 0 Consular Info Sheet 2001
 1 visa and travel guides (LP)
 2 Provinces guide
 3 Salavan plateau
 4 mines (UXO)
 5 Traveller's info 2001
 6 Traveller's info 1998
 7 river Mekong travel
 8 more traveller's tales of trips to Laos

\0 Consular Info Sheet May 9, 2001

A developing country with a communist govt. Political power is centralized in the Lao People's Revolutionary Party. Services and facilities for tourists are adequate in the capital, Vientiane, and the UNESCO World Heritage town of Luang Prabang, but are extremely limited in other parts of the country.

In an effort to prevent international child abduction, many governments have initiated procedures at entry/exit points. These often include requiring documentary evidence of relationship and permission for the child's travel from the parent(s) or legal guardian not present. Having such documentation on hand, even if not required, may facilitate entry/departure.

DUAL NATIONALITY: Dual nationality is prohibited under the Law on Lao Nationality. The Lao government holds that persons lose their Lao citizenship if they take a foreign citizenship, and in some cases, if they reside in a foreign country for an extended period of time. Former Lao nationals who enter and depart Laos using a U.S. passport and a valid Lao visa retain the right of U.S. consular access and protection. The ability of the U.S. Embassy to provide consular services would be extremely limited in the event a dual national enters Laos on a Lao passport or other non-U.S. travel document.

The Law on Lao Nationality holds that if one or both parents of a child are Lao nationals who have not permanently settled in another country, then the child is a Lao citizen even if the child is born outside Laos. In circumstances where a child is born in Laos and one parent is a U.S. citizen, the Lao government generally will not recognize such children as U.S. citizens, and generally will not permit such children to depart Laos on U.S. passports. Provided the child meets all other criteria for obtaining U.S. citizenship, however, the U.S. Embassy in Vientiane may still issue a U.S. passport to the child.

Specific questions on dual nationality may be directed to Overseas Citizens Services, Department of State, Room 4811A, Washington. D.C. 20520 or to the U.S. Embassy in Vientiane. For additional information, please see the Bureau of Consular Affairs home page on the Internet at http://travel.state.gov for the Dual Nationality flyer. SAFETY AND SECURITY: Since March 2000, numerous small bombs have exploded in public places in Vientiane and several other towns throughout Laos. Other bombs have been discovered before they exploded. Several of these bombs were in places such as markets or transportation facilities that are likely to be frequented by foreign tourists, including U.S. citizens. While there is no evidence that this violence is directed against U.S. citizens or institutions, U.S. citizens should be aware that some foreign tourists have been injured by these bombs and that more such incidents could occur in the future. U.S. citizens traveling to or residing anywhere in Laos are advised to exercise caution and to be alert to their surroundings. The government of Laos tightly controls travel to Saysomboun Special Zone and at times restricts travel to parts of Xieng Khouang Province (particularly Muang Khoune, Muang Paxai, and Muang Phoukout Districts) because of ongoing insurgent and bandit activity. Due to the risk of ambush, the U.S. Embassy advises U.S. citizens in Laos to avoid travel to Saysomboun Special Zone and Xieng Khouang Province (except for Phonsavan town and the Districts of Muang Kham and Muang Nong Haet). Due to the risk of ambush, the U.S. Embassy prohibits its employees from traveling on Route 7 from the Route 13 junction to Phonsavan town. Additionally, there continue to be isolated insurgent or bandit attacks near Route 13 in northeastern Vientiane Province and southeastern Luang Prabang Province. U.S. citizens who, despite this risk, decide to travel on Route 13 from Vang Vieng to Luang Prabang should travel in daylight, avoid unnecessary stops, and travel in convoy if possible. U.S. citizens considering travel outside urban centers are advised to contact relevant Lao government offices and the U.S. Embassy for the most current security information. U.S. citizens traveling to Vang Vieng should be aware that there have been robberies and assaults of tourists walking alone to the caves on the far side of the Nam Song River. Persons traveling at night in Vientiane and elsewhere are subject to being stopped, searched, detained, and fined if they cannot present suitable identification. Travelers should comply with requests to stop at checkpoints and roadblocks. More than 500,000 tons of unexploded ordnance left over from the Vietnam War causes about 120 casualties per year in Laos. Savannakhet, Xieng Khouang, Saravane, Khammouane, Sekong, Champassak, Houaphan, Attapeu, and Luang Prabang Provinces and Saysomboun Special Zone are severely contaminated by unexploded bombs. In addition, there are numerous mine fields left over from the War, including mine fields along either side of Route 7 (from Route 13 to the Vietnam border), Route 9 (Savannakhet to the Vietnam border), and Route 20 (Pakse to Saravane). U.S. citizens traveling in any part of Laos should never pick up any unknown metal object and should avoid traveling off of well-used roads, tracks, and paths. Camping at night anywhere except authorized campgrounds in national parks is considered dangerous. U.S. citizens considering travel by air, road or river within Laos are advised to carefully evaluate the relative risks of the three modes of transport for their particular journey. (See sections on Aviation Safety Oversight, Traffic Safety and Road Conditions, and River Travel below.) TRAVEL OF FOREIGNERS WITHIN LAOS: Lao authorities require that hotels and guesthouses furnish information about the identities and activities of their foreign guests. Lao citizens who interact with foreigners may be compelled to report on those interactions to the Lao government. Persons traveling outside of the main tourist areas may be required to register with local authorities and may find themselves questioned by security personnel. Lao security personnel may place foreign visitors under surveillance. Hotel rooms, telephone conversations, fax transmissions, and e-mail communications may be monitored, and personal possessions in hotel rooms may be searched. CRIME: While Laos generally has a low rate of violent crime, it is not immune to crime. While in Laos, U.S. citizens should remain aware of their surroundings and exercise appropriate security precautions. There has been a recent increase in thefts and assaults in Vientiane, including bag-snatching, house-breaking, and sexual assaults. Any such incidents, as well as the loss or theft abroad of a U.S. passport, should be reported immediately to the local police and the U.S. Embassy. Useful information on safeguarding valuables and protecting personal security while traveling abroad is provided in the Department of State pamphlet, A Safe Trip Abroad, available from the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC 20402, via the Internet at http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs, on the Bureau of Consular Affairs home page at http://travel.state.gov and autofax service at 202-647-3000, or at the U.S. Embassy in Vientiane. MEDICAL FACILITIES: Medical facilities and services in Laos are limited and do not meet Western standards. The U.S. Embassy in Vientiane generally advises U.S. citizens to seek medical care in Thailand. The Friendship Bridge linking Vientiane, Laos to Nong Khai, Thailand is open from 6:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Officials generally will allow travelers to cross after hours in case of medical emergency. AEK International Hospital in Udorn Thani, Thailand, (tel: 66-42-342-555), has English-speaking staff who are well accustomed to dealing with foreign patients and offers a wide variety of services. Nong Khai Wattana Hospital in Nong Khai, Thailand (tel: 66-42-465-201 to 208) can handle most simple medical procedures. The Nong Khai Wattana Hospital ambulance has advance permission to cross the Friendship Bridge to collect patients from Vientiane. In Vientiane, the Setthatirat Hospital ambulance (tel: 021-413-720) has the documentation necessary to take patients to Thailand. The Department of State assumes no responsibility for the professional ability or reputation of these hospitals. MEDICAL INSURANCE: The Department of State strongly urges U.S. citizens to consult with their medical insurance company prior to traveling abroad to confirm whether their policy applies overseas and whether it will cover emergency expenses such as a medical evacuation. U.S. medical insurance plans seldom cover health costs incurred outside the United States unless supplemental coverage is purchased. Further, U.S. Medicare and Medicaid programs do not provide payment for medical services outside the United States. However, many travel agents and private companies offer insurance plans that will cover health care expenses incurred overseas including emergency services such as medical evacuations.

When making a decision regarding health insurance, U.S. citizens should consider that many foreign doctors and hospitals require payment in cash prior to providing service and that a medical evacuation to the U.S. may cost well in excess of $50,000. Uninsured travelers who require medical care overseas often face extreme difficulties, whereas travelers who have purchased overseas medical insurance have, when a medical emergency occurs, found it life-saving. When consulting with your insurer prior to your trip, ascertain whether payment will be made to the overseas healthcare provider or whether you will be reimbursed later for expenses you incur. Some insurance policies also include coverage for psychiatric treatment and for disposition of remains in the event of death. Useful information on medical emergencies abroad, including overseas insurance programs, is provided in the Department of State's Bureau of Consular Affairs brochure Medical Information for Americans Traveling Abroad, available via the Bureau of Consular Affairs home page or autofax: (202) 647-3000. OTHER HEALTH INFORMATION: Information on vaccinations and other health precautions may be obtained from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's hotline for international travelers at 1- 877-FYI-TRIP (1-877-394-8747); fax 1-888-CDC-FAXX (1-888-232-3299), or via CDC's Internet site at http://www.cdc.gov. TRAFFIC SAFETY AND ROAD CONDITIONS: While in a foreign country, U.S. citizens may encounter road conditions that differ significantly from those in the United States. The information below concerning Laos is provided for general reference only, and may not be totally accurate in a particular location or circumstance: Safety of Public Transportation: Poor Urban Road Conditions/Maintenance: Poor Rural Road Conditions/Maintenance: Poor Availability of Roadside Assistance: Poor The number of road accidents and fatalities in Laos has risen sharply in the last decade as the number of motor vehicles has increased. The rate of traffic fatalities in Laos is 19 per 10,000 vehicles, or about double the rate in the rest of Southeast Asia and nearly ten times the rate in the United States. U.S. citizens involved in traffic accidents have been barred from leaving Laos before paying compensation for property damage or injuries, regardless of who the police judged was at fault. Traffic in Laos is chaotic and road conditions are very rough. Theoretically, traffic moves on the right, but vehicles use all parts of the street. Cyclists pay little or no heed to cars on the road. Motorcycles carry as many as five people, greatly impeding the drivers' ability to react to traffic. The evening hours are particularly dangerous. Road construction sites are poorly marked, have no advance warning, and can be difficult to see at night. Roads are poorly lit, many vehicles have no operating lights, few bicycles have reflectors, and it is common for trucks with no reflectors to park on unlit roads. The speed limit on most urban streets is 30 kilometers per hour (19 miles per hour). On the better inter-urban roads the speed limit is usually 40 or 50 kilometers per hour (25 or 31 miles per hour). Few roads have lane markings. Where lane markings, road signs, and/or stoplights do exist, they are widely ignored. Public transportation is unreliable, and is limited after sunset. The most common form of public transport are three-wheeled, open-sided taxis called "tuk-tuks". Automobile taxis are available at the airport, the Friendship Bridge, and major hotels. Tuk-tuks and taxis are frequently in poor states of repair. Tuk-tuk and taxi drivers generally speak little or no English. Inter-city transport is provided by buses, pickups, and trucks, which are also often in poor repair. Lao road traffic regulations require any driver coming upon a road accident to assist in transporting injured persons to a hospital. Emergency telephone numbers in Vientiane are Fire: 190, Police: 191, Ambulance: 195 or (021) 413-720. For additional general information about road safety, including links to foreign government sites, see the Department of State, Bureau of Consular Affairs Home Page at http://travel.state.gov/road_safety.html. For specific information concerning Lao driving permits, vehicle inspection, road tax, and mandatory insurance, contact the Embassy of the Lao People's Democratic Republic, 2222 S St. N.W., Washington, D.C. 20008, tel. 202-332-6416, fax 202-332-4923, Internet home page:http://www.laoembassy.com. AVIATION SAFETY OVERSIGHT: As there is no direct commercial air service by local carriers at present, or economic authority to operate such service, between the U.S. and Laos, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has not assessed Laos' Civil Aviation Authority for compliance with international aviation safety standards. For further information, travelers may contact the Department of Transportation within the U.S. at 1-800-322-7873, or visit the FAA Internet home page at http://www.faa.gov/avr/iasa/. The U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) separately assesses some foreign air carriers for suitability as official providers of air services. For information regarding the DOD policy on specific carriers, travelers may contact the DOD at 1-618-229-4801. In the last few years, Lao Aviation aircraft have crashed in remote mountainous areas of the country, usually due to severe weather conditions. The U.S. Embassy advises that U.S. citizens not fly in the mountainous parts of Laos during bad weather. The U.S. Embassy evaluates official travel by its personnel on a case-by-case basis to limit the risks. RIVER TRAVEL: River travel by speedboat is dangerous and should be avoided, particularly during the dry season. Travel on or across the Mekong River along the Thai border should be avoided at night. Lao militia forces have shot at boats on the Mekong after dark. RELIGIOUS WORKERS: Religious proselytizing or distributing religious material is strictly prohibited. Foreigners caught distributing religious material may be arrested or deported. The government of Laos restricts the import of religious texts and artifacts. While Lao law allows freedom of religion, in practice, the government registers and controls all associations, including religious groups. Meetings, even in private homes, must be registered, and those held outside established locations may be broken up and the participants arrested. RELATIONSHIPS WITH LAO CITIZENS: Foreign citizens intending to marry a Lao national are required by Lao law to obtain prior permission from the Lao government. The formal application process can take as long as a year. U.S. citizens may obtain information about these requirements from the U.S. Embassy in Vientiane. The Lao government will not issue a marriage certificate unless the correct procedures are followed. Any attempt to circumvent Lao regulations governing the marriage of Lao citizens to foreigners may result in arrest, imprisonment, a fine of $500-$5000, and/or deportation. Foreign citizens cohabiting with Lao nationals may be accused by Lao authorities of entering an illegal marriage and be subject to the same penalties. Foreigners are not permitted to invite Lao nationals of the opposite sex to their hotel rooms; police may raid hotel rooms without notice or consent. PHOTOGRAPHY AND OTHER RESTRICTIONS: Taking photographs of anything that could be perceived as being of military or security interest including bridges, airfields, military installations, government buildings or government vehicles, may result in problems with authorities, including detention or arrest and confiscation of the camera and film. Tourists should be cautious when traveling near military bases and strictly observe signs delineating the military base areas. Military personnel have detained and questioned foreigners who innocently passed by unmarked military facilities. CRIMINAL PENALTIES: While in a foreign country, a U.S. citizen is subject to that country's laws and regulations, which sometimes differ significantly from those in the United States and may not afford the protections available to the individual under U.S. law. Penalties for breaking the law can be more severe than in the United States for similar offenses. Persons violating the law, even unknowingly, may be expelled, arrested or imprisoned. Penalties for possession, use or trafficking in illegal drugs in Laos are strict, and convicted offenders can expect long jail sentences and fines. In April 2001, the National Assembly increased the penalty for persons convicted of certain drug crimes to include the death sentence. Local police and immigration authorities sometimes confiscate passports when outstanding business disputes and visa matters remain unsettled. CONSULAR ACCESS: The United States and Laos are both parties to the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations (VCCR). Article 36 of the VCCR provides that, if a U.S. citizen arrestee requests it, foreign
authorities shall, without delay, inform the U.S. Embassy. U.S. consular officers have the right to be notified of a U.S. citizen's detention and to visit the arrestee. Lao authorities do not always notify the U.S. Embassy or grant U.S. consular officers access to incarcerated U.S. citizens in a timely manner. Nevertheless, U.S. citizens who are arrested or detained in Laos should always request contact with the U.S. Embassy. CUSTOMS REGULATIONS: Lao customs authorities may enforce strict regulations concerning temporary importation into or export from Laos of items such as religious materials and artifacts, and antiquities. It is advisable to contact the Embassy of the Lao People's Democratic Republic in Washington for specific information regarding customs requirements. (Please see section on "Religious Workers" above.) FINANCIAL TRANSACTIONS: There are no ATM's in Laos. Credit cards are accepted only at some major hotels and tourist-oriented businesses. Credit card cash advances can be obtained at some banks in Vientiane. Although it is technically illegal to do so, the U.S. dollar and Thai baht are both widely used for larger transactions. U.S. dollars are required by the Lao Government for the payment of some taxes and fees, including visa fees and the airport departure tax. CHILDREN'S ISSUES: For information on international adoption of children and international parental child abduction, please refer to our Internet site at http://travel.state.gov/children's_issues.html or telephone (202) 736-7000. REGISTRATION/EMBASSY LOCATION: U.S. citizens living in or visiting Laos are encouraged to register at the U.S. Embassy where they may obtain updated information on travel and security within the country. The U.S. Embassy is located at Thanon Bartholonie (aka Rue Bartholonie, near Tat Dam), in Vientiane; from the U.S. mail can be addressed to AMEMBASSY Vientiane, Box V, APO AP 96546; telephone (856-21) 212-581, 212-582, 212-585; duty officer's emergency cellular telephone (856-20) 502-016; Consular Section fax number (856-21) 251-624; Embassy-wide fax number (856-21) 512-584;

This replaces the Consular Information Sheet for Laos dated August 3, 2000 to update the sections on Country Description, Entry Requirements, Safety and Security, Crime, Medical Facilities, Traffic Safety and Road Conditions, Aviation Safety Oversight, Religious Workers Marriage to a Lao Citizen, Photography and Other Restrictions, Criminal Penalties, Consular Access, Customs Regulations, and Children's Issues; and to add sections on Dual Nationality, Travel of Foreigners within Laos, River Travel, Relationships with Lao Citizens, and Financial Transactions.

\1 visa and travel guide

Arranging a visa in Europe takes a lot of time. You have to send your passport to the embassy, and they will then send all the information to Laos and wait for the return. After the right documents have returned, it takes one more week. Addresses in Europe are: Am Lessing 6, 5330 Kningswinter 1 GERMANY, tel ..../22321501 Avenue Raymond Poincar 74, 75116 Paris, FRANCE tel ...../45530298

It's easier to arrange your visa in Bangkok. We got ours with express service. That means you'll have to wait 2 hours for 1350 Bht. Without the express service, it's cheaper (about 1000 Bht), and it takes 1 day. The embassy is on Soi St. Louis 3, a side road from THANON SATHON TAI. You can only apply in the morning. Bring 2 ID photos. When crossing the border at the NONG KHAI friendship bridge, it is also possible to get a 28 day visa for the same price. I heard different reports about the length of the visa. At the embassy in Thailand, near the border of NONG KHAI and the border at CHONG MEK you'll get 28 days (always check your entry stamp). I met people who entered Laos in HUAY XAI and only got a visa for 14 days. It is easy to extend your visa in Vientiane, but no more in Luang Prabang (10/99). We also heard that you can get a 28 day visa when at the airport.

Permits Some hotels in Vang Vieng and Luang Prabang say you need a registration stamp from the police office. We never got one, and we never had problems at control posts or at the border.In fact, we once went to the police office to get a stamp, and we were simply sent away.

Getting in and out of the country By air Vientiane has an international airport. Most travellers enter the country overland. There are direct flights from: Bangkok-Vientiane Hanoi-Vientiane Saigon-Vientiane Chiang Mai-Luang Prabang (Angel Air) Kunming-Vientiane Pnom Penh to Pakse and further to Vientiane

For more details on schedules, have a look at this excellent site. International departure tax is 5 US$ (10/99).

Over land Coming from Thailand, there are 5 legal border crossings, crossing the border costs 10Baht: Chong Mek-Pakse Mukdahan-Savannakhet Nakhon Phanom-Tha Khaek Nong Khai-Vientiane Chiang Khong-Huay Xai

If you want to enter Vietnam, you best go to LAO BAO. Make sure this border crossing is in your visa. We met people who wanted to cross in the North near Dien Bien Phu (Vietnam), but they did not succeed. Crossing the border at Nong Khai is pretty straightforward: Get your exit stamp from the Thais Then get on a bus to cross the friendship bridge (10 Bht) Then get your entry stamp from the Lao authorities Then get a ride into town for 20 Bht with a Tuk Tuk

Money matters The national currency is the Kipp, but in a lot of places you can also pay with Bath. When changing money, be aware that the rates change every day. Bank: 1 US$ = 7000 to 7800 Kipp Black market: 1 US$ = 7500 to 8300 Kipp

If you want to change money on the black market, it's best to change in hotels or on the markets. Ask around. Make sure you have new and clean dollar bills; Banks can change TC's. In some banks you can have cash advances with your VISA card, and some hotels and restaurants accept VISA.

Hotels You can easily distinguish 3 types of hotels: 3 or 4 star hotels: you'll only find a couple of them in Vientiane (f.i. Royal Dokmaindeng hotel, Laohotel Plaza....) and some in Luang Prabang (f.i. Villa Santi, Auberge Calao, Phousi hotel...). Prices range between 40 and 300 US$. In other bigger cities you'll find middle class hotels. Sometimes they're the top class in town. Prices go between 20 and 50 US$. You can find budget hotels and guesthouses everywhere for between 1 to 15 US$. They are safe, friendly and clean.

Like in other countries, the price for accommodation in the capital is a bit higher then in the rest of the country. Here are some hotels we stayed in: Vientiane: Vannasinh guesthouse: double with bathroom + fan: 5 US$ pp Siry guesthouse: double + bathroom + AC: 5 US$ pp

Vang Vieng: Kamphone guesthouse: double + bathroom + fan: 10.000 Kipp pp

Luang Prabang: Heritage guesthouse: double + bathroom + fan: 20.000 Kipp pp Chaling guesthouse: double + fan: 14.000 Kipp pp

Nong Khiaw: Philasouk guesthouse: double + bunk bed: 5000 kipp pp

Luang Namta: Darasavath guesthouse: double: 5000 Kipp pp

Udomxai: Si Van Kham guesthouse: double 5000 Kipp pp

Muang Sing: Viengxai guesthouse: double + bathroom: 5000 Kipp pp

Savannakhet: Riverside resort: double + bathroom + fan: 11.000 Kipp pp

Pakse: Vannapha guesthouse: double + bathroom + AC: 20.000 Kipp pp

Safety Until 1994, it was almost impossible to travel by road. Now most of the country is safe to travel. Route nr. 13 as well as the road from Luang Nan than to Udomxai is safe. The only road of which the safety is questionable is the one from Kasi to Phonsavan. The las  attacks from Hmong guerillas date from 1996-1997. The goes for route 6 between Paksan and Phonsavan. Take care when you visit the villages near the Vietnam border. There are still a lot of mortar shells, landmines, munitions, cluster bombs etc... Stay on the roads. Lao people are friendly and honest, so theft is not a real problem for the moment.

Medical matters

Malaria Laos is a C area according to the WHO. This means that Lariam is the drug of choice. It's not so easy to find good info in the medical press on malaria in Laos. the statistics they have are not as good as in Thailand f.i. I did find one article dating from 1992 with as title "The malaria situation and antimalaria program in Laos", but it's not very detailed. Nevertheless, here are some important remarks: The prevalent parasite is Plasmodium falciparum (20 to 75% of the cases), followed by P. Vivax (5 to 25% of the cases). PS: P. Falciparum is the most dangerous). There is widespread resistance to Chloroquine (73% of the cases), almost none to Lariam (only 2,5%) and none to Quinine (0%). The incidence of malaria has been reduced due to a DDT eradication program.

For more info on side effects of Lariam and Doxy, have a look at the "Medical Matters" section of this site.

Hepatitis A If you travel with a backpack and don't mind eating in cheap restaurants, it's easy to catch Hepatitis A. Chances of getting infected range from 1/300 to 1/50 per month depending on your standard of travelling. It's not dangerous, but you will be sick for some weeks. There is a good vaccination for Hepatitis A nowadays, so ask your doctor. You need 2 shots (used to be 3 shots) at 0 and 6 months, although if you can it's even better to postpone the second shot till after 12 months. They are expensive, but they protect you for 10 years.

Hepatitis B You can only get this through sex and blood transfusion. Since prevalence of Hepatitis B is much higher in SE Asia then in the Western world, it might be wise to get vaccinated. Get your shots at 0, 1 and 6 months. They are equally expensive as hepatitis A.

Typhoid fever There is also a good vaccination consisting of 3 pills to be taken every 2 days. Take them early enough before you leave since it's better not to combine them with malaria pills, although these guidelines have recently changed (meaning you can combine them). The vaccination works for 3 years.

Travellers diarrhea We always have antibiotics at hand in case of diarrhea. We take Ciproxine 250 mg two tablets at once and then another 3 tablets, one tablet every 12 hours.

Domestic boat trips The rivers used to be the traditional highways of the country. However, with roads being increasingly built, less people are using them nowadays. For tourists, the most famous river trips are: Huay Xai (Thai border) to Luang Prabang: You have the choice between the fast and the slow boat, have a look at the Luang Prabang section for details. Muang Sing to Luang Prabang: see Muang Sing chapter for details Pakse to Si Phan Don: see Pakse getting out Luang Nam Tha to Huay Xai: not frequent anymore, see Luang Nam Tha "getting out".

If river travelling is your thing, you'll find a boat in every river town. Prices are OK once you get off the beaten track. There are also some rivertaxis for small trips.

Buses and pick ups For long distance trips, you have 3 options: From Vientiane to the North till Luang Prabang, they have some Japanese buses. They are quite new, with 2 + 2 seats, but they put extra people in the middle, so they get VERY crowded. On your way to Savannakhet, you'll find some older buses. Once the road gets bad, you'll get old wooden buses, open air, with hard benches. Don't forget your jacket if you ride on one of these. The most frequent means of transportation are pick up trucks. They have hard benches on each side. In the middle they put all kinds of luggage. A pick up is NEVER full, an the classical trip takes between 6 and 9 hours, so it's very tiring. Nevertheless, it's also an adventure and the ideal way to meet locals. Don't forget your sweater and jacket because it can get cold in the mountains.

Prices are sometimes very strange: sometimes you even pay more for an old bus then for a new Japanese bus; This is the road situation at the moment (10/99): Vientiane-LP: good and safe road (nr 13) LP - Pak bang: quite good (nr 13) Pakbeng - Luang Nam Tha: BAD road (nr 1) Pakbeng - Muang Sing - further: BAD road (nr 1 and 6) Luang Nam Tha - Huay Xai: very bad road (nr 13), only open in dry season Vientiane-Savannakhet-Pakse-Si Phan Don: bad road, only sand for the moment, but construction is going on (nr. 13) Savannakhet - Vietnam: bad road

DUE TO BAD ROADS AND POOR TRANSPORTATION TRAVELLING IN LAOS TAKES TIME AND EFFORT, take this into account when making your plans.

Renting a bike This is a great way to visit some villages. Nice trips are the one around Muang Sing to visit the surrounding villages, or around Vang Vieng to visit the caves. If you want to travel through Laos by bike, it's definitely a good way to see the country. In Luang Prabang, we heard that they were not allowed anymore to rent bikes to tourists. We rented one at the Phounsab guesthouse without problems though.

Tuk Tuk You'll find Tuk Tuks in most cities. Sometimes they are very small, sometimes they are small cars. A 2 to 5 km trip will cost something between 1000 and 5000 Kipp (10/99) They can carry up to 8 people.

Taxi In Vientiane and LP, you'll find some taxis, mostly used by business men.

To the West/Thai border by boat Most people use the boat when coming from the border town (with Thailand) Huay Xai, so these boats also make the opposite trip. There are 2 types of boats doing this trip: Slow boat: From Huay Xai to Pakbeng takes 1 day and costs 240 Bht, and further on to Luang Prabang is another day for 200 Bht. It's also possible to take a slow boat 1 day and a fast boat the other day.

Fast boat: Huay Xai to Pak Beng takes 3 hours and costs 420 Bht, and further on to Luang Prabang is another 3 hours, also 420 Bht. You can thus reach LP from the Thai border in 1 day, but expect a rough, hard day trip.

There's been a lot of talking about the safety of these boat, but latest reports are that they're pretty safe now. You now get helmets on the fast boats.

TTo the North By boat Most people travel to the north by road now, but it's still possible to charter a boat to Nong Khiaw for about 50.000 Kipp pp. Ask around at the pier.After Nong Khiaw, you can change boats and still travel further on North to Phongsali.

By plane It's possible to fly north to Udomxai, but I don't have prices on that.

By bus There are pick ups opposite the airport (the map of the Lonely Planet is wrong here). You can find transportation to: Pakmong: 5000 Kipp pp +/- 3 1/2 hours, this is the end of the good road. Udomxai: 15.000 Kipp pp, 9 hours, very bad road. Nong Khaiw: 9.000 Kipp pp, 6 to 8 hours, the road becomes pretty rough once you're off road 13.

To the West - Plain of Jars We didn't do it ourselves, so this is second hand info. The road is still considered a bit dangerous. Most people fly to Phonsavan or try the alternative way through Nong Khiaw.

y bus From Nong Khiaw, it's possible to go to the plain of Jars (Phonsavan). Ask the owner of the Philasouk guesthouse to put you in the right pick up truck. It'll be a rough ride taking 2 days from Nong Khiaw to Hua Muang, further to Muang Kham and Phonsavan. In the morning, there are pick ups in front of the Philasouk guesthouse going to Pakbeng (and further to LP), Udomxai, Luang Nam Tha (10 hours, difficult road, 14.000 Kipp pp).

Go to Luang Nam / Udomxai

Introduction If you're coming from Nong Khiaw or Luang Prabang, you'll probably end up in one of these villages on your way to Muang Sing or further north to Phongsali. The road to these villages is very bad.

Udomxai There's nothing special about this village. It looks more Chinese. you'll find some minorities here near the market (Hmong and tribal Thai). We stayed at the Si Van Kham guesthouse for 5000 Kipp pp. It's a little run down but still OK. Toilets are dirty, restaurant was closed; Another place is the Phouxai hotel. It looks like a Chinese prison. Rooms are humid and run down and go for 10.000 Kipp pp. For dinner or breakfast the Seng Souk restaurant on the main road is good. Expect to pay around 15.000 Kipp pp for dinner. At the busstation there are some good and cheap noodle shops. You'll find the busstation right across the river. From here there are buses to: Pakbeng-LP: 15.000 Kipp pp, at least 9 hours, very tough road. To Luang Nam Tha: around 3 to 4 hours, very bad road. 14.000 Kipp pp.

Luang Nam Tha This is a jumping off point for Muang Sing. If you have time to kill, you can walk to neighbouring villages, but otherwise there's nothing special. A good guesthouse is the Darasavath near the busstation. They've built nice wooden cabins for 5.000 Kipp pp. The restaurant is very good. The friendly female owner speaks very good English and can give all kinds of info. There are several buses to Muang Sing. It takes 2 hours on a very bad road, price 8000 Kipp pp. It's also possible to go to the Thai border at Huay Xai. By bus it's only possible in dry season, but the road is very very very bad, and the trip takes 8 to 14 hours on an old Russian bus. Price is 15.000 Kipp. We heard that the boat trip is quite beautiful although expensive at 50.000 Kipp pp. The owner of Darasavath guesthouse can give info on this.

Go to Muang Sing

Introduction Muang Sing is a pleasant village not far from the Chinese border with many traditional people in and around the village: Akha, Hmong, Thai Dam, Lii... Muang Sing is also a good place to do hiking trips to those villages. You can go on a trekking from 1 to 7 days. In this area, there's a lot of opium production.

Accommodation During the last year, a lot of new guesthouses have opened their doors, most of them charging a bit the same price. We stayed at the Viengxai guesthouse for 5000 Kipp pp. The room was clean with bathroom and mosquitonet. There was a terrace on the roof. We heard the same reports about Singthon guesthouse and Vieng Phon guesthouse. Just walk down the road and you'll find plenty of similar guesthouses. If you walk across the river out of town (direction China), you'll find after 1 km a guesthouse built in chalet style. They are very nice with own bathroom, nice view and they charge 8000 Kipp pp. Adima guesthouse is still further away (5 km). They have beautiful lodges, nice views, private bathroom and good hiking for only 15.000 Kipp pp. There's a bus in the morning from the Viengxai guesthouse to the Adima.

Restaurants The food in Viengxai guesthouse is very good. Traditional and Western dishes with Chinese beer go for about 10.000 Kipp pp. They also have good breakfasts. Most of the other restaurants also have a little restaurant. There's a market in the center of town where you can buy some food. At night some locals make very good waffles.

What to do There's an exhibition on the hilltribes in the German community center.

Trekkings You can go on a trekking for a couple of days and visit the surrounding hill tribes. There are several guides in town. You can find one opposite the Viengxai guesthouse. They charge 10 US$ a day which is very expensive given the fact that the normal monthly wage in Laos is 25 US$. On top of that, you have to take care of your own food and water. A nice trip is the one to the Adima guesthouse. This is a wonderful place. They give maps and tips about the area, and they have a small guide with walking routes to the nearby villages. You find a copy of this booklet here. To get there, you can rent a bike in Muang Sing (4000 Kipp pp) and take the road to China. After 5 to 6 km, you'll see a sign on your right to Adima. Cross the river and leave your bikes in the guesthouse. Walks go from 4 to 8 hours. You can also buy handicrafts there.

Getting out To Luang Nan Tha There are pick ups to Luang Nan Tha twice daily for around 8000 Kipp pp on a very bad road. One also goes to Udomxai for around 15.000 Kipp pp. We couldn't find this one, so we had to make a stop first in Luang Nan Tha first and then take the connection to Udomxai.

To Xieng Kok (border with Myanmar) I also wrote the Myanmar chapter of this site. Until now, I never heard from someone crossing the border into Myanmar here without flying. However, there are some stories that some travellers crossed this border and have gotten a visa for 28 days (if you have done it, please contact me). Remember that this is an opium smuggling area in both directions. Once you have crossed the border, you don't have a permit for that area. There is no connecting road, so it'll take you quite a while to reach Keng Tung (Myanmar). Beware of police and army checks. So if you want to go to Myanmar safely, I advise to go to Chiang Mai and take a plane to Bagan from there.

Go to Pakse

Introduction Pakse looks more chaotic then Savannakhet. It's much more alive, with a big market in the center. Pakse is the starting point to: Bolaven plateau - Tadlo resort Wat Phu Champasak Si Phan Don (4000 islands) Border crossing to Thailand at Chong Mek

Accommodation We stayed at the Vannapha guesthouse. They have nice bungalows with bathroom and even AC for 20.000 Kipp pp.They also have cheaper rooms, but they are easily sold out, also to locals, for about 10.000 Kipp pp. There's also a small snack shop where you can get breakfast or some drinks. You can also make reservations for a cheap guesthouse at Si Phan Don Islands. The Suksalam hotel is a multistory building with 24 rooms for about 40.000 Kipp pp. They also change money. We heard from people staying at the Phonsavanh hotel for 10.000 Kipp pp, but the owner is not friendly.

Restaurants The central market is very good for self catering. You'll find fresh bread, fruits etc... There are some noodle shops around the market, but somehow they were the least attractive of whole Laos. Sedone restaurant looks one of the best places to eat, but the food wasn't that good. It was fat and salty costing about 10.000 Kipp pp. Another restaurant you could try is the Xuan Mai restaurant, but the food was not much different from the Sedone.

What to do Boat races We were also here during the boat races. The whole town was one big party, with live concerts etc... Big fun. For the rest there's not that much to do.

Champasak You'll find a truck near the station on the east side of town. The bus takes about 1 hour and costs 5000 Kipp pp. You get to Ban Muang, take the river crossing to Champasak. It's a nice beautiful town with some restaurants and guesthouses. You can take a tuk tuk to Wat Phu Champasak for about 5000 Kipp pp. It's around 8 km from the town. you can also rent a bike, but the ride is very hot. Entrance is 2000 Kipp pp. It's a beautiful Khmer temple. It's pre-Angkor, not so big as his Siem Reap brother, but it has a lot of atmosphere. It dates from the 6th to the 8th century. The archeological site is divided into 3 main levels. You need at least 2 to 3 hours to walk around. On arrival at Champasak town, ask when there's a boat or bus back to Pakse. We were stuck there, and at the end we had to take a Tuk Tuk back to Pakse (10.000 Kipp pp).If you take a boat back to Pakse, it stops at the Champasak side of the river, not at Ban Muang (we were on the wrong side of the river).

Getting out To Thailand This is the last official entry border to Thailand. Take the ferry from Pakse across the Mekong for 1000 Kipp pp. on the other side, it's again 30 min to the border at Chong Mek with a pick up for about 3.000 kipp pp. There are no problems when crossing the border.

To Savannakhet The busstation is North of town, take a Tuk Tuk for 2000 Kipp pp. The trip to Savannakhet takes 6 hours and costs 16.000 Kipp pp. Don't take the bus to Vientiane, it's too long.

To Si Pan Dong By bus At the Eastern busstation, you'll find buses to Si Pan Dong.

By boat Since there's a road, there are only few ferries doing this trip. It takes 8 hours and they charge 20.000 to 30.000 kipp pp.

To Bolaven Take a bus at the Eastern busstation going to Salavan. Get off on the way, near the Tadlo resort.

Go to Savannakhet

Introduction

You can find French colonial buildings. We stayed here during the boat race festival with a nice colourful boat racing competition. Savannakhet is one of the best cities to go and see some remains of the Ho Chi Minh trail. If you want to continue into Vietnam, this is one of the legal border crossings.

Accommodation

We stayed at the Riverside resort. It's a bungalow style hotel just out of town. To get there, go South, pass the hospital and walk about 1,5 km further on the dirt road. We payed 11.000 Kipp pp for a double + bathroom + fan. It was clean and quiet. They have an outdoor restaurant, but it's not too good. The walk back to the center of town takes about 15 minutes. There aren't many other hotels in town. The Savanabanhao hotel is where many NGO worker stay. it's more upmarket, expect to pay 30.000 Kipp pp.

What to do

Well...... in fact there's not much to do. It(s a quiet colonial city near the Mekong. You can have a city walk and see the French colonial houses. Some of them are ruins now. We were there during the October boat festival. The city had changed into a fair with food stalls, games etc. The boat races were held between different teams, and there were all kinds of entertainment. If you can catch a bus to Sepon, you can visit the Ho Chi Minh trail. This is a complex network of dirt paths and gravel roads used during the Indochina and Vietnam war to supply the Viet Cong. In the surrounding villages, you can still find a lot of war junk (tanks, bombs...). Savannakhet is also a good place for a rest before you go on to Vietnam.

Restaurants

The restaurant at the Riverside resort is not recommended. The Haan Aahaan Lao Paris restaurant near the river is good. Vietnamese, Lao and Western dishes for 15.000 Kipp pp. At the center of town, you can find some noodle shops and places for self catering.

Getting out

The busstation is North of town, a Tuk Tuk to get there costs 3000 Kipp pp. There are direct buses to Vientiane at least twice daily. The trip takes about 8 to 9 hours on a dirt road. There are now doing construction on this road, but for now it's still a very sandy road (10/99). To Pakse it's 6 hours on a dirt road, price is 16.000 kipp pp. To Vietnam, there is 1 bus a day continuing to Hue or Dong Hoi. If you come from Laos, make sure your visa says "crossing at Lao Boa", otherwise you will be sent back. There's a Vietnamese consulate at Savannakhet. To Thailand, you simply get your exit stamp at the customs building, take the ferry to Mukdahan (Thailand).

Go to Other places

is second hand info provided by other travellers

Si Phan Don Beautiful islands in the Mekong River. A nice place to relax and enjoy the sunset. Souksun bungalows are clean and set in peaceful surroundings. They charge 15.000 Kipp for a double. Dorm beds are available for 5000 pp. They have a Chinese food restaurant, and rent bicycles for 2000 Kipp a day. They also organise trips. A bus to Si Phan Don - Pakse costs 20.000 Kipp pp, a boat is a bit more.

Bolaven-Tadlo The Tadlo resort is quite expensive (150.000 Kipp for a double). It's on the Bolaven plateau set in beautiful jungle with waterfalls etc... They have a lot of tour groups and organise elephant trips. A cheaper alternative is the Saise guesthouse at 8000 Kipp pp. Their restaurant is expensive. There's a bus running between Pakse and Salavan. Get off at Ban Saen Wang Nyai, froml there it's a 1,5 km walk.

Web sites: pata.org yahoo.com city.net netspace.net.au thaiair.com

Thai to build a 1400 km RR linking China to Nong Khai, if all goes well.

Rd, Rte Coloniale 13 built by the French in the south along the Mekong is the best. It has recently been repaved from Vientiane/Luang Prabang. Another road will soon connect to China before the RR.

Major air hub is VTE from which all flts begin/end. All fares quoted and paid for in US$. No ccd except thru Tvl agt. As of 1/95 Lao Aviation is 60% owned by China Yunnan Airlines using chines copies of Russan a/c. It has a fleet of 10 a/c. Most flts are visual. Fly on a good day.

Time: Seven hrs ahead of GMT/UTC. Overstaying visa costs $5+ a day.

Laos Unplugged: Living Life in the Slow Lane By DAVID ATKINSON MAY 22, 2000 VOL. 155 NO. 20

Laos seems like a long shot to become Southeast Asia's next big thing. The food doesn't win any prizes, the roads are severely potholed by frequent flooding and locals regard the prospect of increased tourism with a sunny indifference that exceeds even Mediterranean proportions. The countryside remains ravaged by the hundreds of millions of bombs dropped during what its Vietnamese neighbors call "the American war." But while the big time is a long way off, the little things make Laos a great place to visit. It has a freshness--the first tourists didn't visit until 1989--and a devoutly Buddhist population that give the country a quiet feel unlike anywhere else in the region. There is no hard sell and few streetside entrepreneurs hustling handicrafts or guided tours. The sparse population also helps keep the noise down: only 5 million people fill a country the size of Britain--roughly 20 citizens per square kilometer.

Last year's "Visit Laos" promotion was the socialist government's first attempt to attract foreign tourists and investors. With a per-capita income of only $300--making it the poorest Asian nation--the country desperately needs money. Now tourists can receive visas on arrival for $30 at Vientiane's Wattay International airport and at the Mittaphab Friendship Bridge, which crosses the Mekong in northeastern Thailand. Infrastructure has improved dramatically. The bus from the capital of Vientiane to the temple-strewn town of Luang Prabang used to be a two-day, butt-busting ordeal on bandit-infested roads. Today the journey can be made in eight hours of air-conditioned splendor.

Vientiane combines the faded colonial charm of cities like Hanoi and Havana with a dusty, frontier feel (leavened by the French patisseries). A peaceful riverside city with a few shops, banks and restaurants cut into the Mekong delta, it lacks the monuments and museums of most capitals. A solitary, though charming, illuminated fountain is its only focal point. Of the numerous lavishly decorated temples around the city, Pha That Luang (open Tuesday to Sunday, 8-11:30 a.m., 2-4:30 p.m.; admission 10) is the most elaborate. More than 500 kg of gold coat its four-sided tower. Known as the Great Sacred Stupa, this fine example of Khmer design was built in 1566 and plays host every November to the That Luang full-moon festival, when hundreds of orange-robed monks form a procession at dawn around the temple. Pha That Luang is located at the far end of Thanon That Luang, five minutes by tuk-tuk from the colorful Talaat Sao morning market, which remains open all day.

In the southern Sisattanak district is Wat Sok Pa Luang, a woodland temple famous less for its spiritual significance than for its superbly rustic herbal sauna. A small donation gains access to the sweaty inferno, usually followed by tea and a vigorous Thai-style massage. The monks advise you not to shower for 12 hours afterward in order to let the herbs do their work. The herbal treatment is said to purify body and soul.

A few days of temple-hopping and evening strolls along the banks of the Mekong usually exhausts Vientiane's humble offerings, so many visitors move on to explore the capital's environs. For a more rural experience, head to Lao Pako, an eco-resort on the banks of the Nam Ngum river that has been run since 1995 by an Austrian owner. The lodge was constructed completely from local materials and uses solar power to provide electricity to the bamboo huts. A variety of nature trails and river-rafting trips provide an outlet for those who feel the need to do something. But most visitors fall into step with Laos' rhythm and are satisfied to sit on the large veranda watching the sunset. Lao Pako is located 50 km from Vientiane. You can take one of three daily buses for 20, but your best bet is to catch a taxi ($4) to Som Sa Mai village, then hop on a motor launch ($4) for the languid 25-minute trip upriver to the resort. Visit the country now. Laos may not be Indochina's reclusive cousin for much longer.

Travelling in and around Thailand Where to travel Travelling in Thailand Test your travel IQ Conquering The fear Looking for Joeseph Getting in to Spirit(s) Meet Mrs. Banyen Riding The Rails Riding The Rails part two Crusing the Chao Pharaya Spend a night Thailand Architectural Around the world in a jeep Yachting comes to southeast asia Yachting comes to southeast asia 2 A New Millennium in the jungle A New Millennium in the jungle 2 Conversation with a jungl man Witness to a crucifixion Witness to a crucifixionpart 2 Disappearance of Jim Thomson Disappearance of Jim Thomson part2 Disappearance of Jim Thomson part3 Disappearance of Jim Thomson part4 Will the real miss thailand Dine with the Natives Dine with the Natives 2 Cave exploring at its best Cave exploring at its best part2 Bangkok's Riverside Hotels Anything you want at Bkk On the trail of Wild Rhino On the trail of Wild Rhino Part 2 The Theo Meier Myth Getting around without.. Who doesn't love a Coconut Bangkok to Singapore Bangkok to Singapore2 chiangmai is a wall The Mysterious orient Part 1 The Mysterious orient Part 2 The Mysterious orient Part 3 The Mysterious orient Part 4 Look for a festival this fall before your travel Biking in Thailand Part 1 Biking in Thailand Part 2 Neighborimg Laos Crusing the Andaman sea Questions Answered Southern Thailand

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TRAVELLING IN AND AROUND THAILAND NEIGHBORING LAOS A COUNTRY RICH IN HISTORY AND RUINS
 Laos first opened its doors to tourism in February 1989, but visitors were prohibited to venture outside Vientiane, the capital, without a travel pass which wasn't always easy to obtain. Nevertheless, visitors roamed the country anyway. In August that same year the Laotian Ministry of Interior didn't like all this wandering about and staged a crackdown. The government has since eased up, provided tourists fly to their destinations. Six destinations are open to travellers. The most popular after Vientiane is Luang Prabang to the north, where three major tributaries flow into the Mekong River--the Nam Khan, the Nam Ou and the Nam Seuang. The first Lao kingdom was consolidated in Luang Prabang in 1353, and it wasn't until 1545 that the seat of government was moved to Vientiane. When Laos became a French protectorate in the early 20th century, they allowed the Luang Prabang monarchy to remain. It wasn't until the Pathet Lao took over in 1975 that the monarchy was finally dissolved. The last vestiges of the Lao monarchy are seen in the building that know houses the National Museum. The palace was originally constructed by the side of the Mekong in 1904 as a residence for King Sisavang Vong and his family. Today, Luang Prabang is a sleepy town of 20,000 inhabitants where not much goes on. The mornings are cool and refreshing (the nights can be downright cold), making this the best time to stroll through the streets. The whole town, in fact, can be seen on foot in a day or two. The streets, much like those of Vientiane, are lined with old French colonial buildings that were once private residences. The town itself sits at the confluence of the Mekong and the Nam Khan rivers, with most of the historical temples located on the peninsula formed by these two rivers. Many visitors to Luang Prabang travel there just to visit the Pak Ou Caves, about 30 km away by boat on the Mekong River, at the mouth of the Nam Ou. The attraction here are the two caves in the lower part of the limestone cliff which are jammed full with Buddha images of all styles and shapes. The lower caves, I found, were the most impressive if not a bit eerie. You will need a flashlight if you want to see them. The second destination in the north that one shouldn't miss is Phonsawan, not for the town but what lies beyond it--the mysterious Plain of Jars. Phonsawan is the new capital of Xieng Khwang Province. There's not much to see--an airfield, a semi-paved main street lined with tin-roofed shops, a market and a few government buildings. But 20 km outside of Phonsawan is the Plain of Jars, one of the great mysteries of Southeast Asia. In this undeveloped area of grassy fields and open plains are huge jars of unknown origin. They are no ordinary jars of the home decoration variety; they weigh anywhere from 600 kg to a ton or more each, though the biggest of them weighs as much as six tons. They are all made of stone. How they got there is anyone's guess. Even the experts are not certain. Some say they were used for fermenting wine, and others believe in times past they were used for storing rice. Legend has another story to tell. To celebrate the victory of a local hero who drove out a wicked king, the people cast the jars from a type of cement that was made from buffalo skin, sand, water and sugar cane, and fired these in a nearby cave. Although an uncertain number of jars have been carried off, there are hundreds of others left to be seen. My favourite destination in Laos is in the south. Fortunately three of these southern destinations have been opened to tourism since late 1989. These are Savannakhet, Salavan and Champasak. Savannakhet, with its provincial capital at Muang Khanthabuli, is just across the border from Thailand but for non-Thais it is not a border crossing. The attraction here is a 16th-century stupa. Salavan Province is interesting for two reasons. Hilltribe people live in villages on the Boloven Plain, villages that are arranged in circles. They are unlike the hilltribe people of the north. The second attraction is the yearly festival in which water buffaloes are sacrificed in the middle of the village circles. It's a festival seen nowhere else in Southeast Asia. Finally there's Champasak, one of Southeast Asia's most important historical sites. The attractions here are the ruins, miles of ruins, and again some very mysterious stones. Between the 10th and 13th centuries AD, southern Laos was part of the great Cambodian Angkor Empire. Pak Se, founded by the French as an administrative outpost in 1905, is today the capital of the province. It is a relatively new town at the confluence of the Mekong and the Se Don rivers. The only thing of interest in the town is the market place. Lao Tourism accommodation is a very pleasant and comfortable restored French colonial villa with high ceilings and wide verandahs.

It is located a short way out of town. Pak Se is also the gateway to the Angkor temple ruins of Wat Phu. When I first went to Pak Se in the mid-1960s, French archaeologists were excavating parts of the ruins. According to them, Wat Phu was only one of what could be a half dozen others still lost and buried in the jungles. After spending a lifetime of seeking out temples and lost ruins in Southeast Asia, from those in Thailand and Cambodia to Borobudur in Java, I find the most appealing ruins are those that have not been completely rebuilt.

How astounding it is to be walking through the ruins at Angkor Wat, and to look up and see in a death-like grip of a banyan tree the stone head of a long forgotten Khmer king smiling down at you. The jungle in the slow process of reclaiming its right adds to the attraction of such ruins rather than takes away from it.

Wat Phu is on the lower slopes of Phu Pasak, which historians believe was sacred to the pre-Angkor kingdom of Chen La in the 6th cen. The site is divided into lower and upper parts which are joined by a stairway. In the hills above Wat Phu is a rock that is as fascinating as the Plain of Jars. Carved deep into the rock is the shape of a human being with outstretched arms and legs, and superimposed over this is the form of a crocodile.

It is believed to be the site of Chen La (6th cen) human sacrifices. All about are stone steps covered with moss. Trailing vines hang from huge ghostly banyan trees. The whole area has an unnerving atmosphere. Lao Tourism in Vientiane will help you plan your travel once you are in the country. It's a good idea to take your own map, as there are few handouts and information pamphlets in the tourist offices. But the Laotians are helpful, and that's all that counts. And they do have a beautiful country.*

Harold Stephens, booking@inet.co.th www.wolfenden.com In his latest book, Return to Adventure SE Asia, Stephens takes readers deep into Laos.)

Xieng Khouang province is situated in north central Laos, a province of green montains and karst limestone. Much of the province was heavily bombed during the Vietnam war and old war scrap is used in building houses throughout the province. It consists of 6 districts: Muang Khoune, Muang Phonsavanh, Muang Nong Hai, Muang Kham, Muang Mork, and Muang Phou Koud. The former chief-city was Muang Phouane, now called Muang Khoune. After the liberation, the Lao govt settled the chief-city of the prov in Muang Phonsavanh.

The capital of Xieng Khouang is Phonsavan. Situated at an altitude of 1,200m is an excellent climate. Decmber and January can be chilly so bring a light jacket or fleece for cool evenings and mornings.

Muang Phouane was the main old town of Xieng Khouang province with its historical sites such as the Siphom temple, Phia Vat temple, That Chom Phet temple. According to legends, these temples were built 250 years before the establishment of the Lane Xang kingdom. It is a province that holds great importance in Lao history for the war waged against foreign imperialism and was the stronghold of revolutionary forces.

The hundred of giants jars of Xieng Khouang are carved out of solid hunks of rock from the mountains surrounding the valley. The stone jars of all sizes strew all over the plateau make an awesome sight. Thus scientist have dubbed it "Plain of Jars". The biggest jar is 3.25m high. The ancient jars, which according to the Lao history were made during Khun Chuang's time to store wine for the celebration of his conquest of Pakhanh City (Xieng Khouan). And some researchers claimed that they were made to store dead human bodies as was the practice of ancient believers. This conclusion derived from the fact that human bones along with daily utensils and omaments made of clay and metal were discovered in the area. According to many researchers, these jars are between 2500 to 3000 years old. It is believed that they were made by stone age men who lived in this part of Laos then.

The Hot Springs, approximately 52 km north of Muang Phonsavanh, are located in Muang Kham district, another area of historic significance. The water reaches a temperatures of 60 degrees Celsius.

Phongsali province the most remote in northern Laos is surrounded on three sides by China and Vietnam. The Phu Den Din National Biodiversity Conservation Area along the Vietnamese border with mountains as high as 1950m with over 70% forest cover is home to the asiatic black bear, bantang, clouded leopard, elephant, guar and tiger. The capital Phongsali, can be reached from Muang Xai with buses leaving once a day. Phongsali has a year round cool climate with temperatures as low as 5 degrees Celcius at night. Rain can be heavy - bring a jacket and warm clothes.

Travelling tough in northern Laos Muang Khoa is a small town situated on the junction of Route 4 and the Nam Ou river. The journey to Muang Khoa along route 4 from Udomxai takes about four hours. It is possible to travel up river to Phongsali from here, or down to Luang Prabang.

Sayabouri province on the NW is near Vientiane, but being quite mountainous is quite remote. The province houses the Nam Phoun National Biodiversity Conservation Area which is 1150 sq km of forested hills that contain Asiatic black bear, dhole, elephant, guar, gibbon, Malayan sun bear and Sumatran rhino. The province shares its borders with six Thai provinces.

The capital of the province, Sayabouri is on the banks of the Nam Hung, a tributary of the Mekong.

The southern part of the province has many scenic waterfalls, but getting around this part of the province is very difficult.

Houa Phan province is situated in the northeast of Laos and was the base of the Lao People's Revolutionary Army activities. There are over 100 caves in the Vieng Xai district of Houa Phanh many of which were used as hideouts and bunkers during the Indochina war.

Lao Aviation has daily flts from Xam Neua to Vientiane and several other towns.

The most famous caves in the area are: Tham Than Souphanouvong: formerly known as Tham Phapount. In 1964, Prince Souphanouvong set up his residence in this cave. Tham Than Kaysone: formerly known as Tham Yonesong, was established for the residence of Mr. Kaysone Phomvihane. Tham Than Khamtay: was the residence of Mr. Khamtay Siphandone, consisting of many area, such as a meeting room, reception room and research room.

Other attractions include Keo Nong Vay Temple located in Xam Neua district.

Hot springs in Xam Tay district are located about 154 km away from Xam Neua the waters reach a temperature of around 40 degrees Celcius. Xam Tay waterfall is located Xam Tay district.

Saleu and Nasala villages, well known for their weaving activities, located in Xieng Kor district on the road No: 6 to Xieng Khouang province 125 km away from Xam Neua.

Oudomxai in NW Laos. This mountainous province has 23 ethnic groups each with it own distinct culture, religion, language and colourful style of dress. The provincial capital , Muang Xay lies between two strings of Hmong villages. Lao Aviation flies to Oudomxai from Vientiane and several other towns.

Oudomxai can be reached overland from Luang Prabang. Oudomxay is also accessible from Bokeo and Luang Namtha Provinces. Oudomxay is an ideal base for excursions and trekking to varied sights and attractions as well as destination in its own right. Muang Xai, has one of the best produce markets in the area. Near Muang Xai, there is a waterfall, Lak Sip  Et ( located at km No 11) and hot springs near Muang La.

\2 Provinces guide

Borikhamsay Province
 Vat Phrabat Borikhamsay province is located in central Laos in the narrow "neck" with moderately high mountains sloping wousth west into the Mekong River valley. To its north lie Vientiane and Xieng Khouang provinces, and Khammouan to its south. Paksan, the capital town is a commercial center located opposite to the Thai twon of Beung Kam. The province has a total population of around 28000, comprising mostly of lowland Lao groups such as tribal Thai, Phuan, Tri and Hmong.

80 km from the city of Vientiane, on the way to Paksan, in Borikhamsay is a town called Phra Baat Phonsan. With a large Phra Baat (footprint of Buddha) shrine, it is an important pilgrimage site.

Champassack Province
 is one of the main political, cultural and economic centers of Southern Laos. It is a province where there are historic sites in Pre Angokorian style of the period of Lan Xang (1353-1779). Champassack was a rich cultural center like many other provinces. It still keeps the typical style of an abundant culture. The capital of Champassack is Pakse. The province is located at the confluence of the Mekong and Xe Don rivers.

Khammouane province
 is situated in the central part of the Laos with an area of moderately high moutains sloping down to the Mekong valley. Fertile land here is well suited to plantation of rice, cabbage, sugar cane, bananas etc. A total population of 258000 is made up of lowland Lao groups: Phuan, Tahoy, Kri, Maling and also Hmong.
Thakhaek is the provincial capital and is well-know to day-tripping Thais from Nakhon Phanom, just across the Mekong. It also has well-preserved French colonial architecture similar to that found in Vientiane.
At about eight kilometers to the south of the town is the That Sikhotabong or Sikhotabong Stupa, constructed around the nineth to tenth century by King Nanthasen.
Striking limestone formations in the vicinity, especially those along the Sebangfai River near Mahasay town are worth seeing.
Thakhaek is accessible by Lao Aviation flights every Friday from Vientiane. By road, it is about 354 km, and from Savannakhet to Thakhek is about 137km.

Luang Namtha province
 is located in the northwest of Laos, bordered by Myanmar in the northwest, China to the north, Oudomsay province to the southeast, and Bokeo province to the sourthwest.
39 ethnic groups make up the population of 125000, each groups having its own dialect, culture and lifestyle, but coexisting peacefully -- areflection of traditional solidarity.
This province has a picturesque beauty with moutains, and many old temples. Although many temples have been destroyed during the war, there is still remaining one major attraction: an old temple noticeably different from other classic temples. The road twists and turns alongside the Nam Luan river, through beautiful vistas of wild countryside. A clearing in the vegetation presents a view of a characteristic village on the slope opposite, belonging to Thai Luan ethnic group.
The village of Muang Sing is centered around a large market, where a lively weekly market takes place every Sunday. Being near the Chinese border, this market is an important goods-exchange point for border inhabitants of both sides, and hill people frequent it regularly.

Luang Prabang Province
 Luang Prabang is the ancient capital city of the Lan Xang Kingdom. According to the Luang Prabang legend, the first name of Luang Parabang was Muang Swa, named after King Khun Xua around the eighth century, later known as Xieng Dong and Xieng Thong. During the reign of King Fa Ngum between 1354 and 1372 A.D., Xieng Dong, and Xieng Thong cities were renamed Luang Prabang in the name of the gold image of Buddha, the Phrabang. Luang Prabang was the capital of the Lane xang kingdom from 1354 A.D. The capital was then transfered to Vientiane city in 1560 A.D. Luang Prabang is rich in cultural heritage, known as the seat of Lao culture, with monasteries, monuments traditional costumes and surrounded by many types of nature's beauty. Luang Prabang province has a total population of 365000.

The National Museum, formerly the Royal Palace. Constructed as a palace between 1904 and 1909 A.D., during the reign of King Sisavangvong, now turned into a National Museum, it houses the Royal throne of Lan Xang kingdom in its original splendour, and many other regalia and religious treasures. It is located on the bank of the Mekong River, facing Mount Phusi.

Odomxay Province
 This mountainous northern province is wedged between Luang Prabang in the east, Phongsali in the northeast, Sayaboury in the South and China sharing a small northern borders. Most of Odomxay's provincial population of 283000 is a mixtures of 23 ethnic groups such as Hmong, Iko, Khamu, Lamet, and Thaidam.

The capital, Muang Say, lies between two strings of Hmong villages where the hill people have settle. Eleven kilometers east of the town is a pretty waterfall, the Lak-Sip-Et falls. A traditional salt-extraction cooperative and a hot spring can be visited at Ban Luang La.

Saravan Province
 Saravane province, a southeastern province situated on the bolovens plateau is devoted to agriculture and nature offering idyllic scenery. A prehistoric site exists not far from the cascades where a wonderful scene can be seen. Within a cavern, seven huge stones caskets are pilled one on top of the other, provindg not olny beauty but much intersting thoughts as to how it originated.

Savannakhet Province
 has 692000 inhabitants. The importance of this province lies in its strategic position for traveling from Thailand through Laos and on to Vietnam by Road No. 9, the highway servicing trade between Thailand and Vietnam.

Sayaboury Province
 is situated in the northwest of Laos, sharing borders with Vientiane province and Luang Prabang province in the east, and Thailand in the west. This mountainous province has several peaks with altitudes of more than 1000 meters. The principal town is commonly called Muang Sayabouri, where many impressive temples such as Vat Ban Thin, Vat Ban Phapoon, and Vat Natomoy are located.

Xieng Khuang province
 is located in the Northeastern part of the Laos with a population of 196000. It consists of 6 districts: Muang Khoune, Muang Phonsavanh, Muang Nong Hai, Muang Kham, Muang Mork, and Muang Phou Koud. The former chief-city was Muang Phouane, now called Muang Khoune. After the liberation, the Lao government settled the chief-city of the province in Muang Phonsavanh.
Muang Phouane was the main old town of Xieng Khouang province with its historical sites such as the Siphom temple, Phia Vat temple, That Chom Phet temple. According to legends, these temples were built 250 years before the establishment of the Lane Xang kindgom.
It is a province that holds great importance in Lao history for the war waged against foreign imperialism and was the stronghold of revolutionary forces.
The hundred of giants jars of Xieng Khouang are carved out of solid hunks of rock from the moutains surrounding the vally. The stone jars of all sizes strew all over the plateau make an awesome sight. Thus scientist have dubbed it "Plain of Jars". The biggest jar is 3.25m high. The ancient jars, which according to the Lao history were made during Khun Chuang's time to store wine for the celebration of his conquest of Pakhanh City (Xieng Khouan). And some researchers claimed that they were made to store dead human bodies as was the practice of ancient believers. This conclusion derived from the fact that human bones along with daily utensils and omaments made of clay and metal were discovered in the area. According to many researchers, these jars are between 2500 to 3000 years old. It is believed that they were made by stone age men who lived in this part of Laos then.

Laos Frommer's Vientiane
 Vientiane (vee-en-tee-en) has to be one of the world's most unique capitals. Like many cities in developing countries, its visage is a complex mix of old world and new. Vientiane's small scale, though, means you'll be constantly confronted by startling incongruities. For while it has a more than 1,200-year history as a cosmopolitan center, today it is still a dusty town with a population of about 250,000. Many of the residents are monks in vermilion or mustard-colored robes, attending to their business at wats whose peaked roofs still dominate the local skyline.

The airport still uses the grab-your-bag-off-the-cart method of dispensing luggage and you can ride to town in a motorized cart. Many of the streets are unpaved. At the same time, the city has Internet cafes and advertising agencies, embassies and investment advisors. It has luxury business hotels with swimming pools and gourmet restaurants with fine wines, and the streets are crowded with big, gleaming utility vehicles.

As far as tourism goes, the city was ransacked by the Vietnamese in 1828, so it lacks some of the ancient history you can see in former capital Luang Prabang. But its temples have been beautifully reconstructed, and there are some nice colonial buildings still standing: That Luang is the pre-eminent temple in the country and scene of a huge festival every November; the Patuxay victory monument is a peculiarly Lao version of the Arc de Triomphe; the Morning Market has a full city block of goods to explore; and the Mekong glows pink at sunset. It is worth a stay of several days to take it all in and enjoy Vientiane's laid-back atmosphere while it lasts.

GETTING AROUND - The city lies entirely on the east side of the Mekong River (the other side is Thailand). The main streets, running parallel to each other, are Samsenthai and Setthathirat. The heart of the city is Nam Phu fountain, and many of the directions here are given in relation to it. Central Vientiane is easily covered on foot. You can also hire a tuk-tuk, a covered cart behind a motorbike, or a jumbo, a bigger version of same. They charge about 2,000 kip for a full cross-town run. You should settle the price before you ride.

Motorcycles can be rented for US$6 or so a day. Bicycles are available at Raintrees Bookstore and elsewhere at 5,000 kip per day. You can also rent a car, to drive yourself (four-wheel drive, if you like) for US$60 a day. Call Asia Vehicle Rental, 08/3 Lane Xang Ave., beside Thai Farmers Bank (tel. 217-493 or 223-867). E-mail: avr@loxinfo.co.th.

\3 Salavan plateau

Salavan Province is best known for the Bolaven Plateau, which also extends into Attapeu, Champassak and Sekong provinces. The Bolaven Plateau is covered in the Champassak section. The plateau is best accessed from Pakse, in Champassak province.

Salavan province is home to the Phu Xieng Thong National Biodiversity Conservation Area, covering nearly 1,000 sq km in the western part of the province next to the Mekong river. It is thought that asiatic black bear, banteng, clouded leopard, Douc langur, elephant, gibbon, guar, Siamese crocodile and tiger and inhabit this area.

Bolaven Plateau on the north east of Champassak province, the plateau covers parts of Salavan, Attapeu and Sekong provinces although there are more options for tourists visiting the plateau in Pakse.

The plateau is fertile farmland specialising in coffee, tea, cardamom and fruit. The plateau houses a dozen mainly animist ethnic minorities, including Laven, Alak, Katou, Ta-Oy, Houne, Ngai and Suk communities. In the photograph of Alak children, note the young girl on the right, smoking tobacco in a water pipe to keep away the mosquitoes. Accomodation on the plateau is limited, but Tad Lo waterfalls has a number of bungalows where you can enjoy trekking and elephant rides.

Elephant trekking at Tad Lo Weaving a sarong with a foot loom, Bolaven Plateau Sii Pan Don - Four Thousand Islands The southernmost part of Champassak province, forms the border with Cambodia. Here, the Mekong river spreads to a width of up to 14km during the rainy season forming hundreds of islands and islets. The larger island are inhabited and the largest southern island, Don Khone has an old disused 5km railway, built by the French as part of the Mekong bypass route. The river cannot be navigated south of Don Khone because of the Khone Falls - the smaller Samphamit Falls and the larger Khong Phabeng Falls - the biggest in Asia, and maybe the widest falls in the world. Near the falls can be found the endangered Irriwaddy dolphins.

\4 mines (UXO)

UXO-LAO = nat.agency responsible for unexploded ordnance (UXO) clearance and education in the Lao PDR. Established by Prime Minister's decree in 1996, we now employ over 1000 deminers, surveryors, community awareness staff and trainers in the 9 provinces where we work. We deliver benefits to many hundreds of communities: the risk-removal benefits of clearance, risk-reduction benefits of education, and importantly, contributing to development and income-generation benefits.

Our teams clear land for development: land then used for laying clean water pipes, installing irrigation systems, putting in sanitation facilities, extending school-yards, hospitals, and markets; as well as clearing land for agriculture: rice production and cash-crops such as coffee, oranges and other fruit. We use an integrated work-planning process to plan, manage and evaluate all our clearance, survey and education activities. This process incorporates extensive consultation with communities to help determine where clearance priorities will deliver the most benefits. We co-ordinate with a range of development agencies, responding to their requests to assist with a range of social and economic development projects.

We continue to work within our mandate of humanitarian clearance, leaving commercial clearance to other providers in the country. We work with our intl implementing partners: Mines Advisory Group, Gerbera, Handicap International (Belgium), Norwegian People's Aid, Belgian Military Advisors, and World Vision Australia. UNDP, UNICEF and UNV also provides programme support. UXO LAO will be training staff, surveying affected areas, educating communities and clearing bombs for decades. Reducing UXO risk in the Lao PDR is a long-term undertaking and one that requires continued intl support.

The full report of the Landmine Monitor Report 2001 of 1,175 pages is available at http://www.icbl.org/lm/2001/report/ http://www.uxo.apdip.org Email: uxolao@pan-laos.net.la


\5 Traveller's info 5/01/01 

passport and visa are required. Visas are issued upon arrival in Laos to foreign tourists and business persons with two passport size photographs and USD $30 at Wattay Airport, VTE; Friendship Bridge, VTE; and Luang Prabang Airport. Foreign tourists are generally admitted to Laos for 15 days. It is sometimes possible to get a single 15-day extension from the Dept of Immigration in Vientiane.

Foreign tourists planning on entering Laos at any other intl checkpoint must obtain a visa in advance. In the US, visas and further information about Lao entry rqmnts can be obtained directly from the Embassy of the Lao PDR, 2222 S St. N.W., Washington DC 20008, tel: 202-332-6416, Internet home page: www.laoembassy.com.

U.S. citizens should not attempt to enter Laos without valid travel docs or outside official ports of entry. Persons attempting to enter Laos outside official ports of entry risk arrest or more serious consequences. Unscrupulous travel agents have sold U.S. citizen travelers false Lao visas which have resulted in those travelers being denied entry into Laos.

Lao visa, US citizens are no longer (as of Dec 99) allowed to get Lao visas anywhere but BKK or a 30 day visa at the A/P in VTE.

A US embassy dude in Laos said that the stink was over two Hmong-origin US citizens who were last seen entering Laos in Apr 99 and have not been heard from since. Rumour has it they were carrying a significant amount of money for the Hmong resistance, also conceivably for drug trade etc. In any case, they cannot be found and certain cong-ressmen are making a big stink that is hurting Laos-US relations. The visa rule chng was a diplomatic response.

Note: visas cost $30 at the Friendship Bridge border but $50 at Thai tourist agencies ten minutes away by tuk-tuk in Nong Khai. We paid the higher price because we were deceptively told that we would be unable to buy them at the border. This is not true, and we felt like fools for paying $20 each extra when we asked the Lao officials at the border. Peter & Lise, USA (Feb 00)

Laos immigration now accepts Thai baht for visa fees, as does Lao Aviation, but it is 10% cheaper to use US$. Ian Cruickshank, Thailand (Dec 99)

We had good luck getting Lao visas at the embassy in Bangkok. We only asked for 15 days but were given 60 days non-immigrant visas for the same price. It took two passport photos, one visa application per person, 1480 baht for two people and two days to process. Terry Williams, USA (Dec 99)

Upon attempting to cross the Laos border at Chiang Khong in Thailand, we were surprised to find that 30 day visas are no longer being issued at customs. 15 day visas, at a cost of US$45, are the only type available. Best either to get it in Bangkok or Chiang Mai. Karina Roberts, United Kingdom (Nov 99)

Bus #14 (from VTE bus stn) takes you to the Friendship Bridge for crossing into Thailand. It costs 600 kip and takes 45 minutes. Once on the bridge, buses shuttle travellers to and from Thailand regularly for 1000 kip. There is no departure tax to pay any more. You can change your last kip on the Laos side of the bridge before you leave the country as they are of no use anywhere else. But remember to bring the receipt for money exchange operations in Laos, otherwise the exchange rate wont be as good. Mercedes Luzan, Spain (Jul 99)

In most provinces they no longer want to stamp your passport: not leaving Huay Xai, not in Pakbeng, not in Luang Prabang and not in Vientiane. They want to when you arrive at Phonsavan airport, but that's just to keep track of the number of foreigners. Ebbe (Jun 99)

We crossed the border from Thailand into Laos at Nong Khai, at the Friendship Bridge. There are plenty of tuk-tuks to take you from the railway station to the bridge. You leave the Thai Immigration and take a small shuttle bus (10 Baht). Once you arrive, leave the bus and head for the counter with the sign Visa on Arrival for $30. Here you will be given some forms to fill out; hand them back with your passport, a passport photo and $30 cash. In about five to 10 minutes your passport will be returned. Mueller and Melanie Voser, Switzerland (May 99)

Visa extensions can be obtained in Vientiane easily. The Immigration Police office is open on weekdays, 8 am to 5 pm (go early). Pictures are not necessary but a passport copy can help speed things up. Extensions now cost $1 a day, which makes a 30 day extension at the border for $60 poor value. Paying in kip is better than baht or dollars as the exchange rate is quite low. Also there is no more departure tax. It was abolished February this year. Walter de Bruijin, The Netherlands (Apr 99)

The following visa charges were displayed in a caf in Hanoi: Visas for Laos (presumably for 15 days): Germans and Japanese, $41; Canadians, $47; Americans, $40; one month visa $25 extra. Time to get visa is five days; visa in one day $20 extra. David Boyall, Australia (Apr 99)  Cambodia/Laos border: travellers are advised not to attempt the crossing on the Mekong. The border officials are quite strict about this and bribes are out of the question. Especially do not discuss your intent to do so with owners of guest houses. Peter Leth, USA (Mar 99)

Most travel agents in Khao San Road, Bangkok, are charging around 1200 baht for a two week visa. At the Laos Embassy in Bangkok a one month visa costs most nations 750 baht, with a two day wait. Or for an extra 300 baht they will give it to you as soon as possible (mine took one hour). Visa extension in Vientiane costs $1 a day and takes a few hours. Dave Fuller, UK (Mar 99)

Travellers should be aware that the Lao government is very strict on the inform enter and inform leave checkpoint stamps in Luang Prabang. I met numerous travellers who were ignorant of this necessity and all were fined. Savannakhet in the south, however, is a different story. Local police had no idea where to obtain the stamps, nor did anybody else for that matter. Fleur Kiley, Australia (Feb 99)

In the Vientiane Times (current 21/11/98) we found an interesting article that announced a new border crossing between Laos and Thailand. It is at Chiang Saen - Tonpheung. Carol Wiley & Peter Thornton (Jan 99)

Just returned from four weeks in Laos. With the 'Visit Laos Year 99', the govt has 'relaxed' the visa rqmnts. You can now get a visa for only US$30 from the Friendship Bridge (not US$50 as it was in Sep 98). Also, when filling in the arr/dep card, indicate you will be staying 28 days, they will give you a 30 day visa (tech, the US$30 visa is for 15 days). If you say you are staying only 14 days then you will only be granted a 15 day visa. Shane Noyce, Aust (Jan 99)

You can get a visa for China from the Chinese Emb in VTE. You need a photograph, US$ cash only ($30 for Americans, $25 for French, $12 for Italians, etc). You will receive your visa three bus days later. If you are in a hurry, you can pay an extra charge of $30 (visa same day), $20 (visa one day later) or $10 (two days later). The Chinese Emb open from 9-11am, M-F. Gerard Ferlin, Fran (Jan 99)

The Lao Embassy in Ramkamhaeng Road in Bangkok will issue 30 day tourist visas for 1050 baht. It takes three days for the visa to be processed, or you can pay an extra 300 baht and it will be ready the same day. Visa applications must be submitted during morning office hours and passports are to be collected in the afternoon.

Although we held valid visas, travel permits (off stamps on a piece of paper, kept in the passport) were still required everywhere we went except VTE, where they looked at us blankly and told us repeatedly that only a visa is required to travel around Laos! The travel permits were free and easy to obtain, except in Luang Prabang, where the officials take it a lot more seriously if you have been there longer than 24 hrs without getting a stamp.

There are three immigration checkpoints in Luang Prabang and depending on how you arr and dep depends on which one you should go to. If you fly in or out of Luang Prabang, there is an immigration checkpoint at the airport; if you arr/dep by boat, the checkpoint is near the pier where the slow boats dock; if you arr/dep by bus (road), the checkpoint is opposite the Rama Hotel.

For exam, if you arrive by boat and leave by bus, you should get your arrival stamp at the checkpoint near the pier (if you arrive late, after it has closed, make sure you go early the next day - it is open Saturday and Sunday from 8 to 10 am only), and your departure stamp at the checkpoint opposite the Rama Hotel (closed weekends), before going to the bus stn.

The easiest way to find out what stamps you are supposed to have is to ask other falangs (altho most will be just as confused as you!) or the owner of your GH, altho they can get into trouble if they have guests who do not have the correct stamps. Emily Moller, Thailand (Jan 99)

As of 1 Sep 1998 the Laos Emb in BKK will only receive visa appns in the morning from 8 am until noon. Passport pickup is from 1 until 4 pm. Normal visa appns take three bus days but for 300 baht extra they can be done on the same day. Carol Wiley Australia (Jan 99)

Crossing overland into Laos from Nong Khai via the Friendship Bridge just became a little less expensive as the fee for a 15-day tourist visa was recently lowered from $50-$30 (US, cash only). Oddly, if one decides to cross the border on weekends or weekdays between noon-2 the fee rises one US dollar to $31.

The visa appns are processed on the spot and are hassle free. Just fill out the appn and attach one PP photo with $30 or $31. This does not, of course, include the 20 baht entrance fee one must also pay to actually enter Laos, which is collected as you leave immigration. When leaving Laos via the Friendship Bridge, one must also pay an exit fee, payable in either baht or kip. I recommend paying in kip because even at offical exchange rates, paying 1,100 kip is much more affordable than paying the 20 baht immigration charges. Cangzhongyuan, Japan (Jan 99)

Rte 13 between VTE and Luang Prabang has been paved completely; it is now a smooth ten hour ride, and the scenery is sensational. I had the impression that it is also safe, because I only saw three or four govt soldiers on the way. However, I was there in Apr, before the wet season, and I wonder what the road would be like after some rain. Johannes van der Heide, Netherlands (Nov 98)

You can get Laotian visas easily and quickly at the Laos Embassy in Yangon ($38 for Europeans, valid 28 days). There is no need to leave your passport with them. You just need to fill in two forms and attach photographs. We went on a Fr morning and the visas were ready by Mo.

Be careful at the Chong Mek border as it is very messy. The Thai and Lao border posts are difficult to see. We missed the Thai immigration going in and out - fortun-ately our Thai visas were still valid! We also met a couple of French people who missed the Lao Immigration and didn't have their visas stamped. They were checked at Pakse Airport, asked to pay a fine of $100 (starting price $1000) and forced to go back to Chong Mek to have their passports stamped. Liliane Chapon, France (Oct 98)

In Vientiane, we had to extend our visa. It was done without any problems within five minutes at the cost of $1 per day. Getting a stamp from local officials when crossing provinces is becoming less and less important. We had to do it on the Mekong River from Hue Xai to Luang Prabang. We travelled to the far north, near the border of China (Mung Sing) by road and did not pass an immigration office once. They really don't bother much any more. Eric Branckaert, Cameroon (Sep 98)

As well as Lao Bao, you can also cross the border at Cao Treo. This is a much better way, as it is more scenic. From VTE, we took all forms of transport to the border, and then paid a guy with an old American jeep to take us down the mountains, where we were met by a mate of his who then drove us to Vinh. Lee Walker, Aust (Jun 98)

Originally we were told by the US based Laos Embassy that we'd need the following items in order to obtain a visa upon arrival at the intl airport in Vientiane: 1. Return ticket 2. Bank statement (with a minimum of $400 in bank); 3. Hotel confirmation fax; and 4. Local sponsor.

Those four items, plus $50, were supposed to be what it takes to get in. In reality, all we needed was the $50. We filled out the visa appn upon arrival, paid the money, got the PPs stamped and walked right in. Apparently, the rqmnts for entry are being eased as they ready themselves for the official 'Visit Laos Year, 99'. Ron Lish (Jun 98)

Lao visa questions come up here often. Here's the story. People going directly to Vientiane by air or via the 'Friendship Bridge' from Nong Khai have two options.

#1 (cheaper, more work): get a visa in advance from an emb or consulate in the area. Most people will go to the embassy in BKK (see below) or the consulate in Khon Kaen or Udorn. In Mar '98 a 30 day 'visit visa' cost me about 1200 Baht there - at the current exchange rate that's about US$30. You get your PP back the next bus day.

#2 (easier, more expensive): get an arrival visa on the Lao side of the bridge or at Wattay airport. It costs $50 for 15 days and can be extended.

Those entering Lao by land at crossings OTHER than the 'Friendship Bridge' need to get a visa in advance. (People are occasionally able to 'buy' a visa at the other crossings, but why gamble?) Here you also have two options. #1: An embassy or consulate, just as above. #2: A Thai travel agency. There are many in BKK and other Thai cities that will get Lao visas. They cost about $60 and take one to five working days.

For those doing the embassy run in BKK, be aware that the Lao embassy is now on Ramkhamhaeng Soi 39, in Bang Kapi. (Actually it's on a 'sub-soi' that branches off Soi 39.) That's just west of Ramkhamhaeng University, about 10 to 12km from central BKK. It's a bit of a ride, and a little difficult to find. (It might be helpful to have someone write 'Lao embassy Ramkhamhaeng Soi 39' in Thai.)

'Roxanne' (answering a Lao visa question) posted an idea for getting there that's so good it's worth repeating. She wrote: '...you can go by taxi but the cheaper option is to go by canal boat. Take a boat from near Democracy monument to Ramkhamhaeng; you have to change half way and continue on to Ramkhamhaeng but get off at Wat Teplila. From there a motorbike taxi will take you to the embassy for 20 Baht. There and back only costs 66 Baht and it's a lot quicker than in the traffic...' David, The Thorn Tree (Jun 98)

It is possible to get a 15 day visa at the International Entry Points (Friendship Bridge, Ban Houei Xai, Chong Mek). Visa costs US$50 plus Baht taxes. To extend your visa costs US$3 per day. You can get the extension at the Tourism Authority of Laos (Lanatour), 08/2 Lane Xang Ave, Vientiane (Phone: 85621, 212 013), near the Morning Market. Issue takes one day. Check in/out: Lao authorities require you to check in and out of the cities in northern regions (checks are no longer required in the southern part). To check in, you have to go to the Immigration Office at the Police Department. If you don't check, you have to pay a fee (US$5 per day uncovered). Piergiorgio Pescali, Italy (Mar 98)

Don't bother getting a Lao visa in Bangkok if you intend going overland. We crossed from Chiang Kong in the Golden Triangle to Huay Xai across the Mekong. The visa was arranged by the Ban-tam-ila Guesthouse (other guesthouses and Ann Tour do the same). All they require now is a photocopy of your passport by 6 pm and you can cross at 8 am the next day. No application forms are filled out and passport photos are not needed. The cost was B1700, paid on the Lao side. There is even a guide who drives you to the ferry crossing in a nice new air-conditioned van and puts you on the boat. Once in Laos the immigration stamps are required upon entry to every province. A US$10 fine applies if a stamp is missing. Nigel & Simon Hall, Australia (Mar 98)

Laos visa in Yangon: issued on the spot for US$48 (Austrian citizens). Laos/Thai border at Thakhek/Nakhon Phanom: while the guidebook says this border is open weekdays only, we crossed it on a Sunday. Roland (Mar 98)

It is now possible to organise your own visa for Laos in Bangkok. It saves quite some time and money. We managed to get a 30 day visa in 24 hours, applying in person. Most European nationals pay B750 plus B300 administration fee. US residents pay B800 plus fee. The Lao Embassy in Bangkok has recently moved to 502/1-3 Ramkamhaeng, Soi 39, Bankapi. Phone: (02) 539 6667. Working hours are 8 to 11 am and 1 to 4 pm. The easiest way to reach the embassy is to take a river taxi from democracy monument to WTC and change there for a taxi to Wat Tep Lila (B13). From Wat Tep Lila take a taxi over the bridge to the embassy (B50). We crossed the border in Chong Mek. From Ubon Ratchatani, we took a bus to Phibun Mangsahan. It took us an hour and the trip cost B20. Customs in Chong Mek work from 8 am to noon and 1 to 4.30 pm. If you cross the border outside these hours or on Sunday, the entry fee for Laos is double. Normal fee is B35. Laurens Van Thillo & Eva Van Marcke, Belgium (Mar 98)

Visas: very easy to get everywhere, but where you get them makes a huge difference to your budget. By far the cheapest and fastest is Bangkok where the travel agents can apply for all visas at the same time (Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam), thus you only need to wait for as long as the longest processing time for one single visa. If you're going on to China, you should really get the visa in Bangkok as it only adds one to two days waiting time. Elsewhere the visas are more expensive and you'll have to wait for five days. Lao visa: you can get them on the border between Nong Khai and Vientianne, but you'll have to pay US$50 cash. In Bangkok you have the choice of getting a 15 day visa for US$23 or a 30 day visa for US$40. At the border you'll only get a 15 day visa, but they are easy to extend for US$3 a day in Vientiane. I overstayed my visa and wasn't charged anything when exiting at Lao Bao. Visas are very expensive in Danang (Vietnam) (US$60). Cambodia visa: I got mine on the spot in Vientianne for US$20. They told me to come back in three days, but I asked if they couldn't do it a bit faster. I met people who got theirs in 20 minutes at the embassy in Hanoi, also for US$20, while in Saigon they will tell you to go to a travel agent. Avoid Chinese New Year. They won't do anything for up to ten days. The Vietnamese embassy in Vientiane closed for ten days so I couldn't get my entry point changed. Thus I couldn't enter until 10 days after my visa had started running. Hanne Finholt, Norway (Mar 98)

You can get visas for Laos at the border for US$50 but if you get there between noon and 2 pm and 4 and 6 pm, visas cost US$51. Luckily we arrived just before noon as my companion and I only had US$100 between us and would have been sent back to Thailand to change more money. They do not accept any currencies other than US$. Linda Bennett (Mar 98)

The application form for an on-arrival visa states that three passport-size photos are required. However, it seems that the number of photos required is up to the discretion of the immigration officer. Only one photo was taken from me, while two were taken from the person in front and none from the person behind me. Andrew Ming, Australia (Mar 98)

Visas to Laos can now be obtained at a number of different agencies in Thailand but most seem to be charging a set US$60. It was cheaper to get one in Chiang Mai if you could wait five to six days and paid in Baht. The agencies charging US$60 will get you a visa by the next day. Sandra & Andy Neeve, UK (Feb 98)

China - Laos border crossing Mohan-Boten: according to some travellers I've met in Laos and China, you can bargain hard and maybe obtain a Lao transit visa (seven days) at the border. Somebody was sent back to Kunming and requested to apply at the local Lao consulate. I hadn't a visa stamped on my passport, only an invitation letter from a Lao tourist agency (written in Lao! Only my name and passport data were in Latin script). The Chinese customs officer, who was very friendly, told me that maybe the Lao officers would send me back, so he didn't stamp my Chinese visa and suggested that I check on the Lao side if the letter was enough to get the visa. I walked through the border, got a 14 day tourist visa (US$30) and walked back to the Chinese side to have my Chinese visa stamped. The tuk-tuk between the two sides of the border cost 1000 kip; the walk took 15 minutes (1km?) Marco Del Corona, Italy (Feb 98)

Ann Tour (in Chiang Rai) is a great place to get a visa for Laos. We faxed copies of our passports two days in advance (one is sufficient) and could have had the staff accompany us over to Laos that day to get our visas for only 1700 Baht for a 14 day visa (the price hasn't gone up in the past year) but instead chose to wait. They were very accommodating and watched our packs the next morning until we were ready for them to take us to the pier. Virginia Porter, USA (Feb 98)

A Laos visa now costs US$35 at the embassy in Phnom Penh, but then you will get a visit visa that allows you to stay for one month. A good deal since it's becoming quite hard to get visa extensions in Laos, apart from Vientiane. It takes one day to get your visa. Joris Postema & Kim den Boer, The Netherlands (Jan 98)

Travel Tips Vientiane's streets are a danger to life and limb! There are huge holes in the pavements (big enough to swallow you) where the sewers run underneath. At night, it is wise to carry a torch and tread carefully, even on the main streets. Sandra Postle, Switzerland (Jan 00)

It is important to know that there are no ATM machines in Vientiane. Also, many travellers (including myself) experienced that it is not possible to get cash advances on VISA credit cards. Banks will simply tell you that your credit card was declined. So take enough cash (US$ in small notes) and travellers cheques (banks change them without problems) for your journey. Pedro Badano, Argentina (Dec 99)

Often backpackers make the break in the boat trip from Luang Prabang to Vientiane, stopping in Tha Deua, to come to Sainyabuli to see the elephant working camp mentioned in the guide (p 265). I live in this area and, although there are elephants working in logging activities, I have never heard of this elephant camp and neither have the locals I have asked. However one place you can be sure to see elephants is Thomixay District (a new district). Instead of stopping at Tha Deua, stop in Pak Lai and take the (bad) road, around 35-40km to Thomixay. Andrea Vera, Laos (Oct 99)

Credit cards: I was charged 3% everywhere: restaurants, Lao Aviation and hotels (both in Vientiane and Luang Prabang). It seems there is no way to avoid paying this commission. Giovanni Ara, Italy (Jul 99)

It is not a good idea to bring travellers cheques (just one or two, for emergencies), as the bank rates for those are about 20% less than cash. US dollars or Thai baht are acceptable for exchange, however rates from the banks are up to 25% lower than the black market rates. So if you know how to deal with the friendly money exchangers with magic calculators, then that is the place to change your cash. Walter de Bruijin, The Netherlands (Apr 99)

Its visit Lao Year and Vientiane is going through a major and needed rebuild of their infrastructure. Half the major streets are torn apart and they are laying real sewer lines. This creates a huge amount of dust and many businesses are not open because nobody can get to them. I dont see this project being completed until the end of the year, if that. Carl Zytowski (Feb 99)

In Luang Prabang we came across something you might be interested in. We naively tried to get some US dollars travellers cheques cashed into dollars rather than Lao Kip as we needed to pay for a flight at Lao Aviation. As the LP mentions, the bank tells you that they can't do this. They sent us back to Lao Aviation to ask us if they will take Kip for the ticket instead. 'No' was the answer, 'return to the bank.' We got back: closed for lunch! The bank reopened, they told us to return to Lao Aviation and collect a 'certificate' that proved we needed dollars to pay for the flight; our booking details were not enough. We then trudged back to the office where we got the certificate, back to the bank where we eventually changed the money and then back to Lao Aviation again to pay for the ticket. By this point, two and a half hours had passed. Anyway, the tip here is obvious. Ask for the certificate when you book the flight if you're intending to try and get some dollars from somewhere. Simon Lynch, UK (Jan 99)

The Royal Palace Museum has new opening times: Monday to Friday, 8 am to 4 pm, Saturday, 8 to 11 am and 2 to 4 pm, and Sunday, 8 to 11 am only. Admission is 3000 kip. Carol Wiley & Peter Thornton, Australia (Jan 99)

In response to below: I visited Luang Prabang in May 1999. I wanted to rent a bike or motorcycle to see the countryside, but there seemed to be few farang cyclists. After searching the town and finding no rental shops, I got directions for a rental shop from my hotel, but after speaking with the proprietor, I learned that the police had made it illegal for foreigners to rent bikes or motorcycles (so he was now selling office furniture). So the postcard below is out of date. Scott Edfors, USA (Jul 99)

Apparently the best place for foreign exchange in Vientiane is the Banque pour le Commerce Exterieur. Its opening hours are 8.30 am to 3.30 pm. There are numerous places to hire bikes in Luang Prabang, and it is definitely the best way to get around. The bikes generally have to be returned in the early evening, which gives you plenty of time to explore. You should test the brakes and seat before leaving the place, as sometimes various adjustments are necessary first. Also, make sure your bike lock works.

The market in Luang Prabang is a great place to buy material for a traditional Lao skirt. All you have to do is take it to a tailor where, for a very small fee, they will measure you and make it up, ready to be picked up the next day. It costs less than US$10 in total, and they are great skirts to wear, particularly if you are spending any time in Laos, as it is far better and more respectful to the Lao people to wear these skirts, rather than short skirts or shorts. Kate Swinburn & Carlos Rodriguez, Australia (Dec 98)

1999 is Visit Laos year. The new Vientiane airport terminal is due to open soon. Steve Newcomer, USA (Dec 98)

Postage from Laos (main post office in Vientiane) is one of the cheapest in Asia. Try and go with a group to Phonsovan, as the expense of hiring a guide and car to the Three Jar sites will be much more reasonable. I went alone and could only manage the first site. There aren't many tourists milling around when you get there where you can form spontaneous groups as you can in other places. Tony Stewart, New Zealand (Nov 98)

Be careful if you are considering travelling from Luang Nam Tha to Huay Xuia on the Thai border. We met a French-speaking Lao gentleman at the boat pier who told us that it would cost us 20,000 kip to go halfway, and a further 20,000 kip to complete the trip to Pak Tha (from where you can get a speedboat to Huay Xuai for 100 baht). This is wrong! When we got to the village where the boat drops you off, (I can't remember the name but it has no power and pretty poor food), we were directed to the only guesthouse where we met other travellers who had been stranded. No boats had been prepared to take them the rest of the way. They suggested the problem was due to the fact that there were only four of them, as they had been offered a ride for some exorbitant amount. Furthermore, the village was only about a third of the way to Pak Tha. After much haggling the following day, nine of us paid 30,000 kip each to Pak Tha (down from 40,000 kip that the local boat organiser wanted to charge us). Luckily we had some baht and US$, because otherwise we would have been stranded. My tip is to make sure that there is a reasonably large group of you before you make the trip so that you don't get stranded: nine or ten seems ideal. Also, make sure that you have plenty of cash.

There are now 13 guesthouses in Vang Vieng, and competition appears to been keeping prices down. Gareth Sage, Australia (Nov 98)

I highly recommend taking the slow boat between Luang Prabang and Huay Xai, the border point to Thailand. The fast boat takes eight hours, offering nothing but a fast ride without any experiences. The riverboat (full of rice, locals and tourists) leaves early every day (between 8 and 9 am) from both places and continues up or down the Mekong River all day, stopping only at night. Leaving from Huay Xai, the boat stops overnight in the small village, Pakbeng, which is halfway to Luang Prabang. The boat leaves early the next day at dawn, arriving in Luang Prabang in the evening. You should get your immigration stamp the next day. Travelling from Luang Prabang, you spend three days on the river and two nights amongst the locals in small undeveloped villages. It is a very special experience to stay overnight amongst the locals and try the local food, which is very good. It is possible to sleep on the roof of the boat, but it is much better to stay in the village. Ask the boatmen for help if you have any problems, and remember to get your visa stamped on the way - the boatmen should wake you up if you sleep through. I never experienced any problems, but keep your money, passport, etc close. Also, you should take plenty of water and food. Thomas Kjerstein, Denmark (Nov 98)

The BCEL bank in Pakse is now by the river Sedon in a beautiful modern building not far from the ferries. Here you can change travellers' cheques (into dollars) with no commission. A boat to Khong Island leaves Pakse every morning. The trip lasts about eight hours. It is pleasant but not too comfortable. Alternatively, the bus trip takes four hours, but one hour is very uncomfortable due to the condition of the road that is currently being upgraded; it should be finished by next year. There are quite a few hotels to choose from on Khong Island. The electricity in the village operates between 6 and 10 pm. Jacques & Liliane Chapon, France (Oct 98)

There's a new place for the public to access the Internet in Vientiane. It's at the Lao Plaza Hotel and costs $2 for 10 minutes. Patrick Abraham (Oct 98)

Vang Vieng is becoming a real tourist spot. There are lots of new restaurants and guest houses opening. Eric Branckaert, Cameroon (Sep 98)

Savannakhet has serious water problems. The water is frequently turned off city-wide. Many travellers thought that the water problem was specific to their guest houses, and some even left their guest houses for this reason, only to find out that the entire town was without water. Guest house managers are likely to say that the water will be restored shortly. However, water is frequently off for 12 hours or more. Nancy L Leonard, USA (no date)

In the last weeks of the dry season (March), dust and smoke can greatly reduce visibility and even make breathing a little difficult. Admittedly, there had been some unusually large-scale fires in Northern Thailand before we arrived in Laos, so the air may have been unusually bad. However, as an example of the conditions, the karsts near Vang Vieng were barely visible from the township (2km away), and there were flakes of ash falling in Luang Prabang. On some afternoons the smoke in the air made our eyes sting, though neither of us are particularly susceptible to that kind of irritation. It may be a trivial point, but photography was often out of the question.

Vang Vieng: there is a shop just east up the main street from the market that sells delightful town maps, coloured in pencil. Josh Wilson, Australia (Aug 98)

\6 Traveller's info 1998

The Lao Foreign Trade Bank had a notice up stating that they would not accept Mastercard. David Boyall, Australia (Jun 98)

When cashing US$ travellers cheques at the bank (for purchasing air tkts), you need a permit from Lao Aviation auth the exact amount of the airfare. For exam, we needed two air tkts from Luang Prabang to Huay Xia tt US$46 each. Initially we were issued with only one authority for US$46, so we had to go back to Lao Air and then back to the bank again. Chris Jules & Jean Bennett, Aust (98)

Luang Prabang: try to get there as early as poss. The GHs fill up very quickly, but some of them will let budget travellers sleep in the lobby the first night if you arrive late. Hanne Finholt, Norway (Mar 98)

Have just been to Pakse in southern Laos. The two-storey consumer morning market was destroyed in a devastating fire at 2am Sun 11 Jan 98. Yet on Mon morning the whole market moved to the banks of the Mekong and was trading successfully. Monica Thom (Feb 98)

Yes! We saw the Irriwaddy dolphins! Contrary to the LP, the best time to see them seems to be between 9-11am. We were there at around 9.30 am and some fishermen took us to a rock in the middle of the Mekong from where we saw half a dozen of them, playing and hunting. At 10.15 am they simply vanished. Kim den Boer, Netherlands (Jan 98)

At telephone offices, you have to pay for a minimum of three minutes. To the UK, this worked out to 8,000 kip. Simon Aliwell & Paula Macnamara, UK (Oct 97)

Email can be accessed at V&T Business Services at 482/2-3 Samsenthai Rd (T: 215 830; email: laocom@loxinfo.co.th). It is run by a helpful US resident Mark Gordon. There is a similarly named business across the street that is not connected. John & Alison Howie, New Zealand (no date)

The road between Xieng Kok and Muang Sing has been upgraded and no longer takes all day to travel. It was one of the best roads I saw in Laos and took 2 hours there and 2 hours back. The scenery was incredibly beautiful as well. Ahti Heinla (Nov 99)

Slow boats up the Mekong River from Luang Prabang to Huay Xai often take more than two days. Ours took two days to get halfway up, stopping at a village on the river the first night, then stopping at Pakbeng the second day. Despite our having bought tickets in Luang Prabang all the way to Huay Xai, our boat terminated the trip in Pakbeng. Several other travellers in Pakbeng reported the same experience. A slow boat was leaving the next day, if the captain got enough people to take the trip (10 seems to be the magic number). Speed boats left often. The going rate from Pakbeng to Huay Xai was 400 baht per person (minimum six people). Usually there are enough travellers milling around in the morning to fill at least one boat. The trip takes three hours or less, depending on the driver. Travel speed for slow boat 150km = two days; speed boat 150km = three hours. Matt & Sonya Stover, USA (Jul 99)

In Huay Xai we took the slow boat to get to Luang Prabang. It cost 38,000 kip and left at 10.30 am daily. It takes two days with an overnight stop at Pakbeng. Although not very comfortable, it was such a great experience going down the Mekong river with its amazing scenery. We shared the boat with other travellers and also locals, including some tribes people with chickens and all. Thanks to the LP section on the Lao language, we even managed to have some conversations with the Lao people on board the boat. One word of warning: stock up on food and water before leaving Huay Xai as the boats dont make any stops until dusk at Pakbeng. Mercedes Luzan, Spain (Jul 99)

The road between Muang Sing and Xieng Kok has been upgraded. Instead of taking one and a half days to travel, it will now only take three hours. They are still working on the road so its really brand new, in great condition and the journey will only cost you around 10,000 kip. However, make sure the driver knows you want to go straight to Xieng Kok or Muang Sing, otherwise he/she will drop you in a village and youll have to pay another 10,000 kip. Martine Bruin, The Netherlands (Jul 99)

I met a couple of Americans who went from Vientiane to Luang Prabang by boat. They wanted to come back by plane, but Lao Aviation in Luang Prabang accepts US dollars in cash only. Moreover, I wanted to buy two tickets from Udon to Bangkok at the Thai Airways office in Vientiane, but, again, only US$ in cash were accepted. No credit cards were accepted. On the contrary, Lao Aviation in Vientiane accepts credit cards, even if they do charge you 3% commission. Giovanni Ara, Italy (Jul 99)

Boat to Pakbeng: if you want to take the speed boat, you have to find someone to share the boat with, otherwise it can be pretty expensive. As for the slow boat, its supposed to leave early in the morning but we had to wait quite a while. It leaves only during the week; no boat on Sunday. The slow boat was very slow and crowded (tourists and locals, about 50/50), but its a fun experience. We stopped a few times for short breaks during the day and again around 5 pm. All the locals got out of the boat, so we did the same and we saw that the short break might actually be a bit longer when they started to remove the rudder. The Maekong was very shallow at that time of the year and the boat touched the bottom! Some locals (the men) started a fire to try to bend the rudder. This took a while and in the meantime the women started a fire to cook and bathed in the river with their children. Tourists relaxed and socialised, ate the few crackers they had left from the boat trip and we realised that we would spend the night there on a kind of deserted beach near the Maekong. During my whole trip to Laos, Ive never been so frozen! We left the following morning - the rudder seemed OK.

We stopped in Pakbeng where we should have stopped and slept the night before. We went to the immigration office and checked in (one of the few points where this is necessary in Laos). Most of the tourist crowd went back to the slow boat after a big breakfast, but I and a friend decided to go for the speed boat. And when they say speed, they really mean it. Its now compulsory to wear a helmet, and we understand why.

Theres only one bus from Luang Prabang to Vang Vieng. You can ask in town about the departure time, but most of the locals dont really know it, and advise you to show up at the bus station early in the morning. The bus actually left at 10 am (no need to wait two hours at the deserted station!). The buses to Vientiane leave at 6.30, 7.30 and 9 am. It wasnt possible for us to get a bus to Vientiane and stop on the way in Vang Vieng. We thought it was possible and really tried to get a ticket but they wouldnt sell one to us. Marie Lesaicherre, Singapore (Jun 99)

Travelling from Vientiane to Luang Prabang by bus was much cheaper by private than public bus. A ticket can be purchased at the office of Diethelm Travel in Vientiane. Since the trip is really worth doing by bus because of the landscape, it might be a good idea to go with Diethelm Travel: the public bus never stops to take pictures or just to view the scenery. Caroline Wild Trinkner, Switzerland (Jun 99)

Huay Xai to Luang Prabang: slow boats do not leave every day. On weekends there are often no boats leaving at all. Speed boats are the alternative, however they are cramped and uncomfortable ... you'll spend six hours bouncing with your legs pulled up to your chin ... and its hard to take photos. Cedar Blomberg, Korea (May 99)

To get a good seat on a bus or truck, show up on time but dont buy a ticket at the counter: try your luck on the bus. This is usually acceptable if the bus is not crowded with people. Generally the buses leave on time but often they wait until they are full. Walter de Bruijin, The Netherlands (Apr 99)

While I was in Laos I was informed that all foreign aid agencies and embassies had forbidden their staff to fly on Lao Aviation planes for safety reasons. I was also told that Thailand would not allow any Lao Aviation plane to land at its airports as none of them had air worthiness certificates and I was also told that our Department of Foreign Affairs had issued a warning about using Lao planes. David Boyall, Australia (Apr 99)

River boat schedules on the Mekong between Huay Xai and Luang Prabang are variable due to river flow and the number of boats that are making the journey. There isnt always a boat leaving every day to Luang Prabang and most definitely not one leaving LP every day during the dry season. Carl Zytowski (Feb 99)

Route 13 to Luang Prabang appears a lot safer. Military personnel will get on the bus at Kasi and stay on for approximately 20km. A local told me that this was to do with the visit Laos year and the government's effort to clean up the bad areas. Beware of Lao Aviation though! As a former pilot, I was horrified to see vapour leaking into the plane at 12,000 ft (I could not see the front of the plane it was so bad!) The plane leaked, rattled and made some very weird sounds. For US$55 one-way from Luang Prabang to Vientiane, it was very dodgy. Shane Noyce, Australia (Jan 99)

The bus from Muang Xai to Luang Nam Tha leaves at 8 am but be sure to arrive early. It proved a popular bus and was full by 7.45 am, leaving us stranded and waiting for the next departure which didn't leave until 11 am. This appeared to be a common occurrence in northern Laos. We quickly learnt that many forms of transport did not pass through the major towns. This meant that there would be two bus stations or boat landings on either side of town so making your way back to the station you had arrived at could leave you missing the transport for the day. In the north all transport seemed to run only during the day. A good indication of the latest it would leave, therefore, is to count back the hours the trip would take from sunset. It is standard across Laos to charge 200 kip for the clean toilets at the bus stations. Try to arrive in Chiang Khong with plenty of time to cross the river to Huay Xai before the border closes. This saves spending a night in both border towns for those with tight schedules and leaves you with plenty of time to organise onward travel in the morning. Carol Wiley & Peter Thornton, Australia (Jan 99)

The road from Huay Xai up to Luang Nam Tha is an ordeal, but is to be recommended for its scenery and villages. A similarly wild road links Xieng Kok to Muang Sing. Raymond Lae, UK (Dec 98)

There is a domestic departure tax of 300 kip per person. Also, don't expect flights to keep to their schedule; they come and go more or less as they please. Kate Swinburn & Carlos Rodriguez, Australia (Dec 98)

Roads are open for tourist travel from Vientiane to Luang Prabang, and on up to the Chinese and Vietnamese borders. Steve Newcomer, USA (Dec 98)

The roads are shocking and tediously slow for the distance covered. Regular utes and buses operate, but nearly all transport leaves around 8 am. There is not much chance of getting anywhere after this. Flying with Lao Aviation is the only practical means to get to Phonsovan/Xieng Khuang, but beware of the risks. If the weather is bad it could be dodgy, as I hear they have little navigational aids but a lot of hills! Whist Luang Prabang is cheaper to fly from, they nevertheless use the less reliable Chinese Y-7, rather than the larger Y-12 as they do from Vientiane. However, it is only 35 minutes one way from Vientiane, and the views are good. Tony Stewart, New Zealand (Nov 98)

A bus or songthaew to Luang Prabang is 11,000 kip. This seems strange as it is only 2,000 kip from Vientiane to Vang Vieng (and the distance is not much greater). However, this is the price the locals were charged as well. Gareth Sage, Australia (Nov 98)

Intl flights to Laos cancelled: according to a story in today's Bangkok Post, Silk Air, Malaysia Air, China Yunnan Air, and even Lao Aviation have dropped all their international flight connections to/from Vientiane. By the way, you can read a scaled-down version of the Bangkok Post at www.bangkokpost.net/. It's pretty interesting reading sometimes. Folks worried about travelling during the monsoon (a great time to go, I happen to think) can read the weather reports. Neutral Observer, The Thorn Tree (Jul 98)

Double pricing on buses, boats, planes, etc seems to be becoming standard practice. In some cases, this is because the Lao Government subsidizes the transport system for Lao people. Joanne Durham, Laos (Jun 98)

Luang Nam Tha: the bus station has moved. It is now south of the large covered food market and the early morning fresh food market. The Nepalese road engineer in charge of upgrading the road to Xieng Kok took me on a tour of the road works and bridge building projects. The project is on schedule and due to be finished in 2000. David Boyall, Australia (Jun 98)

The road from Savannakhet to Vientiane is now fully sealed, and takes six to seven hours by bus. The road from Vientiane to Luang Prabang is now quite safe, and the trip usually takes twelve hours, but we had Fangio for a bus driver, and it only took eight! That journey was a little bit hairy, especially around those tight corners! Lee Walker, Australia (Jun 98)

As of 11 April 1998, Lao Aviation is flying directly from Chiang Mai to Luang Prabang before the same plane goes on to Vientiane. This will make it possible to do a quick jaunt to the lovely Luang Prabang from the not so lovely Chiang Mai, and the new flight saves a trip to Vientiane. Of course, those who expect to fly 'directly' to Vientiane may find that their flight takes another hour, as mine did, because of the stop in Luang Prabang. Teresa Sobieszczyk, USA (May 98)

The road is paved all the way to Luang Prabang now, and most of the way further north as well. Everybody seems to be travelling by road these days. All the locals do, so there aren't many slow boats. The speedboats are a tourist rip-off, as they haven't figured out how to put people together to share the cost. Unless you get your own group together, you'll have to dig very, very deep into your wallet. Hanne Finholt, Norway (Mar 98)

Lao Aviation are still living down to their reputation for last minute schedule changes, not to mention the standard hair-raising flights and bald tyres. Rupert Baker, UK (Mar 98)

The expensive road transport price from Luang Nam Tha to Huay Xai (20,000 kip) reflects the extremely bad road conditions. Only one vehicle plies the route. Hence, the truck goes every second day. The alternative is to go by road to Muang Xai and Pakbeng, then speedboat to Huay Xai. This route will cost you much the same (and may involve backtracking for many travellers). Gavin Roberts, Australia (Feb 98)

During our stay, Lao Aviation were particularly unhelpful - no guarantees of flights to anywhere. (One of our party was desperate to get to Bangkok quickly). A military post told us (and other travellers) that the airport closed during November and early December - during high-tourist season! The airport building closed mid-morning on a weekday. Gavin Roberts, Australia (Feb 98)

We flew Laotian Airways and got the tickets from Saigon (93A Pasteur Street). We were able to fly Hanoi-Vientiane-Saigon. The Lao Aviation office in Saigon only accepts cash for the tickets, which are manually issued. The trick, when flying Laotian Airlines, is to confirm your flights religiously a few days (even a week) before departure. You have to go to a Lao Airlines office to do this. We saw credit card signs in the window of the Hanoi Laotian Airlines office. Credit cards are definitely accepted in Vientiane, even for domestic flights. The international flights are on new planes. The domestic flights are still on aging Russian or Chinese propeller planes. But we have no complaints re: the Vientiane-Luang Prabang flight. The views are spectacular. The Luang Prabang airport has a new control tower. Heather Merriam (Jan 98)

Scams & Warnings Floating down the river on pick-up truck inner tubes, Vang Vieng: I feel that fellow travellers should be warned of the dangers that exist on the five hour trip (they give you a choice of a two or five hour trip). The problem arises at the steep rapids, easily recognisable by the trees across the river. It is important to keep to the right of the rapids and to go under the tree trunk to the right. This will see you safely shoot the rapids. The danger spot is the tree to the left of the rapids. A German was seriously injured at this section on the day we went, and we heard that an English guy had been killed two weeks earlier. Michael Montague, UK (Jan 00)

There seem to be a lot of opium dens in Vang Vieng. It was very out in the open and I was asked several times during evening strolls by young Lao men if I wanted to try it. I also heard, though am unable to confirm, that there was a raid by the Lao authorities in late November and that many 'falang' were taken to Vientiane. Don't let this happen to you! Chris Langford, USA (Dec 99)

While visiting Vang Vieng (November 1999) the local 'police', which consisted of a dozen men of which only one was armed with an automatic weapon, raided, photographed and confiscated the passports of 18 tourists caught in three of the town's opium dens. They were threatened with three to 10 years in prison, a fine from US$70 to $700 and relocation to Vientiane. After three uncertain passportless days of negotiations, they paid a fine of around $30 and were told to leave the country. All the while being threatened to be made an example of for being caught inside one of these 'black spots'. During the whole ordeal the opium dens never closed and certain people who had been nicked in a certain den were offered opium the very next afternoon by the same establishment. It is all a scam by the local police to pad their own pockets. M LaPalme (Dec 99)

The Australian Embassy has been advised of a number of arrests, particularly in Vang Vieng, of travellers entering opium dens unintentionally or unwittingly. Several arrests have been made on charges of 'an intention to commit an illegal act' (ie smoking opium). Payment of a fine ranging between US$50 and US$500 has been sought to finalise the matter.

It is forbidden for foreigners to co-habitate with Lao nationals without official consent. Under Lao law, intimate relations are not permitted between foreigners and Lao citizens unless permission has been obtained from the relevant Lao authorities and the relationship declared to local officials. The penalty for foreigners infringing the Prime Minister's Decree is a fine ranging between US$500 and US$5000 and the possibility of imprisonment. Lao citizens may also face a fine and imprisonment. The Australian Embassy is aware of several recent cases where this law and its penalties have been enforced. Louise Waugh, Consul at the Australian Embassy in Vientiane (Dec 99)

A popular activity in Vang Vieng is tubing, where you sit in a large inner tube and are taken down the Nam Song river by the waters currents. A group of 7 of us set off down the river, however the strong currents separated us and we all arrived at the end point at different times, apart from one friend who could not swim. His body was found 5 days later. Please beware of the strength of the currents and do not go tubing unless you are a competent swimmer. Additionally, if travelling in groups tie the tubes together with ropes or insist on being accompanied by a Lao guide. Siobhan Kane, United Kingdom (Nov 99)

When taking a trip to the local caves in Vang Vieng beware of a guide who takes tourists to the caves. On arrival the group is told that packs cannot be taken inside, however the guide offers to stay by the gear while everyone explores the cave. Once inside he selects one pack and thoroughly loots it. When discovered he appears distraught and claims it has never happened before. He offers to pay for the stolen goods but as such a poor man he is unable to do so. This happened to several people in the few days I stayed there. Don Dunlop, Canada (Sept 99)

Speedboat drivers (from Pak Tha to Pak Beng) tried to scam us by dropping us off part of the way to join another boat (a common practice), collecting the full fare and then not telling the next driver that we had paid for the whole way. The next driver asked for the same fare again, doubling the price. Pay at the end or get the fare in writing with the drivers ID. David Zetland (Sept 99)

Weather: although poor air quality in Luang Prabang is mentioned in the guide, I dont think it really conveyed just how awful the pollution is throughout the whole of northern Laos (and Thailand, for that matter). We hardly say a clear day in two months. In Mae Hong Son (Thailand), people were hospitalised as a result of smoke from forest fires and most flights were suspended. In Pai (Thailand) we could hardly see across the river. Lots of people had coughs and colds. Luang Prabang was the worst of all, perpetually enveloped in a choking smog. Obviously, slash and burn agriculture is the main culprit but everyone is responsible: all around, private citizens are busy burning leaves and other rubbish. Vientiane has its own variant - clouds of dust from road works plus car fumes. The sun disappears around 4 pm in a miasma of smog and dust. P Dunsmore, UK (Jun 99)

Mekong River speedboats: during early March there were two separate accidents involving some six fatalities in the Pak Beng area. The drivers sit low in the water of these thin hulled six seater boats and so are unable to read the surface for hidden rocks and even floating debris, both of which can cause the hulls to twist around their long-tail axes and capsize. Mr & Mrs K Ansell, UK (Jun 99)

Be careful with the bus from Luang Prabang to Vientiane. Our bags were on the roof and someone succeeded in stealing a Sony mini-discman and a money belt from one of our backpacks (the one without padlocks). Be aware that the police will only make a police report if you can show them the receipts for the stolen goods, something you wouldnt normally bring with you. Its also a problem if your name isnt written on the receipt, but if there is a serial number, that might help (it helped in our case). Ebbe (Jun 99)

Travellers to Laos should be advised against taking a speedboat on the Mekong. On 18 January my wife and I were in a speedboat that hit a wave and broke in two a short distance south of Pakbeng. Fortunately all on board survived with some minor injuries and shock. We had many of our possessions ruined as a result of immersion. Philip Roberts, Australia (Feb 99)

While travelling up the Mekhong by speed boat from Luang Prabang to Pak Beng, the boat hit a 'standing wave' at 50km an hour and snapped in half. Later we heard that six months ago there was a head on collision between two of these boats, killing five people. I advise travellers to avoid these boats. Philip Roberts, Australia (Feb 99)

The safety situation in Laos seems to have improved. However, I heard about a bus in the south of the country that had been stopped by Khmer Rouge bandits from Cambodia who robbed everyone of their belongings. Johannes van der Heide, The Netherlands (Nov 98)

In Vang Vieng a Frenchman who is running a restaurant there told us about an incident on route 13 near Kasi where eight expatriates were shot dead and robbed. One of the foreigners had carried a large amount of money. They had been travelling in a mini-van driven by a Lao who was left unharmed. Additionally, the popular rafting on tubes on the local river seems to be quite risky. The Frenchman told about several deadly accidents. He believed that the Laotian government had successfully kept the incidents out of the media to avoid negative impacts on tourism. I wonder why the killing and the accidents have not become public via tourists or other foreigners? Walter Endl, Austria (Aug 98)

I was lucky enough to have some spare days up my sleeve at Phonsavan. It's quite a muddle there. Route 7 west of Phonsavan is off limits. The authorities refuse to allow people to board vehicles going through there. Monsoon season marks the beginning of bandit/rebel activity there. People are getting killed. This information comes from a man working with the Bomb Advisory Group. He's been in the region for three years. He is also adamant that visitors should not buy any war relics as this encourages local people, especially children, to dig up and handle live cluster bombs, bomblets, grenades, etc despite their educational campaign. I guess the idea of extra money outweighs other concerns. The cluster bombs are sold as war relics, while the bomblets are turned into kerosene candles. The grenades become cigarette lighters.

Also, visiting the Plain of Jars sites individually is definitely not allowed. A Danish friend was arrested at a checkpoint after hiring a tuk-tuk to take her out there. She was detained for several hours at the police station before 'donating' 5000 kip in return for her release. The official line is that only sanctioned tour groups can go to protect visitors. Aaron Mowe, Australia (Aug 98)

Scam in Vang Vieng, near Vientiane, at Tham Xang Cave, approximately 15km north of Vang Vieng: we had 1,000,000 kip in baht and dollars stolen from us here! This is how the scam goes: you meet this friendly guy who takes you to the other side of the river then guides you through these nice rice fields, straight into this really magnificent cave. He guides you really deep into the cave. At the last part you have to swim through these very cool tiny flooded passages until the way is blocked by a huge limestone rock. Of course, you leave your stuff on a rock before you start swimming. On the way back, you pick up your stuff, which still looks the same as before. You get out of the cave, pay the man 7000 kip and give him a bonus as you are really amazed at the wonderful trip. But what really happens is that while you are swimming, a second man enters the cave and goes through your stuff, taking out most of the cash and bails out before you come back. Raf Aerts & Eva November, Belgium (Jul 98)

After two incidents in Vang Vieng, a popular tourist attraction three hours north of Vientiane, and with the possibility that more will occur in the future, I feel that travellers to the region, particularly women travelling alone, need to be warned. The incidents in question involved the attempted rape and successful robbery of a Canadian woman and a rape of a New Zealand woman by three young men. Both attacks happened across the river from the town of Vang Vieng, one in the early afternoon and one after sunset. Travellers to this area should be aware of these attacks and not walk unaccompanied by the river, nor should they be in this area after dark. The men involved still haven't been caught. Melissa Brown - Consular Assistant, Department of Foreign Affairs & Trade, Australia (17 June 98)

Hotel theft seems to be on the rise. I met several travellers who had had things stolen from their locked hotel rooms. I stayed at a guest house in Nong Khiaw and had money and a camera stolen from my locked room. In this case, the thief could only have come in through the front door: there was no sign of disturbance and the lock had not been broken. According to the Nong Khiaw police, this had happened at least five times in this particular guesthouse. Joanne Durham, Laos (Jun 98)



In Vientiane, watch out for broken street paving over the sewers - at night you could easily have a nasty accident - instant infection guaranteed! Chris Jules & Jean Bennett, Australia (Mar 98)

We met an English trio (one a Lao speaker) at Pakbeng who had an unfortunate experience. They were travelling north up the river and had caught a slow boat. They advised that when they had travelled about an hour from Luang Prabang the driver stopped the boat in the middle of the river and demanded more money. They had no option but to pay. In addition it took them one and a half days to travel from Luang Prabang to Pakbeng. They apparently made an unscheduled stop at a small village on the way and stayed there for the night. Stephen Yates, Australia (Sep 97)

Gems, Highlights & Attractions Shortly after arriving in Vientiane, we discovered that we had left all our photographic equipment in our hotel room back in Luang Prabang. We called the guesthouse and not only were the owners honest, saying that they'd found it (it was expensive stuff), but they said they'd send it on a plane with somebody that was coming to Vientiane! The day after we were at the airport waiting and an old lady with a little girl stepped off the plane and gave us our cameras with a big smile. Diana (Feb 00)

We were awe-struck by Wat Ong Teu, in Vientiane, where the scale and beauty of the large Buddha image was stunning. It was especially satisfying to see that Wat Ong Teu is still used for worship and a Buddhist school. We were approached by a senior monk who gladly explained the importance of the Wat and big Buddha to the rest of the area including North East Thailand. There was no admission charge and the Wat was not over-run by Thai tourists such as Haw Pha Kaew. Terry Williams, USA (Dec 99)

In Vientiane, a great new massage place has just opened. It is run by blind masseurs who have been trained in traditiona

Anyone stopping in Huay Xai should check out Vat Keo Phonsavan Thanarom, and not just because there is little else to see here. The paintings on the outside depict the Buddhist equivalent of Hell (at least thats the best explanation I could get since I dont speak Lao), and are particularly graphic. People, naked and bound, are having their heads sawn off, molten metal poured down their throats and suffering various other methods of extreme torture. I saw similar paintings in a few other spots in Laos but none this interesting. To get there, head south of town for a few kilometres, past the Telecom tower, to the school. From here you can see the steps leading up the hill to the wat, though the wat itself is not visible.

The truck ride between Huay Xai and Luang Nam Tha was a highlight of my trip. Almost no logging has taken place here so the valleys were incredibly beautiful, even more so than the slow boat ride on the Mekong to Luang Prabang. A village in the middle has a guest house, though I regrettably did not stop there.

Another highlight of my time in Laos was seeing the dolphins around Si Phan Don. We were out on the water between 1 and 2 pm and we saw them passing by our boat so often I simply couldnt keep count of how many times the pod surfaced. The people we got the boat from told us they can be seen any time of the day so anyone who wants to see them should go for it. Although its easiest from Don Det, you can see the dolphins even if you are staying in Muang Khong. Pons arranges tours aimed specifically for the dolphins, but these are expensive. We took one of the standard waterfall tours (available from several places). Tim Bewer, USA (Apr 99)

Laos now has a well developed rock climbing area. We (a team of six professional rock climbers) just retuned after spending a month developing an area near Luang Prabang. Sport climbing has become very popular in recent years and now hundreds of climbers flock to Rai Ley Beach in Thailand to climb each year. The area that we developed is across the Mekong river from the very famous Pak Ou caves. The small village of Ban Pak Ou serves as a base and the locals are ready to show any visiting climbers the routes for a small fee. The area should only be visited by experienced rock climbers and has routes for all levels, although most of the routes are in the 5.11 to 5.12 range (US grading system). There are over 20 bolted routes on great rock, and it is well worth a visit if you are in the area. Please be respectful towards the local villagers and ask permission to climb. From Luang Prabang it is a one hour boat ride up to the cliff which is located where the Nam Ou river merges with the Mekong. Will Hair, USA (Feb 99)

Sitting at the riverside next to Namsong (excellent places to stay for an average price of US$16 per room), travellers and locals can enjoy a great show: thousands and thousands of bats fly out of the Kars mountains in the most fascinating formations. While enjoying the sunset, it is great to see dark clouds of bats flying by for their nightly hunt. Be there, or be square at 5.55 pm in Jan! Michel Zuidgeest, France (Jan 99)

A sight not to be missed is the early morning walk around the town by the monks in Luang Prabang. The locals come out at around 5.30 am with pots of rice and spoon it into the bowls of the passing monks. It is well worth stumbling out of bed for this event. Kate Swinburn & Carlos Rodriguez, Australia (Dec 98)

The Info and Culture Division on the main road now houses the Heritage House Office; a building unique in architectural style. It is worth taking a peak inside to see the mapping, architectural sketching and classification being done in Luang Prabang as a whole, since the city is now a World Heritage City.

It is also interesting to visit the Hmong ladies sewing and appliqueing on the corner of Thanon Kitsalat and Thanon Phothisalat every day from about 7 am to 6 pm. At dusk, the area turns into an arena for various gambling stalls - you can try your luck at darts, ball tosses or spinning a fish pointer for a 100 kip bet. The Red Cross is offering a sauna for about 5000 kip per person as well as massage for 8000 kip per hour. Teresa Sobieszczyk, USA (May 98)

You can experience a Lao herbal steam bath through the Red Cross. You will see signs everywhere in town (Luang Prabang), inviting you to this steam bath, which is probably the only one in town. What's interesting is the Laotian-falang mixture you find crammed together in the steam cubicles (one for men and one for women of course) - truly a communal and enjoyable experience. Massage is available as well. Heather Merriam (Jan 98)

M Michelle L Groleau, USA (Oct 97)

Yarns, Fables & Anecdotes Muang Khong to Pakse by bus, after the fifth breakdown: my fellow passengers who were all locals, and I, sat by the roadside for half an hour until another bus came along. It was full so they crammed the women inside and the men had to climb onto the roof. With me on the roof were eleven other men, two spare wheels, sacks of rice (one of which I was perched on), lots of loose coconuts, several large baskets (one containing live chickens and ducks) and one trussed live pig. Apparently travelling on the roof was illegal as every time we approached a police post, we twelve had to climb down and hang onto the back until we had passed the police. David Boyall, Australia (Apr 99)

We hitched in a truck carrying cement as part of a three-truck convoy (the bus was unbelievably crowded). Sitting in the cab, listening to Thai pop, we thought we were pretty clever especially compared to those jammed (literally) into the bus. Things soon changed. It is impossible to describe just how slow this truck went through the mountain roads. At times, I could have got down out of the cab, run ahead, gone to the toilet and re-boarded when the truck caught up. During one of the countless stops I decided to investigate the painfulness of my seat. Under the cushion I found an AR 15 machine gun. Different trucks in the convoy broke down at different times, and on each occasion all three vehicles stopped to wait. As a result, the 200km trip took 11 hours (on a sealed road!), and we arrived in Luang Prabang well after dark. Our driver was a very nice fellow, but he still tried to stiff us for 35,000 kip each (the bus, however uncomfortable, at least covered the distance in eight hours, and only cost 30,000). Josh Wilson, Australia (Aug 98)

Laos News
 Last Updated: 27 October 2000 Still Current at: 27 October 2000 MOST VISITS TO LAOS ARE TROUBLE-FREE BUT SECURITY INCIDENTS HAVE TAKEN PLACE. SAFETY AND SECURITY Visitors should be vigilant and aware of personal security at all times. A number of security incidents including bombings, have taken place throughout Laos since March. In early July there was an armed attack on a Lao border post in Champasak Province. Visitors should exercise caution in areas where large numbers of people gather.

There is no curfew in Vientiane but visitors should be aware that people travelling in the city after 2300 may be stopped by the police and asked to show ID papers before being allowed to travel on. Travellers should comply with requests to stop at checkpoints and roadblocks. There has been a significant increase in thefts and assaults involving foreigners. Avoid carrying large sums of money and be vigilant at all times.

LOCAL TRAVEL Visitors should be aware that travel in parts of Laos is dangerous. Visitors should be alert to continuing security concerns related to ethnic conflict and banditry in rural areas. Particular care should be taken when travelling by road through Xaysomboune special zone, along Route 13 north between Kasi and Luang Prabang, route 7 between Phonsavan and its westernmost terminus at Route 13, and Mouang Khoune in Xieng Khouang Province. Wherever possible travel along these routes should be in daylight hours and in a convoy.

Travel on the Mekong River by speedboat is dangerous, particularly in the dry season (Nov to Apr). It is not known whether aircraft maintenance procs on internal flts are always properly observed. Visitors planning to travel by road or river are advised to check with a travel company on arrival for an update on local conditions.

HEALTH Medical services in Laos are limited. Visitors should seek medical advice about endemic diseases before travelling.

GENERAL It is essential that travellers take out full insurance cover for medical treatment and accidents. It is also advisable to have cover for unexpected losses such as cancelled flights, stolen cash, cards, passports or luggage.

CONTACT DETAILS There is no British Consular office in Laos. In cases of emergency, British citizens should contact the Australian Embassy in Vientiane

Last Updated: 27 October 2000 Still Current at: 27 October 2000 MOST VISITS TO LAOS ARE TROUBLE-FREE BUT SECURITY INCIDENTS HAVE TAKEN PLACE. SAFETY AND SECURITY Visitors should be vigilant and aware of personal security at all times. A number of security incidents including bombings, have taken place throughout Laos since March. In early July there was an armed attack on a Lao border post in Champasak Province. Visitors should exercise caution in areas where large numbers of people gather. There is no curfew in Vientiane but visitors should be aware that people travelling in the city after 2300 may be stopped by the police and asked to show ID papers before being allowed to travel on. Travellers should comply with requests to stop at checkpoints and roadblocks.

There has been a significant increase in thefts and assaults involving foreigners. Avoid carrying large sums of money and be vigilant at all times. LOCAL TRAVEL Visitors should be aware that travel in parts of Laos is dangerous. Visitors should be alert to continuing security concerns related to ethnic conflict and banditry in rural areas. Particular care should be taken when travelling by road through Xaysomboune special zone, along Route 13 north between Kasi and Luang Prabang, route 7 between Phonsavan and its westernmost terminus at Route 13, and Mouang Khoune in Xieng Khouang Province. Wherever possible travel along these routes should be in daylight hours and in a convoy.

Visitors should be aware of the dangers of unexploded ordnance, particularly in Xieng Khouang Province (Plain of Jars) and areas of the Lao-Vietnamese border that were formerly traversed by the Ho Chi Minh Trail. Travel on the Mekong River by speedboat is dangerous, particularly in the dry season (November to April). It is not known whether aircraft maintenance procedures on internal flights are always properly observed.

Visitors planning to travel by road or river are advised to check with a travel company on arrival for an update on local conditions.

HEALTH Medical services in Laos are limited. Visitors should seek medical advice about endemic diseases before travelling.

GENERAL It is essential that travellers take out full insurance cover for medical treatment and accidents. It is also advisable to have cover for unexpected losses such as cancelled flights, stolen cash, cards, passports or luggage.

CONTACT DETAILS There is no British Consular office in Laos. In cases of emergency, British citizens should contact the Australian Emb in VTE.

\7 river travel Mekong

River Travels in Southern Laos By Leslie Nevison I saw a "Save the Dolphins" poster in Pakse, the market town of 60,000 which is the capital of Champasak Province and the departure point for my destination of Khong Island in southern Laos. The proprietor of my guesthouse unrolled a wrinkled copy when I inquired about the conservation program based on the island, a full day's travel away. The faded photos of a mother and her calf were my first look at the Irrawaddy river dolphin, an endangered marine mammal best sighted off Khong Island during the early months of the dry season.

Reaching dolphin habitat involved traveling through the least visited part of Laos, the traditional rural south along the Mekong River that courses much of its length through Laos after leaving China. It was possible to go by land but I planned to follow the downstream flow of what the Lao call the "Mother of Waters" to the Cambodian border, stopping to explore the life she sustained because of her precious contents.

The Mekong's width expands to almost nine miles near Cambodia, its greatest breadth in its entire 3,000-mile journey from its source in the Tibetan Plateau to its mouth in the delta near Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam. It is an area the Lao call Si Phan Don or the "land of four thousand islands" for countless islands and sandbars lie submerged during the monsoon period, only to appear as the water subsides. The islands that are never under water, of which Khong is one, can support permanent populations of farmers and fishermen.

It is here that the Mekong plummets over the Korat Plateau in Southeast Asia's largest waterfall. Wider than it is higher, it is one of an almost straight line of nine waterfalls collectively known as Khong Waterfalls, a geographical feature that became the major obstacle for early explorers attempting to navigate the river from beginning to end. The cascades also prevent the upstream passage of larger fish, like the Irrawaddy dolphin.

I had first to travel to Khong Island, the largest riverine island in the south from where I could arrange a private boat to Khong. At Pakse's busy waterfront, where the Mekong and Se Don Rivers converge, motorized long-tail boats were moored four abreast. It was easy to find one going downriver, so overloaded with human and animal cargo that it was barely afloat. Not that I worried: the water level at that moment was only shoulder deep. The barefoot pilot on the prow directed the captain at the rear tiller into deeper channels with fluid hand signals. He was aided by buoys of bamboo poles and numbered concrete blocks in the water, some of which were the labor of early French surveyors. We passed the old French telephone antenna erected on the western bank. It was so ensnared by creepers and vines that it looked like a very tall tree.

In 1866, an expedition of six Frenchmen led by Francis Garnier set out from Saigon, a French colony, in a hopeful attempt to find a trade route to China's legendary riches using the Mekong. At the time, many stretches of the river including its path through southern Laos, were unexplored. Later French administrators built a railway line--the only railway ever constructed in Laos--across two islands in the Si Phan Don area, joining them by a bridge, as a way of circumventing what hindered the smooth movement of the cargo-- primarily timber--that was precious colonial revenue. Garnier discovered the cause of obstruction--that Khong Falls was impassable by boat.

Long before the French arrived, southern Laos was part of the Cambodian Angkor Empire and the Mekong one of its transportation arteries. The ruin of Wat Phu, at the top of a 70-meter high hill eight kilometers from the town of Champasak, predates their most outstanding architectural achievement, the city of Angkor, by two hundred years but is no less important. The Angkor kings believed it their spiritual homeland. Like most Khmer shrines, it faces east and should be visited at sunrise but perfect timing in travel is rare. My boat from Pakse had reached Champasak in the afternoon. As the heat of the day dissipated and the light yellowed, I rested near the main sanctuary that once housed a sacred sculpture ritually cleansed in the spring that still emerges from the mountainside, its energetic flow now contained in a grey, plastic pipe.

Frangipani trees framed my view of the vast plain that stretched to the Mekong, or what the Lao call Dok Champa, their fragrant, waxy lemon-yellow blossom the country's national flower. Two young men dragged a nylon fishnet through twin ponds at the temple entrance. Three farmers reaped the tall grasses that grew on the slope with long scythes. Earlier they had ignored me ascending the 100 uneven steps, the symbolic staircase linking heaven and earth that connect Wat Phu's three levels. If you are reasonably fit, reaching the sanctuary is not difficult, but I heeded Yoi's warning and at an image halfway up--of king or Buddha or both--I lit three sticks of incense purchased from a seller at the ticket booth. "The Lao have a saying," Yoi had said. "If your faith is not strong enough, you will not make it to the top."

Yoi Soumpholphakdy is the manager of the Sala Wat Phu, Champasak's one guesthouse. As the only guest that evening I had Yoi's undivided attention but even without it, I would have left the town with an idea of who he was--his quiet voice, careful thoughts and unhurried movements reflected Champasak's calm. Dogs didn't bark at strangers. Smiling residents leisurely cycled the community's two dusty roads. Delighted children, always a gauge of local attitude, followed me everywhere. This was rural Asia at its best, accessible still but with increasing effort, a place where you can relearn the importance of being still. I lay on my bed in my second story room, its balcony shaded by magnificent bougainvillea trees, its shutters open to the Mekong and listened to the river rushing past.

Yoi had an excellent French map of the Mekong River from Pakse to the Cambodian border. On it he showed me the village of Muang Khong, the location of a several hundred-year-old temple, its stupa crowned with crystals that direct a single beam of light on moonless nights towards Wat Phu with which it is aligned. The local people, said Yoi, are much in awe of this phenomenon. A third coordinate on the axis is the Khmer ruin of Um Muang, a contemporary of the earliest structure at Wat Phu but on the opposite side of the river. Provincial folklore maintained that the positioning of these sites was significant to the people who inhabit the hills.

Traditional keepers of elephants, they rode their animals down from their mountain homes to attend February's Wat Phu festival, one of the country's largest and oldest temple celebrations that combines Buddhist and Hindu religious rites. Yoi then conjured for me a wonderful vision, a spectacle I could have witnessed up to twenty years ago'when the elephants reached the Mekong, their mahouts urged them into the water. Scores of these majestic animals forged the forceful current of the mighty river together.

In the fourteenth century, the Lao kingdom was known as Lan Xang or the Land of One Million Elephants. For nineteenth century visitor Henri Mouhot, the man credited with discovering the Angkor ruins in Cambodia and who died from a fever in Laos, travel without elephants simply couldn't be done. He wrote of Laotian pachyderms: "Every village possesses some, several as many as fifty or a hundred. Without this intelligent animal, no communication would be possible during seven months of the year, while with his assistance, there is scarcely a place to which you are unable to penetrate." Twenty years ago, Laos estimated its elephant population at one thousand.

The dramatic image of elephants and mahouts in festival finery crossing the Mekong was too compelling. I decided to visit the district of Yoi's story but I had first to deviate inland from the river. In a rented jeep, I passed many elephants, their backs burdened with sacks of rice. Instructed by their mahouts, they paused, big ears flapping like sails, to allow the car the right of way. Through the back window, I watched the animals resume their steady tread when our cloud of dust dispersed and felt apologetic. Yoi had listed motor vehicles as a reason why elephants no longer make the pilgrimage to Wat Phu.

The headman of Phapho village seemed annoyed with me but his response was understandable. Although I was not the first to do so, my request to ride one of his elephants was presumptuous, rather like asking a stranger at home for the use of a horse in his paddock. He was inherently hospitable, however, and I was offered an elephant that bore a simple howdah of bamboo which I mounted and dismounted in the same ungraceful manner, balancing on someone's window ledge and using the elephant's head as a plank. It was a seat uncomfortable to the point of pain and large red ants ran frenetically over animal hide immune to their bite. Mine was not. Complaining was impossible'it was, after all, my idea.

Under his loosely wrapped red and white checkered headdress, my mahout had the face of a man capable of Lao dry humor: "He who walks behind an elephant," says a proverb, "although he may feel very secure, is likely to be splashed with elephant dung." He gripped a cheroot between his teeth and smiled only once, when we encountered five naked children in a stream, shining water nymphs, who howled with glee when they saw me. His voice was beautiful--soft and low. He sang little commands to his elephant, his feet in constant tickling motions behind the animal's ears. When the elephant showered himself and us with coffee-colored paddy waters, even his reprimands were melodious.

As the elephant's passenger I saw little of my transport; his feet were obscured by his girth, his trunk by his head. I was delighted with the view, however; it offered the same advantages as the upper level of a double-decker bus but was a smoother and quieter ride. From my gently rocking howdah, I saw an agricultural society of small cooperative communities where time was measured by crop cycles and wealth by their outcome. It was a mistake to envy this simplicity too much for nature is never benign'harvests fail and lives are lost to disease'but the paradox remains that the poorest may be the richest.

It is not surprising that in this unpredictable world of natural forces, rice is synonymous with life. The Lao word for breakfast means "to eat rice in the morning," dinner is "to eat rice in the evening." A good standard of living is to "live well, eat well." When I continued my journey down the Mekong from Champasak on another cargo boat, all of the Lao passengers carried with them cylindrical, lidded baskets filled with sticky rice, their dietary staple, glutinous kernels that were rolled into a ball with the fingers. This boat was even more heavily laden with people, animals and supplies; if someone changed their position on the roof, water poured in over the sides. The only way to assess the imminence of sinking was if the pilot stopped snacking from his baskets.

Because I boarded several hours downstream from Pakse, I had no choice but to sit on the prow, my seat a large chunk of ice wrapped in straw that numbed my behind while my head cooked in brilliant sunshine. It was an eight-hour milk run'we stopped at villages on alternate shores and on islands in the middle of the river, off-loading those who lived there and their varied assortment of household goods purchased in Pakse'plastic shelves, pots, rubber boots, an outboard engine, a generator. Upon disembarking, some passengers were paddled away by family members in dugout canoes to their homes hidden behind riverbank vegetation. When the boat finally reached Khong Island, it moored on its western side. All accommodation was in the town of Muang Khong located in the east. What weary travelers remained climbed into a pick-up truck with seats in the back and bumped across the island in the dark.

On Khong Island early nights followed early days, a gentle primordial schedule to which you can instinctively adjust. Generators altered that by providing electricity at night and making entertainment possible, but even so, it was quiet. I was surprised to learn that most residents owned black and white televisions that they powered from car batteries. An indication of the daily rhythm was the market behind the schoolhouse where islanders traded produce and fish catches. By seven o'clock in the morning it was over. When the market emptied, I walked to the river where the sun increased rapidly in size and splendor. Monks bathed in the shallows before their alms round, which took them past my guesthouse where I waited for them. They filed past gravely, their eyes averted except for the youngest monks, who couldn't resist meeting my gaze.

The monks studied at Wat Fang Kaew in the center of Khong, a monastery shadowed by a gigantic figure of Buddha sitting under the protective hood of a cobra. Its abbot was known for his remarkable powers cultivated after long years of meditation as a recluse. Yoi had spoken of the local tradition of hermit monks living in isolation in the rugged hills bordering the Mekong. He pointed out one such mountain near Champasak where a monk called Sa reputedly still exists in a cave, albeit at an advanced age, who can protect soldiers against death with his amulets and who can replace his body form with a burning candle. I did not meet the famous master of Khong, although I asked for him when I entered the temple grounds, my only guide a grinning teenager seeking a penpal, but to me all monks possess a special quality. It was magic enough to watch them every morning.

Yoi's patronage extended to Khong Island. He had given me a note for his cousin who manages the Auberge Sala Don Khong, arguably the best of four guesthouses for ambience because it occupies an old teak house directly across the road from the river, and for its food because of the culinary skills of its chef, Mr. Pane. On a bicycle the guesthouse provided, the most practical form of transport for the road conditions, I attempted to circle the island but was unsuccessful. It was bigger than I thought--thirty kilometers around--and there were too many diversions: old village temples; cool bamboo groves; friendly farmers in rice fields, and always the sight of the shifting colors of the river as the light varied throughout the day that gave it the appearance of changing moods. I understood when a traveler explained her difficulty leaving Khong Island after ten days.

On the wall of a simple restaurant in Khong was the dolphin poster I had first seen in Pakse. Information about the conservation project called the Environment Conservation and Community Development of the Si Phan Don Wastelands was scarce, however. Its two staff members were rumored to be in the Lao capital. Other travelers who had visited Khong Island had failed to see dolphins and warned me of unfriendly villagers, but I rented a boat for the ninety-minute trip south and departed optimistically. If nothing else, the beauty of the river would satisfy me.

Khong and Det Islands are where the French built their railway in order to bypass the waterfalls. The bridge linking the two islands spans the river near the main settlement of Ban Khong where I would spend the night. Later I would watch the dark descend from the top of its historic arches; the Mekong below dotted with fishermen in dugouts silently casting their nets. It was a five-kilometer walk to Hang Khong, a fishing village of about forty households in front of dolphin habitat, along a footpath that traced the route of the old narrow-gauge railway of which little remained. Thick bamboo forests full of butterflies shaded the trail in places, alternating with parched plots of burnt rice stubble. Little things skittered into the undergrowth as I passed.

In Hang Khong I found the wooden office of the conservation project shuttered and locked. The villagers seemed more wary of visitors than impolite. Negotiations for a boat took time. The men were repairing fishnets and traps and were reluctant to interrupt their work to take me to the tiny island in the river where I would wait in the midday heat with passionate confidence in my mission.

It wasn't an island as much as an islet of sand and rock, a mere five strides in either direction, that hid under the Mekong four months of the year. Now exposed to the sun, its surface was hard and sharp like coral. When covered by rising waters, its solitary tree was shelter for migratory fish and its leaves, fruits and insects in its roots their food. From within its protection of patchy shade, I sat within sight of two countries'Cambodia and Laos'whose villagers used the fertile silt deposited by the river's annual rise of ten meters and planted tidy subsistence crops of vegetables. From each shore I heard similar sounds of rural life, water buffalo bells, women conversing in riverine gardens and children's voices raised in play.

I heard the dolphin's abrupt exhalation of breath first. There was a fleeting movement near the Cambodian shore of slick, blue-grey skin, a ball of dolphin back rolling over the surface. I was exalted'this brief encounter was sufficient pleasure but there were more dolphin noises, closer this time. One swam purposefully around the islet, rising for air three times. It was possibly one of less than thirty dolphins remaining in the deep-water pools off Khong Island. The boatman, who waited with me, shared my excitement. Like all Khong Islanders, he believed dolphins to be reincarnated humans who have fallen to their deaths down one of the waterfalls. Their meat, therefore, is never eaten.

Dolphins are considered friends and saviors of both man and wildlife. It is said that they have rescued fishermen from drowning or from attacks by crocodiles, and that they share their food with the hungry fishing birds that follow them. Another sound reached me from Cambodia, the muffled boom of an explosion. In the past, Asian river systems such as the Mekong have supported large numbers of the dolphin Orcaella brevirostris, which matures to lengths of over two and a half meters. Several reasons for dolphin decline are cited in articles written by a conservation project staff member published in the Natural History Bulletin of the Siam Society in Bangkok.

Aerial bombing during the Indochina War killed large numbers of fish and dolphins, a devastation from which they never recovered; accidental drowning in gill-nets, death by gunshot by villagers who mistake them for predators; and death by explosives used by Cambodian fishermen. The project's policy has been to reimburse Lao fishermen the cost of the gill-net they must cut in order to free an entangled dolphin but to stop the use of explosives in Cambodian waters is difficult without Cambodian cooperation. Fashioned from landmines, the explosives are deployed during the dry season when the water level is low. Although it is prohibited in Laos, fish caught in this manner find a market there. The purchase of such fish undermines the protection the dolphins have in Laos as an endangered species.

Khong is an abbreviation of two Lao words that mean "fish waterfall." People who live there take their name from the land. Fishing is their inheritance. Drawing upon a knowledge of river ecology acquired over generations, they have developed a sophisticated system of bamboo traps to collect the fish that use passable channels for seasonal migrations both upstream and downstream. I caught up with a volunteer for the conservation program in Pakse, who described Khong Falls as the most "spectacular" wild capture riverine fishery in tropical Asia. Its future is ultimately dependent upon the ability of the Mekong to support life. River pollution above and below the falls in areas of dense human population reduces water quality. Logging of forest that is flooded during the natural cycle destroys food sources for migratory species.

Fishing is no longer a subsistence activity. Extensive trade in freshwater species is possible because of improved transportation, ice and refrigeration. Increased demand encourages the use of gill nets and explosives, both practices that contribute to over-fishing. Conservation project statistics for surveys they conducted in the early 1990s show a 20% decline in fish catches since the 1970s in Khong Falls.

Development seems inevitable. Although a proposal to build a large tourist resort near the largest of the falls, Phapheng, was rejected, other ideas like it will rise again. The waterfall is suggested as one of twelve potential sites in Laos for hydropower plants that would involve blocking important channels below the falls used by migratory fish and the fishermen who trap them. Dam turbines increase fish mortality. How to utilize its natural resources without damaging the environment is the problem that Laos must solve.

When I saw the thundering Phapheng Falls, I thought of the mural in the old Catholic Church in Pakse. Its congregation was preparing for Christmas celebrations when I wandered in. Painters were restoring a painting of Jesus floating between two waterfalls, his arms extended as though in blessing. In his 1866 diary, Francis Garnier described the falls as "grandeur that does not exclude grace." "At the foot of these waterfalls," he continued, "enormous fish similar to dolphins, frolic."

My bathroom at the Khong Island guesthouse was enormous. A waist-high clay vessel held dark, cool water and I bathed like an elephant after my return from hot Hang Khong. There were no other guests; the caretaker, Mr. Lai, was summoned to unlock the front door of the old French house. He was uneasy to find himself responsible for a single woman and pointed out his home a short distance away.

Under the same management as the Khong Island Hotel, it had a beautiful garden that faced the river, filled with banana, coconut palm and hibiscus trees, ducks, roosters, birds and bees. Water buffaloes milled about at the gate. The island was an Eden to an urban dweller like myself; it cast a spell like the Khong fishermen did their nets over the Mekong.

I was awakened at midnight by a silence so immense that I mistook it for sound. It swelled to fill every corner of the room with an intimidating presence. Then I began to identify parts of its composition: the trilling of insects, the patter of rodents on the roof, the clunk of a cowbell, the humming of the river. Had I come this distance only to hear this quiet symphony, I would consider my travels a success. Then I recognized a familiar noise. Someone was snoring softly. I peeked outside--a concerned Mr. Lai had returned to sleep on the veranda.

Getting There: By air, the only port of arrival is Wattay Airport in the Lao capital of Vientiane. There are regular flights on many Asian airlines between Vientiane and major Asian cities. Lao Aviation turboprops fly daily to Pakse in Champasak Province. The flight takes approximately 1- hours.

By land, there are daily buses between Vientiane and Pakse that take 18 hours. Road conditions range from good to very poor making this an uncomfortable way to travel. If your itinerary excludes all northern Lao destinations, you may want to consider entering southern Laos from the Thai province of Ubon Rachathani. Fly to that northeastern Thai city of the same name on one of several daily Thai Airlines flights from Bangkok and take a local bus or rented taxi too the Thai-Lao border crossing at Chong Mek, a distance of ninety kilometers. You must have a Lao visa to clear immigration here. Upon entering Laos, taxis are available for solo or shared hire. It is a forty-minute trip to Pakse that involves a short car ferry across the Mekong, a cost that should be included in your taxi fare.

Getting to Champasak and Si Phan Do: Local boats depart the Pakse waterfront for Khong Island between eight and ten a.m. These will drop you at the Champasak landing upon request. Small river ferries also travel between Pakse and Champasak throughout the day, more frequently in the morning. The last one returns to Pakse from Champasak around four p.m. Pakse to Champasak takes about two hours, Pakse to Khong Island about eight hours or longer. It is not difficult to continue downriver to Khong Island from Champasak if you wish to stop overnight and enjoy the ruins of Wat Phu at your leisure. Local boats are crowded but more comfortable and enjoyable than the dusty buses that ply Highway 13 to the Cambodian border. It is also possible to rent your own boat or organize your Mekong travels through tour agencies in Pakse. Sodetour, located by the ferry terminal, is reputable. (Tel 856-31-212725; Fax 856-31-212122).

Where to stay: Pakse: Accommodation ranges from three budget hotels with clean but basic rooms to the former residence of a Lao prince, a five-story palace called, not surprisingly, the Champasak Palace Hotel (Tel: 856-31-212263). Recommended for its central location, large rooms and attractive terraces is the medium-priced Salachampa Hotel, a restored French villa (Tel: 856-31-212273). One kilometer from the town is the new and pleasant Champa Residence used by Sodetour. All these hotels can help with connecting further travel plans.

Champasak: The Sala Wat Phu is the only guesthouse. You will find it and its informative manager, Yoi, directly across from the ferry landing. Meals are cooked in their kitchen. Bicycles are available for those energetic enough to make it the eight kilometers to the Wat Phu ruins or you can hire a small motorized vehicle. Their drivers wait at the ferry landing. Use the Sodetour number in Pakse to contact this guesthouse.

Muang Khong, Khong Island: The Auberge Sala Don Khong is used by Sodetour (Tel: 856-31-212077). It offers large, well-furnished rooms in a teak house across from the Mekong. Their terrace built over the river is a beautiful spot for watching sunrises or a peaceful one for afternoon tea. Mr. Pane's cooking is the best in town'try his fish mousse steamed in a banana leaf. Bicycles are available for guests. The hotel can arrange for a private boat for hire to Khong Island, about ninety minutes south where the conservation program is based, as well as a room in their guesthouse there.

When to go: The SW monsoon brings heavy rains around May that last into Nov. This is when the Mekong can rise ten or more meters. Immediately following the rainy season is a good time to visit. Waters have subsided, revealing the islands in the Si Phan Don area but the river level is still high enough to allow boats to make it all the way to Khong Island. The dolphins are best sighted during the first few months of the dry period.

Visas: Your passport must be valid for at least three months from the time of entry. A visa is required and the appn time varies. Contact Lao embassy.

Health: It is advisable to have your travel immunizations up-to-date and to protect yourself against malaria while in Laos. Contact the relevant health body in your country prior to travel.

\8 more traveller's tales of trips to Laos

Let's go to Laos
 Historically, Laos has had more than its fair share of war and unrest, being a victim of the French, Japanese, Vietnamese, Thais and Chinese. Throughout the country you will find many sites that have been destroyed by bombing.

Since December 1975, Laos has been officially known as Lao People's Democratic Republic. Administratively, Laos is divided into 16 provinces and 1 municipality (Vientiane).

Laos remains one of the poorest countries in the world, with a rudimentary infrastructure notably lacking modern sanitation methods. The country also suffers from many health and social problems. Laos depends on foreign aid; the present government is attempting to curtail foreign aid and encourage private enterprise.

Recently, and with some reservation, Laos opened up to tourism, and visitors discovered many fine examples of the culture of ancient Asia. The government controls tourism, allowing tourists only into certain areas and only by means of travel permits. It is attempting to maintain a tight reign on the quality of tourists by allowing people only inscribed in prepackaged tours and charging very high rates for these tours. PEOPLE AND CULTURE The people of Laos do not think of themselves as one group, but more as different tribes living in the same country. The Laotians can be divided into three main groups: the Lao Lum, the Lao Theung and the Lao Soung. The predominant feature of each group is the altitude at which it lives.

The Lao Lum live at low altitudes, around the Mekong River valleys and the ricelands. They are the main cultivators of rice within Laos. Lao Lum are mostly Buddhists with animist beliefs.

The Lao Theung live on the mid-mountain slopes and are considered a poorer group of people. The Lao Theung are an agricultural group cultivating rice, coffee and tobacco. This group is traditionally animist with a Buddhist subculture.

The Lao Soung live in the mountains at the higher altitudes. Within this group are two subcultures: Hmong and Yao. The Hmong live mainly around the Luang Prabang and Xieng Khoung mountain areas. Considered to be warrior-like and aggressive, the Hmong were recruited by the CIA to fight Communism, serving under General Vang Pao during the 60s and 70s. Many Hmong live today as refugees in the US. The Yao is a smaller group settled mostly around Nam Tha Province. Both groups hold predominantly animist beliefs, and both farm opium poppies.

The remainder of the people are Chinese, Vietnamese, Thai or Indian.

Ethnic Groups: 50% Lao, 20% tribal Thai and 30% other

Languages: Lao is the official language of Laos. French and English are also spoken.

Religion: Of the people of Laos, 80% are Buddhist and 20% hold animist and other beliefs.

LOCAL CUSTOMS

General: It is customary to dine with at least one other person. Dining alone in Laos is considered unusual.

The traditional Lao greeting is the "wai," or putting one's palms together in a prayer-like fashion. The Western style greeting, or handshake, is not uncommon.

The feet are considered to be the lowest part of a person both physically and spiritually. Do not point your feet at people, images of Buddha or other religious objects.

The highest part of a person in the spiritual and physical sense is the head. Do not touch or pat anyone on the head (even babies or children).

When visiting temples, dress modestly. Do not wear shorts or short skirts.

Buddhas and religious temples are sacred objects. Show the appropriate respect. Ask permission before taking photographs when visiting temples.

Women should not touch monks or directly hand them objects. INDUSTRY AND TRADE

Major Industries: Agriculture - crops and livestock, tin and gypsum mining, timber, electric power, agricultural processing and construction

Exports: Hydroelectricity, wood products, coffee and tin

Imports: Food, fuel, oil, consumer goods, agricultural machinery, cars and pharmaceuticals

CURRENCY

Currency in Laos is the kip. One kip = 100 at. Note denominations are: 1, 5,10, 20, 50 and 100 kip. Anything below 1 kip is usually worthless, so 1 kip coins are not seen very often. The U.S. dollar and the Thai baht are often accepted, particularly in the major cities. Please click here to connect to our interactive Currency Converter.

THINGS TO KNOW
 Population: 4,000,000
 Capital: Vientiane

Flag: The flag of Laos has three horizontal stripes - red at the top and bottom, and double-width blue in the middle. In the center of the blue band is a white disk.

Shop Hours: Stores are generally open from 9am to 5pm Monday through Saturday.

Bank Hours: Bank hours are 8am to 5pm Monday to Friday, usually with a break of about 2 hours for lunch.

Holidays: The year in Laos follows the lunar calendar; therefore, the following dates of holidays are approximate: January 6 - Pathet Lao Day January 20 - Army Day February - Chinese and Vietnamese New Year March 8 - Women's Day March 22 - People's Party Day April - Pi Mai is the celebration of the New Year May 1 - Labour Day June 1 - Children's Day August 13 - Lao Issara August 23 - Liberation Day December 2 - Independence Day Time: Time in Laos is 7 hours ahead of Grenwich Mean Time. When it is 12 noon in Vientiane. it is 1pm in Taiwan, 2pm in Seoul, 3pm in Sydney and Melbourne.

Tipping: It is not customary to tip in Laos.

USEFUL PHRASES

Greeting - Sa-bai-dii How are you? - Sa-bai-dii baw My name is . . . - Khawy seu . . . I come from . . . - Khawy maa tae Where is . . . - Yuu sai Can you speak Lao? - Jao paak phaa-saa lao dai baw no - baw I don't understand - Baw khao jai

CLIMATE & GEOGRAPHY

WEATHER CONDITIONS Typical of mainland Southeast Asia, the weather in Laos is tropical monsoonal. There are two general seasons in Laos: wet from May to November, and dry from December through April. Temperature and rainfall vary according to altitude and region.

GEOGRAPHY

Square Miles: 92,320 square miles (230,800 sq. km)

Borders: Myanmar (Burma) 141 miles (235km), Cambodia 325 miles (541km), China 254 miles (423km), Thailand 1052 miles (1,754km), Vietnam 1278 miles (2,130km).

Coastline: None

Terrain: Laos is a landlocked country with about 75% of its area covered by rugged mountains. Thus, the Mekong River and its tributaries are very important to travel, agriculture, fishing and communication. The major cities of Laos are located on the banks of the Mekong. The upper-mid section is the Xieng Khoung Plateau, home to the Plain of Jars. More than half the country is covered in forest, while a fraction (approximately 5%) is arable land. SIGHTS

Plain of Jars A large area located about 7 miles (11 km) outside Phonsawan. This area is scattered with a few hundred large stone jars. There is no conclusive evidence as to how and why the jars originated. Located outside Phonsawan

That Dam Home to the legendary seven-headed dragon that helped protect the city from the Thai invaders. Vientiane

That Luang This is Vientiane's most important site. Known as the "Great Sacred Stupa," this temple was built in 1566 by King Settathirath. It is beleived that this stupa was erected over the site of a previous stupa that was built by missionaries from India, possibly as long ago as the 3rd century BC. Thanon That Luang, Vientiane

Wat Sisaket Having survived the destruction of the Siamese (Thais) in 1828, this is the oldest temple still standing in Vientiane. The temple was built in 1818 during the reign of King Anou. The main area of the temple is known as a "sim." Within this sim are over 2000 statues standing in small niches in the wall. Corner of Thanon Lane Xang and Thanon Settathirat, Vientiane

Wat Chan Previously destroyed, this sim (or main area of a temple) has now been reconstructed. In front of the sim is the one remaining image of Buddha in the "Calling for Rain" pose. Fa Ngum, Vientiane

Wat May One of Luang Prabang's greatest buildings, this temple features a five-tiered roof, and its facade of gold relief recalls a local legend. Phothisarath, Luang Prabang

Wat Simuang Built in 1915, this temple is centered around the Lak Muang, the foundation pillar of the city. In front of the altar is a Buddha said to have magical powers. Vientiane

Wat Xieng Thong This is Luang Prabang's most magnificent temple, constructed in 1560 by King Setthathirat. It remained a place of royal patronage until 1975. It is built in classical Luang Prabang style with its low sweeping roof. Set back from Phothisarath toward the Mekong, Luang Prabang

PARKS

Buddha Garden This park was built in the 1950s by Luang Pu, a priest who combined Buddhist and Hindu philosophies. Within the garden are concrete Hindu and Buddhist sculptures. The only building within the grounds is a three-level structure containing smaller sculptures. Located about 25 kilometers (15.5mi) outside Vientiane

MUSEUMS

Wat Pha Keo This former temple is now a museum. It was built in 1565 by King Settathirat as the repository of the emerald Buddha, which is now in Bangkok, and as his own place of personal worship. Some great examples of Laotian art are on display here. Thanon Setthathirat, Vientiane

National Museum A former royal palace built for King Sisavang Vong in 1904, it has since been converted to a museum. Visits must be arranged by Lao Tourism. Phothisarath, Luang Prabang

SPORTS If you are staying at the Lane Xang Hotel in Vientiane, you can take a swim in their pool. There is a pool at the Australian Club, Thadeua Road Vientiane, but is only open to members. Bicycles can be rented at various hotels in Vientiane.

ACCOMMODATIONS

Hotels: It is likely that when visiting Laos you will already be booked into hotel accommodations (probably included in your package tour). The hotels in Laos, although not up to Western standards, are usually pleasant, and many have air-conditioning and a restaurant. Although there are plans to build new hotels, currently there are not many hotels in Laos. Some hotels require payment in U.S. dollars.

DINING AND DRINKING The prime ingredients in Laotian traditional foods are fish (mostly freshwater from the Mekong), chicken, duck and beef. The flavorings used for dishes usually are fish paste, lemongrass, corriander, ginger and lime, somewhat reminiscent of Thai food. The history of French rule has left its impact on the Laotian cuisine. Don't be surprised to find French breads and pastries at restaurants and stalls around town. You will also find restaurants of other national cuisine: Thai, French, Chinese, Vietnamese or Indian.

Laos does have its own brewery. They produce a basic beer and another upmarket variety called 33 Export. Imported beers are available; the most popular is Heineken, brewed under license in Singapore. Rice wine is called Lao Lao and literally means Lao alcohol.

ENTERTAINMENT There are a few places around town where movies are played. American, Indian and Chinese films are among those shown. Other than going to the movies, activities include dancing at the discos located in some hotels and restaurants. The music may be live or recorded Western/Thai music. Drinking in bars is best done at the major hotels.

EMERGENCY NUMBERS Police: 3590 (Vientaine) Fire and Ambulance: 3590 (Vientaine)

DIALING CODES International Telephone Access: International Telephone Office at the GPO Lane Xang, Vientiane.
 Country Code: 856
 City Codes: There are no city codes in Laos.

VISITORS INFORMATION
 Lao Tourism Settathirath/Pang Kham Vientiane 3134
 For travel to the country, contact a Lao government office for a list of approved travel agents.
 LPDR Consular Office 40 Quang Trung Street Hanoi Vietnam
 Laos Embassy 1 Dalman Crescent O'Malley ACT Australia
 Laos Embassy 2222 S St. NW Washington DC USA
 Laos Embassy 3-21, 3-Chome Nishi Azabu Minato-ku, Tokyo Japan

EMBASSIES

In Vientiane:
 Australia Thanon Phonxai Noi 2477
 China Thanon That Luand 3236
 France Thanon Setthatirat Setthatirat 2642
 Japan Thanon Dong Si Sun Wun 2584
 Malaysia Thanon That Luang 2662
 USA Thanon Bartolini 3570 or 2357
 Vietnam Thanam That Luang 5578 PASSPORTS AND VISAS To enter Laos, you need a valid passport and a visa. Tourist visas are normally issued only to those prospective visitors prebooked on package tours. Tours are only offered from agencies registered with Lao Tourism. After arriving in Laos, you must report to Immigration to have your visa validated. If you would like to travel outside Vientiane, you will need a permit for each destination. If you are visiting this country you will most certainly be booked on a tour, and the organizers will have the necessary visas and permits (it is best to check in advance). This situation is changeable, so be sure that you receive correct, up-to-date details from your travel agent and/or the Laos Embassy.

CUSTOMS REGULATIONS Duty-Free Items: The following items may be brought duty-free into the country: 500 cigarettes, 2 bottles of wine and one bottle of liquor. There are restrictions on items allowed to leave the country. Check details with local authorities or your travel agent.

TRAVEL TO THE COUNTRY

Airports The only legal port for entering Laos by air is Wattay airport in Vientiane. Wattay airport is located about 2 miles (3km) outside of the town center.

Airlines Lao Aviation in Thailand, Vietnam, and Cambodia:
 Thailand: 02-2333810 Hanoi: 53842 Phnom Penh: 25877
 Travel Restrictions While traveling in Laos, a travel pass is required for each destination. Once you have these passes, you may travel by any method. If you do not have the correct travel permit, you risk being deported.

Air Internal air routes are handled by Lao Aviation. It is most likely that Lao Tourism will have booked flights for you if you are on a tour. Holders of travel permits, however, may be able to purchase plane tickets. Lao Aviation has a small fleet of Russian and Chinese aircraft, which are regularly grounded due to lack of spare parts. The service is also notorious for its unreliability.

Cars Traveling through the country by road is not a good choice. The country is extremely mountainous, and the road conditions are very poor. It is possible to hire jeeps. Arrangements are made through the tourist office.

Trains There are no railroads within the country.

Buses It is possible to travel around by bus, although this may not be a wise choice. There are bus routes mainly within prefectures. Between provinces, however, services are mostly nonexistent due to bad conditions. The road system within Laos is underdeveloped and mostly unpaved and unsealed. The buses and trucks are run-down and uncomfortable.

Ships and Ferries There are river boat services along the Mekong River. The river is navigable year round between Luang Prabang and Savannakhet. For information on these and other ship and ferry services, contact:
 Lao Tourism Settathirath/Pang Kham Vientiane 3134


Laos shares 1324mi east border with Vietnam. Its western border with Thailand is mostly the Mekong River. Cambodia is on the south and a fuzzy border with Burma and China on the north. Gained sovereignty from France in 1953.

Laos unveiled plans for a rail link between it and Thailand. Construction to begin mid 1999. At a cost of US$ 33 million, the track will cover the 14km from Vientiane to the Friendship Bridge that connects Laos to Thailand. Also under construction is a track between Vientiane, Luang Phrabang, and Boten.

Internet Travel Guide
 Laos is not too well known among tourists, but this is one of the attractions of this quiet country. Vientiane, capital of Laos, has a wonderfully relaxed atmosphere. Many temples are home to numerours monks, all of them friendly and eager to learn. Luang Phabang, Laos' old royal capital, is a UNESCO world heritage site and has some of the most beautiful temples in the world.
 Last change 17 May 2000 Peter M. Geiser

 ** FLYING International Flights Vientiane is connected with numerous foreign cities, such as Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Pnomh Penh, Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore.

International departure tax is USD 10. Domestic airport tax is LAK 1000.

Domestic Flights Flying in Laos is easy and relatively cheap. Inquire at Lao Aviation, just opposite Raintree Bookstore in Vientiane. Lao Aviation uses Chinese Y-7 and Y-12 and French ATR-42.

The flight between Vientiane and Luang Phabang lasts 40 minutes. There are three flights per day.

There is a flight between Vientiane and the Plain of Jars (Xieng Khouang). It leaves at least every second day.

Prices from Vientiane to Attapeu USD 130 Huay Xai USD 88 Luang Namtha USD 80 Luang Phabang USD 55 Pakse USD 95 Phongsaly USD 87 Sam Neua USD 70 Saravan USD 91 Savannakhet USD 61 Tha Khaek USD 57 Udomxai USD 71 Xieng Khuang USD 35

Prices from Luang Phabang to Huay Xai USD 46 Luang Namtha USD 37 Phongsaly USD 46 Sam Neua USD 47 Udomxai USD 28 Xieng Khuang USD 35

Prices from Pakse to Attapeu USD 26 Khong Island USD 29 Lasko USD 78 Saravan USD 33 Savannakhet USD 44

Prices from Nantha to Huay Xai USD 37

Prices from Savannakhet to Laksao USD 44

 ** BOAT An easy way to get from Vientiane to Savannakhet is by boat. However, this depends very much on the season. I was there in September, and I could use it. But in December already the trip was not possible anymore.

The boat leaves twice a week (normally Tuesday and Friday, but this sometimes change. Ask at Lao Tourism) at 5 am. Since the boat leaves about 4 km south of the center of Vientiane, I boarded the ship the previous evening. There are two decks, one is 'inside' (all windows and doors are open or rather nonexistent anymore) with some benches and no space, the other is the upper deck with only the steel floor to sit upon. Laotians bring big sheets of plasic with them to sit and lay upon. Bring enough to drink, since you cannot buy water on the ship. It was possible to buy some food (rice, eggs, some vegetables), but to be sure bring some food with you.

The fare is LAK 5150. The boat stopped around 7pm for the night. There was a hotel just next to the harbor with double rooms for USD 12, with private bath (yes, bath and hot water) and toilette. There are also some restaurants around. We started the next day at 6am and arrived shortly after 10am in Savannakhet.

There are boats between Vientiane and Luang Phabang, but I decided not to take it, since it took three days downstreem and much longer upstream. Depending on the season it may not even be possible to make the trip at all.

The most beautiful part of the Mekong river is supposed to be the part from Luang Phabang upstream, but I don't know if the sight alone is worth all the trouble and the long time.

There is a speedboat from Huay Xai to Luang Phabang which takes only 5 - 6 hours. The fare is LAK 24000 or THB 3000. The boats leave in Luang Phabang from a special jetty some 4 km outside the town beyond the airport. There is also a cargo boats that is slower with two to three days and costs only LAK 7000 (?). The price from Luang Phabang to Huay Xai is LAK 30000 per person, or 100000 for the whole boat.

The boat from Pakse to Ban Muang Sen - Nua costs LAK 5000. The boat leaves around 9 am and the journey takes all day.

(Anna, Jan 96) The boat from Pakse to Muang Saen on Don Khong leaves at 8am from the riverbank (near to where the ferry boat docks). Cost: LAK 2000, and worth every LAK. Arrive at 7am to claim a space on the floor. Bring enough food and water for 24 hours and a mosquito net as the boat will stop when darkness falls. You will stay on the boat overnight, or possibly in a nearby house. The motorbike ride from Muang Saen to Muang Khong is LAK 1500.

 ** BUS Road conditions are bad, with unpaved, dusty streets. During the rainy season the roads are often flooded or washed away so that transportation is not possible. During travels, the savest thing to do in a bus is to hold on to your seat, so as not to bump your head at the top, or to bounce on your feet and use your legs as natural springs, since the bus does have none at all.

Normally busses seem to leave major towns at around 5am, but there are many exceptions, so better check.

Overland travel from Vientiane to Luang Phabang is possible but still not a safe undertaking. The bus from Vientiane to Vang Vieng departs early in the morning (6:30 am) from the Morning Market or the Evening Market and takes about 4 hours on the good road. To Luang Phabang it should take 10 hours, but it may also take 17! There are daily busses (or trucks) from there to Kasi. The bus from Luang Phabang to Vientiane leaves at 9:30 am and should arrive around 3 am (!) in Vientiane. It costs LAK 10500.

Although there are many soldiers around, sometimes evern accompanying the bus, the road is not safe, especiaaly the 40 km after Kasi. In December 1994, four local UN drug prevention officers were shot on this road and just about ten days earlier, six Vietnamese were killed north of Kasi! In autumn 1995 three foreigners were killed. On 11 September 1996, a French travel agent and four Laotian men were killed when their minibus was ambushed some 120 km (75 miles) north of Vientiane.

The trip from Lung Namtha to Luang Phabang costs LAK 11500 and takes some 12 hours. You will have to change in Muang Xai.

If you arrive in Savannakhet by bus and intend to go to Pakse, there is a bus the same day around 12 am. To be sure you don't miss it, take a TukTuk to the bus station. As soon as it is full it'll leave.

The bus from Savannakhet to Pakse costs LAK 2500. It takes about 8 to 9 hours.

The bus from Pakse to Champasak costs LAK 600 (including the ferry costing LAK 100). It leaves every couple of hours (we left shortly before 10 am). There is no bus back from Champasak to Pakse in the afternoon. You'll probably have to spend the night in Champasak. I was lucky to get a ride back to Pakse in a private Toyota pickup.

The bus from Don Khong to Pakse leaves at 8 am, takes about 4 to 5 hours and costs LAK 4000.

(Anna, Jan 96) Bus from Pakse bus station to Tadlo Resort/Saravan left at 8am when full (Timetable: 7am and 10am). Surprisingly, there is an excellent road from Pakse to Saravan. 3.5 hours to Tadlo, then 40 min to Saravan.

(Anna, Jan 96) The road from Saravan to Muang Phin (Highway 23) is unusable as an important bridge is missing. Purportedly, there is a bus from Saravan to Muang Phin via Xeno leaving every day at 4am.

(Anna, Jan 96) Bus from Saravan to Khong Sedon at 7am and 10am each day. 3.5 hours. If you get off at the T junction 10km before Khong Sedon you _may_ have a chance to catch the Savannaket bus. We missed it so hitched instead.

The bus from Pakse to Savannekhet costs LAK 5000. It was supposed to leave at 5 am. Lucky enough I was at the bus terminal at 4:30 am. I was able to get the last place. Five minutes later the bus left, slowly driving towards the center, but at 4:45 am it turned right to cross the bridge to leave the town. If I'd been at the terminal at 5 am I'd missed the bus! Two other travellers were told that the bus was leaving at 4 am, but since this was not true, they had to wait until 8 am!

From Savanaketh there are direct busses to Vietnam. Some fares are:

Hue  LAK 18000 Da Nang LAK 22000

I wanted to go to Hue. There was one bus for all people going to Vietnam. We were supposed to leave at 3 am, but were 15 minutes late. We should have arrived at 1 pm in Hue. Unfortunately the driver began to sleep and at 4 am the bus left the street to tumble down a small board and finally flip oevr. Luckily nobody was seriously hurt. Around seven o'clock the regular bus came and three Vietnamese and me got on (I don't know what happened to the others or what they were waiting for.)

Around 2 pm we arrived at the border to Vietnam, where there was no problem crossing the border.

Under normal circumstances, the bus from Savannakhet to the border at Lao Bao passes Muang Phin at 7.30 am.

 ** Roads Very few streets in Laos are paved. They are made directly from the red earth and contain many holes. It is safe to hold on to your seat so that you don't bump your head at the roof. Of course the earth turns to very fine red dust. You will have the dust everywhere, on your clothes, in your clothes, even between your teeth. You will easily get used to it, and it certainly helps to remind you to drink a lot. In the evening you'll get a shower and since laundry service is available in every hotel and for reasonable prices, you can change your clothing every day.

 ** CLIMATE In Laos the dry season lasts from November to April. The other half of the year is the rainy monsoon season.
 ** EVENTS In Laos most festival are still celebrated on dates determined by the lunar calendar, so it is often not possible to give a fixed date in our Western calendar. In these cases I just indicated the month with the lunar event (e.g. full moon) in brackets.

1 January International New Year

13-16 April Boun Pimai, the Laotian New Year Boun Pimai, the national New Year used to be celebrated on the last day of the waning moon in the fifth lunar month, lasting as much as 14 days. Since 1975 it has been fixed to 13-16 April. Boun Pimai is celebrated most festively in Luang Phabang.

1 May International Labour Day

May (full moon) Visakha Puja celebrated on the 15th day of the 6th lunar month. On this day Buddha was born, enlightened and has passed away. At the same time Bun Bang Fai (the Rocket Festival), a pre-Buddhist ceremony is celebrated.

The Festivals of the Rain and Fasting are Buddhist festivals. They take place between the full moon of the eight and eleventh lunar month (July, and October, respectively).

At the end of the rainy season is the festival of Boun Ok Pansa. There are boatraces on the Mekong.

November (full moon) The That Luang Festival takes place at its namesake in Vientiane and lasts a week.

2 December Day of National Celebration

 ** VISA There are now three main types available:

Transit visa: valid only for transit and only for one province. Mainly used by people flying to Vientiane and crossing by land (or ferry) over to Thailand. The visa is only issued when flying.

Tourist visa: Valid for 15 days. Since April 1994 it is no longer necessary to have travel permits, so with this visa it is possible to travel freely all over Laos.

Visitor's visa: Good for four weeks, but more difficult to obtain.

Note: Although the visa has 30 days on it, these 30 days is the time you have to enter the country. At the border your tourist visa will be stamped and is valid 15 days from that day on.

Since 1 June 1997 it is possible to get a visa directly at Vientiane's International Wattay Airport and at the Friendship Bridge (the Mekong Bridge International Border Checkpoint). You will need an address reference in Laos, e.g. personal, business, official. A confirmation of your hotel reservation suffices. The visa costs USD 30 (down from USD 50).

You will have to show either a valid flight ticket out of Laos or a valid visa for your next country after Laos and a letter confirming accommodation in Laos.

It is possible to extend your visa. Officially this costs USD 2 per day, but since the officials are not very helpful, you'll most likely have to use a travel agency. They charge a bit more: USD 3 - 5 per day.

 ** EMBASSIES Thailand Embassy: Thanon Phon Kheng, Vientiane, Tel 214582, 214583, 214585 Embassy: 520, 502/1-3 Soi Ramkhamhaeng 39, Bangkapi, Bangkok, Thailand, Tel 5396667, Fax 5396678 In Bangkok, a tourist visa costs about USD 80 to 112. A transit visa costs between THB 480 and 800. Shop around.There are several travel agencies in Nong Khai (about 20) and Chiang Khong (some 5) issuing tourist visas for Laos. They cost THB 1700 and are done in a few days (if you are lucky, you'll even get it in one day).In Nong Khai, you'll get the visa in one or two days, but then it costs THB 2500. The transit visas cost less, about THB 1000 in Nhong Khai. Consulate: Potisan Road (past Wat Pho Nontan), Khon Kaen, Thailand To get to the conulate of Khon Kaen, take the number 45017 blue coloured songthaew from the regular bus terminal. The consulate issues 30 days tourist visa within 2 days. Visa prices depend on nationality. Some prices: Australia THB 750, Belgium THB 750, Canada THB 1050, Denmark THB 800, Finland THB 800, France THB 750, Italy THB 750, Japan THB 900, Netherlands THB 750, New Zealand THB 750, Norway THB 800, Spain THB 750, Sweden THB 800, Switzerland THB 750, USA THB 880 (or 500?).

USA Embassy: Thanon Bartholomie, Vientiane, Tel 212580-2, 312609, Fax 212584 Embassy: 2222 S St. N.W., Washington, DC 20008, USA, Tel. (202) 332-6416 (9 am to 12 noon), Fax (202) 332-4923 You will need three copies of your application with three passport photos, a copy of your itinerary ands a money order for USD 35. For more details see http://www.laoembassy.com

 ** GETTING AROUND It is necessary that you go to the immigration office in every town in order to let them stamp your passport. This is usually done at the point of your immigration (e.g. airport, river bank, etc.) However, nobody seems really interested in the details.

(Steve) Who knows what happens to all the information they copy from your passport; if you can see the names written down they are often things like "Mr Blue Eyes" or "Mr Cambridge England"!

(Sebastian) The travel permits which used to be necessary for travelling from one province to another were abolished (April 94). However, you still need to register with the police wherever you go (this only applies to the northern parts of Laos, i.e. anything north of Vientiane). If you fail to do so, you will be charged 5$ per day as a penalty. It's entirely up to you to look for the police office, nobody will tell you that you have to go and register! The police will stamp your departure card for a small fee and you're free of any hassle. Apparently, this does not only apply if you move from one province to another but also when you spend a night in a different village of the same province. The only exception is at airports where you can have your card stamped upon arrival. However, you'd better ask twice whether that's all which is needed: We got into problems with our business-visas in Luang Phabang. We flew there and registered at the airport. Apparently, that wasn't enough as we found out when we wanted to fly out again: business people have to register a second time at the immigration office in town.... It took me 20 minutes of hot (but restrained) discussion to convince the chap behind the counter that I wasn't prepared to pay 30 dollars as penalty. I had, however, to go back into town and register before he let us fly off...

 ** MONEY The currency of Laos is the Kip (ISO code LAK). Exchange Rate: 1 USD  7700 LAK (Jan 2000). Historical development: 9350 (Nov 1999), 7680 (Sep 1999), 4270 (Apr 1999), 4330 (Feb 1999), 3680 (Oct 1998), 2500 (Jun 1998), 1705 (Nov 1997), 1170 (Jul 1997), 920 (Oct 1996), 930 (Sep 1995), 714 (Sep 1994).

To get a nice small conversion table that you can put in you pocket, look at the Currency Cheat Sheet.

Sometimes small amounts lower the rate drastically. (On my last day in Savannakhet in 1994, the official rate was LAK 715 for a USD. I only wanted to change USD 10, and one bank offered only LAK 622 (13 % less!). So I went to the next bank which offered 710. Shopping around is recommended.)

Anna got better rates at jewellery shops (Jan 96).

While for a lont time, Thai Baht and USD were accepted everywhere in the country, this is now officially forbidden. It seems that people take this very seriously.

Traveller's cheques are well known and every bank changes them.

Visa and American Express are accepted at some of the more expensive hotels and restaurants.

(Sebastian) Kip, baht and US dollars can be used all over the country. Even for big transactions it is, however, usually best to pay in kip. If you pay in baht or dollar they usually calculate the price with a slightly less favourable exchange rate than what you get at the banks. Kip are available in denominations of 1000, 500, 100 and 50. I once got a 20 kip note as "small change" at the post office but it's not generally in use anymore. One dollar equals approx. 725 kip [94], one baht will get you about 29.15 kip. In Vientiane you can now change a great number of currencies both in cash as well as in travellers cheques. For the cheques you will be charged an enormous amount as commision (at least 3%, I met a British couple who paid 6 pounds on a cheque of 100 pounds!) The bank mentioned in the lonely planet guide is definitely not the best place anymore to change your money. I found that the money changers inside the morning market gave the best rates. Credit card cash advances are also available at various banks in the city, usually for at least 3% extra charge. As soon as you leave Vientiane you'd better take baht or dollars CASH with you. I heard that the bank in Luang Phabang changes travellers cheques but I wouldn't count on it....

 ** FOOD It is possible to eat for one or two dollars, but you also can pig out for several times this amount.

For breakfast try Lao coffee and ba-tan-gho, fried doe available from street vendors. A filling breakfast can be had for under LAK 1000.

Sticky rice and chicken or laap (delicious chopped spicy meat), and spicy soup are great introductions to Lao food, as is waterfall beef.

Don't drink tap water. Even in the smallest guest houses in the remotest villages there are thermos bottles with boiled water. It is used to drink tea. Instead drink tea, mineral water, or soft drinks. Apart from the well known American products like Coca Cola, Pepsi Cola, etc. there are many local versions of sweet lemonade. They are much cheaper and cause no health problems.

Beer Lao Tha Beer Lao tastes very well. It contains about 5% alcohol and is served either in bottles of 3 dl and 6 dl, or in 2 l jugs. In Thalat, north of Vientiane they sell 4-5 litre bags for a few thousand LAK.

Eating on the bus Since busses leave very early and somtimes arrive late in the evning it might be a problem to get a decent meal in a restaurant. However, there are many people selling food when a bus happens to stop near their food stall. They sell for LAK 50 to 200 eggs, rice, fried chicken, fried bananas, fresh fruit, bread, etc. Most of the time the food is cold. They also sell drinks in bottles and cans (cans are much more expensive than bottles). The bottles must be paid or left back. If you don't want to drink all of a bottle they are happy to fill the drink into a plastic bag which they give to you to drink with a straw. Generally this is a very cheap way to get to know some typical Lao food, although it is not outstanding quality. As for hygene, I never encountered any stomach problems, although the food was kept in the open and got dusty and cold.

 **  foll may be dupe Pathet Lao, left-wing nationalist group that was ultimately victorious in the Laotian civil war that began in the mid-1950s. The name was first used in 1950 by Lao forces after the they joined the Viet Minh's revolt against the French, and it became the generic term for the Lao Communists. In 1956 an official party, the Neo Lao Hak Sat (Lao Patriotic Front) was formed. In the 1960s and early 70s, the Pathet Lao fought the U.S.-supported government and finally won control of Laos in 1975.

------------ Khao Sok National Park [Bird watching & Wildlife Observation] Our 4 day Khao Sok National Park expedition is aptly labeled a "soft adventure". The pace is normally slow and easy as the main focus of this trip is spotting wildlife. The birding superb; the wildlife sightings are unbelievable. Hornbills are actually common. We frequently see several species of hornbills. We see Great Hornbills, Bushy-crested Hornbills, Wreathed Hornbills, and Helmeted Hornbills on almost every trip. If youve never seen a hornbill, this will be a very special treat! Dave has sighted and is familiar with most of birds in southern Thailand. You dont have to be a seasoned birder to enjoy the pleasures of birding in this tropical wonderland. Daves enthusiasm will make your birding time both educational and fun. Long-tailed macaques, pig-tail macaques, dusky langurs, and even gibbons are seen on most trips. One thing is inevitable, youll see and/or hear monkeys! Weve had numerous wild pig sightings. Tigers and elephants can still be found in the park, but they are uncommon. It's not uncommon to see elephant tracks however.

We stay in unique floating bamboo bungalows in a remote area of the massive reservoir. These bungalows are very basic. They are made out of low impact material. Bamboo and thatched roofs provide a very simple, environmentally friendly shelter which fits well with the jungle surroundings. There is no electricity in the bungalows, but there is electricity in the restaurant and toilets. The shared toilets are clean and adequate.

The bungalows have fairly thin sleeping pads, so you may want to bring your own additional pad or inflatable mattress along. The floating walkways to the bungalows and toilets are not well maintained, and require attention to foot placement. These accommodations are not up to normal PaddleAsia standards. However, the jungle solitude and the joy of kayaking amidst the profusion of birds and wildlife bring us back here time after time. Click here to see a list of common birds found in Khao Sok National Park.

The Islands South of Krabi Journeys from the comfort of one island to the adventure of the next. Another multi-day destination is south of Krabi province. Most of these islands are visited by very few Westerners. Its an undeveloped tourist destination which suits us just fine. Due to the beauty of the islands, especially the cliffs and headlands, and their near proximity to one another, these crossings are appropriate for active novices. As each crossing is no more than six nautical miles, they are appropriate for daytime paddling. These multi-day trips are an ever-shifting panorama of "sundowner" beaches and comfortable bungalows. It is not a resort destination, nor does the area attract hoards of backpackers. It is an especially lovely area, removed from easy transport for the mass market tour groups. This trip is for experienced paddlers. It involves more paddling than most of our other trips.

Phang Nga Bay Phang Nga Bay is one of the most popular tourist destinations in southern Thailand. Every day over a dozen canoeing companies and countless independent operators take tourists to a few well-known locations in the Bay. The result is similar to road traffic in Bangkok. It's noisy, congested, and chaotic. The tourists see the famous "hongs", or inner island lagoons in some of the islands, and make the obligatory trip to see "James Bond Island". Each of our trip leaders has paddled extensively in Phang Nga Bay since 1993. The Bay is a large, lovely area that seems different in every change in weather and light. There are many secluded islands that can be explored at our leisure in comfortable touring kayaks. In these areas, where only the occasional fisherman is seen, wildlife is plentiful. Our guests, paddling at their own pace, quickly learn the difference between White-belly Sea Eagles and Brahminy Kites (another large raptor) by the wing configuration while in flight. Other frequent sightings include Pacific Reef Egrets, a wide variety of Kingfishers, Little Herons, Frigate Birds, and Blue Rock Thrushes. Sometimes we catch sight of Oriental Pied Hornbills perched in trees or in flight. We come upon large monitor lizards sunning on rocks, and often see Crab-eating Macaques on the beach or moving in trees near the water. Sometimes we see Dusky langurs in trees high on a cliff face.

Lodging is in bungalows or bring your own tent with views of limestone karat formations.

Tarutao Adventure (8 Days) There are schools of sailfish in the area. We wont say exactly where, but well show you! We often encounter sea turtles also. Tarutao is a rather large Island. Its approx 30 miles around. There are a lot of small beaches and rocky points. There are also a couple of nice rivers to paddle. These tend to be great places to spot wildlife. We usually do some night paddles into these rivers. Youll have lots of eyes in the beam of your flashlight! The islands to the northwest of Tarutao offer crystal clear water with amazing marine diversity and primary jungle that reaches right down to the white sand beaches.

Unlike Phang Nga Bay, these islands consist of not of limestone, but of granite. Huge boulders line many pure white sand beaches. There are rivers that flow out through the jungle and intersect the beaches. We paddle up these rivers as far as we can, then trek in a little ways further. This is a superb way to see the dense primary jungle. The wildlife doesnt seem to mind us too much as they often stay around as long as were quiet. You can select from our basic itinerary in which we use public ferries or longtail boats to reach distant islands.

On Apr 20th, we crossed the border into the Lao PDR at Houie Xay, and took a slow wooden cargo ferry down the Mekong River to Luang Prabang. The journey took two days on a rustic noisy boat that had nothing more than a wooden plank floor to sit on. The beautiful scenery with elephants on the riverbank more than made up for the lack of amenities. Joe entertained himself talking to a teenage monk, who was impressed with his sunglasses, he put them on and said "I'm a cool dude". It was a perfect photo-op, but we failed to take advantage of it. Enroute to Luang Prabang, we spent the night at a GH in Pakbeng. We were overcharged for our room, we learned later that others stayed their for half the price. We only paid about $5.00, so it's still cheap, but others paid about $2.00. Our room was worth about 50 cents since we shared it with bugs, rats and worst of all, fleas. We had a bad sleep that night and was thankful for the morning. Pakbeng is a small, porttown, and the GHs really only cater to the single-night staying tourists enroute from point a to b. The town also seems to cater to the tourist Opium smokers. Don't worry, we didn't try!

We spent four days in Luang Prabang, a nice picturesque historic town that retains much of its French influence in architecture, yet is distinctively Laotian. Our friend from home has relatives who live there, and they were kind enough to take us around to all the attractions (the palace museum, the hilltribe weaving village, the amazing limestone waterfall, and several wats. They were even kind enough to invite us to a Lao wedding!)

A bit of bad luck struck us, and we both got sick. People in Thailand had warned us about the "Lao diet", but we think we picked up our illness in Chiang Khong, Thailand, not Laos. On top of being sick, we lost about 5500 baht ($140.00), and this set our mood into an unbalanced state. Our Larium (medicine that has paranoia side effects) kicked in and we started to suspect we may have been pickpocketed. There was one odd situation where it could of happened, but in all likelihood we probably dropped it. $140.00 is a 6 month salary to most in Laos, and for a westerner is enough money to travel for several weeks. In the end, we decided that we lost the money without foulplay, and that some lucky Laotion is very happy now!

We skipped the 12-hr bus ride from Luang Prabang to Vientiane, due to our "explosive" condition, and flew instead. Cara recovered within a couple of days, but Joe did not. We visited the intl clinic, and the kind female doctor did a blood test and prescribed some medication. Many SE Asia countries are not up to western stds in med and we were concerned of HIV and the cleanliness of the needle. We were ready to run down to the pharmacy and buy a syeringe, but it turned out that a prick of the finger was all that was needed (the needle was new). This set our minds at ease. Fortunately, he does not have any nasty tropical disease - probably just a parasite, but the Flagyl will kill it, we hope.

We spent Cara's 30th birthday (Apr 29th) at a small eco-tourist lodge about three hrs from Vientenne (via a public bus, then a long-tail boat). The lodge was a collection of bamboo huts & a rest overlooking the river, run by a somewhat personality impaired Austrian expat named Walter. We loved the area, and did some hiking, canoeing, and visited two small Lao vills nearby. So many children seem so curious about foreigners, and we never get tired of them following us, shouting "Hello" or trying to practice English. Our Lao phrase book was limited, but we did learn a few words that came in useful, the most handy being "Sai-Ba-Dee" - Hello.

Public transportation in Laos has been a constant source of fascination for us. It is fairly extensive, and cheap, but most often crowded and uncomfortable. We never realized just how many people can actually fit in a bus, the back of a tractor cart, in a tuk-tuk, or in the back of a pickup truck. We quickly learned that "maximum occupancy" does not exist (we counted 30 people in our truck ride from Vang Vieng to Vientiane), or perhaps they are still trying to define the term. In addition to human cargo, the busses also seem to be the primary means of transporting goods for small local exchange (livestock, fish, tree trunks, bamboo, coal, rice, peanuts, and ginger). Our bus rides were never more than 4 hours, which is a bearable amount of time as long as you can get a combination of standing and sitting.

After Lao Pako, we headed north to Vang Vieng - a lovely town in the mts about 160km north of VTE. Vang Vieng is a popular tourist dest due to the huge and extensive caves in the surrounding countryside, a river ripe for inner-tubing. The landscape truly rivals many national parks we have visited with sheer limestone cliffs rising straight from the green plains and rice fields. We rented rickety bicycles to explore the town and riverside the first day, and the second day, went spelunking with a bunch of Lao English students. If we could make a prediction, we would say that Vang Vieng is going to be a major tourist trap in the next 10 years. Last year there were about 4-5 GHs, this year there are over 20. And the accomodations are cheap, we stayed in a new building that was clean and comfortable for 15,000 kip, about $2.00.

Laos is currently in an economic crisis and with inflation and a rapid devaluation of the kip. Last year the kip was valued around 1200 to the dollar. 3 months ago, about 5000. When we visited, it was 6500 and falling. You can exchange baht or dollars on the black market at a higher rate, the dollar in Luang Prabang was around 7500, a considerable difference. The reason for the black market (or at least what we think is the reason) has to do with trade between Lao and Thailand. Since the kip is falling rapidly, the baht and dollar are used since they are more stable. The Lao people want dollars, and travellers need kip, so the black market evolved. Lao people are not allowed to buy dollars or baht from the bank. (We think that some merchants are allowed, just not the average citizen). When we bought our plane tickets, Lao Aviation only accepted US Dollars from foreigners and had to write a note so we could exchange travellers checks for US dollars at the bank! Most of the tourist area of Vientiane had prices in US dollars. However, the black market only devalues the kip and we felt a little guilty using it instead of the bank.

We hooked up with five other travellers while in Laos. We first met them on our slow boat to Luang Prabang, then kept crossing paths while travelling the other cities. They were going overland to VNam, and we decided to join them instead of taking a plane. Overland travel is much cheaper and more interesting, but a little more rigerous. The border crossing (Cau Trea) was not on any of our maps or in our guidebooks, since it has only been open for tourists for about 9 mths. So, we relied on word-of-mouth advice, and directions given by Lao people along the way. At the border, our bags were searched by Vietnamese officials who seemed more personally curious about what sort of things western backpackers might carry with them and not too concerned about contraband. After 3 days of hard travel from VTE, we arrived in Hanoi, exhausted and hungry!

Hanoi is a world apart from Laos. Our days in the Laos seem like a peaceful eden compared to the hub-bub and constant commerce on these busy streets. The salesmanship here can be quite aggressive - we have been chased and shoved by bus drivers trying to make a fare - we have been followed around town by post-card hawkers and small children begging. It is culture shock for us, but probably no worse than NYC or SFO for tourists. We are adjusting to the fast pace very slowly.

Forum: alt.war.vietnam There has been recently another question in the Internet newsgroup rec.travel.asia about the Lao - Cambodia border. The following is based on the exchange Christopher Arzt and I had about it in rec.travel.asia in late 1996. Neither of us did the trip, but maybe a future traveler will find some information in our exchange.

This trip is clearly not secure or safe, but local people make the crossing. Maybe a foreigner will also pull it off one of these days? Where guns are concerned, those who have not visited Cambodia are in for a surprise: everywhere you go in Cambodia, there are guys walking around with AK-47 automatic rifles, more descriptively known as machine guns. B-40 rocket launchers sometimes back them up. That's just the way it is. If this idea bothers you, don't get off the beaten path in Cambodia. Before trying a trip like this, the risks must be clearly understood.

About the new boats on the Mekong River, I looked into it again during my return visit to Cambodia earlier this year (1997). Boats to Kampong Cham and Kratie still leave daily, at about 7am. There are also boats all the way up to Stung Treng, but they operate only during those three or four months when the river is at it's highest level, roughly August to November. Soldiers with AKs and B-40s ride on top. Keep your head down if shooting starts. It happens from time to time.

Attached to the bottom of this file is a news article from April of 1997 which underlines Christopher's comments about the unpredictability to be encountered in the countryside around Ratanakiri. Also, check in with the new English language newspaper in Phnom Penh called Bayon Pearnik. See their World Wide Web site on http://www.bayon-pearnik.com. The editors are following travel stories in detail... A traveller asked in rec.travel.asia:

Hi folks. If you enter Cambodia at Southern Laos, is there a "safe" Mekong-boat going to Phnom Penh? Has anybody been at that border?

Very bad idea.... First of all, there's no legal border crossing. Second of all, the river (or anywhere for that matter) N of Kracheh is not a safe place to be. When I was in Ratanakiri in April (1996), all river traffic between Kracheh and Strung Treng was closed for a couple of weeks because of Khmer Rouge (which might just mean some local bandits) shooting up boats on the river. The whole area up there in Stung Treng and Preah Vihear, west of (and including the westernmost area of) Ratanakiri is really pretty dodgy. If you go, bring a big gun. Chris, CArzt@worldnet.att.net

For those who haven't been there yet, Christopher is joking when he suggests carrying a gun. Foreigners do not carry guns in Cambodia. It's the tradition. You will never win a gun battle in Cambodia, ever. Don't even dream of carrying a gun there. On the other hand, I gladly upload what I know about this trip across the Lao-Cambodian border. It is going to be possible in the near future. Maybe Wolfgang will be the first to upload his trip report to rec.travel.asia?

Firstly, the Lao side of the border: note that #1 Joe Cummings, the author of many Lonely Planet books and the author of the new LP on Laos, has once again scooped everyone and written it all down. See page 252 of the new August of 96 LP on Laos, "To/From Cambodia". From Hat Xai Khun, opposite the east shore of Don Khong, it's 35 km to Voen Kham near the Cambodian border. The crossing between Tha Boei (Lao side) and Phumi Kampong Sralau (Cambodian side) is open to Lao and Cambodians only at the moment but Champassak Province officials are hoping to make this an international access point for foreigners in the near future".

Okay, so Cummings does go on to say that "The Cambodian side of the river falls roughly on the border of Stung Treng and Preah Vihear provinces, an area known for occasional Khmer rouge and bandit activity", but it's only "occasional", isn't it? In short, it is no problem at all to get from Pakxe, in southern Laos, to the border itself. Wat Phu Champassak is a must see, and a number of people have already written about their trips to Don Khong, the big island in the middle of the Mekong. See the latest LP map on page 249. It is no problem to get there from Pakxe.

In the worst case, when you get to Don Khong, if you decide that you do not want to cross the border after all, you can always go back to Pakxe and then get in a truck or share taxi for the trip to the Thai border just west of Pakxe, or to the Vietnamese border at Lao Bao. Transport in and out of Pakxe is easy.

As Christopher noted above, and I must agree with him, the real problem on this trip is what happens when you get onto the Cambodian side of the border. The boat trip from the border to Stung Treng does not seem to be a big problem, (see Stan Stesser's article below) but between Stung Treng and Kratie... That is the dangerous part, in my opinion.

Last year (1995), I made it as far north as Sambor, a small town on the riverbank about 50 km north of Kratie. See my articles "Road Warriors" and "A Traffic Ticket". After a look at the road which continued north to Stung Treng, I decided that it was way too dangerous. Too quiet, and nothing in particular to see along that road anyway. Also, I heard the stories of a couple of foreigners in Phnom Penh who had tried it and had a very bad experience (see my note "Two French Monks"). There are too many spots on that road for a quiet hold up. The road is moreover in very bad shape.

In rec.travel.asia a couple months ago, there was the story from someone who had taken a boat on the river between Stung Treng and Kratie. An overnight trip, at least. If you end up overnight in the Cambodian countryside, my recommendation is to stay inside your hut and not move until the sun comes up. Cambodian soldiers drink way too much, and they inevitably want to invite the visiting foreigner out for a drink. Things go only downhill from there. Stay in your hut, no matter what. Tell those very friendly soldiers that you are sick or something.

To bypass all of this, there is always the small airplane between Stung Treng and Phnom Penh. No problem there. It flies maybe three or four times a week now. Advance reservations are not needed.

Another question is visa stamps: while it is not necessary in Cambodia and Laos to specify your entry and exit points, as it is in Vietnam, there is still the question of a legal entry or exit stamp upon entering or exiting either Laos or Cambodia. Can you get such stamps at the border crossing between Tha Boei (Lao side) and Kampong Phumi Sralau (Cambodian side)? If the Lao and Cambodian governments see that more and more foreigners want to make this crossing, they may eventually provide their local officials with official stamps for foreigners, but for the time being, it does not seem that this is the case.

Which means that, if you cross today, you will be illegal and without official passport stamps. For this reason, my view is that it makes more sense to cross from Laos into Cambodia. Lao officials are notorious for looking at your documents. In Cambodia, on the other hand, it is likely that you will get all the way from the border to Phnom Penh without anyone asking to look at your documents. Avoid policemen and Army guys, in any case. Maintain a low profile, be friendly, keep moving and don't forget to visit the Immigration Office in Phnom Penh, where you must be entirely open and forthcoming about what you just did. Cambodian Immigration guys are not going to throw you into the T3 prison. However, they may fine you, after you spend a couple days in some other jail. Visit your Embassy in Phnom Penh beforehand.

Lastly, in case it needs to be said again, there is now a fast boat between Kratie and Phnom Penh. No problem at all. It stops for an hour or so in Kampong Cham. Plenty of good food on that boat too. Takes about 6 hours. Enjoy.

Don't forget to visit the temple complex called Phnom Sambok, about 20km north of Kratie. It is an interesting place. The Tripitaka paintings on the walls are excellent. George Moore, http://www.slip.net/~georgem/khlavn.htm

Heh, yeah the comment on the gun was a joke. Of course, carrying a gun around there would seem to be a seriously losing proposition. Regarding the Lao side of the border, Cummings didn't scoop everybody. I hitched down to Hat Xai Khun. I don't think there are any major security problems around there. I was more worried about all of the (probably) illegal loggers than anything else. Continuing on down the road to the border would be no problem at all, though I'd be somewhat worried very near the border. (In the areas considerably east of there, along the border, I was warned by many people on both sides that it isn't safe.)

As for the Cambodian side of the border, George has a higher level of risk acceptance than I do :) After -lots-of talking to people, I decided to stop at Kampong Cham. The boat from Kampong Cham to Kratie seemed probably OK, I would take it, but the road much less so. And traveling outside of Kratie and to Sambor... not for me :) Of course shootings are only occasional, but a 1% chance of death means you should plan on traveling to only about 100 areas in you lifetime.... There are really all sorts of shootings that go on that you never hear about. In the 2 weeks I was in Ratanakiri, the province that everybody in Cambodia calls the safest in the country, there was a taxi ambush on the main road (banb lung - lomphat) by a group of 10-15 Khmer Rouge, 2 killed, and a motorcyclist killed on the road from bang lung - Voun Sai/Virochey.

These are the only roads to travel on - if you go there, you'll take them (and the amount of road traffic is extremely low, we're not talking 2 in a million here). At the same time, traffic on the river from Kratie to Strung Treng was held up for 2 weeks because of people shooting at boats. These are only the incidents that I heard of, of course :) I'm extremely suspicious of the claim that the area from Strung Treng town to the Lao border is safe.

On the other hand, I'll probably get shot in New York tomorrow :) Whatever risks you want to take, go for it, just be aware beforehand of what they are. Don't just take some cavalier traveler's comment that it's all very safe; sometimes it isn't.

Click Here to Visit our Sponsor Chris, CArzt@worldnet.att.net Thanks for the news from Ratanakiri. The fast boat ride from Kampong Cham to Kratie is no problem. The river there is wide and deep, even in the dry season. I visited Sambor and Phnom Sambok and the roads right around Kratie last year (1995) and didn't run into any problems. Met a couple of NGO workers too, who were living there. The situation may have changed, but I have a feeling that we are both talking about what goes on further north.

I see that you too met the "Road Warriors", the logging trucks. Did you get any pictures of them? I was afraid to lift my camera when those guys rolled by. Get off the road when you see them coming, because they don't stop for anything. Usually too, there is a small problem with their brakes. Road Warriors. Straight out of the film! Maybe you could upload a photo?

Hitchhiking in southern Laos? Don't be shy, please tell all! Everyone around here wants to read about such things. What is the name of that border crossing with Thailand just west of Pakxe? I too crossed there. It is open to foreigners now. About the river between Stung Treng and the border at Phumi Kampong Sralau, I got the story from Stan Stesser (see below), another guy like Joe Cummings who has written extensively about his travels in SE Asia. He did a trip last year all the way down the Mekong from China and had some Web pages up on the GNN server during this past year. Unfortunately, they seem to have disappeared now (see below). He flew up to Stung Treng, then took a boat up to the border and back. He didn't report any shooting, but it is clear that the situation changes all the time. Same goes elsewhere. Rural banditry has a long tradition in Cambodia (also, see my article "Rural Banditry in Cambodia").

When you were in Stung Treng, did you visit the boat docks? What was your impression? Old boats only? Any fast boats? Did you ask anyone about a trip to the border? What was the response?

Thanks too for the news about the roads around Stung Treng. A friend of mine was up there alone on a motorbike last year and toured the same roads. He too reported a lot of "quiet", until those two soldiers stepped out of some bushes and waved him to a stop with their AKs. They turned out to be friendly and simply curious about a crazy foreigner who was driving around up there alone on a motorcycle, but you never know. Next time, it could be some KR guys or some bandits who don't like foreigners. It is impossible to predict. I agree fully that travelers should know the risks before they go. There are many risks on this particular trip.

Another thing that may be of serious concern is the smuggling problem in Cambodia. There were a lot of bags and soldiers on the boats I was on. No one paid any attention to me at all. There was never any police check of documents, or inspections of what was on the boats. Most of it was of course simply the baggage of the passengers, but... Who knows? It is known that the border with Laos is "open", in the sense that local people cross there. I guess everyone understands the implications. The gunfights, maybe drugs and/or contraband are involved? The idea sends a chill down my spine. Yeah, before you go to places like this, you must know the dangers. I hope someone can use threads like this.

How many hotels in Stung Treng? How much is the airline ticket? What is there to see around town, and outside town? If you could write more about this. Another interesting thing for Internet users is a simple search for keyword "Ratanakiri". A couple of interesting pages pop up.

In Kratie, there are three hotels on the wharf where the boats dock. I stayed at a place called the 28 December 1978 guest house and restaurant for 8 dollars per night. Huge rooms, and good food downstairs. The owner and his wife walked out of Cambodia to Vietnam in 1978 and returned with the Vietnamese Army. They got a laugh at my questions about the safety of the local roads. "Of course they are safe!", they said. Compared to what they saw during the KR years, the roads around Kratie now are peaceful.

Don't miss a visit to Phnom Sambok, about 20km north of town. Any moto taxi driver in Kratie will take you there. Sambor was not really worth the trouble, but there is an ancient stupa there. The most interesting thing about that day trip was to discover the state of the road itself. All the bridges were long gone. Potholes large enough to swallow whole cars. But the local people were doing share taxi trips from Kratie up to Stung Treng. I was not brave enough to try my luck with that one. The owner of the 28 December 1978 guest house assured me that it was no problem that week. His word carried weight with me, but so too did the stories I heard in Phnom Penh about that road. I returned on the boat back down the river to Kampong Cham and Phnom Penh. From what I understand, there is nothing in particular to see along the road between Kratie and Stung Treng anyway, so the risk was not worth the reward.

The border between Cambodia and Laos was open to foreigners while UNTAC was in Cambodia (1992 and 1993), and it is likely, in my opinion that it will soon once again be open to foreigners. Foreigners must even now be showing up at that crossing, asking for passport stamps. I don't know, but I think we may read some stories about this crossing soon. Those intrepid western backpackers, they don't sit around, do they!? Hitchhiking in southern Laos! I imagine that readers could take more on that angle. Joe Cummings' new book on Laos is incredible. Is there some place he has not been? I'll bet there is a new LP on Cambodia coming out soon, where there will be more details about this border crossing. But travelers should not have any illusions about security and safety if you want to do off the beaten path trips in Cambodia. So many AKs carried by so many underpaid and badly disciplined soldiers, aye! It is entirely unpredictable sometimes what will be around the next corner of the road, or the river. George Moore, http://www.slip.net/~georgem/khlavn.htm Stung Treng, Cambodia, by Stan Stesser

Picture: EVERYONE WHO LOVES to travel has a city of dreams somewhere, a place so remote, one that sounds so romantic, that you say to yourself, "Someday, somehow, I'm going to see it." For me, that place was Stung Treng, the northernmost town in Cambodia, located right on the Mekong River just a couple hours away by boat from the Laotian border.

Stung Treng is on a part of the Mekong rarely visited by Westerners. To add to the romance, it is completely isolated, except for a twice-weekly flight from Phnom Penh. The roads that lead to it are nothing but rutted dirt tracks, impassable during the rainy season. And while there is a passenger boat connecting Stung Treng with Kratie, which is halfway down the Mekong toward Phnom Penh, foreigners are warned against it because of dangers from bands of Khmer Rouge guerrillas and from bandits. For years, I've been dreaming about Stung Treng. But then I made a big mistake. I actually went there.

My plan was this: I would fly to Stung Treng, spend a few days, and return by boat over a three-day period, the first day to Kratie, the second to Kampong Cham, which is a fairly substantial city on the Mekong, and finally back to Phnom Penh.

Lest anyone think that I'm a traveler of some courage, let me deny that vigorously at the outset. I choose airlines based on their safety records, take a sack of drugs for every possible malady, and consider a cold-water shower to be roughing it. But my sense of bravado in Southeast Asia has been built up because of the many times that I've successfully negotiated the greatest danger of all -- to my mind far exceeding any threat from the Khmer Rouge. I am speaking, of course, about crossing the street in Bangkok.

Picture: IN MOST CIRCUMSTANCES, Thais are rigidly controlled in their behavior by both cultural values and Buddhist beliefs. They are supposed to be polite, smiling constantly and never raising their voice. They dutifully obey and care for their parents and elderly relatives. They gain merit in the next life through charitable acts toward monks and the poor. They revere their king.

It is only behind the wheel of a car that Thais are freed from any constraint. They drive like maniacs, finding a 50-foot gap between themselves and the next car sufficient to floor the accelerator. They'll drive on the wrong side of the street, on sidewalks, anywhere that they see a little open space to make some progress in the world's most notorious traffic jams. Combine this with the fact that Bangkok has few traffic lights -- and at those lights, traffic is never stopped in all directions so that a pedestrian can safely cross the street -- and it is a recipe for mayhem and slaughter.

Often I rediscover this fact in new ways. Last year, for example, I was exiting a bus which I thought had pulled up at a curb. But if a bus leaves just a few inches between itself and the curb, a motorcycle will quickly fill the gap. A couple of feet and a car will be there. As I walked off the bus, a Thai friend, just behind me, shouted and yanked me back by the collar. As I looked to my left, a Mercedes was zooming between the bus and the curb, doing about 50 miles per hour. The tires of the Mercedes brushed the tips of my shoes as it roared past.

Compared to what must be a horrendous body count in Bangkok, the Khmer Rouge have claimed relatively few foreign victims. Cambodians themselves no longer feel terrorized. They travel much more freely around the country and, for the first time, the streets of Phnom Penh are crowded with people as late as midnight. So as the plane landed in Stung Treng, I was thinking much more about a nice vacation than about avoiding terrorism.

Picture: STUNG TRENG'S "AIRPORT" turned out to be nothing but a landing strip and a few lean-tos selling food. Although airports everywhere in Asia are jammed with assorted vehicles whose drivers look upon arriving passengers as if they were winning lottery tickets, the Stung Treng airport puzzlingly offered nothing in the way of transportation. So I hitched a ride on the back of a truck along with my Cambodian-American interpreter, Chath, who is doing volunteer work in Phnom Penh.

We hopped off at the main square, and my first impression was one of desolation. Stung Treng is supposed to have 18,000 people, but where they all live is a mystery, since it seemed to consist of nothing more than a couple of streets parallel to the river and a couple of others perpendicular. Whoever designed Stung Treng apparently believed that a town in the middle of the jungle should have no foliage whatsoever. The main perpendicular street features a huge center strip used as a park, but without a single tree its entire length to provide relief from the blazing sun. The buildings were ramshackle, and the couple of restaurants looked unspeakably filthy.

Chath asked directions to the town's one hotel, and even though it was just a block away, most people looked at us blankly. Hotel Sekong (Stung Treng is at the confluence of the Sekong and the Mekong, handy for those who write rhyming poetry about Cambodia) didn't have a sign identifying it, and with its rusty corrugated metal roof, it looked more like a barracks or a run-down Third World hospital than a hotel. I chose a $15 fan-equipped room over the $25 air-conditioned variety, a wise choice since, while there were in fact air conditioners in some windows, there was hardly ever any electricity to run them.

Nor was there much in the way of water. With two huge rivers outside the window, the faucets were dry most of the day. When they did work, they brought water directly from the muddy river. Shower water consisted of a big plastic barrel filled with river water, looking far dirtier than I could ever imagine my body being, with a little bucket to splash yourself while standing on the bathroom floor. Given this sort of bathroom, the inevitable quickly happened -- the sort of thing you never read about in travel articles. Lunch at the one seemingly clean and modern restaurant in town brought me dashing for the toilet three hours later, a toilet that naturally didn't flush. When I turned on the faucet to wash my hands, water the color of a chocolate bar trickled out. Picture: IT DIDN'T TAKE LONG to discover what most visitors to Stung Treng must do in the way of recreation. An hour after we arrived, a young woman whose face was painted thickly with rouge and lipstick ran up to me and said in a shrill voice, "Where are my pictures?" Maybe all Caucasians look alike, because she had apparently confused me with her client of the previous night. But Chath and I had a far different activity in mind -- to find a boat that would take us up the Mekong to the Lao border. Stung Treng's fleet of rickety old wooden tubs were all anchored at the bottom of the steep river bank, treacherously slippery from mud. Wrinkled elderly ladies balancing big baskets on their heads had no trouble negotiating the slope, and cackled delightedly as they watched me trip and slide on my rear. We learned there was a boat going to the border the next morning, and the captain would be delighted to take us there for $20 -- which I found out the next day was ten times as much as anyone else paid.

The next day we boarded what had to be the African Queen, shipped from its Hollywood set to Cambodia. I'll have to rent the video when I get back, but my memory says that no two boats could look so much alike without being one and the same. Our fellow passengers included four soldiers armed to the teeth, bazookas and all, going back from a few days' leave in the bright lights of Stung Treng. They alone could have repelled a whole battalion of Khmer Rouge, but they said there hadn't been a single incident on the river in over a year.

The boat was also crowded with women coming back with goods from Stung Treng's market to sell at a profit in their villages. One woman had a sack of sugar-coated puffed rice balls, and she told us she made a profit of a penny each.

Not only would I be deprived of seeing the Khmer Rouge, but I quickly learned from the passengers that I wouldn't have a hope of two other possible stories: dynamiting and dolphins. Dynamiting refers to the environmentally devastating practice of catching fish by killing everything in the river with sticks of dynamite or hand grenades. Fishermen blame it on renegade soldiers, soldiers blame it on greedy fishermen, but it's a practice that is rapidly depleting the Mekong's stock of fish. The passengers told us, however, that it is only done in the spring, in the dry season, when the water level is low and the fish collect in deep pools.

As for the rare and endangered Irrawaddy dolphin, which used to hang out in large numbers in this part of the river, no one on the boat had spotted one since last summer. So that left nothing to do but enjoy the ride. It began to rain almost immediately, and we all took shelter under the leaky wooden roof covering the center section of the boat. The fourteen passengers huddled on the filthy plank floor, with dirty water dripping from the roof onto our heads. There was little to look at, since in most places the river had flooded so broadly that I could see nothing but muddy water in every direction, with treetops sticking out.

Picture: THE THIRTY-MILE TRIP against the current took five hours. (I realized with amazement that I had run a 26-mile marathon in 3 1/2 hours, and considered myself very slow.) That whole five hours had to be accomplished without a toilet. To pee, you had to balance yourself precariously on the edge of the boat, holding on for dear life with one arm. For the other function I had absolutely no idea, and I was grateful that the rumbling in my stomach, left over from the bout the day before, remained a mere rumble.

Finally, the border -- a little grass area with four wooden buildings housing Cambodian army and customs officials. They told us we had a slight problem. To get a boat back, we would have to go to the first Laotian village and negotiate with fishermen. But we couldn't do that, because the Lao border guards intercept all foreigners and turn them back. So we would have to go across the river, where an extended Cambodian family lived in a huge house, and plead with them for help.

The family's house, with 20-foot ceilings and a dining room table that seated 16, was a veritable mansion for these parts. It was no doubt built in large part on the proceeds of stranded tourists like us. Their son would take us back to Stung Treng in their boat, they said, but not for a penny less than $60. I agreed, but first begged them for something to eat, since we had eaten nothing all day but bread and water. They claimed the only food they had were packages of ramen noodles, which they would heat up for us -- for a price. It felt very odd in one of the world's most remote spots to see the bright aluminum foil of a ramen noodle packet.

By the time we started back, the rain was falling in torrents, and a brisk wind had sprung up. The roar of the boat engine was so loud Chath and I couldn't even talk, and I began to shake from the cold. I rolled myself up in a bamboo mat that was on the floor of the boat, and tried to fall asleep. I dreamt of a place so remote, so romantic, that I said to myself, "Someday, somehow, I'm going to see it." It was my nice, cozy hotel room in Phnom Penh.

This is the sixth in a series of dispatches by Stan Sesser, author of Lands of Charm and Cruelty: Travels in Southeast Asia, published in paperback by Vintage Books. Click on the Mekong map for a complete index of Mekong Diary dispatches. Next: Bolaven Plateau. Copyright (c) 1996 Global Network Navigator, Inc., ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Phannara Aing phannara.aing@IOTA.U-PSUD.FR wrote: I went to Wat Phu in Champassak Province. I am no historian or specialist in Khmer art but I found it very nice. I spent 2 hours there. Big mango trees have taken root on the stairs to the upper level. There is now a Bouddha statue in the temple of the upper level. I saw the crocodile stone but it was difficult to recognize a crocodile shape in the carving. To get there, the most reliable way in early May is to take the big boat in the morning (scheduled at 9AM but departed at 11AM when there were enough people and arrived at 12:30PM) from Pakxe to Champassak city (300kip).

There is only one very nice hotel so far with double rooms starting at 20000 kip but you can bargain a little and they are building a cheaper guesthouse for next year. The staff speaks fluent English and French. They have a car for rent for 10000 kip to go to Wat Phu and I think they also have bicycles. There is also one tuk-tuk in town for 8000kip for the trip. It takes 20minutes to go Wat Phu by car and the road is very good. The temple is open till 16:30.

In the afternoon, there are no boats or buses to Pakxe or to the 4000 Island, so you will have to stay one night in Champassak. There is a direct bus from Pakxe to Muang Khong on Don Khong, the largest island of the 4000 Islands. To go there from Champassak, I had to take a small boat to cross the river (the one at 6AM), then on the other side of the river, there are bus waiting for the boat and going to Pakxe. Take it and tell the driver you want to stop at Lak30, 4km from the pier (name of the village at 30km from Pakxe). And wait there for the first bus from Pakxe to the south and tell them that you want to stop at Hat Sai Khun which is the village opposite to Muang Khong. And finally, you can charter a boat to go to the other side (there is a car ferry, but it goes or comes back only when there cars or trucks on the side where it is!). On Muang Khong, there are now 4 hotels with large price range, and you can rent a bicycle to visit the Island. If you have time, it is really worth it, the landscape is beautiful and people are very friendly and haven't see many tourists yet.

On the other side of the Island is the Cambodian border. The next day I Rented a boat with 4 other tourists (which is a large party according to the pilot) and we went to the Somphamit Falls on Don Khon and the Khong Pha Phaeng Falls (by tuktuk from Ban Nakason 10km north of the falls). On Don Khon, there is the famous French locomotive but it seems that locals have taken the rails to make fences for their home. Khong Pha Phaeng Falls is really spectacular and more touristed, mainly with rich Thai or Lao who came on minibuses or Toyota trucks. It is still very peaceful though and there is no sign yet of mass tourism (I mean garbage, beggars, children who want to sell you postcards and other things).

The pilot of the boat spoke French and said that the border can be unsafe because of the Khmer Rouge: On 10th of April, a tourist went to the southern part of Don Khon by boat to see the Freshwater Dolphins and he and the pilot of that boat were captured by Khmer Rouge and they had to pay each 10000 Baht.

Lao PDR is the only landlocked ASEAN nation as well as one of the least visited countries in the world. Being isolated for any years has meant that Lao PDR retains a remarkable serenity and timeless charm. The country is mountainous, making travel difficult with limited internal flights and adventurous travel along the Mekong River. The capital Vientiane is small (140,000), charming and picturesque, sitting on the banks of the Mekong. It contains some colourful and sacred pagodas, fascinating, museums, wide boulevards and attractions like Patuxai, Vientiane's Arc de Tiomphe.

Climate Lao PDR has a tropical climate with only two distinctive seasons. From the early May to the end of September it's the rainy season, and from October to April it's the dry season. The average temperature is about 28 degrees centigrade, but in may raise up to 38 degrees centigrade in April. In the mountainous area, however, the weather is cold from December to February, in the neighborhood of 15 degrees centigrade.

The border crossing to Thailand and the Friendship Bridge are at Thanaleng. Buddha Park here is a bizarre collection of concrete religious icons. Nam Ngum Dam to the north of the city is a peaceful retreat with restaurants, fishing and small chalets. The former capital Luang Prabang, is one of the most serene towns in ASEAN. Much of the town and its pagodas are protected as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. There are about 32 historic pagodas here within, easy walk of each other.

The Dala Markets sells many local products specially those of nearby hill tribe people. The Royal Palace Museum contains any Lao treasures. Trips on the Mekong River are popular especially to the Pak Ou limestone caves that contain hundreds of Buddhist images. The Plain of Jars near the small town of Phonsavan has intrigued arhaeologists for centuries. The purpose of the huge 2,000-years old stone jars is open to speculation. In the south of the country, Pakse is a point of departure for the Bolaven Plateau and the Khmer ruins at Wat Phu. The area is also famous for tasty coffee.

The Khon Papheng Falls on the Mekong River are a 13-kilometre stretch of rapids and cascades. There are 47 minority tribes in Lao PDR and thy offer tourists a, insight int. many ancient traditions and arts. The Lao culture is mainly centred around Buddhism. The Lao people are skilled carvers and many pagodas display this art. Cotton and silk weaving is highly developed, distinct and prized. Many festivals correspond to the Buddhist calendar. The Bun Nam or Water Festival is a colourful sight as village boats compete in river races throughout the country.

Getting in by Air There are no intercontinental flights to Vientiane. Most people coming to Laos will come via Bangkok, the nearest International hub. By far the easiest, cheapest, most reliable, frequent and interesting way to get to Laos by air is to use Thai Airways' domestic flight to Udon Thani. Click Here for how to get to Vientiane via Udon Thani.

There are International Flights in and out of Vientiane from the following countries: Cambodia: Phnom Penh China: Kunming Myanamar: Yangon Thailand: Bangkok and Chiang Mai Vietnam: Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) Due to the Asian financial crisis, flights by Silk Air, from Singapore and Malaysian Airlines from Kuala Lumpur have been temporarily suspended.

Getting in by Land

From Vietnam Lao Bao, Khung Tri to Dan Savan, Savannakhet Lak Sao, Vinh to Kaew Neua, Bolikhamsai

From China Mengla, Yunnan to Boten, Luang Nam Tha

From Thailand - Nong Khai and the FRIENDSHIP BRIDGE - click here - for more information. Xiang Khong, Chiang Rai Province to Huay Xai, Bokeo Province Nakorn Phanom to Tha Kek, Khammouane Province Mukdaharn to Savannakhet Chong Mek, Ubon Rathchathani Province to Pakse Houay Kone, Nan to Xaingnabouri

via Udon Thani (Thailand) and the Friendship Bridge The Udon Thani option is probably the most convenient way to get into Laos from Thailand, more specifically, from Bangkok. Thai Airways International domestic flights from Bangkok to Udon Thani are one third the cost of an equivalent one way flight from Bangkok to Vientiane. The round trip ticket is half the cost of an equivalent routing to Vientiane and there are three flights a day.

From Udon Thani Airport, aircon buses and minivans (100 baht per person) run from the airport directly to the Friendship Bridge. There is also a limousine service - all transportation is official and regulated. The journey from Udon Thani airport takes about 40 minutes. Asia Vehicle Rentals in Vientiane offers limousine pick up service to Vientiane.

At the bridge terminus, purchase a 10 baht ticket, and take the shuttle bus across the bridge, the service is easy, and the shuttle bus stops at Thai immigration. On arrival in Laos, apply for your visa on arrival, clear immigration and take on of many taxis or tuk tuks from the bridge to Vientiane - about 150 - 200 baht per person, and 20 minutes to the city centre.

Frequently asked questions : Q. Doesn't the Bridge option waste a lot of time? A. Not really, the whole journey only takes about one hour longer, because it is quicker to clear immigration at the bridge than at Wattay Airport. You also have the option of more flights from Bangkok to Udon Thani than to Wattay. Q. What time does the bridge open and close? A. 8am to 8pm daily Q. Are there any other charges or fees to pay? A. During lunchtime and at weekends, an overtime charge of 10 baht is levied by Thai immigration. On the Lao side a $1 charge is levied for visa on arrival processing. Lao immigration also levies a small processing for your entry stamp.

Customs and Immigration A valid transit, tourist visit, business, diplomatic, or service visa is required. All foreigners may enter and depart Laos via Wattay Airport, or Thai-Lao Friendship Bridge, the Mekong border crossing with Nongkai, Thailand.

A visa can now be obtained upon arrival at the airport and other official entry points. However, certain regulations are applied.

Health Medical and dental facilities are mostly operated by the government. Private clinics and pharmacies are available in the major cities. The International Clinic is operated under the supervision of the Ministry of Health, to accommodate foreigners and diplomats. Medicines from France, USA, Russia, Thailand and China are widely available in most pharmacies.

Telecommunications: Intl tele, fax, telegraph and telex services are available at post offices, hotels and business centers. Mobile phones are widely used. Several radio stations broadcast in Lao. The Lao National Radio carries news in English, French and Thai. There are daily TV broadcasts, with two local channels, Thai television and satellite reception.

Transportation Public transportation is by bus, taxi and samlo (rickshaw). There are both metered and unmetered taxi. No railroad is available in Laos. Lao Aviation, Thai Airways International, Cambodia and Vietnam Airlines connect Wattay Airport of Vientiane to Bangkok, Yangon, Hanoi, Hochiminh City, Phnompenh and Kunming of China. Domestic flights shuttle daily between Lao cities. Mittaphab Bridge across the Mekong to Thailand opened in early 1994.

Currency Local currency is called Kip. One USD is worth approximately 2,450 kip (1998). Money can be exchanged at banks, authorized shops, or hotels. Exchange rates fluctuate everyday, though fluctuation is tiny.

Banks Banque pour le Commerce Exterier Lao, Sethathirath Bank, Nakornluang Bank, Joint Development Bank, and Thai branch banks.

Travelers Checks and credit cards can be used at major banks, some hotels, restaurants and shops.

Electricity: 220 volts at 50 HZ

Major Events and Traditional Festivals 1 January New Year 13-15 April Lao New Year (Pimai) 1 May International Labor Day End of May Rocket Festival Mid-October End of Buddhist Lent & Boat Races Beginning of November That Luang Festival 2 Dec Lao's National Day.

Laos - Land of the Million Elephants A travelogue written by Bernhard Heiser

Sunday, Dec 6, Muang Sing On the bicycle tour

I enjoy the fresh baguettes for breakfast and prepare everything for leaving. I dont't have to pay for the accomodation, the night in the garage was free! It takes about ten minutes to walk to the small bus terminal. It takes two hours to get to Muang Sing. The small road is full of bends and seems to exist only of large potholes. During our ride, many of the locals spew out of the windows. Seems to be a quite common habit here, nobody pays much interest to that. There are about ten guesthouses now in Muang Sing. Together with Tom from Norway I take a room for 6.000 Kip in the guesthouse next to the morning market. We have lunch in one of the restaurants at the main village road. My beef laap with sticky rice turns out to be quite hot, I feel a slow but insistent burn in my mouth. Laap is a typical Lao salad of minced meet tossed with lime juice, garlic, green onions, mint leaves and chillies. Down the road there is a small bicycle shop and we rent two old, black chinese bikes for 2.000 Kip each. Although it's only 10 km to the chinese border, we decide to go in the opposite direction to have a good view from the mountains. Out of the village, we turn left in a small path leading to the fields. We try to walk down to the river to cross it, but it's difficult to get there. Later, we find a good view down to the rice-paddies after we went up to a small village and took a jungle path to climb a hill.

On the road to Muang Sing

Rice paddies near Muang Sing On our way back we stop at a meadow to collect magic mushrooms. I try to take a picture of a group of small children in a village, but each time I take my camera they run away screaming. In the warm light of the late afternoon sun we enjoy the easy ride back to Muang Sing. The surroundings of this remote place are really beautiful and perfect for short bike or hiking tours. In the evening, I meet Aaron and Nirit in the restaurant. They took the speedboat from LP to Huayxai and arrived here Saturday afternoon.

Monday, Dec 7, Muang Sing

Beautiful village, surrounded by mountains When I wake up at 6 am, the morning market is already in full swing. I have sweet rice and fried coconut-balls(?) for breakfast there. The talaat nyai market once was the biggest opium market in the golden triangle. Today it's a venue for fresh produce, meats and clothing, sold by various hilltribe people from the region. The market is crowded with people, there are all kinds of sounds and smells. Vegetables, piles of freshly chopped meat, hawker-stalls everywhere. After one hour I've seen it all and go back to the room. It starts to rain, so I sleep for another hour. Its noon, the rain hadn't stopped yet. Everything is packed, I exchange my email-adress with Tom and go. A pickup has already filled up with some passengers, 30 minutes later the car is full and we go. After some more stops in the village it is more than full. We all get more or less wet on our way to Luang Nam Tha. In the Darasawath Guesthouse everything is booked out, so I take the bed in the garage again. I'm already familiar with the place, the owners with their small daughter Mimi are really nice people.

Morning market The rain doesn't stop, it's definitely no day for taking pictures. I spend the afternoon under the roof of the garden restaurant, reading and having some excellent food. Children on bicycles on their way back from school pass by, most of them holding umbrellas against the rain. Ben shows up for dinner, he came down here from Udomxai yesterday and stays in another guesthouse. We spend the whole evening in the restaurant, having more food and drinking a couple of beers. Music and (political?) speeches are transmitted via loudspeakers all over the village. Sounds like a shortwave transmission, sometimes the quality is very bad. 9.30 pm, time to have a last fruit-shake, because at this time electricity usually is turned off in the village. It's still raining.

How about soup for breakfast? Tuesday, Dec 8, Rough road to Vieng Phuka By morning it was clear and sunny again. I walk over to the bus terminal where Aaron and Nirit are waiting already. Another traveller from Israel joins us and we get on the old Russian army-truck. The price to Huayxai is 30.000 Kip. At first I think that would be far to much, but the locals pay the same price.

Russian army truck: only minor breakdowns We leave Nam Tha at 9.30, packed with passengers, big bags filled with vegetables, heayy sacks full of rice, small cages with chicken and a pig. After yesterday's rain the narrow road is terribly difficult. We have to pass knee-deep mudholes and are glad to have a four-wheel drive. Without it, it would be impossible today. At a steeper passage we have to get off and push. About a dozen times we stop to fill up water and oil. This engine almost needs more oil than fuel ! At one of our minor break-downs we have to fix a spark plug, wrapping it up with a thin metal sheet and hammering it into the motor again. Perfectly done! Our driver is quite experienced, he stays cool even when we almost overturn with the whole truck. At 5 pm we reach the small village of Vieng Phuka, where we have to stay for the night. Our truck driver is the owner of a basic guesthouse here and he stops right in front of it, what a coincidence ! It took us eight hours to do about 100 km, that's 12,5 km per hour, not bad...

Yesterday's bus didn't make it... In Bangkok I bought a sheet with about 30 different little Snoopy stickers and I decide it's now the perfect place to give them to the cute children playing on the street. The effect is impressive. They are a bit shy at first, but then I see myself surrounded by maybe 40 little hands grabbing for my dogs. I distribute them one by one after demonstrating how a sticker "works". What a fun! Together with the family of our driver we watch the Asian Games on Thai TV (they have a large satellite dish in the garden).

Wednesday, Dec 9, Huayxai - Chiang Khong - Mae Sai Still 100 km lie ahead, but today the road is much better. There are less people on the truck and we have, compared to yesterday, a very pleasant ride. We are still in an amazing jungle, the weather is good today.

Main street in Vieng Phuka We stop for lunch in a small village and taste another version of foe. We arrive in Huayxai at 5 pm, much later than we expected. The others stay here for the night, I want to cross the border and head on to Bangkok the next morning. I give my last 1.000 Kip to a moto driver to bring me from the market to the passenger ferry. The ferry landing is just below the Manilat hotel. A small immigration office is next to the ferry and it takes just one minute to check out from Laos. I wonder if there would be any problems on the Thai side without this stamp? The ferry actually is a small longboat, for 20 Baht we cross the Mekong. Goodbye Laos, I hope to be back soon! Back on Thai soil, I quickly realize that I'm back in civilisation again. At the immigration desk I have to wait in a long queue of Belgian package tourists who just arrived with a minibus. There is no more bus service today to Bangkok or Chiang Rai, so I walk down the main road and try to find a guesthouse. I want to check out the area at the bus terminal, still a long way. There are no guesthouses at the terminal and I go back to the center. From a passing-by pickup a young woman asks me where I want to go. They give me a lift to the next guesthouse, not far away. She introduces her friends to me, two woman and a man. They are from Chiang Mai, students, a doctor and a nurse who are on a trip.

Vieng Phuka backstreet I tell them about my route and they offer me to go to Mae Sai together. Why not? From Mae Sai it's not far to Chiang Rai and maybe it's going to be a funny trip. It is. Their English is quite good and we have much fun on our way to Mae Sai. I sit in the front with Nuek, Nong, Sa and Kung are in the back. Kung, the nurse, is 28 and seeking a foreigner to marry her. I politely decline...What a difference a good road makes ! In only one hour we reach Mae Sai and have dinner together. A foodstall at the main road offers fantastic pad thai and sate. I want to invite them, but they already paid for me, they are really nice. We take two rooms at the Mae Sai Plaza Guesthouse, a number of simple bungalows gathered on a hill.

Thursday, Dec 10, Bus to Bangkok From the guesthouse we have a nice view, overlooking the Burmese village on the other riverbank. My bus to Ching Rai leaves at 8 am. Nuek takes me to the bus terminal, which is quite far out of town. I say goodbye to him and get on the bus. At 10 am, there is another bus from Chiang Rai to Bangkok. No aircon, that's good. The price is 162 Bt. for the 13-hour ride. I take a seat near the backdoor where I can put my legs on the backpack, quite comfortable! A boring ride as regards scenery, nothing much to see except a beautiful sunset. We stop several times at crowded and loud bus terminals, always a good opportunity to pick up some snacks.

Lunch stop in a small restaurant From the BKK northern bus terminal I take another bus and arrive at Sanam Luang at midnight. Because of my dislike of Kao San road, I try to find a room in the small road behind the wat. Not easy at midnight, the places I check out are already closed or booked out. Finally, I end up in the Sawasdee hotel (not Sawatdee GH). The girl at the reception smiles: "No rooms, sorry", but she can arrange something for me. A tuk-tuk brings me to a nearby massage parlor, where I can get one of the massage-rooms with aircon and TV for 250 Bt. They even have a hot shower here. Seems to be a way for them to make some extra money. After the long busride I fall asleep quickly.

Friday/Saturday, Dec 11+12, Bangkok In the morning I move to one of my favorite guesthouses at the National Library. I check in at the Sawatdee, where I'm welcomed very friendly again, it's a little bit like coming home. I spend a busy day with sending e-mails, wandering through various shopping malls and markets and enjoying the variety of good Bangkok food. I take the bus down Sukhumvit road to my tailor and pick up my new suit. Looks like he did a good job. Saturday, I visit the newly opened restaurant at the Bayoke II tower. From the 78th floor I have an excellent view while enjoying the mixed european/asian buffet lunch. I take the express ferry back to my guesthouse and check out. Bus 59 is really fast today, only 1,5 hours to the airport. I spend the remaining time until departure in the BA Executive Club lounge. The big headline in the Bangkok Post reads: "Thai airbus crashed in Surat Thani". The crash happened last night, after two previous failed attepts for landing in bad weather. Some of the passengers survived, exact figures were still not known. I have more luck with my flight back. After sleeping most of the time, I reach the European winter again.

Mekong Journey, Luang Prabang to Huay Xai Written by Daniel B Haber

Despite being the ancient cultural capital of Laos and the former seat of its erst while monarchy, Luang Prabang is still blessedly a relatively undiscovered tourist backwater. Nevertheless, there is a hotel building boomlet going on and there are ambitious plans and lots of talk of establishing air links with touristy Chiang Mai in the north of Thailand. Of course, like the Friendship Bridge linking Nong Khai and Vientiane, such plans may take years before actually being realised. Meanwhile, an adventurous traveller who wishes to go overland (i.e. by river transport) between Luang Prabang and Thailands Chiang Rai Province touching on the "Golden Triangle" can easily do so by travelling by boat up the Mekong, or in the opposite direction.

After having completed the five-day journey from Vientiane to Luang Prabang, I relax by enjoying the justly renowned cuisine of Luang Prabang which is said to be unique in all of Laos. Im sitting in the Youngkhoune Restaurant diagonally across the street from the Rama Hotel. Although it has a menu printed half in English and a few farangs dining at fresco beside the counter stocked with rounds of Vache Qui Rit cheese and Toaves of French bread, it is filled mostly with Lao clientele and the prices seem reasonable enough. I order the house special, Luang Prabang salad and cold noodles.

While waiting for my order, I cant help noticing a stocky young man in a crewcut sitting at the next table giving English lessons to someone dressed in a native costume and looks like he might be a uniformed doorman or receptionist in one of the tourist hotels. The tutor looks up and nods "hello". From his accent, I think he is Lao or Chinese-American (I had met several in Laos), but no, he informs me hes Chinese from Beijing but educated in Brisbane, Australia, from whence he picked up his native-speaker's accent. His basso profundo Rolls Royce voice would have been ideal for broadcasting career he'd trained for, but he'd wound up as a businessman exporting goods from China - although he confessed that his secret ambition was to become a pop singer. He surprised me by not asking me for an American visa, as I'd expected. However, he wanted to know why I didn't go to China.

Before I could answer him, my order of salad and noodles arrived. So I excused myself and dug in with my chopsticks, and found that the house specialty lived up to its reputation. It's a crunchy medley of fresh crisp watercress in a piquant dressing of oil and vinegar with sliced hard-boiled egg, tomatoes, cucumbers, spring onions topped with ground roasted peanuts, all of which I mix with the tepid noodles and plum tomatoes. Accompanied by crusty Frenchbread and cheese and washed down with Lao beer, it's a refreshing repast on a hot afternoon in Luang Prabang.

When I look up again, the Chinese English teacher had already mysteriously disappeared and like the proverbial Cheshire cat, all I could recall was his warm smile. And although China was not in my present itinerary, I knew one day it would be, as the Mekong traffic between Lao and the southern Chinese province of Yunnan would someday be open to foreign tourists as well. With Luang Prabang closer to Kunming than Bangkok, I noticed on the journey from Vientiane that the predominance of Thai consumer goods was starting to give way to Chinese. In Luang Prabang's markets one could find Chinese soaps, beer, bicycles, coloufful matchboxes, Mao caps and even American-style baseball hats (made in China, of course). I succumbed to their bargain and bought one New York Giants hat for 900 kip (less than US$1.50) which in New York would have gone for at least five or six dollars.

During the US-Vietnam War era and even before ,the northern Lao area had been known as the "China Road" as Chinese war materials were said to supply the communist Viet Cong or "Charlie" along this route which was relentlessly bombed by clandestine US air raids. One of the absurdities of the era was a gift from the then US President Richard Nixon "to the people of Laos" of a clump of useless moon rock from Apollo XVII, dated December 1972, on view at the former Royal Palace, now National Museum. The unstated irony of course is that , at the time, in fact for nine consecutive years from 1964 to 1973, the US continually "carpet-bombed" Laos, dropping more tonnage than during the entire Second World War.

Although the untrained guides at the Museum are somewhat ignorant of its contents - one insisted that a gift of a miniature Nepalese temple was "from Nippon" - the former Royal Palace Museum affords a rare glimpse into Lao culture and art treasures of the past. For the link between the past and the present, not far from the museum one can also visit the Art College where future Lao artists, artisans and sculptors are being trained in the traditional Buddhist arts and crafts under the stern and watchful eyes of Marx and Lenin glaring down from their portraits on the wall. One student hastened to cover his drawing of a pretty girl that was clearly not part of his curriculum, but seemed to afford some relief from the other strictly Buddhist designs in his sketchbook.

Despite its being the so-called "opiate of the people", Buddhism still flourishes in Luang Prabang and the visitor who would try to take in all of its numerous wats and shrines in a single day would become as bewildered as someone trying to take in all the galleries of The Louvre in the same amount of time. A week would be ideal, but as most visitors to Luang Prabang come in on fly-in, fly-our package tours, two days is all they usually have. While not on a package tour, I nevertheless had a right schedule of two days, so I just did a leisurely ramble around town with no fixed object other than the National Museum and Diethelm Travel where I would collect information on my journey upriver to Huay Xai the next day.

As in Vientiane, the articulate staff at Diethelm was very knowledgeable and helpful. Somsak (this might be spelled Somsouk) Sengta, the young man I spoke with advised me to take the ordinary (slow) boat upriver, as the speed boats were considerably risky and uncomfortable, as Somsak verified by personal experience. So, although the slow boat meant I would have to depart one day earlier than I'd planned, I opted for safety rather than speed and decided to leave the next morning.

In the evening, I went back to dine at the Youngkhoune where instead of finding the English-speaking Chinese tutor, I was surprised to meet Pierre Mainetti, the French manager of the luxury Phou Vao Hotel (where I was staying), sporting a Bahamas T-shirt and slurping a noodle soup. He said he liked to eat there for a change from the hotel and join in with his Lao friends, one of whom he introduced me to as the owner of the recently opened Luang Prabang Art Gallery.

Rather than join them at the Rama Discotheque, the only nightlife of this predominantly temple town, I walk back to the Phou Vao under the cool moonlight, and while gazing heavenwards almost literally bump into a couple of novice monks, their flaming orange robes notwithstanding. In perfect English, they introduce themselves as Novices Souk and Sai, both of Wat Xieng Mouane, and both returning from their English classes. We exchange addresses and they promise to write me.

The next morning after shopping for provisions for the journey to Hauy Xai, I again converge on the Youngkhoume for breakfast and am joined by a back-packing British couple who'd recently come overland from Vietnam and are on their way back down the Mekong. Despite the Lao government's determination to allow in only upscale package tourists, backpackers seem to be discovering sleeping Luang Prabang's charms. As we breakfasted on buttered baguettes and freshly brewed coffee, we couldn't help wondering how long it would be before boutiques would line Luang Prabang's quaint streets and its bistros serving out banana pancakes and muesli for breakfast for the farangs. And as hoteliers worry about a glut of rooms to accommodate the rising influx, now is a good time to discover Luang Prabang before it becomes irrevocably changed (and spoiled) by mass tourism.

Getting out of Luang Prabang by river transport is not as easy as getting in or out of the country. The processing at Fluvial Passenger Control could take hours and not without relieving one of the burdensome wads of Lao kip that one must carry around. However, I should mention that if you carry the most convenient Thai baht or US dollars (both universally accepted in Laos), the authorities will be only too happy to relieve you of them as well. I had to pay a US$5.00 fine for not having registered with the police upon arrival, plus another 1,000 kip just for having a business visa. This in addition to the 3,500-kip fare to Pakbeng, plus taxes. Except for the fare no receipts are issued for the fines or surcharges.

Meanwhile, a couple of American backpackers, after paying up and waiting for the boat to be filled up, got impatient, and after assessing the boat as "too crowded" decided to off-load their gear and take a speedboat instead. Perhaps, those not accustomed to the slow pace of life, will feel themselves out of place in Luang Prabang. Accustomed to furiously flicking channels after a microsecond of boredom, most of us would rather go to an artificially contrived thrill-a-minute Adventureland boat ride in Disney World than on the real thing up the Mekong which requires infinite patience.

The three-day slow boat journey to Huay Xai provided a few thrills in theme-park sense of the word, but as the hilly landscape began to resemble Chinese landscape painting (the closer we got to China) there was the same thrill of the Romantic poet such as Wordsworth experienced when he wrote about the "splendour in the grass". There was to be sure, a certain thrill in being swept against swirling milk-coffee currents past the high willowy forests of bamboo (a king of grass) which undulated in the monsoon breezes as our wooden boat chugged up the Mekong. As most of the passengers lay sprawled out napping in the hot afternoon and the cabin boys playing cards, I wrote in my journal and alternated between two long novels, "The Joy Luck Club" and "Jurassic Park". From the former I got a greater appreciation of the Oriental thinking and from the latter an appreciation that beneath the beautiful scenery, there was a fierce competition in Nature.

The boat makes many brief pit stops along the river, often being flagged down from the shore at small riverine habitations where boat is the only link to the outside world. In the evening, I'm invited to join in the simple dinner prepared by the boat crew which subsists on baskets of sticky rice rolled into balls to sop up the fish and vegetable chowder accompanied by some warming sips of locally-brewed rice wine. I decline to partake of the roasted rooster which only an hour before I had petted as it sat contentedly on my lap.

The next day, when we stop at one small village for fuelling, gathering of passengers and shopping, the local villagers, mostly hill-tribe folk dressed in black, have their "shops" spread out on plastic table cloths on the bank. The men, with long guns slung over the it shoulders, come down from the hills carrying bunches of dead squirrels. Some women offer roasted squirrels on a spit, while the youngsters stare at the farangs taking pictures. Large rodents, which look like overgrown hamsters, but I believe are called bamboo rats, are also tied around on leashes or toted in bamboo cages. One passenger buys one to take home on a leash and it comes along on the boat.

We arrive at Pakbeng around midday, and from there I change for a larger boat to Huay Xai. Even though the new boat is much larger, it seems to have fewer passengers and is almost empty, which is fine by me, as I have more room to stretch out and, unlike the previous boats, it's tall enough to stand in without bumping my head. By now, I am getting used to the Lao diet of sticky rice plus, so I join in the crew's meals when my own provisions are depleted - French bread lasts only so long, and I had run out of cheese.

On the third day as we stop for a police check upon entering the northern Bokeo Province, Lao's smallest, but amazingly, home of over thirty different ethnic hill tribes, I'm tempted to join one of the docking speedboats so that I can reach Chiang Khong before the immigration closes. Once again, after the Mekong's meanderings through Laos, Thailand is on the opposite side of the river as it nears the Golden Triangle. I negotiate with one speed boat driver who wants 100 baht for the 40-minute journey to Huny Xai which would otherwise take at least three hours by slow boat. Since it's getting late, I pay the captain the 3,000 kip fare and transfer my gear to the waiting speedboat, already filled with passengers. In the shuffle, I forget my umbrella and towel.

But sure enough, by 3.30 I'm in Huay Xai. After hiring a samlor (three-wheel motorcycle taxi) I'm down by the immigration and boat dock beside the Manirat Hotel and just in front of the naga stairs that ascend to the historic Shan-style Wat Chom Khao Manirat that overlooks the town and river. Hoping to catch the night bus to Bangkok, I don't leave myself time to explore the Wat or Huay Xai, a lapse which I was to regret. I'm the only one at immigration and I'm greeted by one policeman who looks so young and wearing a T-shirt that says "police" with a handcuff logo on it, that looks so funny that I doubt he's for real. But he stamps me through in no time, no problems or hassles, and calls a boatman to ferry me across the river for 20 baht. In three minutes, I'm back in Thailand and the Thai police reluctantly look up from their TV tuned to the Sunday Thai boxing match to stamp me in. I learn that I'm minutes too late to catch the last bus to Bangkok. So I check into a riverside guest
house, a bamboo thatched cottage with a view of the Mekong. After taking my first hot shower in three days and sitting down to a hot meal of regular boiled rice and stir-fries, I gaze across to the Lao side of the Mekong, now barely visible in the dusk at the silhouette of the Manirat Wat and catch the chanting of the monks amplified by a loudspeaker. I can barely make out a large riverboat chugging upstream. It must be the one that I had been on only hours before and now was ending its long journey. I too was ending my week's journey up the Mekong. As I closed my eyes for a moment to savour the memories, I decided that next time I would come again and take the same journey downstream to Luang Prabang\