January 6, 2025 – Paksxong to Savannakhet – 72 kms – Savan Villa Hotel

January 7, 2025 – Savannakhet – 0 kms – Savan Villa Hotel

Gordon: We are spending a couple of nights in Savannakhet, Laos’ second largest city.  It attracts few foreign visitors, but it’s a pleasant place to pass a few days.  Much of the downtown area was built by the French during the 1920s, and it has an air of decaying civility reminiscent of many places in Cuba.  There are an abundance of modest but excellent restaurants, making each meal a delight.  There is also a large night market just behind the promenade along the Mekong.  The remains of a cavernous French cinema have been repurposed as part of the night market.  It’s a bit like living amongst the ruins, but in a pleasant, shabby chic manner.

Ruth is happy to be here, as we have now moved out of the more malarial regions of Laos.  She was not tolerating our anti-malarial (Malarone) well, and stopped taking it a while ago.  Laos has been very successful in its struggle with malaria, reducing the number of annual cases from 400,000 to 20,000 over the past 20 years.  There are still areas, however, mostly in the deep southeast, where ten percent of the population contracts the illness each year.  We are now well-clear of those areas.

Ruth: It’s decision time again regarding our route. Option one is to continue north to do the Thakhek Loop, an extremely popular motor cycle route in Laos. Option two is to cross the friendship bridge located 4 kms upstream and return to Thailand. There are a number of parks and wilderness areas that we can follow as we arc back to Bangkok. It’s a tough decision but Thailand, or at least Thailand’s birds, are calling me back.