South Laos

The Champassak Ferry The old fashioned rickety Champassak ferry that carts passengers, motorbikes and trucks across the Mekong between Champassak and Ban Muang don’t run much anymore. The recent completion of the spanking new road to Pakse along the west bank of the Mekong has drastically reduced the need for the car ferry. Time was when ferries would sit at…

Four Thousand Islands Laos’ Four Thousand Islands, or Si Phan Don, region lies just to the north of the Cambodian border in the far south’s Champassak Province. Here the Mekong River widens and shallows dramatically before crashing over the spectacular Khone Phaphaeng Falls. 4,000 is, of course, a guesstimate since islands appear and disappear with the dry and rainy seasons…