78 km

Between Vang Vieng and Louang Prabang lies the hardest cycling of our trip. We knew from research and talking with other cyclists that we’d be climbing and descending a few thousand meters over these days and that the riding should be beautiful with green mountains, fresh air and quiet roads.

Now down to the last three days of cycling, I felt refocused and ready to enjoy every bit of it. The scenery was spectacular all day as we cycled up through limestone cliffs. We had some nice cloud cover to keep things slightly cooler.

We only had one moderate climb in the middle of the ride and then again at the end to get to Bor Nam Oom, little more than a guest house and restaurant built at a hot spring. We heard about this place from Damian and Judy, two cyclists we met in Krabi, Thailand, and this was a real gem to find out about (thanks, you guys!). It is 20 kilometers past Kasi, the usual first overnight stop on this route.

The view from our bungalow porch

The hot spring is not much more than a small stream to sit in, as the pool they built a couple of years ago does not hold much more than a few slimy inches of water, but we did sit and enjoy the warm stream after a chilling rain storm. Flowers filled the hillside garden around the bungalows and the mountains were jutting up all around, so we really enjoyed the view from our small porch. The restaurant offered plenty of vegetarian options and the women there were smiling and friendly. This was a real treat compared to the usual small-town guest house along the highway.