but I don’t know how to make it small enough. The family’s son came in with this string of cicadas he’d caught to eat.

It was pretty difficult managing hygiene and menstruation with no privacy and eyes always on me.

The end of 'the loop'

The last part of ‘the loop’ to Thakhek along route 12 is just stunning scenery and has lots of caves and rivers to explore, but unfortunately we didn’t get good pictures.

We pulled this baby buffalo off the road but it had been hit and it’s mum had abandoned it and I’m sure it would have been dead in hours.

We spent the night at Mahuxai, in the tuktuk at someone’s house right on the river investigating whether route 23 was passable—it wasn’t.

On the way to Thakhek we walked though a mountain by a cave and swam out the other side guided by local kids who hid and tried to scare us in the dark on the way back. And swam in this beautiful river— one of my favourite swimming spots. A 3-swim day is a good day to me!

Hin Nam No proected area

I wanted to go to Hin Nam No protected area because there was a spectacular poster of it outside my office in VTE and the head of the tiger project said it contained wildlife found nowhere else in Laos because of its natural fortification. It’s along route 12 to the Vietnam border and one of the most beautiful journeys we’ve done.

At Nongchan we found we could stay in accommodation for visiting government officials, which was salubrious but unused and filthy—we spent the first morning cleaning. Then we took the road out to the Vietnamese border with stunning views over the only extensive range of forest in the plain between mountain ranges which I’ve seen in Laos. Anywhere near populations and it’s all cleared for agriculture. This is very important for biodiversity because not all species can live in the mountains.

We found a route we could cycle into the protected area. We got to the end of the Mine Action Group markers which indicate that the red side is uncleared. Here local people were searching for scrap from the bombs using metal detectors.

The area was good for birds—lots of racket tailed drongos and we even saw a couple of species of squirrel.

The next day we went south along what would have been part of the Ho Chi Minh trail and found another route by bike into the protected area. As we started down the road a UXO Lao vehicle rushed past and there was an explosion from the direction they went about half an hour later.

It was a long way through villages and agricultural land to the forest which was being cleared and burnt but was full of bird calls. We got a warm reception from an elderly man at the last village before the forest. The area had been heavily bombed and was littered with craters, so many they often touch. He was a child during the war and described how the village had two underground shelters in opposite directions from the village. Whichever direction the bombing came from they went the other way, he told us laughing. No people didn’t die by many lost arms and legs.

There’s a route known as ‘the loop’ which the guide book suggests can be done by motorbike, but cautions that you may have to carry the bike some of the way. We knew that some of the roads had been improved and decided to try in the tuktuk. There’s stunning scenery to LakSao (where willy’s boots were nicked) and then through the wonderful forest of Nakai Nam Theun (another |WCS area). The 90km from Lak Sao to Nakai was a nightmare and took us over a day, but the rest of the roads were good and it was like driving through postcards.

It got dark while we were in the forest so we pulled up for the night. Some local officials tried to get us to move on but it wasn’t really feasible because the fuse had gone on the headlight. There are about 100 elephants in the forest and they could easily take on a tuk tuk, but I thought the chances of that were remote. That didn’t stop Willy lying awake hypervigilant all night.

Don’t do Lak Sao to Nakai in a tuk tuk!

The heroic driver!!

Khong Lor cave

There’s a great new road to Khong Lor but it has more crazy bridges for 3-wheeled vehicles and spectacular scenery through the Phou (mountain) Hin Boun protected area. At Ban (village) Khong Lor there was a party ambush. Kids had a rope across the road and all passers by were expected to drink and dance. It was to celebrate the finishing of the new road, which saves them a 4 hour boat journey.

The lake in front of the cave was great for a swim...

...and you could swim right into the cave...

...inside was cool and headlight lit and labyrinthine - too dark for pictures, and you emerge to a much more peaceful and undisturbed world on the other side.

The village homestay wasn’t available because of the road party, but we found a nice place right on the river about 10km back towards Ban Na Hin.

Vientiane to Ban Na Hin

Just as we were leaving Vientiane we met a Lao Melbournian in a Chinese vegetarian restaurant. We told him we were heading off in the dormatuk and he loved it but said that you can’t sleep in the back just anywhere in Laos, you need to be part of a village. He thought the best bet might be to ask at wats. So our first night out, as it was getting dark, we went to the bigger wat in the village we got to and asked the monk who was closing the gate. Without reacting he opened the gate, let us in and disappeared. The wat was right on the river and had toilets so this all worked out quite well. The local kids even dropped in for breakfast on their way to school.

The next day we battled this dirt road to get to the only campsite we’ve heard of in Laos, beside a waterfall in Phou Kao Kwai (buffalo horn) protected area, with a good visitor’s centre. But the last 4km steep and deeply rutted and we had to double back.

So on to Paksan, where I spent a day putting in an application for an ‘enviropreneur’ course. The guest house had this impressive spirit house

We were aiming for Khong Lor cave where you go through a mountain on a river through a cave. This meant heading down route 8 which goes to Vietnam. On the way we met a Francois—a French guy on a bike who was cycling to Vietnam and wanted a lift. So then we had 3 people and 3 bikes. The bridges were a bit hairy on the tuktuk.