Trip report - Luang Prabang to Hongsa - May 19, 2012
1) Cross Mekong River from Luang Prabang. The ferry makes trips all day long - no problem.
2) Drive and drive on a dirt road to Hongsa. Navigation is no problem - just follow the road - even easier if you have the Laos micro chip in your GPS (available from Eagle GPS, Panthip plaza, Chiang Mai - no I don't get any commission). The road was passable with several river crossings. The road is a dirt road which was in fairly good condition - graded, not too many pot holes.
Have a look at some video taken of the river crossings:
3) Hongsa to Thai border. Very good, new paved road. Hongsa is the site of a large electric generating plant that is being built which explains why the road is so good.
Recommendation (strong) - this trip should only be attempted at the end of the dry season. There are many places where the road will be washed out during the rainy season and who knows how deep the river crossings will be during the rainy season. At the end of the dry season there will be enough time to repair and road wash outs. The road follows the ridges of mountains and there are some scary drop offs to the side of the road.
Final thoughts - thanks to all the riders who post useful information in this forum. Thanks to GT Rider for their excellent maps - only complaint is the out of date information on Hwy. 13 between Oudom Xay to Pok Mong which is awful - heavy truck traffic has destroyed this section of highway. Have a look at Hobomaps to use as a secondary map.
Happy trails
1) Cross Mekong River from Luang Prabang. The ferry makes trips all day long - no problem.
2) Drive and drive on a dirt road to Hongsa. Navigation is no problem - just follow the road - even easier if you have the Laos micro chip in your GPS (available from Eagle GPS, Panthip plaza, Chiang Mai - no I don't get any commission). The road was passable with several river crossings. The road is a dirt road which was in fairly good condition - graded, not too many pot holes.
Have a look at some video taken of the river crossings:
3) Hongsa to Thai border. Very good, new paved road. Hongsa is the site of a large electric generating plant that is being built which explains why the road is so good.
Recommendation (strong) - this trip should only be attempted at the end of the dry season. There are many places where the road will be washed out during the rainy season and who knows how deep the river crossings will be during the rainy season. At the end of the dry season there will be enough time to repair and road wash outs. The road follows the ridges of mountains and there are some scary drop offs to the side of the road.
Final thoughts - thanks to all the riders who post useful information in this forum. Thanks to GT Rider for their excellent maps - only complaint is the out of date information on Hwy. 13 between Oudom Xay to Pok Mong which is awful - heavy truck traffic has destroyed this section of highway. Have a look at Hobomaps to use as a secondary map.
Happy trails
