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Pak Tha

Travel Guide

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The medium sized village of Pak Tha is set at the confluence of the Mekong and Nam Tha rivers and is a comfortable place to break the journey between Huay Xai and Pak Beng. It is also the place from where to embark on the fabulous trip up the Nam Tha river to Luang Nam Tha.

Set atop the bank of the Mekong, Pak Tha also marks the region from where Laos sits on both sides of the Mekong River. Not much happens in Pak Tha making it an ideal spot to rest and recharge.

A lot happens (by Pak Tha's standards) on the bank when the river is low, with food stalls setting up, boat building and in the late afternoon, a good football games kicks off near the Nam Tha riverbank. There are a couple of speedboat construction yards along the bank which may interest some.

Also, when the river is lower there are some great rapids which some of the particularly deranged kids throw themselves into. Afternoon volleyball games are also the norm out the front of the guesthouse.


The village is basically made up of three main trails which run parallel to the river and have numerous smaller paths linking them together. The slowboats tend to stop at the southern end of town if heading south or at the mouth of the Nam Tha if heading north.

The custom house is signposted and the guesthouse is just to the south of it, it is two stories and blue and green in colour.



Text and/or map last updated on 10th August, 2009.

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