Laos - Road Trip

Last year, I took a drive from Ubon to Nakhon Panom on the Laotian side of the river. The crossing at Chong Mek was a bit hectic as I got caught up in focusing on getting the car's papers processed. It went so smoothly that I left the border crossing area and was about to start my journey when I realized I had forgotten to get myself a visa. So, I could actually have entered Laos without a visa.

Chong Mek Duty Free

Anyway, although it was surprisingly easy to get the car cleared, it did still take some time as I obviously was not the only vehicle crossing the border. All in all, it took around two hours including that I had to return and get myself a visa.

There is rain in them thar hills

A new road to Wat Phu has been built. It is a toll way costing 15,000 kip. The old (much more narrow) road still winds its way along the river, but the toll way is the best option. It runs closer to the hills where the clouds hang low in the rainy season.

Stairs to climb to reach Wat Phu

Navigating through Pakse to get on to the main road heading north was a bit tricky, but once that was done, it was clear sailing. The road is of decent quality, but it isn't wide and can be outright dangerous at night. It seemed every fifth vehicle or so did not have lights that were functioning. This can result in the unpleasant surprise of nearly plowing into the rear end of a slow moving truck. Likewise, many motorcyclists must have some sort of death wish as they were driving without lights.

Virgin Mary & Son outside Catholic church in Savannakhet

Savannakhet is a nice quaint town with several interesting old buildings and a bustling market. The promenade along the river bank was extremely under-utilized. I liked Vientiane 16-17 years ago when the river bank had a cluster of noodle shops and food stalls where one could have a meal and a cold beer or two. This was before the Vietnamese financed a major upgrade of Vientiane's roads and of the river bank. Maybe development will also catch up with Savannakhet one day. At least the visionaries of ASEAN want to link Mukdahan to the port of Da Nang via Savannakhet.

Green coffee beans

Continuing north to Thakhek brought me to the highland famous for its coffee and this was quite interesting. I did, however, not have much time to spend there. So, I returned across the bridge to Nakhon Panom. To cross back into Thailand went very fast. The bureaucracy was very light and took less than half an hour to clear.