A small central village, not a generic Old Town tag
Ban Houaxieng is a compact village on the south side of the old centre. Its OSM place record gives the map a sourced seed, while the drawn polygon is an estimated catchment assigned from road-bounded blocks. The name is easy to miss when browsing broad accommodation searches, but it helps separate the lodging-and-food streets south of the peninsula from the peninsula itself.
The area is mixed in the useful, slightly messy sense of the word. Local houses, guest rooms, cafés and small shops appear in the same low-rise grain. A short walk can put you at a temple or market, but it can also put you on a road where vehicles matter more than the map’s straight-line distance suggests. The river and heritage core are close; they are not interchangeable with every street in Houaxieng.
My verdict
I would inspect Houaxieng if you want central convenience and are comfortable choosing by lane rather than by building type. It is a better fit for someone who likes a lived-in, low-rise setting than for someone expecting a modern serviced apartment. Walking, bicycles, tuk-tuks, taxis and motorbikes do the practical work; the city has no operational urban rail. No neighbourhood rent series is published here, so the map leaves the quantitative fields unknown.