Pak Beng is the halfway point on the Mekong River route from Chiang Khong to Luang Prabang. This is where all the slow boats stop overnight.
Santisouk Guesthouse is one of many hotels and guesthouses in this small town. There is a wide selection, but we didn’t take the time to shop. After the six and a half hour boat ride, and then being met at the Pak Beng landing by a large and unpleasant group of touts trying to push their businesses, we just wanted to get into a place that was half decent and call it a day.
Santisouk met the bill.
We grabbed a room in the newer part of the hotel. It was your basic small room with a king bed, its own bathroom, fan instead of air conditioning, no fridge, and no in-room coffee service. But it was clean, relatively new, and relatively well-made.
And at 240 baht, it was inexpensive.
The hotel has a restaurant, and that’s where it makes its money. We spent four times as much on food as we did on the room; for a dinner, a breakfast (not included with the room), and a bag lunch for the second day on the road. The dinner was pretty good. The breakfast and lunch were poor. Food prices for the dinner dishes were about 2-1/2 times the normal rates we had encountered in Thailand.
Perhaps there are better options in Pak Beng; but as I mentioned, we didn’t take the time to look. I can say that Santisouk is an acceptable option. Just be prepared to shell out some dough to eat there.
