Bokeo province - transport information

- errors, suggestions & contributions, kindly email: laomeow at gmail dot com
- created 15 February 2011
- last updated 06 January 2013

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HUAY XAI
Keochampa bus station (photo)
Located at JP256 on this map.
This is the bus station that has been in operation since around 2006, replacing the old one near the market in the town centre. As of October 2012, an even newer 'Domestic & International' bus station has been built to the east of this one. It appears that VIP buses for domestic routes + buses to China now use the newer bus station instead of this one.

Timetable (6 October 2012) (hobomaps):




To Luang Namtha
- 9:30AM, 12:30PM
- 60,000 kip

To Oudomxay
- 9:00AM
- 85,000 kip

To Luang Prabang
- 2:00PM
-120,000 kip

To Vientiane
- 11:30AM
- 230,000 kip

Note:
At times during the peak tourist season there are shared minivans to Luang Namtha departing from the top of the slope up from the Huay Xai immigration office near IC214 on this map.

Old info for reference:
Timetable (September 2011) (hobomaps):
Timetable (January 2011) (hobomaps)
Timetable 1 (14 March 2010) (Ian Taylor)
Timetable 2 (14 March 2010) (Ian Taylor)
Writing at bottom says: With effect from 24 February 2010 there will be morning departure to Luang Prabang at 10:00AM [daily?] with VIP [bus]
Bus station ticket office contact no.: 020-5983989
26 February 2009 (Ian Taylor)



Domestic & International bus station
Located at JM268 on this map.

Photo by hobomaps



Domestic timetable (6 October 2012) (hobomaps):


Click on images to view larger version


Note:
To Luang Namtha or Oudomxay - take any bus bound for for Luang Prabang or Vientiane, it will pass these towns along the way
To Vang Vieng - take any bus bound for Vientiane

International timetable (6 October 2012) (hobomaps):

Click on images to view larger version

Sleeper bus to China operated by Wan Xiang Transport Co. (upper half) & normal bus (lower half) (6 October 2012) (hobomaps):

Click on images to view larger version


Huay Xai slowboat landing
Located at BL67 on this map.
* 26 October 2008 fares (MapHobo)
To Pak Beng - daily (110,000kip)
Departs when there are enough passengers (~100) to sink the boat (~11:00AM).
* To Luang Namtha via Pak Tha & Nalae - see here.

Note:
On 18 February 2010, slowboats stopped running due to unusually low river levels that saw one boat capsize (source). Boat services resumed as of 20 March 2010. More info on the February/March 2010 situation:
- announcement from Dept Public Work & Transportation, Bokeo Province (MS Word document) (laobumpkin)
- Travelfish forum here, here & here (reply #111 onwards)
- Lonely Planet Thorntree forum here & here (especially reply #22)
No idea if this situation will occur again in the future. For those planning to travel this route in February/March, best to check for updates.
MRC Mekong river water levels at Chiang Saen & Luang Prabang monitoring stations


Huay Xai speedboat landing (photo by Ian Taylor)
Located at DP94 on this map.

Fares (September 2011) (hobomaps):


Click on image for larger version

To Pak Beng - 160,000kip/pax or 960,000kip/boat
To Luang Prabang - 340,000kip/pax or 2,040,000kip/boat
Lao writing says:
Announcement 3 October 2008
Time 5:00 not ??? navigate (boat)
Might be something about how boats do not travel when there is not enough daylight left.

Old info for reference:
* 14 March 2010 fares (Ian Taylor)
* 26 October 2008 fares (MapHobo)
To Pak Beng - 180,000kip/pax or 1,080,000kip/boat (max 6 pax)
To Luang Prabang - 360,000kip/pax or 2,160,000kip/boat (max 6 pax)


Huay Xai-Chiang Khong cross-river ferry
Located at BY70 on this map.
* Huay Xai to Chiang Khong fares 14 March 2010 (Ian Taylor)
Extra 10 baht/2000kip for those who cannot read Lao...?
* Chiang Khong to Huay Xai fares 14 March 2010 (Ian Taylor)

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TON PHEUNG DISTRICT

* January 2007 info:
Ban Mon to Huay Xai - morning, 150baht (not daily)
Ton Pheung to Huay Xai - morning & afternoon, 120baht

010107 Huay Xai to Chiang Khong

Hopelessly lost cat finally found its way back to Thaveesinh Hotel at ~10AM, long after its companions from the Pak Beng-Huay Xai boat had checked out & left for Chiang Khong.

Based on reports from other travellers it was expecting to have to pay an 'overtime fee' for crossing the border on a public holiday, but the two Lao immigration officers on duty just waved the cat through after collecting the immigration departure card & adding their bit of red ink to its passport. Making its way down the slope to the Mekong, no-idea-who called out to the cat & told it to hurry up & jump into a boat with 2 guys that was already pulling out to cross the river. In the middle of the Mekong...

Mr Passenger 1: yiam Thai leu yiam Lao? (visit Thailand or visit Laos?)
Cat: ??
*scratch head* isn't this boat going to Thailand...?
Cat: yiam Lao laew bpai yiam Thai (visit Laos already go visit Thailand)
Mr Passengers 1 & 2: ?!
Mr Passengers 1: khon Thai leu khon Lao? (Thai person or Lao person?)
Cat explains that it is from Singkapor...

Turns out that Mr Passengers 1 & 2 were trying to figure out if it was a Thai visiting Laos or a Lao visiting Thailand - so why on earth was it saying that it's visiting BOTH? :P

Looking back at Huay Xai with the bell & drum tower of Wat Chom Khao among the trees:




Only at this point did the cat realise that there were sheltered boats - both times it had crossed on unsheltered ones. Mr Passengers 1 & 2 headed off to start another day of work operating the cross-river vehicle ferry, while the cat made its way to the Thai immigration:





20 baht + 1 chatty tuktuk driver + 1 more round of explaining that it isn't a Siamese cat (my ears, face & paws might be tanned from the sun but my tail is black not brown!) later, the cat was dropped off at a roadside fruit stall in Chiang Khong market. Madam Fruit Seller asked the cat where it was going & then yelled out no-idea-what to no-idea-who - apparently the bus to Chiangrai was about to leave & she was getting the driver to hang on so that the cat could jump on board through the back door - just like how it had scrambled onto the bus to Chiang Khong a fortnight earlier...& so within 20 minutes flat of stepping back on Thai soil the cat was waving goodbye to Chiang Khong:



1 police road block + 2 seat changes (to make way for monks) later the cat was back in Chiangrai city to meet the others at Baan Bua Guesthouse...

010107 Get lost! (in Huay Xai)

Also at Wat Chom Khao to welcome first sunrise of 2007 - Mr Japanese Businessman...

Mr Japanese Businessman: ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ (rattles off excitedly in Japanese)
Big fat question mark balloons above clueless cat's head...
Mr Japanese Businessman: ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓
Cat rummages through memory archives - where da hell is dat magic incantation when i need it??
Mr Japanese Businessman: ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓
!!!! WAIT !!!!
Cat pulls Japanese rabbit outta magic language hat
Cat: 日本語はできません nihongo wa dekimasen (lit. Japanese language cannot)
Mr Japanese Businessman: ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓
*FAINT*...
Cat: 日本語はできません nihongo wa dekimasen
Mr Japanese Businessman: !!!! ah sodesu ka! Sorry I thought you said dekimasu! (dekimasu = can)

* Thank you to Japanese-literate colleague for teaching the cat how to recite this magic incantation in preparation for its 2005 trip to Kyoto - long after that trip it's still coming in useful :P

Beside the stairs leading from riverside road up to Wat Chom Khao - chickens that don't care about the sky falling on their heads...



...but for stars(fruit) falling from the sky:



The 4 men who sponsored the cat's trip:



Within Laos - the 20,000 is worth less than the 500 or 5. Outside of Laos - the 20,000 is worth less than even the 2. Such is the deal with 'soft' currency. Hence this morning's project to use up the remaining 20,000 & a few of its counterparts.

The cat left Wat Chom Khao shortly after the resident monks & novices returned from collecting alms. They + a temple boy + Mr Japanese Businessman + a few scattered almsgivers had been the only sign of life on the otherwise empty streets + empty temple. Wandering south along the river road...

Stationery shop with a few books in glass display case - 50,000kip for standard green Lao-English/English-Lao dictionary - second last souvenir for this trip.
Little gift baskets wrapped in red cellophane on a table outside - in ones & twos they disappear with people stopping by on motorbike to pick up their orders - reminder that it's New Year's Day.

Turn inland somewhere beyond the Post Office - intended destination = market.
Roads leading inland don't run perpendicular to the Mekong but curve off at all sorts of angles...??

Every road seems to go uphill...
Every road seems to have both paved & ex-paved sections...



Every roadside plant seems to be brown...



At last - crowd of people - but no market...?
Many green uniforms with red + gold epaulettes.
Civilians carrying babies.
Tall fences topped with barbed wire.
Uniforms & civvies squat + stand around outside concrete building.
Bare rooms with wooden beds & not much else, not even doors.
3 ladies walk past in pristine magically dustproof white nurses' uniforms...
*MYSTERY SOLVED!*
Cat has wandered into military base + military hospital...

Hopelessly lost cat asks for directions...
Puzzled but friendly green uniforms point to steep dirt path through backyards of several homes.
Cat walks downhill past several households' worth of laundry & chickens into back of Huay Xai market.

Dry goods section - no luck.
A little row of shops behind dry goods section - a seamstress points to another structure further behind.
An entire section devoted just to clothing!
Stacks of sinh piled on wooden platforms + more sinh hanging from bamboo poles.
Wooden floor raises market above grass + mud beneath - exactly like pasar malam in Singapore :)

Mission to track down green silk sinh accomplished:



Prices all quoted in Thai baht - cat requests to pay with combination of kip + baht...
450 baht sinh = 88,000kip + 125 baht = last souvenir for this trip.
Mission to use up remaining Lao kip accomplished!

More ex-paved road + brown roadside vegetation...
Cat now hopelessly lost somewhere to the east of Wat Chom Khao.
Not even a passing soul on motorbike around to ask for directions.
Bokeo province hospital - like Nambak district hospital, even sadder-looking & more run down than the military hospital...
Unlike Nambak district hospital - devoid of all sign of life...& this serves the entire province...

Gas station.
Arimid Guesthouse - extremely vague recollection of mention in Lonely Planet guidebook.
Nice paved road - the main riverside road again!
To the right - Mr Luang Prabang-Pak Beng slowboat captain & sons walking into town - big fat smiles :)
Cat has walked entire inland road from market to junction near slowboat landing...

First Beer Lao delivery of the year for roadside noodle stall:

010107 Wat Chom Khao - 07 view

Singha on guard duty at the top of the stairs:



Before:



After:



They never knew what hit them.

One could literally roll all the way down the stairs from Wat Chom Khao & the slope past the Lao immigration & splash into the Mekong:



Thai immigration at Chiang Khong across the Mekong:



Yellow + red shelter marks the cross-river boat waiting point, vehicle ferry to the left. Watching boatloads of backpackers coming ashore at Huay Xai - with their huge numbers, bandannas, sunburnt skin from time spent baking on the islands & beaches of Thailand, & big fat 70++L backpacks, the scene pretty much resembles a roasted Ninja Turtle version of D-day at Normandy.

010107 Wat Chom Khao - 06 misc

To heaven & beyond - banner offering for deceased:




Education for monks - Buddha & his first 5 disciples:



Education for monks 2500++ years later - secondary school:



Office:

010107 Wat Chom Khao - 05 that + bell & drum tower

That (stupa):




3 years later in Muang Ngeun the cat learnt that laymen pay in the range of ~300 baht per 'angel' statue to raise funds for the temple - white writing on blue base of each is the name of the donor:



2-in-1 bell + drum tower - unlike Chinese & Japanese temples that usually have the bell & drum in separate towers:

010107 Wat Chom Khao - 04 roof & paintings

Click here for larger version






Stencilled paintings beneath the roof:



Bokeo - the name of this province - literally means gem (keo) mine (bo hae), & there are sapphire mines in the area:



Under the roof of the front 'porch' of the sim are paintings of famous landmarks in Laos. Hor Pha Keo (Vientiane, upper left), the main Buddha image in Wat Ong Teu (Vientiane, upper right), Plain of Jars (Xieng Khouang, bottom left) & the Khmer ruins of Wat Phou (Champasak, bottom right):



Phra Bang buddha statue (upper left), Wat Xieng Thong (upper right), Tham Ting cave at Pak Ou (bottom left) & the Royal Palace Museum (bottom right), all in Luang Prabang:



Pha In (Indra) & Pha Phom (Brahma, with four faces) invite Buddha to share his teachings with people on earth:



Sword & spear - both paintings were sponsored by donors from Ban Huay Xai Neua: