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 the ‘dock’ (well 2 planks of wood between beach and ferry) until the boat was full before departing. These days 1 car or 3 motorbikes ought to be enough to provoke an instant departure!
The ‘port’ at Champassak village It was a fun and fascinating means off getting across the Mekong River – albeit a slightly ramshackle, and for the more fainthearted, a slightly worrying affair but it worked! (They’re actually just three old boat hulks tied together with wooden planks on top and an engine stuck on top!)
Solitary car —and Steve, on the ferry last month Sadly can’t see it lasting much longer – motorbikes and passengers can take smaller, faster boats and cars, trucks and tourist buses to or from the nearby Wat Phu, UNESCO World Heritage site, use the new direct road to Pakse, the province’s commercial and administrative centre.
Vietnamese vendor on the ferry to Ban Muang It was fun while it lasted! The Champassak ferry crossing was part of our Southern Cambodia, Emerald Triangle tour.
Update; well, thirteen years on and the old Champassak ferry is still functioning. Perhaps not going strong as the reduced service today mainly serves foot passengers and two-wheeled transport but it does till link Champassak Town with Ban Muang on the east bank. The latter village lies just west of the main north-south Highway 13 and offers public transport options for southern destinations such as Don Khong, Nakasang and so-on. (Travelling north one would simply take the west bank route north to Pakse.
