Leaving Cambodia, Entering Laos

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The way to Laos please

We left Siem Reap a little worse for wear, both of us had a stomach bug and Paul had caught a particularly bad cold so both felt wiped out, so to know that we had the best part of 3 days straight travelling ahead of us to get to Laod wasn't the nicest prospect in the World. We took a bus back to Phnom Penh and stayed there for an evening to recover then a bus to Stung Treng the following day, travelling through the beautiful Cambodian countryside to end up in another shoddy border town. One thing that we noticed as we travelled through the country was how remnants of the war lingered everywhere you looked. Whether it was the careful documented museums or brief stories you hear from people in the cities, to the countryside where you are advised not to travel off the path for fear of unexploded bombs, (which would be an even bigger issue in Laos, not that we discovered any mind, don't worry...). We got into Stung Treng just as the sun was setting and settled into our cheapest hostel to date (a grand total of $3, great value, but a broken toilet door and no window so swings and roundabout really).

What border crossing?

The following day we travelled through the Cambodian-Laos border (we saw a guy give a border official a bribe of a crate of beers to help ease his passage through customs, seriously) which was comical to say the least but par for the course in this part of the World. (Unless you've got a massive stash of class A drugs on your persons, luckily a well-placed crate of Tiger beer sealed the deal). When we got to Si Phan Don (4'000 Islands) in Southern Laos it made a nice change of pace and was well worth the 3 day bus trip. The islands were beautiful (all 4'000 of them according to Paul), we visited a few waterfalls, of which Laos is full of but impressive nevertheless, and visited a couple of smaller islands, saw some monastreys and even some water buffallo bathing in a nice shady spot. That afternoon we hired a hog (the form of transport not the animal) and cruised around the island. This being the first time we'd ridden motorbikes properly we both did pretty well, if you exclude Paul driving straight into the branch of a tree. We rode around the circumference of the island we were staying on and lapped up the countryside and relaxed atmosphere and friendly disposition of the locals.

After a relaxing, and rejuvenating couple of days we planned route up through Laos and st off for the small town of Pakse just a few kilometers north of the islands...

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Photos

Erm
No idea what's going on here

So ill
We felt a strange but mutual bond almost straight away

Laos
We got there just after the floods and had amazing the weather almost the whole time

That's my 'Can you believe they're trusting me with this' pose
Just after I'd hit a tree

Born to be wild
With his dangerous looking basket