South Laos January 2011 - Part 4 (last part)

Lone Rider

Blokes Who Can
Joined
Jan 29, 2011
Location
Chiangmai
Bikes
4 Wheels
The route: Vangtao, Pakse, Champasack, Don Khong, Attapeu, Sekong, Tad Lo, Saravan, Pakse and Savannakhet

Tad Lo to Savannahet via Saravane and Pakse

Next morning after a nice brekfast I headed off to Saravan to do some updating of the GPS map and to have a look at how far they have come with Rd 15 from Saravane to Samuoi via Ta-Oi near the Vietnamese border.

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Highway 15 being asphalted with the old road running next to it but it is still far completed


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Looking back from the point to where the road builders have advance. On the right is Phou Khao mountain.

On the way back to Pakxe saw that there is an option at Ban Kenggnao to turn right (N15 20 09.6 E105 58 55.3) for a shortcut to Xelabam at Rd 13S. As it was getting late and as it would involve crossing the Xe Don river which might be time consuming, I went to Pakse instead. The next day though I had a quick look at the Xe Don crossing at Xelabham (N15 21 38.6 E105 49 57.9 0) and found that the crossing would have been easy as they have installed a temporary bridge

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The bridge at Xelabham which shortens the time required to for the shortcut between Rd 20 and 13S

On the way from Pakse to Savannakhet I made a small detour to a nice wat near Ban Don Kho (N15 09 54.9 E105 44 45.3) and the small village where Buddhas are carved out of stone (N15 09 56.3 E105 44 53.0)

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Buddhas being carved and polished

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Buddhas for sale - the small one in the front left has a price tag of 300000 Kip (about 45 USD)

After some quick map updating in Savannakhet I managed to be just in time to cross the border over the bridge from Savannkhet to Mukdahan in Thailand in order to head home

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The Customs and Immigration at the bridge from Savannahet to Mukdahan in Thailand.
 
Interesting pictures LR thankyou --looks like road development is well under way everywhere in Laos
 
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