This page was last updated Di 04 April 2023.

Contents: Tours (33)    Cycling info pages (1)   

Laos (all)


All descriptions are in English, unless otherwise noted.

Tours

Impressions from Bicycle Travels - Visual stories from around the globe.
by Photographer Paul Jeurissen & his partner Grace Johnson, tour started 2018, submitted 26 December 2018

In 2010 we set off on a multi-year bike trip covering 4 continents. Wherever we go, we search out bike culture, dramatic landscapes, and remote places.

So come pedal with us through the icy Himalayas, the barren Pamir highway, tropical East Africa and the chaos of Dhaka in search of unique cycling images.

Self portrait taken in Dali, China
Tasting Travels - Tasting the Cultures of the world by bike
by Annika & Roberto, tour started November 2011, submitted 1 December 2013
language: en, de, es

Blog entries and Articles about people, places and cultures.

Bicycle Travel as a Model to Cultivate Empathy.

We are currently travelling by bicycle and promoting this idea along the way. We would like to share the wonders of bike travel with the world and help other people to plan their own. We do this by writing about our experiences in our blog, posting articles about people, places and their culture in our website and giving live presentations in schools. We are moved by the strong believe that bike travel is an excellent way to cultivate empathy in our world, not only towards human beings but to other living species. We hope you have fun browsing through our site and we will be happy to hear from you. We look forward to receiving your questions and reading your comments. We are at your service.

Roberto and Annika cycling through Iran in August 2012
Overland touring
by Jacques & Mandy, tour started June 2012, submitted 8 June 2012

It's hard to describe the feeling when you're just about to start an extended overland trip - it's even harder to describe the feeling when that trip is about to end, but the end of one trip however means that you are that little bit closer to the beginning of the next adventure.

We completed our 1st overland trip after 545 days on the road, traveling just over 70,000km and crossing 35 countries.

Our 2nd trip was always going to happen, it was just a matter of deciding how, when and where and after a lot of deliberation we finally decided on the next adventure. Some people think it's a bit extreme when comparing it to our trip from Oz to Cape Town, but what would life really be like without a bit of adventure and challenges. After all, we are all here to live life...!

A bicycle! Yes, that's right, a bicycle!!

We are hoping to cover about 20,000 km over a planned 12 month period starting in Indonesia, heading north from there through SE Asia into southern China before making a u-turn to go south once again through Vietnam before hopping onto a plane to continue in India to finally reach Nepal.

Gobi, Mongolia
One year off: NZ, Australia, Malaysia, Sumatra, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia
by gaia&alessandro, tour started 2009, submitted 10 February 2012
language: it

This is the summary of the e-mail we sent home to friends while cycling during our one-year off bicycle journey. It contains some useful info as well as simple descriptions of our experience.

Italian (we can reply to any question in English!)

See all 2 reports by gaia&alessandro

the most difficult thing is to leave: a cycling tour through New Zealand, Australia, Malaysia, Sumatra, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia
by gaia&alessandro, tour started January 2009, submitted 6 January 2012
language: it

Got married,he asked for a hold, she resigned, rented the flat and we were ready to say our granny and cats goodbye.

See all 2 reports by gaia&alessandro

leaving Finch Hutton Gorge, Queensland
Two oldies going on a long bicycle ride
by Lynne Roberts, tour started July 2008, submitted 21 October 2011
language: English

Twenty years ago we cycled half way round the world, so we thought we'd better have another go before we get too old to do ANYTHING, let alone cycle!

So after 4 months in Europe (the training ground) we hit South India, then a quick hop over the ocean to South East Asia. When we were Asia'd out we decided to go to South America, via the UK (planning is NOT our forte). From Venezuela we headed south to Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia from which we headed back up to Central America (remember what I said about planning?) to meet up with friends and family. This took approx 2 wonderful years. I wonder where we'll go next time?

Sunset, La Cruz, Costa Rica
Southeast Asia and a bit of Australia
by Sven Schirmer, tour started October 2010, submitted 29 May 2011

Golden and brown leaves falling back home. Migratory birds are leaving. Time to take off for me too. The initial plan was to cycle from Hanoi to Kuala Lumpur, yet it went all different. And good. 6 months on the road, meeting great people, dwelling in great places, sharing great experiences.

See all 3 reports by Sven Schirmer

Little fellow working hard in Cambodia
Fahrradweltreise ''Reise zum Horizont''
by Nicole Franke and Tobias Pieper, tour started March 2009, submitted 22 February 2011
language: de, en, es

Die Reise zum Horizont war ein Traum, eine verrueckte Idee. Heute ist sie Wirklichkeit, eine bewusste Entscheidung, eine Weltreise mit dem Fahrrad. Am 15. Maerz 2009 in Oldenburg (Deutschland) gestartet, ist das Ziel die ''weite'' Welt. Mit dem Anspruch, den Weg weitgehend mit dem Fahrrad zurueckzulegen, ist es ein Erfahren fremder Laender und Kulturen, auch bzw. besonders jenseits klassischer Touristenziele.

Logo - Reise zum Horizont
South East of Asia downwind
by Leo and Vero, tour started October 2010, submitted 29 November 2010
language: it, en

We are a couple of young italian travellers and we are riding through South-East of Asia, exploring the area also by hiking and trying to know local traditions and cultures.

From Bangkok, we went to northern Thailand in about two months reaching the area of the Golden Triangle. Now we are in Laos and our travel goes on...We are planning to go to Cambodia and Vietnam next months... Follow us on our frequently updated website!

Ready to take off!
Two New Zealanders heading East across the landmasses of Europe and Asia
by Emma and Justin, tour started March 2010, submitted 5 September 2010

We're Emma and Justin, two New Zealanders who have 'gone cycling' after six years working and living in London.

We talked about the possibility of a big trip quietly at first. We were on a train in England somewhere and we sketched a rudimentary map which plotted our way towards Russia. Our cycling trips became more ambitious, and we tested our enthusiasm for the idea by cycling the length of the UK (Lands End to John O'Groats) over three weeks in 2009. After 6 years living away from New Zealand we decided it was time to pack up London lives, quit jobs and go.

We have been on the road since March 2010 and intend to reach the edge of Asia by March 2012. Our website documents some of the places we've discovered on our travels.

Myrtle the Turtle Trike Tour
by Sylvia Halpern, tour started July 2007, submitted 1 September 2010

My plan is simple: ride as long as it is fun!

In July 2007 I closed the door behind me to start my first trike tour. I had no idea how far I would get and this tour took me from Canada to Guatemala. I had such a good time I continued on spending 9 months cycling New Zealand and Australia. In 2009 I cycled through Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Thailand.

See all 2 reports by Sylvia Halpern

Tour of Gondwana
by Michael Ayers, tour started May 2005, submitted 20 January 2010

My goal for this Tour was to visit all of the major inhabited parts of the former supercontinent of Gondwana. Today, those places are mostly located in the Southern Hemisphere. Another aspect of my plan was to avoid long airplane trips by crossing oceans on container ships. That part of my Tour frequently caused problems, but I did hold fast to that idea, more or less. I traveled alone during 40 months and covered a little over 86,000 km by bike in 44 countries. My primary interest was the simple joy of cycling in new places, but I also concentrated on Natural History, Flora and Fauna, Ancient Sites and Diverse Cultures. My site contains sections describing Tour preparations, detailed logs, photos, posts written during the Tour, and a collection of essays written once it was complete.

Gyatso-La, at 5,220 meters, the highest pass of the Tour, in Tibet
bicycle travel as a lifestyle
by Osmosno, tour started January 2010, submitted 3 November 2009

Trans Asia on a single speed bicycle with just a small backpack as luggage. The ultimate light weight experience. On Januari 10th we will start our Fixed & Free Challenge from Singapore. Cycling through Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and China we are aiming to arrive in Shanghai in May 2010.

Already on our fully loaded expeditions we have been constantly minimising our gear and now we even go without gears. Although limited by our 25 litre backpacks we will carry more than enough for a journey like this including a Macbook and camera each.

We will cover this journey on www.osmosno.wordpress.com

See all 2 reports by Osmosno

Osmosno on their first single speed on steep hills experience in Thailand
Shang Hai --> Padang, West Sumatra - 8000 KM in 3 Months
by Ali G, tour started April 2009, submitted 12 September 2009

A solo cycling journey from Shanghai, China to Padang, West Sumatra During the spring/summer of 2009 I determined to cycle departing from my pre-war apartment in Shanghai and to continue as far as I could in the three months time I had from April 11th until July 11th. 8000 eventful Kilometers later I finally reached Padang, West Sumatra.

Aside from only one ferry ride connecting Penang, Malaysia to the Port of Belawan, North Sumatra the whole trip was by bicycle. During the trip I encountered fierce rains and winds, steep climbs and endless mountains, roads that went from pavement to mud and rocks, monkeys jumping down from the trees, snakes the length of baseball bats, lizards the size of big cats, Hmong Guerillas with AK47's on a misty mountain pass. I experienced the kindness of strangers as well as the indecency of others. I pushed my middle-aged body to the limit and achieved a personal record in northern Thailand by cycling 263 kilometers non-stop in one truly eventful day of fast and hard riding.

It is difficult for the pictures I shot of myself (with my outdated 5 mega-pixel camera's auto shoot feature) to capture the true essence of this journey. They can't capture the nearly 2000 kilometers of continuous climbs from western Guangxi through North/Central Laos and the often steep ascents, fierce winds and heavy rains encountered there. The lonely days of riding up and up and the anguish felt after reaching a pass and realizing there are only more mountains to cross in the horizon. Nor can they capture the lighting fast descents on winding mountain roads with hair pin turns, where I have mastered the act of riding without my hands, singing and strumming along to the thumping tunes on my ipod. Pictures can't capture the restless nights sleeping alone in the jungle, in a bamboo hut open to all the elements, the night creatures taunting and wailing out load as if in mocking and the loud claps of thunder that drown out the sound of the jungle creatures. Pictures can't capture the struggle of lifting a fully loaded touring bike and hand carrying it over mud and rock slides which persist kilometer after kilometer during the rainy seasons in China's western regions. Pictures cant capture the taunting calls of 'hello mister' or 'tourist' by the locals in all of Sumatra or the endearing smiles on faces of Laotian children as I ride by, they can't capture the maddening and often dangerous traffic in parts of China and Sumatra and the disregard of truck drivers and other motor vehicles for the lone cyclist on the rode and they can't capture the army of bugs at dusk flying into my face, eyes and clothes, pelting me as if hail from the skies above. [...]

Cycling from Europe to Asia
by BikeBen, tour started May 2008, submitted 5 May 2009

``On a bicycle you are forced into intimate contact with your surroundings, the grass on the side of the road, the vehicles that drive past, the farmer in the field, that damn hill under your wells, the rain on your face, the smell of the wild flowers (or the broken sewerage pipe for that matter). This interaction gives a real sense of the place, the traffic tells you what kind of things are going on in the area, tourism, logging, farming, industry etc. The constant exposure to the weather gives an astute awareness of the day to day changes, or in the case of a strong head wind, any natural feature which will give some shelter . Hungry, thirsty and tired, a warm smile and a few words (or more often hand signals) is all it takes to find a place to pitch the tent for the night, on real ground with a newly gained sense of the place after a long day in the saddle''

With a focus on photography, this site will give the viewer a real sense of life on the road as a cycle tourist.

Travel towards the unknown, meet people, respect the Earth!
by Frederic Linget, tour started June 2008, submitted 13 March 2009
language: en, fr

An ``aventure bicyclétale'', it's a two-wheeled little miracle which combines discoveries around the world, respect of others and protection of the environment. So let's get in the saddle!

After 10 years in Asia, I've decided to go home, to Châteaudun in France. I left on Sunday the 29th of June 08 from Bangkok, I'm on my way.

Tandeming 'round the world' 09
by Art & Judee Wickersham, tour started December 2008, submitted 29 December 2008

We are entering our fourth year on our tandem adventure 'round the world'. We have visited Mexico, Central & South America, New Zeland, Australia, South East Asia, China, and Europe. We are now wintering over on the Costa Del Sol, Spain. Off to Morocco in Feb. 09 then back into Europe for 09.

See all 2 reports by Art & Judee Wickersham

Bike Travel - Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Laos & Vietnam
by Ronald Xie, tour started 2008, submitted 10 November 2008

See all 2 reports by Ronald Xie

Sophos tour around the world
by Romain POISSON, tour started June 2008, submitted 27 September 2008
language: en, fr

Vagabondages autour du monde d'un apprenti voyageur.

Un ou deux ans de voyage au programme pour découvrir l'Europe du Nord, l'Asie et l'Afrique du Nord différemment.

Prochaine étape : la traversée de la Russie en hiver

Vagrancy around the world by a apprentice traveller.

One or two years to discover in a different way north Europe, Asia and north Africa.

Next step : from St Petersburg to Vladivostok during winter time

Shot in the Lofoten Islands (Norway) while i was waiting for a very small ferry (2 passengers) - I stayed over there for 24 hours :)
The continuous bicycle touring story since 2002 + no plans to stop
by Tim E Cindle Travis, tour started 2002, submitted 9 June 2008

We are Tim and Cindie Travis.

We left our Arizona, USA home back in March ( 2002), and have been traveling by bicycle throughout the world. We have peddled through Arizona, Mexico, Central and South America. Our future plans include Asia, Australia, Africa, Europe, Russia, Canada, and the USA. Our plans will take us the next several years to complete.

Visit our popular web site that is updated frequently as we travel. You will enjoy thousands of pictures, our daily journal, and the online discussion.

Cycling around Asia and Australia
by Linda Spadolini, tour started May 2004, submitted 24 October 2007
language: en, it

In May 2004, after having worked for 18 months in China, I decided to hit the road to fulfill my dream of a lifetime: to travel extensively in Asia and Oceania without the pressure of time and the necessity of airplane travel. My idea was to travel mostly overland and give myself enough time to get to know faraway countries and different cultures by living as close as possible to the local realities.

Having met Fred during my last months in China and finding his ``RTW by bicycle'' a very stimulating way of traveling, I planned my journey in such a way as to be able to join him in the Philippines and spend 6 months on the road with him. The experience was a success and when Fred took the road to Europe from India, I decided to continue traveling by bicycle on my own in South-East Asia and finally Australia.

See all 3 reports by Linda Spadolini

Cycling on the beach in Kerala, India
Planète.d - 2 French, a tandem, and a camera around the world
by Delphine Million & Damien Artero, tour started April 2006, submitted 21 October 2007
language: en, es, de, fr

Planète D. is our volunteering and filming world tour on the tandem bike. It's that simple.

We cycle.
We film, edit and share videos.
We volunteer for NGOs.

D1 and D2 on Buzzz
Comm'on Life in Eurasia: 2 years of challenge and cultural discovery
by ELena Chernyshova and Gael de Crevoisier, tour started August 2006, submitted 18 July 2007
language: fr, ru, en

We are performing a 2 years (theoretically) trip around Eurasia. During the trip, we are performing a photo documentation for ICOMOS, an expert organization of UNESCO about cultural heritage. The database created will be available on the website.

We wish with this project to perform some challenging cycling, linking with useful actions.

Our website relates our diary and we are putting plenty of photos and comments (and lots of other fields are going to come, such as advices, technical data...).

Elena on bike, -12C Kazakstan, December 2006
wish tour (world bicycle tour) photos and stories from a bicycle tour around the world
by Rick Gunn, tour started July 2007, submitted 8 July 2007

Welcome to the Wish Tour!

Below you will find the photos and journal from a two-year, 20,000-mile bicycle journey around the world.

Starting in July 2005, this journal will take readers across the United States, Europe, Turkey, Uzbekistan, Kyrgystan, China, Tibet, Nepal, India, Bangladesh, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia, Borneo, Indonesia, Australia and New Zealand.

The journey began more than 20 years ago, as the seeds of a dream to circumnavigate the globe were cultivated from a deeply personal and painful experience.

[Absolutely stunning pictures.]

Newlyweds Cycle the World!
by Sarah Erck and James Welle, tour started January 2007, submitted 22 April 2007

We are Sarah Erck and James Welle, two 27 year old ex-Microsoft employees who decided to get married, quit our jobs, sell all of our material possessions, and travel around the world on our bicycles for one year...or more!

It all began innocently enough in 2005 when Sarah's mom gave James the book Miles from Nowhere on his birthday. Sarah, being the bookworm that she is, read the book immediately and fell in love with the idea of riding a bicycle around the world. James was a little more reluctant at first; he was an avid cyclist but was worried about quitting his job and spending a lot of money on a trip like this. Sarah persisted and in the end she was able to convice James to take the plunge and in September of 2006 they decided to officially do the trip after James finished his work on Windows Vista. The fall of 2006 was spent furiously planning and preparing for our departure date of January 2007!

Cycling Home From Siberia
by Rob Lilwall, tour started 2006, submitted 23 January 2007

A 40,000 km. 3 year ride through 30 countries, from far eastern Russia (Siberia) in winter, to London England, via Australia. Trying to cover the whole route by bicycle and boat only. I have encountered plenty of good times and a few tough ones, noteably in Siberia (camping at minus forty), Papua New Guinea (pushing my bike down a beach as no roads) and Tibet (in winter).

In Siberia (2004)
Our trip around the world - we are now in Cambodia
by Benoit Cote et Genevieve Fortin, tour started 2006, submitted 1 November 2006
language: en, fr

We are now in Cambodia, after 10 months of cycling thru New Zealand, Australia, Malaysia, Thailand. Our site is bilingual.

Our web site is about the trip that we are now realizing. We have gone across the world to go back to Canada. We already crossed 5 different countries in 10 months. We will keep biking for around 2 more years. The subject treated by the web page is mostly about our trip (story, pictures, organisation) but we added a lot of other stuff like recipes, rock climbing, and small articles. We are French-Canadian, so our web site is belingual.

This is the road to get to Siam Reap from Thailand
Brink Expedition
by Kendon Glass, tour started October 2002, submitted 26 February 2006

The Route:

Americas: Venezuela, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina
Atlantic Traverse: Azores Islands [Portugal]
Europe: Spain, France, Italy, Greece, Turkey
The Middle East: Iran
Central Asia: Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Pakistan, India
South East Asia: Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia
Australasia: Australia

Welcome to the Brink Expedition!

Imagine attempting a global traverse that would take you 50,000 kilometres through some of the most difficult terrain and extreme weather on the planet, all the time attempting to use only human power and the natural elements.

Starting deep in the heart of Amazonian South America the Brink Expedition will encounter unforgiving Patagonian winds, snowed over Himalayan Mountain passes, monsoons on the sub-continent and the oppressive heat of Australia's Red Centre.

So while the clock ticks, the seasons will turn, making this a full-throttled Race Against the Elements!

Cycling in South-East Asia
by Per Löwdin, tour started 2001, submitted 21 February 2006

Photo albums and brief travelogues from two bicycle trips in South-East Asia in 2001 and 2002, repectively. The trip 2001 started in Singapore and took us through Malaysia, Thailand, Viet Nam and Lao. The journey in 2002 started in Chiang Mai, took us through Northern Lao, Isan, and Cambodia.

See all 8 reports by Per Löwdin

Five continents on the bike 2001-2006
by rolmaatjes, tour started August 2001, submitted 8 October 2005
language: nl

In 2001 vanuit Nederland vertrokken en nu okt 2005 meer dan 65.000 km en al meer dan 40 landen doorgefietst.

Op de achtergrond het beroemde operagebouw in Sydney
Nederland Azie op die fiets
by Jurgen en Saskia, tour started September 2001
language: nl

Ja, hebben jullie het al gezien, we zijn meer dan 4 jaar onderweg. Wat een tijd en toch.... we genieten er nog elke dag van. Nu zijn we in Jujuy, noord Argentinië. Via Chili gaan we binnenkort naar Bolivia, waar we een tijdlang niet zullen kunnen internetten. We zullen op grote hoogte gaan fietsen, hoogtes waar we nog niet eerder waren. Of dat prettig is.. jullie zullen het later lezen.

tallabomba's Europe to Asia by Bike
by Tom ``tallabomba'' Hermansson Snickars, tour started 1998

In the fall of 1998 I set off on a long journey by bike. It covered more than 15000 kilometers and 14 countries. During this trip I was hit by rocks and cars, I was baked, soaked, and deep frozen by the weather gods. Mostly, however, I had a superb opportunity to see some of the most beautiful scenery in the world, meet wonderful people and enjoy the culture of widely differing lands. This site is about my bike trip from Sweden to South-East Asia via Eastern Europe, The Middle East, Pakistan, China, and Tibet. It also contains general information and links on bicycle touring and travelling in general.

On the Road to Nowhere - Nowhere is the Place
by Glenn and Sheila Ord

A site filled with tours all over Europe, Africa, Asia, and America.

See all 5 reports by Glenn and Sheila Ord

Cycling info pages

Bicycles - World's Most Efficient Means of Transport
by Hostelio, , submitted 2 September 2009

Man on a bicycle can go three or four times faster than the pedestrian, but uses five times less energy in the process. He carries one gram of his weight over a kilometer of flat road at an expense of only 0.15 calories. The bicycle is the perfect transducer to match man's metabolic energy to the impedance of locomotion. Equipped with this tool, man outstrips the efficiency of not only all machines but all other animals as well. [...]

Bicycles are not only thermodynamically efficient, they are also cheap. With his much lower salary, the Chinese acquires his durable bicycle in a fraction of the working hours an American devotes to the purchase of his obsolescent car. The cost of public utilities needed to facilitate bicycle traffic versus the price of an infrastructure tailored to high speeds is proportionately even less than the price differential of the vehicles used in the two systems. In the bicycle system, engineered roads are necessary only at certain points of dense traffic, and people who live far from the surfaced path are not thereby automatically isolated as they would be if they depended on cars or trains. The bicycle has extended man's radius without shunting him onto roads he cannot walk. Where he cannot ride his bike, he can usually push it.

The bicycle also uses little space. Eighteen bikes can be parked in the place of one car, thirty of them can move along in the space devoured by a single automobile. It takes three lanes of a given size to move 40,000 people across a bridge in one hour by using automated trains, four to move them on buses, twelve to move them in their cars, and only two lanes for them to pedal across on bicycles. Of all these vehicles, only the bicycle really allows people to go from door to door without walking. The cyclist can reach new destinations of his choice without his tool creating new locations from which he is barred. [...]