Biking with Year - Fun way to see the countryside. Best part was my guide, Year Xiong. His English is excellent as his his local knowledge. Year led me to some beautiful scenery along the river and made a brief stop at a small temple and Hmong village.

Kayaking Great. Avoid Mountain Biking. - I have struggled with this review for days. The things that were good were very, very good. The things that were bad were horrid. First the good: Our guide, Vong, was excellent. He was knowledgeable, experienced, and took very good care of us. He made sure, at every turn, we were safe, and enjoying the tour. He shared his experience, and immense knowledge, of having been a monk. That meant a lot to us. The set up for this company is a full service compound including a buffet area where a variety of tours leave from. As hokey as it sounds, it works. Now, the bad: we did the “mountain biking” trip. The bikes they provided were good, solid, mountain bikes. We were hopeful. The first half of the trip was spent riding on a shoulderless two lane paved highway. There were semis, dump trucks, and heavy traffic passing us within arm’s distance. It was terrifying. One wrong move by anyone would have been catastrophic. At one point I stopped riding and asked for the tour van to come get me. Vong, and he was right, said we would be turning off onto the “trail” in 8 minutes. I wondered, out loud, how many semis were in 8 minutes. We turned off onto a dirt/gravel road which was the trail. It too was a back road that eventually lead to another paved road. The tour description for the “mountain biking” talked about a trail ride along two rivers. That did not happen. We overheard a discussion later that said it used to go along the rivers, but they changed it. Our kayaking was great. Avoid the “mountain biking.”