I will be spending most of the next month on my first trip through the Issan. I will begin in BKK and move north and east eventually getting to Vientien Lao. I need to find out if I can get a flight to Hanoi short of going as far north as LPB Lao.

The only overland route I may be interested in would be from NE Lao and heading towards Sapa/ Lo Cai VN as I know it is some very rugged mountain scenery. I don't know if there is a crossing between Lao and VN that far north that allows crossing for non-locals.

The last thing I want to do is backtrack to BKK.

Any ideas?

Thanks much,

Ed in Oregon, very wet Oregon.

I will be spending most of the next month on my first trip through the Issan. I will begin in BKK and move north and east eventually getting to Vientien Lao. I need to find out if I can get a flight to Hanoi short of going as far north as LPB Lao.

The only overland route I may be interested in would be from NE Lao and heading towards Sapa/ Lo Cai VN as I know it is some very rugged mountain scenery. I don't know if there is a crossing between Lao and VN that far north that allows crossing for non-locals.

The last thing I want to do is backtrack to BKK.

Any ideas?

Thanks much,

Ed in Oregon, very wet Oregon.

The Air Vietnam flight from Phnom Penh to Hanoi stops in Vientiane and picks up passengers. Lao Airlines also have flights to Hanoi from Vientiane.

Hi Ed, as far as I know the border crossing in the very far north has been open to foreigners for the last couple of years. However, I have not personally taken that route, you may want to post your question on lonelyplanet.com/thorntree where you are bound to find an up-to-date answer.

Sapa is indeed very nice, I just came back a couple of weeks ago. However, bear in mind that the weather there can be real bad in February, the fog in particular can be so bad as to make any outdoor activities almost impossible.