Lone Rider
Blokes Who Can
The route: Vangtao, Pakse, Champasack, Don Khong, Attapeu, Sekong, Tad Lo, Saravan, Pakse and Savannakhet
Attapeu to Tad Lo
After my waterfall day (see part 2) I needed a quiet day and what better to do than to have a look at the Phoukeua/Bo-Y border crossing to Vietnam and a few other things like the Xekaman 1 hydro power project. It is only about 110 km. from Attapeu along a nice winding road and with beatiful views.
The last 30-40 km has lots of curves
The new Customs and Immigration buildings at Phoukeua
On the way back I made a small detour to the site of the Xekaman 1 hydro power project which will flood part of the Dong Amphan National Protected Area. The turnoff to the site is at N14 49.975 E107 13.280 and the road has for a large part reasonable good asphalt.
The location of the Xekaman 1 dam
From Attapeu I took Road 9001 which runs from Xaysettha on Rd 18B to Paem and then continues further as an unpaved road to Chaleunxai and ultimately links with Rd 16 (Sekong to Dakcheung).
Map showing Rd 9001 starting from Rd 18B and linking with Rd 16
Before setting off I needed to fill up with fuel which was quite a problem as almost all fuelstations were besieged by motorbikes as almost all of the stations had run out of petrol.
In Paem the old Sam missile has been moved a bit from its old location under the trees to its present position along the asphalt road
The old location of the Sam Missile (photo by Vitalusuper)
Once past Paem the asphalt stops and the road continues as a nice unpaved road to Chaleunxai
Road 9001 to Chaleunxai
Along the road were lots of people walking to various places and in no time the whole truck was loaded with kids and soldiers armed with heavy guns. At a junction a bit past Chaleunxai everyone got off to go south in the direction of Dakkanat while I went to the north to Ban Dakpok and Dakxum.
North of Chaleunxai to Rd 16
A bit past Ban Dakgnok I took a turn to the west as Google Earth showed a road here but after a short while I got stuck in Ban Daksamo (Dakpok) with no way out as the trail became single track.
While backtracking I went past the Base Camp of an Alu Company as this area seems to have very rich bauxite deposits. Bit of a strange feeling as it is located in the middle of nowhere but did have a very "orderly feel" with cars lined up nicely in parking bays and "Emergency Assembly Point" signs, etc.
Alu company base camp
Luckily after some time found a track which was not shown on my Google Earth map but did look good and, as it was going more or less in a northerly direction, I took my chances.
After a lot of probing along tracks which went in every direction I finally found the right one and it was a bit of relief to hit road 16 with a sign indicating the direction to Sekong
From here it was about 60 km to the west to Sekong over "Highway 16"
Along the road there were again numerous turnoffs to the left and right
Turnoff to Ban Dakdoung and Ban Naveu to the north
Once I had crossed the Xekong river (ferry 35000 Kip for a car) and finished updating the GPS map for Sekong it was a quick dash to Tad Lo (Rd 16, Rd 1H and Rd 20) where I stayed in the Xaise resort (1000 Baht for a huge room with a view on the Tad Lo falls).
Tad Lo falls a but further to the south of where I stayed and taken during a previous visit with much more water than now
Attapeu to Tad Lo
After my waterfall day (see part 2) I needed a quiet day and what better to do than to have a look at the Phoukeua/Bo-Y border crossing to Vietnam and a few other things like the Xekaman 1 hydro power project. It is only about 110 km. from Attapeu along a nice winding road and with beatiful views.
The last 30-40 km has lots of curves
The new Customs and Immigration buildings at Phoukeua
On the way back I made a small detour to the site of the Xekaman 1 hydro power project which will flood part of the Dong Amphan National Protected Area. The turnoff to the site is at N14 49.975 E107 13.280 and the road has for a large part reasonable good asphalt.
The location of the Xekaman 1 dam
From Attapeu I took Road 9001 which runs from Xaysettha on Rd 18B to Paem and then continues further as an unpaved road to Chaleunxai and ultimately links with Rd 16 (Sekong to Dakcheung).
Map showing Rd 9001 starting from Rd 18B and linking with Rd 16
Before setting off I needed to fill up with fuel which was quite a problem as almost all fuelstations were besieged by motorbikes as almost all of the stations had run out of petrol.
In Paem the old Sam missile has been moved a bit from its old location under the trees to its present position along the asphalt road
The old location of the Sam Missile (photo by Vitalusuper)
Once past Paem the asphalt stops and the road continues as a nice unpaved road to Chaleunxai
Road 9001 to Chaleunxai
Along the road were lots of people walking to various places and in no time the whole truck was loaded with kids and soldiers armed with heavy guns. At a junction a bit past Chaleunxai everyone got off to go south in the direction of Dakkanat while I went to the north to Ban Dakpok and Dakxum.
North of Chaleunxai to Rd 16
A bit past Ban Dakgnok I took a turn to the west as Google Earth showed a road here but after a short while I got stuck in Ban Daksamo (Dakpok) with no way out as the trail became single track.
While backtracking I went past the Base Camp of an Alu Company as this area seems to have very rich bauxite deposits. Bit of a strange feeling as it is located in the middle of nowhere but did have a very "orderly feel" with cars lined up nicely in parking bays and "Emergency Assembly Point" signs, etc.
Alu company base camp
Luckily after some time found a track which was not shown on my Google Earth map but did look good and, as it was going more or less in a northerly direction, I took my chances.
After a lot of probing along tracks which went in every direction I finally found the right one and it was a bit of relief to hit road 16 with a sign indicating the direction to Sekong
From here it was about 60 km to the west to Sekong over "Highway 16"
Along the road there were again numerous turnoffs to the left and right
Turnoff to Ban Dakdoung and Ban Naveu to the north
Once I had crossed the Xekong river (ferry 35000 Kip for a car) and finished updating the GPS map for Sekong it was a quick dash to Tad Lo (Rd 16, Rd 1H and Rd 20) where I stayed in the Xaise resort (1000 Baht for a huge room with a view on the Tad Lo falls).
Tad Lo falls a but further to the south of where I stayed and taken during a previous visit with much more water than now
