Tha Teng

Utterly destroyed during the war, Tha Teng today is nothing more than a truck and coffee stop for travellers on the way to somewhere else. It does however offer accommodation and a few standard eating options, with a Kaysone bust also here for those collecting pictures of them countrywide.

While the views of the surrounds are pretty, the bust shiny and the Lao coffee particularly cheap, it is best to push on when possible.

According to one of our sources, there is a waterfall in the area worth visiting which is most conveniently done from Tha Teng itself. It's called Tamorhon Maihea, near the village of Ban Sen Thai, which should be located along a road that heads south-east from a point along the Paksong-Tha Teng road, just outside of Tha Teng.

The trip can also include a visit to the Katou Cultural Ethnic Village (Kandonmay Village) on route 16 -- the turn off should be about 15km from Tha Teng, then 4km down a dirt road.

Orientation
It's pretty easy to get your bearings in Tha Teng. The dusty central market is hard to miss, and that's it -- that's the centre of town. Just beyond the market is a roundabout -- the road heading north turns to dirt shortly thereafter, but it's still fairly decent. The road heading east from the roundabout goes directly to Sekong.

There's a branch of the Lao Development Bank located about 100m from the roundabout on the left, open weekdays 08:00 to 14:00 -- there's no Roman script sign and it doesn't look anything like a bank, but with a little industry, you'll find it.

Eating options are mostly limited to the market restaurants, but we found some pretty tasty local dishes on offer there, and some great Bolevan Plateau coffee. There's a good road-side place about 1km south of the town centre, just past the Caltex petrol station, that serves up a decent Korean-style BBQ.