Laos - The Rough Guide to Southeast Asia on a Budget - page 400

ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE
By bus Buses to and from Pakse and other towns around
the Bolaven Plateau operate from the bus station, about
4km out of town; a handful of tuk-tuks await arriving
buses and will ferry you into the centre for 10,000K.
Destinations

locals, join the family for dinner (they charge 30,000K/
person, and you can help with the cooking if you prefer).
Double 40,000K
Sabai Sabai Just west of the tourist o ce T 020 9858
9266. Bamboo-built, backpacker-friendly guesthouse,
which has some of the cheapest - and simplest - dorm
beds in Laos. Downstairs there's a restaurant serving cheap
food (grilled chicken and chips 15,000K), and a shop selling
local handicrafts. Also motorbike rental, BBQ parties, and
free wi-fi for cu stomers. No set opening hours. Dorm
15,000K , double 35,000K
Tim Opposite the school library on the road to the falls
T 034 211885, E [e-mail]. This long-running
place has reasonable doubles and twins with shared
facilities, but compared with others nearby they feel poor
value. Downstairs there's a restaurant servin g simple
backpacker grub (fried rice 15,000K). Double 50,000K .
Restaurant open daily 7am-10pm.

5

Attapeu (2 daily; 2hr); Pakse (8 daily; 2-4hr);
Vientiane (8 daily; 15hr).

ACCOMMODATION AND EATING
Phathip Restaurant Near the post o ce. The best place
for delicious Vietnamese food, including vegetable-packed
(but very salty) noodle soups (10,000K). The menu - in
English, Swedish, French and Lao - has plenty of info on
exploring the surrounding area. Daily 7am-7pm.
Sekong Hotel Just across from Phathip Restaurant, on
the road nearest the river T 038 211039. Get past the
grumpy dogs guarding the yard out front and this hotel
has reasonably comfortable en-suite doubles, as well as
more expensive “VIP” rooms (100,000K). The walls are
nicotine stained, but otherwise it's not bad value. Double
50,000K
Woman Fever Kosment Center Guest House Just
across from Phathip Restaurant , on the road nearest the
river T 020 563 8286. There's little English spoken at this
rickety old guesthouse (which might explain the barmy
name), though the rooms - which share squat toilets at
the end of the building - are very cheap. Double 40,000K

THE XE KONG RIVER VALLEY
he Xe Kong is one of Laos's great rivers,
starting high in the Annamite Mountains
from the eastern flanks of 2500m-high
Mount Atouat and flowing
southwestward around the southern edge
of the Bolaven Plateau and then across
the plains of Cambodia to join the
Mekong at Stung Treng. he main towns
along the Xe Kong in Laos are Xekong
and Attapeu , which are linked by a paved
road. Roads into the vast forest interior
are still poor, but various tributaries link
the Xe Kong to no fewer than four of
Laos's most pristine National Biodiversity
Conservation Areas.

Attapeu
Despite its name literally translating as
“buffalo shit”, Attapeu is a cosy
settlement of almost twenty thousand

INTO VIETNAM: BO Y
There's a border crossing with Vietnam at
the end of Route 18B, 113km east of
Attapeu. Five minibuses leave Attapeu for
Vietnam each morning (hourly from 6am),
crossing the border at Bo Y after a
winding, three-hour drive. You can buy
tickets in advance from the Dúc Lôc hotel
(see p.404). By the time you read this,
direct shuttle buses to the border may
well be running from Attapeu's main bus
station, but, for now, you'll have to buy a
ticket that takes you all the way to
Vietnam (80,000K to Kon Tum, though
tickets to Ngoc Hoi and Gia Lai are also
available). Tickets to other Vietnamese
destinations via Bo Y, including Da Nang
and Hue, can be bought in Pakse (see
p.390). To cross into Vietnam, you must
have arranged your visa before arrival at
the border.

Xekong
In 1984, a wide expanse of jungle was
cleared of trees and flattened, heralding
the birth of XEKONG . here's little to see
or do in the town itself, which sits
alongside the meandering Xe Kong River,
and for some of the intrepid travellers
that make it here, that's where the appeal
lies. Xekong is a small, working town,
without any of the usual tourist
trappings. hree major branches of the
Ho Chi Minh Trail snaked through the
jungle surrounding Xekong, making this
area one of the most heavily bombed in
Laos. An astonishing amount of UXO
still blankets this province, so exploring
solo is a definite no-no.