Blogs from Pakxe, South, Laos, Asia
August 9th 2010
I got a night bus from Vientiane to Pakse. It had flat beds and was quite comfortable. Pakse is a sleepy town on the river and is quite nice. Most travelers pass it up on the their way, but I ended up staying 2 nights there before and after the trip to the Bolevan Plato and enjoyed it. The Bolevan Plato is a highland region east of Pakse and is best explored by motor bikes, so Danny, the English guy I met on the Thai-Lao border and Fanny, a French girl we met on the slow boat to Luang Prabang, rented bikes for 5 days and went on a loop through the Bolevan Plato. The Plato is about 1 km high and is simply spectacular. It's much cooler than the rest of Laos, and they grow ... read more
July 23rd 2010
Dear diary, Our plans to kill Kayla have backfired completely, leaving me fallen over and trapped underneath my motor bike in a giant muddy puddle in the middle of the trail. This is crash number 3... all involving Kayla (she was on the back of my bike but somehow easly jumped off before freaking out and throwing my balance off, I'm beginning to think she was a cat in her past life... not only does she always land on her feet... but she has 9 lives)... but do not worry mother, only the first one involving me. I did not get hurt, only my ego and I will no longer act like the only one of us left that is a complete BAD ASS on a motorcycle seeing as I had not run into a ditch ... read more
July 1st 2010
Sabadee, everybody! Been making my way down Laos. I've grown to really love this country. I feel like it's a country with a perfect balance of life. It's not "backwards" by any means but very simple. There aren't extremes of the rich and the poor. People seem to all live happily with a simple life. There aren't any slums but there are a lot of villages that farmers reside at. The best part about it is that they all use their money to buy a big satellite dish to watch TV! haha. Strange to see villages with huge satellite dishes. They love their lives here and I definitely love it here too! The Objective Eye My first philosophical questions came at the age of 9 when I asked my brother a question,” Does everybody see like ... read more
March 12th 2010
Die meisten dieser Bilder stammen von einer Radtour in die Umgebung von Pakse. Eigentlich wollte ich zu einer bestimmten Mekong-Insel fahren, aber die Beschreibung im Lonely Planet war etwas konfus. Die Insel liegt laut LP im Sueden von Pakse. Masn solle aber, um dorthin zu kommen, die Stadt im Norden verlassen. Der Pfeil auf dem zugehoerigen Stadtplan wiederum zeigt Richtung Westen. Nach einer Weile auf der Hauptstrasse in Richtung Westen bog ich dann einfach irgendwo links ab und fand mich auf einmal in einer vollkommen anderen Welt mitten auf dem Land wieder, wo Touristen anscheinend eher selten vorbei kommen. Die Leute freuten sich alle unheimlich, mich zu sehen. Sobald sie mich sahen, riefen die Kinder der Doerfer laut: "Falang! Falang!" (westlicher Auslaender) und alle, Kinder und Erwachsene gruessten mich freundlich mit "Sabai Di"! Ich kam aus ... read more
February 28th 2010
Da ich derzeit meinen Laptop nicht benutzen kann, erst mal nur in Kurzform: Bin mittlerweile in Pakse, einer recht ueberschaubaren Stadt in Suedlaos. Die Fahrt war abgesehen von dem ueblichen Chaos bei der Verteilung in die Busse recht angenehm. Die Strasse in einem guten Zustand, besser als Ende 2006 die Strecke zwischen Luang Prabang und Vang Vieng. Dabei gilt der Sueden von Laos als vergleichsweise unterentwickelt, aber in den letzten Jahren hat sich wohl einiges getan. Es git in Pakse sogar mehrere Geldautomaten. Als ich zuletzt in Laos war, gab es im ganzen Land noch keinen. In den naechsten Tagen fahre ich nach Westen ins Bolaven-Plateau. Das erhebt sich auf ueber 1000m und hat ein deutlich angenehmeres Klima als die Mekongebene. Ich habe gehoert, dass es dort nachts sogar unter 20 Grad werden soll. Das waere ... read more
February 17th 2010
I'm high on the joys of life today. We've been touring round the Bolaven Plateau near to Pakxe in Southern Laos today and it was possibly my favorite day of the trip so far. But I'd better start from where I left off! I can't believe my last blog was from Sihanoukville... so much has happened since then! We ended up in Phnom Penh for 2 nights as we had to wait for our Laos visas to be processed and I think Nathan and I both felt this was more than long enough given our tight schedule. The city had a slightly surreal feel to it. It was loaded with ex-pats, presumably due to the high presence of NGOs and International Organisations in the area but it still managed to hold a level of dinginess which ... read more
February 10th 2010
We've had some excellent moterbike adventures around the south of Laos in the last few days. While in Savannakhet, along with a Danish couple, we decided to rent motorbikes and tour around an area recommended in the Lonely Planet. I wasn't a huge fan of the idea, as there are a lot of negative stories floating around about motorcycles and problems, but the Danish fellow, Jacob, was a bit of a motorcycle enthusiast and knew what he was doing. We lucked out and ended up getting two brand new 125cc bikes, which were far more comfortable than the usual 100cc scooter-like bikes around. We learned a few valuable lessons that day- one: don't let the Danish navigate. After a 50km detour because we took the wrong road out of town, we did manage to find the ... read more
February 6th 2010
My first trip this year is to Laos for 10 days. During my route design, I found myself trying to include all highlights from North to South Laos in my trip. Remember Last year I met a German guy visiting Vietnam in 15 days, for all main cities, which surprised me a lot. I think he had wasted his time as he could not actually "feel" any spirit of any town in such a rush. And Now, it's my turn. hahah I'll comeback with information and photos of the trip. Cheer, L... read more
January 6th 2010
The guy from the travel agency picks us up at 6:30am and drives us to the bus station, which is located 10 minutes outside of town. We wait around for the bus to Paksan, scheduled to leave at 7:00. Nothing happens, and I first get impatient, then worried, followed by anxious, desperate, and finally resigned. At 9:00am a sorry-looking midibus comes rattling around the corner. The driver, who looks suspiciously like a Mongolian with his fair skin, red cheeks and wind-proof eyes, puts up a sign that says 'Paksan' and proceeds to load the passengers' luggage onto the roof. Almost everybody appears to take along a big sack of rice. There are not many passengers on the bus, and I rejoice a bit prematurely, as we pick up people along the way until the bus is ... read more
January 5th 2010
Tirsdag den 5.1.2010 Toget ankommer ikke planmæssigt til Ubon Ratchathani. Forsinkelse fra Bangkok bliver vi ved med at have med i bagagen, så vi ankommer først kl. 9.30 til Ubon Ratchathani. Togturen og mangel på eget toilet har haft en positiv indflydelse på vores maver. Fra Ubon Ratchathani er der en times kørsel til grænsen. Vi hyrer en taxa, der senere viser sig at være en sawngthaew og derfor bør være billigere. Chaufføren forklarer, at der ikke findes rigtige taxaer i byen. Det er sikkert løgn, men vi orker ikke at lede efter en anden, så vi vælger hans sawngthaew. Halvanden times tid efter er vi ved grænsen til Laos. Grænsekontrollen er lidt underlig her. På Thailand siden tjekker vi ud som normalt. På Laos siden er der ikke rigtig nogen kontrol, og vi kan bare ... read more
