Anyone know much about the car/bike ferries that run from near Ban Kern across Nam Ngum to the eastern shore? Wanted to know if you could put you bike on and then ride off at Pao Mo (as marked on Gekko Map) and then connect to Route 5 (east/west Xaysoumboune road)? Thanks
The little road via Muangsoum to the lake can be seen in hi res on GE. At the villlage at the lake there is a tiny trail heading east and then south, so it should go to Pao Mo, but it's low res there. And looks really like a foot trail... ++++
What you see in GE may be a few years old and no longer reflect reality on the ground. When I was there about a year ago they were building a new road from the Xaysomboun Rd to the south which at that time was already way past Muang Soum. I assume that this new road will go to the new Nam Ngum 2 Power station and probably onward to link with the Xaysomboun Rd on the east of the new reservoir of Nam Ngum 2 which will flood part of the Xaysomboun Rd as shown in the screen grab of the Laos GPS Map. {} I am planning to go there the next time when I am in the neighborhood but as there appears to be fighting ongoing in the area, as reported last week on this forum, it is not a good idea to go there at this moment.
