Nakhon Phanom Bridge Into Laos

[crocken]

Got the car passport and headed for the new bridge at Nakhon Phanom.very nice place to cross into Laos,the staff are very friendly and helpful.They filled all the forms in for me and i was thru in 20 minutes.the other bridges (nonh Khai ) i had to do paper work and very confusing .so crossing at NK is easy,$30 for my visa and 60baht for the car and 260 baht for 7 days third party insurance for the car.

short drive into Thakhek nice place some old french style buildings,i stayed in the meekong river view hotel 500 baht old but ok.had a few large bottles of beer Lao (40 baht) and dinner in a place by the meekong.

next morning headed north along rt 13 to Vieng Khan then turned left onto rt 8 heading east to Khoun Kham then south for 40 klm to a place called Kong lor.....amazing place has a cave 7 klm long runs thru the mountain and you can travel thru it on a long bout for 420 baht and it take up to 4 people for the trip.so 100 baht each if you have 4 people.It was a fun trip 7 klm thru a dark cave and some times we had to get out and the guys pushed it over a few rappids and then back into the boat and at one place they turn on some light and the cave lights up and amazing is all i can say.We stayed in a guest house 230 baht a room very nice and good food.

Next morning continued east along rt 8 to the vietnam border got very hilly and very cold when we arrived at the border it was 13 c and light rain (dec 2011).i was not allowed to take my car into vietnam so i headed back to lak Xao and stayed over night there.not much to do or see in Lak Xao.

next morning headed south on rt 8s,down to Thapa the headed east along rt 12.that is a fast road to the vietnam border again.then 20 klm before the border i turned right and headed south on a small dirt road that was once the ho chi minh trail and the MAG people are still there locating the many many bombs left from the US bombing from the vietnam war.A few caves to visit and many nice villages.Many poor children.Lucky we had brought some books and pens with us for the kids in the villages we went thru.We headed back to Thakhek and stayed another night in the river side hotel.

next morning we off along rt 13 going south to pakxe...a long drive ,wanted to see the waterfalls on the meekong river,Very nice to see them too near Sophamit near the southern border with Cambodia.stayed over night in pakxe,room 400 baht ,next day headed east along rt 16 e and then rt 11 to Sekong,a beautiful drive thru the Laos country side and so many hills and villages to see.

We came back into Thailand then drove up to Nong Khai and crossed the friendship bridge into Laos again then headed north up to phonsavan to see the plain of jars,but thats another story.

was not able to upload photos....kept getting error message.

[thequietman]

excellent story. did you write down the names of the hotels, guest houses. photos would be great. please try to work out how to do it. hope you had a good time.

keep trying with the photos.

regards.

[GooEng]

excellent story. did you write down the names of the hotels, guest houses. photos would be great. please try to work out how to do it. hope you had a good time.

keep trying with the photos.

regards.

Likewise enjoyed that - been thinking if doing a similar run myself for a while

[lovelaos]

Next time go to The Blue Lake (ask in Thackek tourist office) amazing place

[jombom]

As I currently understand it, the only place you are allowed cross into Vietnam, is at the Lao Bao border on route 9, out of Mukdahan in Thailand. This is a trip I would like to do, but as yet, cannot get confirmation anywhere.

Really enjoyed reading the OP report. Keep up the good work.

[crocken]

Hi I just managed to load a few photos of my drive into Laos onto skydrive....see if this link works....

https://skydrive.live.com/redir.aspx?cid=a6725924028df700&resid=A6725924028DF700!782&parid=A6725924028DF700!776&authkey=!ABn32_oAx16QZvQ