Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
as a base to explore Mon-Khmer villages in the area. There are few sit-down restaurants, al-
though stalls at the town market sell fruit, noodles and sticky rice.
ARRIVAL AND INFORMATION: SALAVAN
By bus and sawngthaew
Buses and sawngthaews pulling in at Salavan's dusty bus station,
west of the centre, connect the town with Vientiane, Savannakhet, Thakhek and towns around
the Bolaven Plateau, including Pakse (30,000K) and Attapeu (50,000K).
Destinations
Lao Ngam, for Tad Lo (at least 2 daily; 1hr 30min); Pakse (at least 2 daily; 3hr);
Savannakhet (4 daily; 4hr); Taoy (1 daily; 4-5hr); Thateng (2 daily; 1hr); Xekong (at least 1
daily; 4hr).
Services
A short stroll west of the market on Route 15 you'll find a branch of Lao Develop-
ment Bank (it's the tallest building around), which exchanges cash and has an ATM out front.
ACCOMMODATION
Jindavone
Just east of the market on Route 15 034 211065.
A popular choice with local
officials and army men, Jindavone scores points for value and location. The smallish rooms
are more
expens
ive than those at
Thipphaphone
, next door, but have TV, air-con and clean
showers.
90,000K
Thipphaphone
Just east of the market on Route 15 034 211063.
Cheap, central option
with rather sloppily maintained doubles that have grubby walls and en-sui
te bathr
ooms. Un-
less you're really on a budget, you'd be better off at
Jindavone
, next door.
60,000K
Thateng
A dusty junction of threadbare markets and crooked wooden houses with thatch roofs,
THATENG
was where the French commissioner to Salavan, Jean Dauplay, “the father of
Lao coffee”, chose to settle in the 1920s. Sadly, Thateng's strategic location as the gateway
to the plateau, a grip on which was considered key to controlling the bulk of the far south,
made it a prime target for American bombs. The town was basically wiped out, and although
villagers returned after the war, the place is nowadays little more than an unappealing transit
point.
Xekong
In 1984, a wide expanse of jungle was cleared of trees and graded flat in order to found the
town of
XEKONG
. Created partly because the nearby town of Ban Phon was deemed no
longer habitable owing to unexploded ordnance, Xekong, some 50km east of Thateng, is now
the capital of a new province, created when Attapeu was divided in half. There's little to see
or do in the town itself, which sits alongside the meandering
Xe Kong
, 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.
