Overland to Pak Mong/Nam Bac
Another scenic wonder brought to you by Laos

by Peter Kemp

The Vientiane Times front-page headline of 4 June 1997 hardly captured the reading public's attention: "Northern End of Route 13 Project Inaugurated." That was because most readers thought the article was about the road from Vientiane to Luang Prabang, the former royal capital in the north. Wrong. 13 does not end there. It meanders 112 kilometers (67 miles) northwest along the rivers Ou, Nga, Lum and Khan to Pak Mong. However, foreigners are forgiven if they have never heard of Pak Mong--few Lao have heard of it either. But look 10-12 kilometers east beyond Pak Mong and you will find Nam Bac. Nam Bac is the stuff of history books and former-but-still-fragrant royal gardens. Nam Bac is where the Laotian equivalent of Vietnam's Dien Bien Phu took place a couple of weeks before Tet 68. Nam Bac is also the location of Laotian kings' orange groves. Of course the battlefield is quiet, but orange trees remain everywhere.

Route 1 looking northeast. The road was built by the Chinese in the 1960-70s. The view was taken just a couple of kilometers beyond Pak Mong en route to Nam Bac. Nam Bac is 10-15 minutes away. This stretch of Route 1 follows the Nam Khan, which is not far off to the right but unseen due to low hills and plentiful vegetation.
A rambling if pedestrian view of featureless Nam Bac. The road is Route 1. The picture looks northeast. In the distance the road is seen rising and curving to the right (east). A kilometer later the Bac flows from north to south at the east end of the nondescript town. (One can amble down any of the narrow lanes between the houses on the left-hand side and arrive at the bamboo bridge.)
About 40 meters across, the bamboo bridge spans the Bac. At this time of year (i.e., January) the river--really just a big stream/creek on this stretch--is hardly knee-deep. The view looks north, and the Bac flows from left to right. Vath, the Diethelm Travel guide, is the left-most figure on the bridge. In blue with a cap, John Haseman is the right-most figure on the bridge.
Typical view looking southeast from the single-file trail after leaving the bamboo bridge but before reaching the abandoned airstrip. A very hazy sky almost completely blocks a quixotic view of Phou Kou, 3,372 feet high. (Although the camera caught the mountain, in this picture, printed in Vientiane from a locally-made inter-negative, it cannot be seen.)
Now headed northwest, the single-file trail leads to the Nam Bac airstrip, formerly known as Lima Site 203. The southern boundary of the airstrip begins at the top of the rise.
View from the overgrown runway looking northwest.
View from the overgrown runway looking west-northwest. Trail in the center of the photo leads to the west end of the airstrip, beyond which twists the Bac. The Bac heads more or less due north into the mountains some 4 to 6 kilometers beyond the western end of the airstrip.  (The following photo can be slid on top of the above photo from left to right about half-way. This presents a 90-degree-view across the western-half of the Nam Bac airstrip.)
View from the overgrown runway looking due east. The dusty path appears to follow the centerline of the airstrip. For a sense of human scale, guide Vath stands in the distance.
Friend Bounpheng from Vientiane poses with three spent 105 shells found at the edge of the airstrip. Bounpheng's late father was Prince Phetsarath's stable master in royalist days.
On the bridge as he returns from the airstrip, Vath poses with a spent 105 shell. The village of Nam Bac is nestled in the bamboo, banana and coconut trees beyond the south bank of the Bac. John lifts his videocam at the opposite end of the bridge. Carrying two spent 105 shells, Bounpheng is the figure walking toward the shadows in the far right.

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