One of the most exciting adventurous roadtrip I’ve ever made. It’s quite dangerous if you’re not well-prepared so I note some important tips help you to finish it !
Gasoline station
When planning, we thought that the route was very long and tough, stiff uphill, and the fuel would be much more consumed than usual, the gasoline station might be rare because of mountainous terrain.
However, when we were on road, we found out something:
The gasoline were quite close to one another, just 30-50 km, so no need to bring a back-up fuel container. And even if there was no nearby station, you can buy gasoline at mostly groceries in villages, at higher cost.
Road condition: rough and muddy, challenging and relaxing
There are two directions from Kasi to Luang Prabang city: follow 4/4C highway and you get extreme biking experience – sharp curves and steep roads, both and stick to highway 13 via Phoukoun for much relaxing riding.
At first, we followed highway 4 and it was so much challenge: heavy rains, erosion, big deep holes on road and low temperature condition, especially when wind blowing strong made it extremely hard to handle. And we fell off on road, sliding 4-5 meters away, a van passed by but there’s not collision. We were lucky. We get muddy but nothing broken or bleeding.
Since then, we rode more carefully. More and more tough the route was. Once there’s a heavily eroded part on road forcing me to walk and my partner slowly moved over. It’s very cold and wet. My body kept shaking.
The second erosion, where we nearly reach the peak, was much more worse. There was even a local team with technical vehicle to flatten the road so that traffic flow was enabled. So adventurous it was, I even saw a cliff by my side.
When we headed back from Phonsavan via highway 13, everything was more easier. The main problem was just dense fog at certain height, when you’re down, it gets clear.
Your bike condition
Another problem we faced was our rental bike. Though we had checked and done some fixing, it’s still very worn-out to carry both of us climbing over high and slippery slopes, while suffering a lot of hole-hitting on road. After the trip, he deserved a praise.
If you wish to do a roadtrip like us, please have your bike checked thoroughly for your own safety.
Temperature
It’s a little bit cold, around 20 celsius degree at peak, with heavy rain. We only put on rain suit to block wind and keep our body warm, just shaking a bit when strong winds blew through.
After all, you need to keep dry because wetness will make it more terrible.
