Pakbeng


Pak Beng is a small village in Laos, on the Mekong River about halfway between the Thai border at Huay Xai and Luang Prabang, Laos. Pak Beng is connected by a sealed road with Oudomxai along the Nam Beng River.

Geography

Pak Beng had its main road paved in 2005 and also just completed a hydroelectric station downriver thanks to a World Bank loan. Before then, the town was dependent on electrical generators for electricity.
There is a small wat to be found in the hills not far from the village. It is an example of a Buddhist temple from the former Lanna Kingdom. Many of the old temples had been destroyed during wars with the Thai Kingdom 300 years before.

History

During the Laotian Civil War, Pak Beng was the southern terminus of the freshly constructed Route 46 from Yunnan Province, People's Republic of China.

Tourism

The town is the overnight stop for boats running between Luang Prabang and Huay Xai. The slow boats which run between Huay Xai and Luang Prabang over a period of two days spend the night moored in Pak Beng.
An elephant sanctuary has been created in November 2017 welcoming 4 elephants: Mei-kham, Kham-Khum, Mae-Kham-Di and Mae-Ping. The sanctuary has been built to create an alternative of the ancestral work of the elephants and the Cornac who traditionally were working in the forest and protect the elephants from hard labor tasks.