11 DAYS LAOS - HO CHI MINH TRAILS MOTORBIKE TOUR

It’s the first day of riding on this Ho Chi Minh Trail motorcycle tour and after breakfast you’ll hop on the bikes and ride alongside the Mekong to reach your first Laos ferry crossing. From there it’s dirt roads and trails up towards the Xe Pian National Park.,,We then head onto tiny and twisting local tracks and ox-cart trails through the dense forests to take you to your first overnight stop on the Ho Chi Minh Trail. The riding is truly wonderful, but you’ll have to concentrate on the many creek crossings if you don’t want to be the first one to take a dip – but don’t worry, it’s so warm you’ll hardly notice!

Accommodation: Guesthouse.

Included Meals: Breakfast, lunch, dinner.

Start the day with a quick blast along the blacktop to visit an enormous abandoned Russian missile. It’s a stark reminder of the turbulent history of the Ho Chi Minh trail, and great for selfies!,,After this it’s onto a wonderful mix of dirt trails that climb up into the hills and there’s more military hardware littering the side of the trails, from tanks to bomb shells. The trails continue to climb to give astounding views over the forests that cover the rolling hills below, the scars of the battles now hidden beneath the canopies of the trees.,,Take a break for a delicious lunch with the local people in Chaleunxai before heading on upwards to over 1300m and into the villages of remote hill tribes that are unique to southern Laos.,,The day continues as you cross a new bridge over a wide river below and pick up the main road towards the wide Bolaven Plateau and on to the evening’s accommodation at a beautifully picturesque and luxurious garden resort. After 230km a cool beer is a welcome sight!

Accommodation: Resort with a pool.

Included Meals: Breakfast, lunch, dinner.

It’s another long day today, but you’ll start with some tasty coffee grown in the plantations surrounding the resort. Saddle up and travel along a sweeping dirt road to catch up with the indigenous people of the A-Lak tribe whose lives are lived almost unchanged for centuries. It’s an incredible experience.,,This area was heavily shelled in the Vietnam conflict, but years after the bombs stopped falling the locals have turned the craters into fishing lakes and pools for the water buffalo or just for the children to play in.,,The first river crossing is another echo of the war, as the remains of the bridge wrecked by American bombings still stand on the banks of the now peaceful water. You’ll splash your way past and on to some fantastic trails, down steep hills, up inclines, through forest creeks and across every surface from chunky rocks to deep sand. You’ll travel through cool woodland glades and tiny villages and finish the day’s ride crossing the final river of the day on impossibly small wooden boats to reach the town of Xepon.

Accommodation: Town hotel.

Included Meals: Breakfast, lunch, dinner.

Leave your bags in the room and hand your laundry to the concierge as today you are on a circular route that will bring you back to Xepon in the evening.,,After a hearty breakfast you’ll head a short way up the road to visit the Laos-Vietnam War Museum, a fascinating display of the weapons of the conflict accompanied by explanations of just how Laos fitted into this terrible war. It’s a sobering experience that ties in the history of the trail that you are following.,,After that you’ll be ready for a bit more riding, so it’s time to jump on the dirt bikes and head due south towards the longest bamboo bridge in the country. But you’re not there to just look – you’re riding over that bad-boy so buckle up and focus on where you’re going – it only moves up and down and side to side!,,There’s still a lot of unexploded bombs on the far side of the river, so you’ll be keeping firmly to the safe route as you head away and follow a fantastic mix of trails and dirt roads back to Xepon.

Accommodation: Town hotel.

Included Meals: Breakfast, lunch, dinner.

Leaving Xepon, you’ll be straight onto a rough road on the way to Villabouly which is a one of the biggest sites for the gold mining industry in Laos. It’s then onto rocky trails that will lead you through the vast Hin Nam No National park. Having taken another tasty lunch with the local people it’s a river crossing on those rickety wooden boats again so try not to wobble about too much – you don’t want to be fishing for dirt bikes! The last part of the day is on an unexpectedly smooth and flowing blacktop ribbon that will lead you to your campsite for the night on the banks of the Nam Thern Lake. While you sip on a cold one, the locals will fire up the barbie and you can dine like kings as the sun goes down. Does it get better than this?

Accommodation: Private campsite – individual tents.

Included Meals: Breakfast, lunch, dinner.

As you’ve been racking up the miles, today is low on the distance and high on the scenery. You’ll leave the tents after a leisurely breakfast and head up a winding track that enters the deep valley that houses the entrance to the massive Konglor Cave. With your bike loaded on the front of your own boat, you’ll float through the stunning seven kilometre long river cave all the way through to where the support truck will be waiting with cold drinks. Suitably refreshed you might just want to go for a swim in the crystal-clear lagoon and just chill out. If you can drag yourself away, it’s back on the bikes for a short schlep on to your overnight stop at another great riverside resort where dinner and a crackling fire pit is waiting.

Accommodation: Riverside resort.

Included Meals: Breakfast, lunch, dinner.

The morning ride is an easy one on a tarmac road through the beautiful landscape of the Nam Kading mountain range covered by dense tropical forest. After lunch in Thasi village you’ll hit the dirt and head towards tonights destination, stopping to visit villages of ‘lowland Lao’, ‘Hmong’ and ‘Khmu’ along the way. You arrive in Xaysomboun – perched high up in the cool & misty mountains – this village is still untouched by tourism and you should arrive here in time to enjoy an incredible sunset across the hills.

Accommodation: Guesthouse.

Included Meals: Breakfast, lunch, dinner.

Today you continue the ride on Revolution Road to Lima site 20A (Long Chen). Long Chen is home to a military base used by the CIA during the secret war in Laos and has only recently opened up to tourists. A 1200m runway sits surrounded by karst limestone hills in a truly spectacular setting. Long Chen is known as ‘The Most Secret Place on Earth’ – punch this into Youtube and have a watch – it’ll both amaze and anger you.,,After you arrive at Long Chen you’ll visit the runway and get some incredible photos. You can also visit the house of General Vangphao, the leader of the Hmong forces during the secret war. You’ll then ride up to Phou Mok Mountain to a nice viewpoint overlooking Long Chien Village and the runway.,,Spend the evening enjoying a BBQ on the runway – it’s a very strange feeling being surrounded by such beauty, yet thinking about what happened in this exact location in recent history.

Accommodation: Guesthouse.

Included Meals: Breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Depart Long Chen with one final ride along the runway after which you ride through isolated mountain areas on your way through to Phonsavan and the Plain of Jars in Xiengkhouang Province. This area was heavily mined and bombed and remnants of the Indochina war can still be seen in the Hmong villages on the way. You’ll explore ‘Site 2’ of the Plain of Jars and continue to Phonsavanh. You’ll stop at the MAG (Mine Advisory Group) information centre in the town to learn more about the UXO clearance projects in this area… after you’re journey up the Ho Chi Minh Trail and after last night’s experience at Long Chen, no one will judge you if this place brings tears to your eyes. It really is a sobering experience and an absolute must visit.,,After visiting MAG, it’s a short ride up the hill to your accommodation – beautiful little cottages nested among a pine tree forest and a restaurant with roaring log fires – what a wonderful way to end the day.

Accommodation: Beautiful hilltop cottages – each equipped with open wood fires and surrounded by pine tree forest.

Included Meals: Breakfast, lunch and dinner.,    N.B. Phonsavanh is a chilly place – please remember to pack warm layers for this afternoon / tomorrow mornings ride.

It’s the final day of this Ho Chi Minh Trail motorcycle tour so after stocking up with another great breakfast you’ll jump on the bikes, drop the clutch and set out for the trails once more. The trails run alongside the Nam Kham river for mile after mile of epic riding as you head for the destination of Luang Prabang. As a place to finish the tour, this vibrant and exciting town could not be better. Sitting on the banks on the mighty Mekong and teeming with shops and markets it’s the perfect end point for the tour.,,You’ll ride into the hotel, ditch the riding kit and grab a shower before heading out for a farewell dinner in Luang Prabang to celebrate your achievement – 1900km over ten epic days. Raise a glass to that.

Accommodation: Hotel with a pool.

Included Meals: Breakfast, lunch, dinner.