Perhaps, you don’t know that many travelers have returned to the South Central Laos several times, and each time is enjoyable. Why? Within this fascinating region, the two must-see destinations should always be Tham Khoun Xe Cave – the largest river cave in Laos, and Savannakhet. In particular, the Laos adventure tours to Tham Khoun Xe Cave amaze the visitors with the extraordinary rocky structures, magical river cave, and age-old tropical forest. Travel Indochina Laos
Set in the far-off land at the center of Laos, the Cave owns the unbeatable grandeur that makes you feel like you’re standing in a paradise cave. Remarkably, the boat trips to the Cave are appealing to all nature lovers who now can witness the magical interior of rocks that are in harmony with transparent water and green forest surrounding. Convincingly, during this kind of Laos adventure tours, the adventurers feel exciting to be the small parts of the giant paradise cave. Sightseeing and photographing herein are matchless. The naturally formed Cave is unrivaled and imposing enough to feast every eye and wow all of your senses.
How about the Laos package tours in Savannakhet? The town has many impressive temples, French-style buildings, scenic rice fields, and delicious Khmer cuisine, of course. Savannakhet is the idyllic shelter for everybody to rest and revive. Provided that you’re long for the inner peace of mind, just opt for the Laos package tours to the South Central Laos; and please, remember to see the majestic Tham Khoun Xe Cave as well as lively Savannakhet! They are all worth an exploration with the countless surprises to exhilarate you thoroughly. Let’s see them without delay! Laos travel packages
SAVANNAKHET
SAVANNAKHET (known locally as “Savan”) is Laos’s third-largest city after Vientiane and Luang Prabang, and the surrounding area that makes up Savannakhet province, stretching from the Mekong River to the Annamite Mountains, is Laos’s most populous region; for centuries the inhabitants fought off designs on their territory from both Vietnam and Thailand. The city is also southern Laos’s most visited provincial capital, its popularity with travellers due in part to its central location on the overland route between Vientiane and Pakse and between Thailand and Vietnam, the two countries linked to each other by a 240km-long road carved by the French. Aside from being an important junction, Savannakhet also possesses very impressive architecture, and is a major staging post for jungle treks and cycling tours.
Savannakhet’s inhabitants, as travellers who have recently arrived from Vietnam are quick to note, are much mellower than their neighbours east of the Annamite Mountains, despite the fact that a large percentage of the town’s population is ethnic Vietnamese, descendants of entrepreneurs who migrated to Laos during French rule. Most have been living here for generations and consider themselves to be more Lao than Vietnamese in habit and temperament.
THAKHEK
Less visited than Savannakhet to the south, THAKHEK, capital of Khammouane province, is gradually gaining popularity as the best base to explore the nearby Mahaxai Caves and karst formations, and the massive Khammouane Limestone NBCA. It is also an entry point into Laos from Nakhon Phanom in Thailand, as well as being a good place to break the long journey down Route 13 to Savannakhet.
Take a short walk out from Thakhek’s tiny town square and you’ll find crumbling French villas, overgrown gardens, and an almost haunted atmosphere pervading the too-wide streets. It’s hard to believe that during the Second Indochina War, Thakhek was a sort of Havana on the Mekong, with visiting Thais flocking to its riverbank casino; these days, it’s Nakhon Phanom on the opposite bank that’s the big metropolis. Separated only by the Mekong River, the two Lao peoples living on each bank couldn’t have a more different way of life.
For most visitors this lost-in-time atmosphere is the main draw. There are a few nice colonial-era buildings around the town square, and on Chao Anou Road, north of the square, is a fine row of 1920s shophouses featuring interlocking swastika designs of moulded stucco (although this Hindu motif appears in Lao weaving, it is rare in Lao architecture). Between Chao Anou and Setthathilat is a large temple, Wat Nabo.
Thakhek’s main attraction is 6km to the south and easily reached by tuk-tuk. Known locally as Muang Kao, Wat Pha That Sikhotabong is one of the country’s holiest pilgrimage sites and a great scenic spot, especially at sunset. The third lunar month, which usually falls in July, is the best time to visit, when the temple celebrates its annual bun and a carnival-like atmosphere prevails.
Thakhek’s roots date back to the Chenla and Funan empires. The name Thakhek, which means “Visitor’s Landing”, is relatively new, but is a reference to the town’s importance as far back as the eighth century. As Sikhotabong, and later Lakhon, Thakhek was a principality spanning both banks of the Mekong, and a hub for trade routes connecting civilizations in Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodia. Its former spiritual centre, the shrine of That Phanom, is now in present-day Thailand and is still the holiest site in ethnically Lao northeastern Thailand. When the kingdom of Lane Xang was formed under the leadership of Fa Ngum in the fourteenth century, Sikhotabong’s governor oversaw the southern extent of the Lao empire. Under the French, the town became an administrative outpost with a bustling Vietnamese community: the colonial administration thought that an influx of Vietnamese workers was the key to finally turning a profit on their sparsely populated Lao territory. By the 1940s, the town was 85 percent Vietnamese. After the revolution, large numbers of these Vietnamese families fled across the Mekong to Nakhon Phanom on the opposite bank, with the result that Thakhek has slipped into being the sleepy Lao town it is today.
