Travel to remote places in Laos by bike

HANOI, Viet Nam - May 17, 2013 - PRLog -- If you are traveling through Laos, make sure that you must head to the Hua Phan province and the town of Sam Neua, next to Vietnam border. This slow pace town on a beautiful river is worth exploring both for its proximity to Vieng Xai but also for the markets and clean hotels. It is a lovely stopover after traveling by bus through twisting, turning mountain roads. Once there and recovered form the dusty bus ride, hop in a "sawngthew" - they run regularly between Sam Neua and Vieng Xai. Vieng Xai is in a valley with hills, cliffs, rice paddies, lakes (old bomb craters) and it suffered incredibly during the Vietnam War by being close to the Vietnamese Border and being the Pathet Lao headquarters.
The area is where the Pathet Lao revoluntionaries hid during the War, in the limestone caves that abound in the area. There were over 24,000 people hidden in the caves during this time. below here is one tour suggestion
http://www.asiatourismholiday.com/17_15-days-tour-laos-aventure-cross-border-to-vietnam_502.html

The best way to see the caves is to hire a bike from the Government Office/Tourist Office. There is an entry fee to see the caves and to hire the bikes. The fee includes a tour guide and while we were not keen to have the guide when you realise the number of caves, the size of the caves and the history, the guide proved a valuable asset in sharing his knowledge with us. The guide came on his bike as well and we cycled around the tracks and dirt roads of the area for 2-3 hours. The caves themselves proved incredible, they went right into the limestone cliffs and contained rooms, printing presses, an autitorium for speeches, a stage, kitchens, there were a labyrinth of tunnels and steps to get to them. Each cave is separate from the others and the bike trip proved fun and exhilirating. When you learn the history and how many bombs the Americans dropped to try to destroy the caves, you understand the man made lakes in the area, they have been converted from the bomb craters. The town/village is well worth a stay of 3-4 days, just wondering around the rice paddies, biking the dirt roads and enjoying the local markets. Textile weaving is also a must to see here, the textiles are wonderful and in your bike rides/walks you will often see woman on a loom outside their house making the cloth. We were very interested in this and were invited into the house where we were given the local brew of "Laos" (whisky) and shown the recently woven cloth. The people are quietly friendly, reserved at first, so a polite hello and being interested in them and what they do will soon have them smiling and laughing. When I was taking photographs I always asked if I could by indicating with the camera especially if I had the village children or local people in my photos. The accommodation in the village is not as good as Sam Neua, I would call it more rustic. We stayed at the Xailam Guest House which is about 2 km from the bus station, the wooden structure sits right over a small lake, we had a small en-suite and a double bed with a large window over looking the water and the mountains. The food in the village and guest houses is good local food, soup with noodles, rice, omelets, coffee etc, again not a lot of choice in the menus but hot and adequate after a day's walk or bike ride. We found a restaurant at the back of the village which served chicken with fried rice and also one that served fries. The omelets and coffee were our favorite. We always eat local food when traveling so ate at the local markets and where the locals congregate.

Please noted that:  there are a lot of caves that are still not open to the public i.e. you will discover these when biking on the old back roads around the village area. While we were tempted to explore with torches we were conscious that there are still a lot of unexploded ordinances in the area hidden in overgrown foliage and more worryingly for us, snakes!