Khammouane

Khammouane is arguably the most stunningly beautiful provinces in Laos (well, I think so anyway), and is also not on most tourists' itineraries. Most people who visit Laos do a bit of a northern loop, then high tail it past Khammouane to get further south. Shame, really, and I think it will likely change in the near future.

I didn't really do any exploring per se, but I was lucky enough to visit some villages and areas that don't see a lot of tourists, even in the limited numbers that are in Khammouane generally. I'm hopefully going back for my long in the planning yet still unrealized trip to the Kong Lor cave and surrounding area in January or February. We were supposed to go last Thanksgiving with our friends Stens and Ford, but illness conspired against me, then I was supposed to go 2 weeks ago, but weather and water levels in Khammouane forced me further south to Angkor.

Here's a bit of a dashboard tour, as we were traveling down the road, which is scheduled to be paved in 2009.

The place is chock-full of limestone karsts and mountains, and, therefore, is home to the largest cement factory in Laos (built by the Chinese). My favorite massuese (who no longer regularly works at Oasis, but will go there just for me if I call her in advance...what a nice person) recently asked me if I knew any foreign investors who might want to buy a karst. Seems her brother bought some land with a karst on it in Khammouane and wants to cash in by selling it to a dam project or cement factory or anyone who might be interested in purchasing an ingredient for cement in a VERY raw form. Maybe the Lao version of the old saying is "...and if you believe that I've got a karst in Khammouane to sell you!"

I passed, then accused her of being a spy for trying to get information on foreigners out of me.

Anyway, the road through Khammouane to Ngommalat.




It's not all Karsts and dirt roads though. There are also overturned trucks to marvel at along the way. Two on the day we were there. The road was recently graded, and as such, the traffic was moving at a relatively brisk pace.

And that, my friends, is why you never stack your loads too high or take corners too fast.

Class dismissed.