Thakhaek Loop

Our next stop after Vientiane was a small town called Thakhaek, whose claim to fame is its proximity to the Kong Lo Caves.

We had originally just planned to spend two nights there to see the caves and move on. But somewhere along the way (and I can no longer remember how) we learned that instead of just going directly to the caves and back, there was a very popular alternative: a 4 day motorcycle loop that would include the caves as well as other waterfalls.

Phosy Thalang Guesthouse

This sounded awesome to us, so the next day, we headed to a nearby motorcycle rental shop: Mad Monkey Motorbikes. 

It's run by a German man and his Lao wife and their trip advisor reviews are all over the map. But we didn’t know this at the time, as we rented without googling first. Our experience was good, but I can understand why people may not have been happy. Here are a few things that will help you decide if it's worth going with Mad Monkey...

1. Mad Monkey is twice the price of other rental places. We didn’t discover just how expensive until we chatted with other travelers on the loop
2. His bikes are in no better condition than bikes from other places. We didn’t have any problems and our vehicle was totally fine, but don't expect higher quality because of the price differential.
3. Mad Monkey does not charge per 24-hrs like all the other other motorbike rental places we used in SE Asia. He charges per day, regardless of when you take the bike out or bring it back in. So if you rent in the afternoon and return the next morning, that’s two days rental, not one.
   
   I don’t remember if we knew this at the time of rental or if we only learned it upon return, but we ended up returning our bike super early (like 9am). Nick had a chat with the owner and he waived the last day’s rental fee for us. But if we had been an hour or two later, I don’t think he would have been so accommodating. It is important to know about this policy before you rent so you can plan your trip accordingly.
   
   
4. The only differentiating factor I could see between Mad Monkey and the other rental places is that he gave us a lot of really great information about the loop. He had his own map with information about good places to stay and things to see enroute. And he took the time to discuss current road conditions with us (there was on-going construction and clay sections that can be treacherous when the watering trucks have been by).

 Nick is an experienced motorcycle rider, so although he appreciated the beta, he didn't really need it. But for anyone new to scooters, or less confident on a bike, this would have been valuable advice.

Overall we found the owner friendly and helpful. We did not have any issues with the bike. But expect to pay double.


Day 1

Gorgeous dragonflies

We started our motorcycle trip with a quick reminder to be vigilant. We went to fill up gas on our way out of town and the attendant scammed us. He didn’t zero out the meter before starting to fill our tank. Nick knew something was up, but we couldn’t communicate or prove anything. So we just sucked it up and paid. At all gas stations thereafter, we kept a close eye on the meter to make sure we didn’t fall for the same thing again.

Fortunately, we were able to leave this little negative experience behind us quite quickly. Just 15-20 minutes outside of town we stopped at a swimming spot in the river called Tha Falan. Nick had a little dip that cheered him up quickly, and I spent my time trying to capture these amazing magenta dragonflies on camera. I succeeded, but I don’t think the photos do them justice!

Chrysanthemum juice is delicious!

After our dip, we went across the Nam Theun 2 dam and through the flooded area that is now a reservoir. It was a beautiful drive; very green, with limestone cliffs in the background.

We stayed at the guesthouse recommended by the guy at Mad Monkey: Phosy Thalang Guesthouse. 

This is the most charming guesthouse we’ve experienced to date. It’s super small and family-run. The night we arrived, there was literally just a woman, her husband and their adorable baby. The food took a really long time to arrive as it was cooked on-demand and the husband got a bunch of orders confused, but everything tasted great.

The bungalows were very quaint and clean. And they had the most comfortable beds we’ve experienced in SE Asia so far! We really loved the chill vibe of this place.

Day 2

We arranged to go on a boat/hiking trip with 2 others from the guesthouse. The boat trip turned out to be quite long! About 2 hours; 35kms according to the GPS. We went right through all the dead trees and it was kind of cool. Also a little creepy. We stopped in a little village, then continued on to a sandy island where they set up mats and umbrellas for a little picnic lunch.

Boat trip through the reservoir

We did a short, 1km hike to a small but pretty waterfall. It turned out to be a new experience for me in an entirely unexpected way.

Checking for leeches...

The trail follows the stream all the way to the waterfall, and we spent most of our time wading through the ankle deep water. At one point, I thought I had been bitten by a mosquito above my knee. I scratched at the bite. I could also feel a small piece of thread from the seam of my pants that must have come loose. I made a mental note to snip the thread when we got back the guesthouse. Eventually, we got to the waterfall, but the bite was starting to bother me more. Thinking it may have been a spider or something, I lifted my pant legs to investigate. That's when I discovered that it was not a loose thread...but rather, a small black leech! Eek!! Super gross!!

Every one of us had at least a few stowaways! So instead of enjoying the gorgeous waterfall, we spent our time checking our legs and obsessively scratching! By the time we had returned to the boats I had picked up 4 leeches, including one that had managed to crawl all the way up to my inner thigh. Fortunately, mine were pretty small. One of Nick’s was big! He ripped it off and it bled for hours afterwards! Soooo gross. This is my first (and hopefully, only) encounter with leeches and I did not like it one bit. Give me snakes and bears any day!

Day 3

We left Phosy Thalang after a leisurely breakfast and made our way to yet another swimming hole. The colour of the water was even more beautiful than the last place.

Another picturesque swimming hole

After a refreshing break, we decided to stick to Mad Monkey’s recommended guesthouses, so our next stop took us to the Sanhak Guesthouse.

Namsaman Waterfall

This was a very neat, tidy and clean guesthouse, whose only drawback is that it’s in a fairly nondescript town and the setting itself isn’t as nice as Phosy Thalang.

They made up for it by making the best banana smoothie and green curry that we had to date, though.

We were able to walk from this guesthouse to the Namsaman Waterfall trail. We managed to get there and have the place to ourselves for about 20 minutes before the rest of the tourists on the Thakhaek loop arrived. It may not be the most spectacular waterfall we’ve seen, but it was pretty and the water was wonderful to cool off in!

Day 4

The Kong Lo Caves turned out to be super cool, both literally and figuratively! We hired a boatman to take us through.

It was a neat experience to be under a mountain...for 7km...in a boat! It was pitch black, except for the small circles of light from our headlamps. Not quiet though, as the motors from our boat created quite the racket. There’s a small section of stalactites and stalagmites in the middle of the cave. Our boatman dropped us off and we walked along the short trail to be picked up on the other side.

 And there's a section with very low water where we had to get out and help push our boat.

Time-lapse video as we exit the caves

On the other side, there is the obligatory souvenir shop and I believe you can pay to be taken to the nearby village. However, we opted to just head back through the caves.

We spent the night in the small village just outside the caves. The Enjoy Boy Guesthouse was small, clean and comfortable. We had a nice lunch, chatted with some other travelers and wandered around the village. Everyone was very friendly and smiley. There were cute kids everywhere. A bunch of them were soaking all passers-by with water guns. A very idyllic and relaxing stay and a small peek into the rhythm of village life in Laos.

Day 5 & 6

Mad Monkey recommended that if you have the time, instead of coming back to Thakhaek along the busy highway, you could just do the loop in reverse. We liked this idea and are glad we did it as it gave us the time to check out the Nam Theun Dam center as well as another cave on our way back.



The Dam’s information center turned out to be informative and pretty interesting. There were displays and panels about how the area was cleared of unexploded ordinances, how the construction of the dam was undertaken, how they relocated the villages that were in the flooded areas etc. Definitely worth a stop. They call Laos the battery of SE Asia for a reason, so it was neat to find out more about the dam.



Escher-esque stairs in the "Disco Caves"

The “Disco Caves” (actually called Tham Nangene) were small but interesting. The colour changing lights were kind of distracting. I felt that they took away from the natural beauty of the caves. But it did create a certain mood. I liked the Escher-esque stairways.

Overall, I’m really glad we took our time on this loop. It was also neat because our route took us through a region with a large ethnic Hmong population. So we encountered some really beautiful and different styles of clothing. We also witnessed gatherings of children throwing balls back and forth, which we googled later and learned was part of a traditional ritual where eligible boys and girls get to know each other.