A roadside town is probably the most precise definition for Xepon: a remote small town that has a highway as its main street. However, that's a quite lively roadside town: they have street lights along the highway, a dozen hotels and 20 or so basic restaurants working until late night including ones with karaoke + at least one convenience store that works 24 hours a day.
The main crossroads with chickens crossing the street
But can't call Xepon beautiful: the highway's dirt sidewalks are littered and covered with puddles and the heart of the town, the market, is actually a group of ugly shacks looking like a slum quarter.
However, I think Xepon is photogenic. See for yourself - sharing photos taken in August-September 2024.
Late afternoons are amazing in Xepon, at the main crossroads where the highway and the town's major street cross each other.
I used to go out there just to photograph the last hour of the day with a 50mm or a 70-300mm.
The lower the sun, the better.
Shadows are getting longer.
The asphalt shines as bright as the sun.
Plus those wondering giants, trucks plying from Vietnam to plain Laos and Thailand and back.
Textured road and lines of the wires.
A new spectacle every day thanks to the changeable sky.
Besides the central crossroad and its sunsets, Xepon can offer the Banghiang River and rapids.
It takes 1 hour and 20 minutes to reach the rapids; a picturesque route.
Banana trees, castor bean farms, forests.
Almost no traffic, almost no people - only tiny settlements on the way.
The rapids are visited by men from nearby villages. They all catch fish with the same type of equipment, a fishing net framed with a heavy chain:
They throw the net to trap fish between it and the river bottom.
As you see on the guy's belt, quite successful.
Closer to the Lao-Soviet friendship bridge, you'll find a pier area with kids as the most frequent visitors.
One day, I was lucky to witness their leisure in the late afternoon together with a rowing team having their training.
Laotian children are probably the most friendly kids in the world. I found it when I visited Laos for the first time in 2012. Nothing changed since then.
The kids were posing for me and then tried to impress me with their jumps into the water.
It was a precious evening. And it was a precious month. Leaving tomorrow morning - returning to Vietnam. Thinking about going to Kon Tum City with a short stop in Da Nang, let's see how it will go.
I took these images with a Nikkor 50mm and Nikkor 70-300mm on a full-frame DSLR Nikon D750 in Augusy-September 2024, in Xepon, Laos.