Day 1: Pakse / Champassak / Vat Phou Temple
Day 2: Ban Huei Thamo / Oum Moung Temple / Don Khong Island
Day 3: Don Khong Island / Don Khone Island / Khone Pha Pheng / Pakse

Departure:
01 Nov to 30 Apr: departures every Saturday, Tuesday and Thursday on a cruise down or cruise up
01 May to 31 Oct: departures every Saturday for cruise down and Tuesday for cruise up
No operation from 01-30 Jun 2010.

PROGRAM DOWN:

Day 1: Pakse / Champassak / Vat Phou Temple (Lunch, Dinner)

After meeting at the Sinouk Coffee House in central Pakse at 09h30 a.m. we transfer you to a longtail riverboat for your 2.5 hour journey to Champassak. Upon arrival and check in on board Vat Phou boat, lunch is served on the deck. The highlight is the Vat Phou ruins - the majestic pre-Angkorian 10th century temple complex and boat’s namesake. Visiting the museum at the ruins site, walk up to the highest temple and experience the best panoramic viewpoint. As dusk falls, we transfer you back to the Vat Phou boat before sunset observed from the deck. Dinner is served on board, while the boat docks for the night alongside a remote Laotian village.

Day 2: Ban Huei Thamo / Oum Moung Temple / Don Khong Island (Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner)

Breakfast is on board as we set sail for the village of Ban Huei Thamo. This is a small village a few minute walk away from the mysterious hidden forest temple of Oum Muong. Afterwards we rejoin the boat to continue our cruise southwards. Lunch is on the deck, while leisurely sailing closer to the wild paradise of the “4,000 Islands”. Late afternoon we disembark from the boat to walk through Ban Dua Tae, a small Lao Loum Village where the traditional way of life has not changed in centuries. Our day’s cruise finishes at the most northern tip of Don Khong Island, the largest inhabited island in the river archipelago. After dinner, the evening is yours to relax and enjoy.

Day 3: Don Khong Island / Don Khone Island / Khone Pha Pheng / Pakse (Breakfast, Lunch)

While you breakfast on the deck, the Vat Phou boat cruises to the small village of Ban Dong Veuthong where you board a small boat to meander among the 4,000 Islands to Don Khone Island. You will visit the old French railway and walk across the bridge that links Don Khone and Don Det Islands. We continue on the boat back to the mainland for lunch at a local Restaurant in a small fishing village, Ban Xieng Di, on the banks of the Mekong.
A bus transfers you to the historically significant Khone Pha Pheng waterfall, “the Niagara of the East“, close to the Cambodian border. We bring you back to Pakse for the end of cruise experience, arriving around 16h00 p.m.

PROGRAM UP:

(The same tour but in reverse)

 

Day 1: Pakse/ Khone Pha Pheng / Don Khone Island / Don Khong Island (Lunch, Dinner)

After meeting at the Sinouk Coffee House in central Pakse at 09h30 a.m., you will board a bus to travel Route 13 to the historically significant Khone Pha Pheng waterfalls, the “Niagara of the East”. You will then be driven to the fishing village of Ban Xieng Di for lunch at local restaurant. After lunch, you board small boat for a visit to Don Khone Island to see the old French railway and walk on the bridge that links Don Khone and Don Det Islands. The boat drops you at the Don Khong Island village of Ban Dong Veuthong, where you will board the waiting Vat Phou boat for a sunset cruise and dinner, docking riverside for the night.

Day 2:  Don Khong Island / Ban Huei Thamo / Oum Moung Temple (Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner)

Breakfast  is on board  the Vat Phou boat  as we set sail  to Ban Dua Tae. You will walk  through  this  small Lao Loum Village,  seeing  by  centuries old  traditions  still being used. The Vat Phou boat  then  continues  to  cruise north, past the island of Don Xai, and many other small islets in the river archipelago.  Late afternoon, you visit the  village  of Ban Huei Thamo  and  the mysterious Oum Muong  forest  temple,  just  a  few minute walk way.  Dinner aboard Vat Phou then you have the rest of the evening to relax and enjoy the silence.

Day 3: Ban Huei Thamo / Champassak / Vat Phou Temple / Pakse (Breakfast, Lunch)

 

While enjoying breakfast on board, the Vat Phou continues its cruise to Champassak. The highlight this morning is the Vat Phou ruins - the majestic pre-Angkorian 10th century temple complex and boat’s namesake. You have time to visit the museum at the ruins site, walk up to the highest temple and take as many photos as you would like. We  return you  to  the boat  for your  final  lunch on boar. A  small boat will  then  take you back  to Pakse, arriving around 16h00 p.m