Savannakhet

Introduction

Spider!, Savannakhet, Laos

© pdsaustin

Since the opening of the Thai-Lao Friendship Bridge 2 in December 2006, Savannakhet is gradually becoming more popular with travellers. Wandering around the city, you'll see many crumbling colonial-era buildings.

Sights and Activities

• Savannakhet Provincial Museum
• Savannakhet Dinosaur Museum
• Wat Sainyaphum is a monastery that is the oldest and largest in southern Laos. It was built in 1542 and the grounds include numerous trees that are hundreds of years old.

Getting There

By Bus

• Vientiane - hourly from 6.00am to 10:00pm - US$5.50 - 8-11 hours - via Tha Khaek OR 9:30pm - US$7 - 6-7 hours - VIP night bus
• Pakse - US$3 - 5-6 hours
• Lao Bao - 6:30am, 9:30am & 12.00 - US$3 - 5-7 hours - via Sepon

Getting Around

By Car/Tuk-Tuk

From the city centre to the bus terminal is about US$1 (though prices double after dark).

By Foot

Most places of interest can be reached by foot.

By Bike

You can expect to rent bicycles from many of the guest houses in Savannakhet for about US$1-2/day while motorcycles are about US$7-10/day.

Eat

• Hay Thien - BLD - Chinese
• Xokxay
• Lao-Paris Restaurant - BLD - Lao, Vietnamese & French
• Savan Restaurant - D - Korean
• Moonlight Ranch

Drink

• Dragon - 7.00-11.00pm - Karaoke
• Rose Bar - 6:00-11:00pm - live music

Keep Connected

Internet

Most provincial capitals have internet access, particularly those that a more popular with tourists. Most hotels and hostels will provide wifi for free in touristic places. In Luang Prabang and Vientiane rates at an internet shop are usually very reasonable at about US$0.50 to US$1.50 per hour. In more remote towns where competition is low, rates are a fair bit higher at around US$3 to US$6 per hour. If you're looking to save a bit of money, it's best to save your emailing until you reach the larger towns and cities.

Phone

See also: International Telephone Calls

The country code for Laos is 856. To dial out of the country, the international access code is 00. There are plenty of public phone booths in Laos but these are pretty useless as phonecards are no longer sold and the technology is rather archaic. For long distance calls it's much better to use a post office or internet cafe. The best place however is the local Telecom Office.

Mobile phone users can use their own GSM mobile phone in Laos. Roaming tends to be expensive, so if you're planning on using your phone a fair bit it may well be worth buying a local SIM card and purchasing prepaid minutes. SIMs are normally around US$5 and both Lao Telecom and ETL have good network coverage.

Post

For the best postal services, send your mail from Vientiane as the post in the provinces is less reliable. In general it takes anywhere from 1 to over 2 weeks to send post to/from Laos. Post offices generally are open from 8:00am to 5:00pm, with some having shorter hours on weekend days as well. If you are going to Thailand, post from there as it's more reliable and faster. If you are worried about sending home valuable items there is a Federal Express office inside the main post office in Vientiane. You might also check possibilities with companies like DHL, TNT or UPS.