From Vientiane to Pakse, Southern Laos

Pakse is 700+ km away from Vinetiane. Although we could reach Pakse, capital of Campasak Province, in a day, we decided to break our journey either in Tha Khaek or Savannakhet, depending on traffic condition and what we could do along the way.

We had an early breakfast and left Day Inn Hotel around 8 am. Although we filled up the tank at Nong Khai, we noticed that there were less petrol stations in Laos than Thailand. We used GPS to locate nearest petrol station with familiar names like Shell, Caltax, Esso.. Shell station was the fist that came our way. We asked the pump attendant which pump was 95. Obviously we had a problem as we asked in English and she responded in Laos. There were only two types of pumps at the station, black and the other red. The black was for diesel and the red one said “regular”. We figured out that if “regular” was of lower octane value, we could add additive to boost it. So, we decided to fill up our tank and to monitor the performance of the car.


Highway 13 linked Vientiane to the south. Traffic going out of Vientiane was heavy due to widening of Highway 13 to two lanes in each direction. This was a positive sign that the economy of Laos is growing. Once we got out of the city, traffic to the south was light. Even though it was single lane, we could over take with ease.

However, since our car is right-hand drive, the driver could not see the oncoming traffic unless the car vie out against the traffic. Therefore, the co-driver played an important role here. We developed a SOP (standard operation procedure) that the co-driver must be equally alert and not allowed to nap so that he would be able to call out the oncoming traffic condition. Only when the call was “clear” or “go” would the driver overtake. In general, I was impressed with the condition of Highway 13 and it was fun and easy to travel as the traffic wasn't heavy outside of Vientiane.




When we were About 80 Km out of Vientiane, we saw many temporary tents scattered in a open field. There was a stage with rows of chairs neatly laid out, something like our Pasar Malam night market or “Wayang” outing where food, games and clothes stalls gathered at one location. We decided to take a break and made contribution to the local economy. We wondered through the stalls. I took a picture of a child whose parents had a stall. sing our portable setup, we made a print and gave it to him. The mom asked him to give Neo Chian and I a flying kiss and he did. He made our day! We left the bazaar with a sense of achievement. . Neo Chian wanted to go for durian at Nong Khai but we could not find the stall we saw. However there was a fruit stall selling durians. We debated on what would be a good durian. I was told irregular shape is better than round. So, we selected one and it was 28,000 Kips (SGD 6). The stall owner was surprised when we requested him to open the durian on the spot. He obliged. Using his “parang”, he chopped it open. I thought durian sellers in Singapore have a more efficient way of opening durian, We forgot this was Thai durian and that it should be kept for a couple of days. The durian was dry (unripe) and we did not enjoy it.





We decided to stop at Tha Khaek for lunch. Tha Khaek is a border crossing town along Mekong river to Thailand by boat. Boats traveled in both directions regularly. You could cross the Mekong and clear immigration after the boat landings, We drove to the river front near Fountain Square. After we parked the car, we walked along the river looking for food. We saw a restaurant at the corner of Central Square and decided to try our luck. The people at the next table had some kind of curry. With sign language, we pointed to that. The lady boss understood us immediately. She flipped open the covers of couple of pots and showed us a few. Neo Chian was happy when he saw egg and pork cooked in soy sauce. We knew we were not in for any surprise. We ordered egg and pork, salted vegetable with pork, Bean curd with vegetable soup and steamed sticky rice. The sticky rice was in a bamboo container. This container sat on top of a pot with boiling water. The steam from the pot rose through the rice and kept it warmed. We even captured the steam in our picture. We ordered two portions of sticky rice. The boss's wife held two bamboo in one hand. She used a pair of chopstick in the other hand to scoop up the rice into the bamboo containers. She was so skilful that one scoop filled one container. This was all over in less than five seconds. Knowing that we were not locals, the boss came over and offered something in a plate. On second look, I realized that it was some kind of insect. Out of courtesy, I picked up one piece and ate it. It was crispy like eating small deep fried shrimp with its shell intact. The boss smiled and walked away. Would I take it again? I don’t mind it but would not ask for it.




We pressed on to Savannakhet. By then, we had traveled about 340 Km. Neo Chian asked “where would be good location for nice hotel?” While we were looking for the hotel in Lonely Planet, I drove into a one-way street in the wrong direction, Luckily there was no policeman and secondly, the traffic was light. No one signaled us that we were in wrong direction. We turned off

quickly into the next street. We saw this beautiful, new resort and spa hotel. We figured it was low season and negotiated a good deal, USD50 for a twin room with River view, with breakfast

and one hour foot massage included. We watched sunset in the swimming pool. Sunset was so beautiful. I took a picture of the guardhouse at the hotel entrance. It was made with solid wood and looked very stylish.

For dinner, we went to river boat at Mekong river. On the recommendation of our friendly hotel supervisor, we ordered Spicy Papaya Salad, Fried Chicken and omelette. Spicy Papaya was spicy. It had strong taste of chinchalok. It came with a plate of vegetable. Neo Chian and I could not figure how to eat the vegetable. Finally, the waitress told us to take a piece of leaf and wrap the papaya or put both together in the mouth.

Next morning, we decided to have some fun and went fishing at Mekong river. AsNeo Chian showed me his Qi Gong and I showed him how to cast the rod. We spent one hour and caught no fish. The big achievement was “We fished at Mekong river!”. We left at 10 am. and continued on Highway 13 to Pakse..

At lunch time, we passed through a small town that had so many stalls selling grilled chicken. We went into one shop, ordered two bowls of beef noodles and a grilled chicken. It looked like the chicken has been pre-cook somewhere else. When customer makes order, the hawker then heats the chicken over a slow charcoal fire.

We arrived Pakse in late afternoon. After some negotiation, we managed to secure a twin room for USD48, from the usual price of USD58. After checking in, we did our SOP by having a beer at the rooftop bar garden where we were welcomed by a charming waitress.

After a beer, we took a walk to the town center opposite the hotel.

The market place was crowded with vegetable, fruits, pork sellers. We could not find this kind of market in Singapore anymore.

Guess what she was selling? This could be the Singapore Pools equivalent in Laos in couple of years. She was selling 4D! The piece of paper on the table captured the 4D number bet placed by customer. Then she wrote a ticket and gave it to the customer.

Again, we took a short walk to the Mekong river and captured a couple sof unset pictures at Pakse.

A day in Vientaine

We played tourist in Vientiane today.

Breakfast was served in the lobby area. This hotel not only used charming rattan furnishing in the room but also in the lobby restaurant. Breakfast was included in the room charge. We had a selection of Western and Chinese porridge. Neo Chian decided on pork porridge because he thought the chicken porridge would be too much for him because the menu showed a whole chicken next to the porridge.

At breakfast, we discussed about how to tour the city of Vientaine. We wanted to follow the Monument to Mekong walking tour described in the Lonely Planet. One bright idea came up. Instead of walking, why don't we charter a "Tuk Tuk" to take us around all the points of interest along the route. So, we asked the hotel manager to help us arrange for a "Tuk Tuk". The manager went out of the hotel and negotiated for a 9 to 5 charter. The driver quoted 300,000 Kips (about SGD50). We offered 250,000Kips but he didn't want to go. As a point of reference, a waiter earned about 700,000Kips per month. We thought 250,000Kips was reasonable price to offer, apparently not. By then, we had decided to walk as the hotel was right in the middle of the route.

It took us 15 minutes to arrive at the starting point, the Patuxai. Patuxai was the most prominent momument of Vientaine. From a distance, Patuxai looked much like its French source of inspriration. But from a closer look, it wasn't impressive as it lacked finishing touches. The bear concrete structure was not properly maintained. There was a stair leading to the top of the building.The entrance fee was 3,000 Kips per person. On the 4th and 5th floors, there were shops selling T-shirts and souvenirs. There were more than 200 steps to the top level. You could see most of the Vientiane from here. Looking down, you could see Lan Xang Avenue, the street sometimes generously described as the "Champd Elysees of the East". The last stairway leading to the top was dirty, full of litter, even though I saw cleaners sweeping the lower floors. I wondered about the purpose of the entrance fee.

We spent about half hour at Patuxai. Then we went to the Laos Tourist Board to find out more about what we could do in the next four days We confrimed that there was a crossing from Huay Xai into Thailand. On our return leg, we will go to Huay Xai instead of back tracking to Vientiane, saving us at least 200 Km of traveling.

The next destination was Talat Sao, the Morning Market place. This was like our People's Park in the '70s, selling shoes, bags, textiles, etc.

However, on the first floor, one section was designated for selling gold. The number of shops and its gold display was unbelievable. In Singapore, goldsmith shops are scattered. But not in Laos, there were so many shops. People in Laos must really love their gold.

By now, we were hungry. Opposite Salat Sao, we found a nice restaurant called L'estaminet on Lang Xang Avenue. It was hot but not so humid in Laos. Once we stepped into their outdoor dining area,which is shaded by trees, it was quite pleasant. The waiter brought out a fan and put it near our table and that was so nice. We ordered Lao cuisine called Laap Pork, steamed fish from Mekong river and pumpkin soup. We washed it down with cold beer. It was so good.

Next we went to the That Dam, one of the Vientaine's oldest stupas. This black stupas was once coated with gold. We got lost trying to find our way to That Dam. We found Day Inn Hotel. We knew That Dam was one block away from our hotel. Finally, we arrived at the stupas by a longer way. At the stupas, it was only for a photo session. As we approached, it was really huge. I wonder how much gold was needed to coat the whole stupas.

Short walk from That Dam, we walked past at the Presidential Palace, no visitor were allowed. These days it is used mainly for ceremonial occasions.

Opposite the Palace was Wat Si Saket, home to the thousand Buddhas, entrance fee 4,000Kips per persons.

The weather in Vientiane is hotter than in Singapore but less humid. Next destination was Wat Mixai, one Km away from Wat Si Saket,one Km away from Wat Si Saket. As we have seen enough temples, we opted for a more enjoyable activity - body massage. We headed for Nam Phu and had 90 minutes massage for USD10. Yes, we paid in USD.

An interesting point to note in Laos, yourbill is preented in three different denomiation vulues, so you can then decide to pay either in Kips,

For dinner, we followed the recommendation of the hotel manager for Lao cuisine at KuaLao. KauLao Restaurant was only 10 minutes walking distance from Day Inn Hotel. In Laos cuisine, “Laap” is a way of cooking and you chose your main item like chicken, beef, pork or fish. We ordered Laap Beef, Spring roll, Morning Glory and a must-have soup, Bamboo soup. The food was delicious and the soup had a unique mint taste. We were entertained by Laos traditional dance while we ate.

We wanted to have a drink as it was too early for bed. Neo Chian was in Vientiane before and he leaded me Khop Chai Deu Restaurant Bar at Nam Phu. It was crowded. The other places we saw before we got to Phoumy INTHAXNE were hardly any customer. This place had the right atmosphere for a drink. Definitely this was a worthwhile visit.

May 4 - Crossing border into Laos

Before we went into Laos, we had one more thing to be taken care of, i.e. visit Mitsubishi Service Centre. We were unable to open the back door of the car since Khao Lak. We saw this was the last chance to fix it. At Nong Khai, we stayed at Prajak Bungalow for TBH400. Our first choice was Mut Mee Garden Guest House along Mekong River. Unfortunitely it was fully booked. We decided to have a beer at their restaurant and enjoyed the scenaey before we went searching for our lodging. Here were couple of pictures of Mut Mee Garden Guest House I took.




At 9.00 am, We arrived at Mitsubishi Service Centre. Neo Chian explained the problem to Mitsubishi Engineers. They invited us to the showroom where coffee was served. The car was driven into their workshop. After our coffee, we decided to check it out.





The door was open!!!

They opened the door in less than half an hour! Our problem was solved. However, due to language difficulty, we cannot establish the cause from their engineers We just hope that this problem will not occur for the rest of our journey. That we will leave it to Mitsubishi Singapore to figure it out after we return.

We thanked them and took a group picture. With my instant printing setup, we presented them a color photo to show our appreciation. With the door fixed, we took the opportunity to re-arrange our boxes before we leaf the Service Centre for Laos.

What a relief!









After we left Mitsubishi Service Centre, we headed for Vientaine. But first, we had to cross Thailand imigration check point. We cleared the documentation of exporting the vehicle and our personal immigration in two separate routes. This was a picture just before we arrived at Thai immigration checkpoint.
















Friendship bridge had two lanes, one into Laos and other from Laos into Thailand. Not only for cars, you notice that there is a railway track running in the middle. Not sure one-way or both-way though.











On the Friendship brigde, where the flag of two countries were flying marked their borders.













After about 2 hours we spent at the immigration and custom, we made it into Laos!

Never imagine I would travel into Laos by road. Very excited about what we had done. At this point, we have traveled 3,000 Km from Singapore. This was a picture taken after we had crossed the Laos Custom and Immigration.





While we drove into Ventiane, a policeman stoped us at the junction and signaled us to pull over to the side of the road. First, we thought that the policeman wanted to give us direction into Ventiane after asking where we were going. Then came the bad news. Using Laos language and a few words of English, finally he made us understand that we had violated a traffic offence at the junction. We were in the middle lane and we made a right turn. This is not allowed in Laos. Neo Chian and I had to get out of the car and walk back to the junction. Another policeman sat inside the hut near the junction explained our offence one more time and fined us 30,000 Kips. This was the first traffic violation of our trip.

Miss G, name we gave to our GPS, directed us to Nam Phu Square around 1 pm. There were many nice restaurants around the Square. We decided to go for French food at La Cave Chateaux, after one week of Malaysian, Chinese and Thai cuisines. We ordered a beer and "beef steak in Herb" and coffee. We asked for the bill, it came inside this beautiful little box.




After lunch, we checked into Day Inn Hotel , centrally located in Vientiane. A double or twin room costs USD40. They had only a double room left for tonight and a twin room tomorrow night. We negotiated for an extra bed, USD5, to be added into the room. Neo Chian kindly offered me the double bed. We will decide whether we want to move tomorrow. This is the first hotel we will stay for two nights. Good time to catch up our laundry! The room is clean, airly and bright, just as it was decribed in the Lonely planet. It is good value for money!

Our Stay at Khao Lak

After a long drive from Kuala Perlis, Malaysia, we arrived at Khao Lak. During our search for hotel, we drove past Khao Lak town center, one maiin street. We saw many restaurants and shops and agreed to come back here for dinner after we settled down.. We got a good deal (THB2,200, low season rate) from Hotel Briza, located about 5 km south from Khao Lak town center.









We checkd in, showered and headed for the town center. To our surprise, the main street was so quiet. Not many tourists were shopping on the main street. Most of the restaurants were three quarter empty. This was the low season coupled with recent financial crisis, tourist arrivals had dropped even further. When you look for good food in a foreign country, one rule of thumb is go with the crowd. After looking around, we decided to try Ga Restaurant serving Thai cuisine to the foreigner. We ordered Thai curry chicken, Spicy prawn, Fried squid and Fried vegetable. Nothing fanny, Their food tasted really good. Neo Chian and I enjoyed our dinner very much and rated it B for our dinner pleasure. It costed us THB450. Then, we completed the night out by going next door for one-hour Thai massage.

Next morning, I took a walk around the hotel and the beach. At the beach, there was a blue pole marked “5 M 26 Dec04 Tsunami Hazard Zone. The Tsunami wave was 5 meters high on 26 Dec 2004. There was another sign showing the Evacuation Route with a arrow pointing inland.

Neo Chian and I sat down at the restaurant for breakfast. We had a good view at the garden. Beyond the garden was the sea. I would guess we were at least good 100 meter from the sea. We chatted with Jeab, a waitress. She was here on that day but working upstairs. She said the wave came over the roof where we are sitting. It was a frightening experience for her. This hotel was destroyed and was rebuilt at the same location.

After breakfast, we checked out and brought our gears to the car. Mr. Murphy shown up for the first time. We couldn’t open the back door of the Pajero. The hotel staff took notice of our problem and came to help. Neo Chian contacted with Ben of C&C in Singapore for help. We decided to move as planned as this is not serious problem. But we would be inconvenience for moving our stuff in and out of the car . We could pick up information along the way for the nearest Mitsubishi Service Centers along our way.

Before we headed for Hua Hin, we visited Tsunami Museum and the Memorial Scripture.

Actual Route taken so far

This is a sketch of the actual route we have taken so far. It will be updated as we go along for our friends know where are we now.

Singapore - Ipoh: appro. 650km

Ipoh - Kuala Perlis, appro. 380km

Kuala Perlis - Khao Lak, appro. 530 km

Khao Lak - Chum Phon, appro. 300 km

Chum Phon - Cha-Am, appro. 330 km

Cha-Am - Nakon Rajsima, appro. 435 km

To read more about our trip, go to Neo Chian's blog http://www.aseanonwheels.blogspot.com/