Motorbike Riding in Thailand from Na Heao to Loei

Sunrise along the Thai-Lao border in Loei province, Northeast Thailand

After a hot choco at the 7-11 my little mountain goat and me did hit the road again, taking the longway to Loei town, along the Thai-Lao border, where could have been stunning sunrise views if it was not so very foggy and a bit cloudy. So after a while I took the short-cut that goed behind the mountains of Phu Ruea and along this short-cut (route 2294 ) is a village called Ban Hai Tak. This village is famous for its stunning views over the mountains, so of course there are camping-sites, resorts and coffee shops. I had a pit-stop for some food & drinks and continued the short-cut to route 21. I followed the sweeping curves in the mountains all the way to Huai Krating lake, hidden between the mountains and a great place to relax & eat lunch on floating rafts.

Here you come into ananas farm-land and for many km you are passing more ananas as you will ever see. Not all roads are like Google Maps suggested and after a small village there was a broken bridge. My mountain goat does not like rivers. And later the nice road changed in a narrow cement track with put-holes. So the short-cut I was taking to the Skywalk Chiang Khan took a bit longer. What is now called the Skywalk Chiang Khan was formerly know as Phu Khok Ngiew. It is here where for the second time the Mekong River starts to be a border river between Thailand and Laos. And here was always already a huge standing Buddha. Now there is also a SkyWalk. And the TAT did calculate 1000’s of people would daily visit this place. So at the base is a huge parking place with souvenir shops and 20 brand new pickup trucks (and drivers of course) to bring you the last 300m up the hill (costs 60 Thai baht per person). From the standing Buddha statue and the SkyWalk you have a stunning view over de Mekong River and Laos. But without the SkyWalk you would have almost the same view.

From the SkyWalk I did ride along the mighty Mekong River to the once picturesque village of Chiang Khan that is now filled with hotels, coffee shops and restaurants. Most probably owned by people from Bangkok. It is still nice but sincerely not original anymore. What surprised me though is that at 13:00 the street was empty, no locals and no tourists. So I did hit the road again to Loei town. In daytime Loei town is a bit unpleasant town, but in the evening the area around the lake and park are nice with a evening food market en some pubs.

For more motorbike trip reports in Thailand see MOTORBIKE TRIP REPORTS. If you are interested to make motorbike trips in Northeast or North Thailand and need some information or help, please feel free to contact me by email at The Little Elephant Traveling in Thailand.