Welcome to Phongsaly
Information for Tourists, Academics, and Business People

Tucked between China, Vietnam and Oudomsay Province in Northern Lao, Phongsaly Province is a beautiful, relatively untouched area of South East Asia. Phou Fa, the province's landmark, overlooks Phongsaly city. The province is extremely mountainous with elevation 450 m to 1,800 m above sea level. 28 distinct hill tribe minority peoples live in Phongsaly. There are no borders open to foreigners between Phongsaly and either China or Vietnam at this point, making it a bit of a dead-end destination for travelers, and as such is relatively unspoiled by foreigners. For a truly authentic cultural experience, Phongsaly provides a rare opportunity for today's travelers to enjoy.

Chinese and Lao people can freely cross the border at two different locations, facilitating trade between the two countries. Mostly, at this point, Lao imports a number of manufactured items from China including clothing, toys, cooking ware, and manufactured food products. Since Lao doesn't produce any of these products domestically, it is a good market for the Chinese goods. Various Chinese companies also conduct business in Phongsaly. Road and infrastructure development projects are open to bid by foreign companies, and many of the road and the airport at Bounneua were built by Chinese companies. There is also a tea factory just outside Phongsaly city, the Phou Fa Tea Co., that produces tea for the Lao market.

Many of Lao's endangered species, both flora and fauna, find home in Phongsaly Province, and the province's 222,000 hectares of protected lands. Hunting for food and medicinal purposes presents the greatest threat to the various animal in the region, and slash and burn agriculture threatens some species of trees. Various Non-Governmental Organizations are working to assist the local government agencies to preserve these threatened species, as well as to develop sustainable agriculture practices and improve standards of living.

One option that some farmers in Phongsaly pursue is poppy growing for opium production. This is hugely devastating to the environment and destructive to the culture and the people that participate in the drug production. Options are being pursued to encourage production of other crops along various avenues including building roads into remote regions to allow farmers to bring physically heavier and larger crops to market, and encouraging other high dollar crops for export as substitution. Opium continues to be a problem, but statistics indicate that production is decreasing.

Transportation

It is possible to reach Phongsaly by boat, bus or car, and airplane. Various Bus routes include:

• Direct from Vientiane (via Luang Prabang and Oudomsay, overnight)
• From Luang Prabang (via Oudomsay, overnight)
• From Oudomsay (depart morning, arrive evening)

The Nam Ou provides boat service to Phongsaly with beautiful views of nature and culture. From Oudomsay catch a bus to Muang Khua. From there a boat can bring you to Hatsa, a 20km truck ride from Phongsaly. Similarly, boat trips can be had from Hatsa to either Muang Khua or to Nong Khiaw. Slow boats and speed boats are available. Slow boats make the journey from Hatsa to Muang Khua in about 5 hours and speed boats make it to Luang Prabang in about 6 hours.

Air transportation from Vientiane and Luang Prabang is also available every Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday. The plane arrives in Bounneua, a 41km bus ride from Phongsaly. Bounneua has two buses a day to Phongsaly, which are the buses passing through from Oudomsay.  They are at approximately 11:30 and 16:00. It is not possible to fly from Phongsaly to Luang Prabang directly as the plane returns directly to Vientiane.

Telecommunications

Internet service is not yet available publicly in Phongsaly Province, but check back with SK Computer in the future for service.

If you would like to place a call, you can go to the Lao Telecom office.
They have a sheet of various rates, which you can review for direct dial costs.
Alternately, you can have people call you back in their office. They also have fax service available at the same number.

TEL/FAX: 856-88-210-006

The cheaper option for international calling is to use a phone card, available in smaller denominations at the Lao Telecom counter. The INT card is available in 40, 70, and 100 thousand kip denominations, but only the 40,000k cards are available at this office. Rates per minute for the INT Card are:

Geographic Data

Districts

Phongsaly Province is divided into seven districts:

1. Ngot Ou
2. Boun Neua
3. Bountai
4. Phongsaly
5. Sampanh
6. Khoa
7. Mai

Borders

Provincial Borders
With China: 230 km
With Vietnam: 320 km

Bountai District
140,200 Hectares
24.8 km border with Oudomsay

Bounneua District
111,459 hectares
63 km border with China

Useful Links

World Atlas Laos Asia locator map and information page

CIA - The World Factbook -- Laos

Country Information - Lao PDR

Delegation of the European Commission to Thailand

Geography and Map of Laos

Lao Maps

Lao Embassy to USA

Phongsaly travel and information guide

UNODC Lao PDR Country Office

UT Library Online - Perry-Castaņeda Map Collection - Laos Maps

Please check back for further updates as I process the data I collected on my recent trip to Phongsaly....

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Personal and Professional information about me:
Consulting Services ~ I'm a network and SQL geek
Kathy and Dana ~ My lovely new wife and I

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Copyright 2003, Dana M. Brash. All Rights Reserved.