Cultural Motorbike Tour to Xieng Kok

Rent a motorbike in Sing Town, grab your map, and circle Xieng Kok, 22 km southwest of Long Town, as your target for a two-day ethnic odyssey that leads to the Lao-Myanmar trading post on the Mekong. After riding your scooter 48 km on the compact-dirt Route 17B from Sing Town, go to the Long Tourism Office and sign up for the motorbike tour that takes in a number of ethnic communities and includes an overnight stay in an Akha village before reaching Xieng Kok. Along the way, you’ll come across 14 villages housing four different ethnic groups: Akha, Lahu, Tai Lue, and Lanten. The first day begins with a stop at Ban Luang Pha Kham, a Tai Lue Cultural Village. From here, an unpaved road climbs the mountain through rice fields and forests while offering great views of the surrounding landscape. You’ll finally reach the ridge on top and Ban Saen Khan Kham for your Akha overnight stay. You’ll enjoy dinner and a chat about the Akha culture, some sips of Akha rice whisky, and a traditional welcome massage, before sleeping in the village lodge. The next morning, it’s full steam ahead to the Mekong River, where you first visit three Lahu villages in Ban Houei Koum, before traveling to Xieng Kok. Here, you’ll have lunch and a walk around the riverside trading town and local border crossing with views to Myanmar’s Shan State. Then, return to Long Town with a stop at a Lanten village on the way back.