The Best of Cambodia & Laos

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BY BUS Hotels, restaurants, and travel agents lining Rd. 13 sell bus tickets with an
inclusive shuttle to the terminal or pickup point. The VIP bus to Vientiane (you can’t
miss it—it’s huge, luridly decorated, and costs 150,000 kip) picks up in town. The
Northern Bus Terminal is located 8km (5 miles) to the north of the airport. Regular
buses to Vientiane cost 100,000 kip. We recommend you take the VIP sleeper bus. It’s a
long way. This is the place to get transport to Vientiane and all towns along the route. It
is also the terminal for buses to Vietnam via the Lao Bao and Lak Xao crossings. For
excursions to the Bolaven Plateau, all destinations south, and to the remote east of the
country head to the Southern Bus terminal 13km (8 miles) out of town heading south.
Tickets to Champasak cost 10,000 kip and the bus to Don Kong (the drop-off point for
Four Thousand Islands) costs 40,000 kip. The VIP Bus Terminal is along Rte. 11 heading
near the BCEL Bank, although the buses pick up and drop off in town as well.
BY CAR Pakse marks the junction between the main north-south Rd. 13 and Rte. 16
crossing west to east from Thailand to the Bolaven Plateau.
SOUTHERN LAOS
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PAKSE
GETTING AROUND
Plenty of tuk-tuks ply the streets of Pakse, although you will need to haggle. On a shared
ride reckon to pay about 50¢ to most places around town. You can rent step-through
motorcycles at many hotels, restaurants, and travel agents around the central area along
Rte. 13. The price is about $10 and some machines are certainly better than others. The
Lankham hotel also has a few 250cc dirt bikes if you want something more serious. They
cost $25 per day. If you want to travel engineless, bicycles are also available along the
same drag for $1 a day (the ones at the Sang Aroun Hotel look good and they have gears).
The Lao Chaleun hotel rents a minivan with a driver for $100 a day, which works if
there are several of you.
VISITOR INFORMATION & TOURS
Pretty much all hotels and guesthouses have an affiliated travel agency on-site and they
all run similar tours. Good travel agents dealing with tours in the south include:
GREEN DISCOVERY (Unit 47, 13 Rd. 13; & 031/252-908; www.greendiscoverylaos.
com) runs a host of activity and sightseeing tours of all kinds around southern Laos. The
staff is friendly and helpful and their English is good.
REMOTE ASIA (Rte. 13 Km 4, Vientiane; & 020/202-2139; www.remoteasia.com).
Remote Asia is based in Vientiane but runs a whole variety of motorcycle and adventure
tours around southern Laos, which you can book in advance online. They can offer you
standard itineraries or you can be in touch with them by e-mail before your trip and they
will assemble something individual for your needs.
XPLORE-ASIA (129 Rd. 13; & 031/212-893; wwwxplore-asia.com) can show you
everything in the vicinity. For coffee aficionados they have a special coffee tour up on the
Bolaven Plateau. You won’t only drink it—you will see how it is created and meet the
villagers who make their living producing it.
DIETHELM TRAVEL (Thaluang Rd. opposite the Thaluang Hotel on the road running
parallel to Rd. 13 btw. Rd. 13 and the Se Don River; & 031/212-596; www.diethelm
travel.com). This upmarket travel agency has a small Pakse branch.