Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Paksan and around
Route 13 passes through
PAKSAN
, capital of Bolikhamxai province and the northernmost
major settlement on the narrow neck of Laos, but few travellers actually stop over in this
small, sleepy Mekong town, and the ferry crossing to and from
Beung Kan
in Thailand is
still little used, despite being open to foreigners (Lao visas are not available on arrival). But
there is another reason you may end up here: work on Route 1D is now complete, making
it possible to travel from the south of Laos to the Plain of Jars without needing to detour
through Vientiane. It's a convenient mid-way stop at the convergence of two rivers, with one
particularly welcoming guesthouse and enough noodle shops to keep your belly full on an
overnight stay.
Nam Kading NBCA
Forty kilometres southeast of Paksan,
NamKadingNBCA
is Bolikhamxai Province's largest
conservation area and a place of dramatic scenic beauty. Running parallel to the Mekong and
encompassing 1740 square kilometres, the park has a chain of mountains down its length,
the highest peak being the 1588-metre
Mount Pha Pet
, which can clearly be viewed as you
travel Route 13. Unfortunately, this is likely to be as intimate a glimpse as you'll get, as fa-
cilities for visitors are extremely limited.
Pakkading
Behind the ridge on the eastern boundary of the
Nam Kading NBCA
, the
Nam Mouan
and
NamTheun
rivers converge to form the
NamKading
, so named because the waterfalls
where the Nam Theun spills off the plateau are said to make a “kading” sound - the sound of
a water buffalo's bell. The Nam Kading flows out through a gap in the mountains to join the
Mekong at the village of
PAKKADING
. There are a number of good fish
restaurants
on the
highway here, making it a favourite lunch spot for truckers and travellers plying Route 13.
To the east of Pakkading, the highway crosses a Russian-built bridge and heads south out
of town. Drivers often pause to light a cigarette before crossing the bridge, and then respect-
fully toss the lit cigarette into the swift waters below, an offering to appease the feisty water
serpent believed to live at the river's mouth. Every year a buffalo is sacrificed to the water
serpent, though the offerings weren't enough to spare the lives of a Russian engineer and sev-
eral Lao workers who died during construction of the bridge.
ARRIVAL AND INFORMATION: PAKSAN AND AROUND
Bybus
The bus station is just off Route 13, west of the bridge that crosses the Nam Xan and
close to the busy market. However, this bus station is mostly used by sawngthaews running
short-distance journeys within the local area. Services to points north and south tend to drive
slowly through the middle of town, tooting their horns and stopping to let passengers jump
aboard. To catch a bus, your best bet is to wait on Route 13 outside
Paksan Hotel
-there are
