Day 1 (Vientiane – Xayaboury)

Because there are no direct (and cheap) flights from Singapore to Laos, I took a Tigerairways flight to Udon Thani, a city in northeast Thailand. Udon Thani is located one hour by road to the friendship bridge, the Thailand-Laos border close to Vientiane. At the Laos side, Vientiane is about another hour by road. Many people have asked about the logistics of getting from Udon Thani to Vientiane. Here’s the gist of it:

1. Mini bus (150Baht) direct from Udon Thani airport to Friendship Bridge. The bus can drop and wait for you at a photo shop if you need photos for visa application at the borders.
2. Shuttle bus (15Baht) to cross the bridge. Currency exchange is available at the borders.
3. TukTuk/Taxi (200Baht for the whole vehicle) from bridge to Vientiane. I shared a Tuktuk with four other travelers, so we ended paying 40Baht each.

My plane landed at Udon Thani airport just after 8am and I managed to clear the customs only at 910am.  After the transports described above, I reached PVO motorcycle rental at 12pm. At PVO, the Honda Baja 250 scrambler I had selected was cleaned, serviced and adjusted. After loading up my pack and attaching my Garmin GPS receiver, I was finally ready to start my motorcycle tour at 2pm.

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