The Thakhek Loop: A Choose Your Own Adventure

Day 1: Thakhek to Sabaidee Guesthouse

After reading the good reviews, we hired our motorcycle from Mixay’s Rental for 100,000kip/day, plus they kindly let us store Helga & Shirley in their shed. After seeing the dodgy state of some of their fleet and test riding a few, Tom made sure the brakes and suspension on ours were in good working order – this was to become a vital detail in what happened later on our trip…

Cave Alley

Pretty much as soon as we were out of Thakhek, we were surrounded by large limestone cliffs and the jungles of the Phou Hin Poun Conservation Area – otherwise known as Cave Alley. The road is also one of the main trucking routes between Laos and Vietnam, but luckily we are used to sharing the road with large trucks – and for once we were faster than them. 

Tom was driving, I was supposed to be on the nav… supposed to be. A couple of wrong turns later and Tom quickly took that job off me, and I was left to just admire the scenery 😋

There are plenty of caves to explore in this area, but being on the timeline we were we only picked a few of the best:

Xieng Liap – this was our favourite as it involved boulder hopping and navigating the river that flows through the cave, all with bats flying silently overhead.

Tham Pha Nya Inh – famous for the reflection on the pool of water inside the cave when the light hits it.

Tham Nang Aen – one of the more popular “touristy” caves, with the features inside lit up with colourful lights.

It was clearly low season as we had these caves pretty much to ourselves.

We quickly figured out that many of the attractions on the loop have no official signage, and could be down unassuming dirt tracks off the main highway. Also, while sometimes there wasn’t an ‘official’ entrance fee, there were always a few business-savvy locals sitting in the parking area demanding payment for parking etc. This was usually only about 10,000 – 20,000 Kip ($1-2NZD). 

As we continued on the road, we passed our third truck crash in our last 300km, with the cab completely crushed and cargo strewn all over the road. It reminded us that these roads are no joke.

A flooded forest 

We turned off the main highway and the quieter road became more winding and fun. We were also starting to see other backpackers on the loop (some struggling on their motorbikes more than others). 

Our next stop was Song Sa waterfall, a pretty, tiered waterfall with a big swimming hole and lots of boulders that the local kids were jumping off. I wish we had more time here but it was getting close to sunset, so we explored up a couple of the levels and had a cool, refreshing dip. 

Now, a bit of back story to this area – one of Laos biggest exports is electricity. Part of that is because of the massive dam on the Nam Theun River. This dam was created by flooding entire valleys, displacing thousands of people and creating this eerie half-submerged dead forest. Apparently there’s an old road, now almost totally underwater, that still appears on some mapping apps and trips tourists up. Luckily, chief navigator did his job and we zipped along the edge of this flooded valley as the sun set in front of us.

Sabaidee Guesthouse

We decided to stay at Sabaidee Guesthouse after reading various blogs which highly recommended it. Well, here’s another blog to add to the mix of rave reviews! Sabaidee means hello in Laotian and they do live up to their name by making you feel very welcome here. We managed to grab one of the last remaining private rooms, then joined other backpackers at the tables outside for a couple of beers and travel chats, as well as enjoying the amazing BBQ buffet that Sabaidee puts on nightly.

Day 2: Sabaidee Guesthouse to Na Hin

Joined the chorus of backpackers on crappy motorbikes leaving Sabaidee the next morning, many of whom were doing the loop in the same direction as us and we would catch up with throughout the day.

Always in the mood to see another cave, we hit up Dragon Cave – where I swear I almost died trying to rock climb my way over a crevasse. Tom was no help at all, instead choosing to just laugh and film the whole thing as I freaked out about whether our travel insurance would cover getting my lifeless body out of this deep underground hole.

On to “cool pool” – a cold, clear spring in the middle of the jungle. Best stop of the loop so far! We spent the afternoon sunbathing until it got too hot, jumping off rocks into the water, climbing out when we got too cold, repeat. We almost forgot – we had to find Niamh and Ben who were waiting for us in Na Hin, which was just up the road (some gnarly roadworks and deep ditches our only obstacle). We made it to Sanhak Guesthouse and were once again reunited with our favourite Brits! The boys took the motorbikes off into the hills to play silly buggers checking out another viewpoint, Niamh and I meanwhile had some much-needed GIRL TIME.

Backpackers Jack, Daniel and Ellen joined us for a late night playing cards and drinking Beer Lao. We found out that it was Daniel’s 21st birthday the next day, so we all made plans to meet back up for an epic bday bash at the next stop. We weren’t to know that some crazy events meant that four of us wouldn’t be making it to the party…

Day 3: Na Hin to … Na Hin

So the loop has two possible route options from Na Hin – either you can follow the highway around back to Thakhek to make it a proper “loop”, or you can detour through Kong Lor Cave on a 7km boat ride before taking the ‘precarious’ road back. Us, Ben and Niamh of course decided to do the latter. Before leaving town we quickly grabbed a cake from a local bakery for the birthday party. We were on a buzz as we took off riding in convoy, boys driving and girls sitting pretty in pillion. Like everyone else on this infamous loop, we were those idiots riding in jandals, carrying nothing in the way of a first aid kit or even much water. I look back now and cringe.

A bridge on the main road had been washed away so we cut around it on a dusty, gravelly side road detour. Although it was straight, it was very rough, and everything was bouncing around.

CRASH!

Out of the corner of my eye, where Niamh and Ben were supposed to be, there was now dust and the sound of skidding and scrapping … until Ben and Niamh ended up in a pile beside us, with their still running motorbike on top of them. We later found out that Ben had wanted to slow down to pick up something that had bounced out of an open compartment, and the unmaintained brakes locked the front wheel. They had slid for maybe 10 metres before coming to a stop, with Ben taking most of the impact. We rushed to get the bike off the two of them, and then the extent of Ben’s injuries became clear.

Ben’s jandals had been torn off at some point while the scooter was falling on them, essentially using his bare foot as a brake on the gravel. This meant he had ‘degloved’ part of the sole of his foot, with a large piece of skin hanging loose. He was also covered in deep cuts on his knee, hand and elbow on the side that they landed on. Niamh was not completely unscathed either – she was sporting some serious road rash on her hands. Their motorbike weirdly seemed to have come out best.

Tom saw the damage to Ben’s foot and immediately jumped on our motorbike back to town to find a pharmacy and help. It was just pure adrenaline as we suddenly became aware of just how remote we were, with no shade from the hot sun and very little water to start cleaning wounds with. We were completely unprepared for this – we usually carry a full medical kit with us on our bikes – but it was back in Thakhek – how dumb were we! We could only put pressure on Ben’s wound to try stem the bleeding and distract him from the pain. He was being an absolute trooper and putting on a brave face for Niamh.

Tom finally made it back after clearing out whatever bandages, saline etc the ‘pharmacy’ had, but supplies were pretty dire. This is still rural Laos after all. We patched Ben up as much as we could, but his foot was looking seriously messed up, so Tom threw him on the back of our bike and rode to the small local hospital (with Niamh and I riding behind).

So, turns out Na Hin Hospital is BYO medical supplies. So off Tom went again, with a shopping list of things that the nurses needed from the local convenience store. Ben’s injuries were treated to an intense scrub down by the oh-so-lovely nurses, who were armed with nothing but tap water and a bath towel. Ben left basically unable to walk from the pain and swelling, poor guy.

Adrenaline finally wore off and the shoulda-woulda-coulda’s started sinking in. But also the realisation that things could have been so much worse. Fatalities do happen on the loop after all.

Clearly the cave wasn’t happening today, and we would be no-shows at the birthday party! Somehow, the cake survived the impact of the crash, so we went back to Sanhak Guesthouse to eat and drink our emotions!

Day 4: Na Hin to Sabaidee Guesthouse

Ben woke up in a lot of pain, and (not to bag the lovely nurses at Na Hin hospital, but…) also very worried about infection or even broken bones. After a team meeting to reassess the situation, we decided a) that Ben needed to get back to Thakhek to be seen at a proper hospital, and b) Ben wasn’t going to let anything stop him from seeing Kong Lor Cave. The owner of the guesthouse found Ben a spare pair of shoes (RIP jandals) and we loaded him up with enough painkillers to make him forget he even had feet.

The drive to the cave was a lot more sombre the second time around, and a bittersweet moment when we found a much easier detour around the washed-out bridge. Hindsight!

As it was low season, there was barely anyone else around when we finally reached Kong Lor Cave. Wow – just seeing the entrance and it dawned on us how huge it really was! Even having explored a few stunning caves by now, I could spend the next 10 paragraphs trying to describe how incredible the cave was – but it’s probably just easier to take it all in by looking at the photos … not that they even do it justice.

Anyway, the task ahead of us involved getting both motorbikes, a crippled Ben and us through the 7km underground stream that ran through the cave. Our mode of transport? Two tiny single-prop fishing boats. Our guides made it work, with our motorbikes up on their sides, front wheels hanging precariously over the water. We took off into the dark, passing through huge caverns, past columns and boulders which had fallen from the ceiling many centuries ago. For two hours we had the whole cave basically to ourselves – where else on earth do you get to experience that?

The waterline from Laos rainy seasons was also an eye-opener, and we saw entire trees and lost fishing boats wedged in crevasses way above our heads.

During the shallower parts of the river, we were required to get off and walk upstream by torchlight, while the guides (and sometimes Tom) wrangled boat + motorbike through the dark rapids. Ben of course still just fighting to stay upright and keep his bandages dry.

The darkness eventually opened up to the Laos jungle again. Amazingly, the motorbikes were still with us! We disembarked and Tom and I went for a quick swim with some local children. Tom acquired a fan club, I was just loved on by some leeches …

We still had 70km to get to Sabaidee Guesthouse (no biggie right?), so we quickly grabbed some food and Niamh played nurse changing Ben’s bandages. Well … that 70km ended up being a slow and intense trip over a very rough road. The map info said apparently you can sometimes see elephants in this area?? I wouldn’t know, I was busy watching the road for bumps and holding on for dear life. An elephant could have been right next to the road and I wouldn’t have known about it. Tom’s total focus was on avoiding potholes, or just making quick decisions on which pothole was the better one to drive into.

There was very little time to take photos of this amazing region unfortunately, as dusk began to set in, and we were worried we would be picking our way over this road in the dark. Luckily, we eventually reached the junction where road became tar seal, and we made it to Sabaidee Guesthouse right on dark. Even more importantly, we had made it in time for the buffet BBQ and a beer- very much earned!

Day 5: Sabaidee Guesthouse to Thakhek

Final day of the loop, just need to get back to Thakhek, should be fairly straight forward right? LOL

Again, we rode in convoy and played leapfrog with Ben and Niamh for most of the day. Things were all going well until suddenly we realised we hadn’t seen them for a few minutes. We stopped at a small shop to wait a while, then headed back up the road to look for them when it became clear they weren’t coming.

We first saw the large, slow-moving convoy of trucks and buses … then saw what was holding everyone up. Ben and Niamh were slowly being pushed down the highway by a kind stranger on another motorbike. Their motorbike had simply died on them. We made our way through the convoy to see how we could help – but it was just a matter of carrying on until the nearest mechanic.

Turns out – their drive belt had disintegrated 10km from the finish line. Just to top the whole experience off. Luckily mechanics in Laos come cheap – I think it was $31NZD to replace it in all.

Oh yeah – it was also Ben’s birthday … lucky guy eh!

Eventually we made it back to Thakhek, buffed the scratches out of Ben and Niamh’s motorbike and hurried out of the rental shop before they could ask too many questions about Ben’s bandages.

FINAL THOUGHTS

As the title suggests, although it’s ‘officially’ a set loop, the fun is in choosing your own side quests along the way. Like much of Laos in general, the no-rules, no health and safety, she’ll be right attitude is both a chance to create lasting memories and a huge liability. Turns out, you can do almost anything you want, but you had better be prepared to get yourself out of trouble if it goes wrong.

That being said, I would do the loop again in a heartbeat – with an upgrade to a dirt bike if riding that road out of Kong Lor cave again! I feel like we only got a taster of what there is to see, time restraints and route choices meant we missed out on some of the caves and other attractions. Not that I really feel like I missed out, the 5 days on the road were jam-packed with memories.

Kong Lor cave – the most expensive activity we splashed out on in Laos, but zero regrets. OMG, I feel so lucky that I got to stand in the total silence of an enormous 160m high cavern under the earth, in near darkness, just taking it all in. With no one else around except my dear friends and Tom. Where else on this earth can you do that?

The charm of this loop is also the people you meet along the way – as it is a moment in time where you are sharing the road with the same group of people, all moving around it separately but together. Moments where you catch up to each other (usually at the guesthouses at the end of the day) you get to share stories, experiences and a few rounds of cards over beers.

On that note, it was also amazing to catch up yet again with Ben and Niamh, and that we could share some of our experiences (particularly Kong Lor cave). They may just have been left regretting they waited for us given everything that was to happen after … we are not bad luck charms I promise!