Crossing into Laos - Paradise of 4000 Islands

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We finally managed to secure a bus ticket out of Phnom Penh... the city had certainly done its best to keep us there but it was time to move on. Given we had spent the extra (unexpected) time in PP we decided to head straight up to the Laos border. We unfortunately missed the opportunity to see the Irrawaddy dolphins at Kratie, and some spectacular jungle at Ratanakiri, but it just means we'll have to come back!

We arrived at Stung Treng 8 hours later, thinking we would stay the night and get an early bus across the border. To our delight when we arrived at a guesthouse there was a minivan leaving in 20 minutes, so we decided to just keep on going! Negotiating customs at the Laos border took us over an hour (it is in second place to attempting to get into Nepal, 2 hours), and unfortunately we had to get the boat across to the 4000 Islands (Si Phan Don) in the dark. We stayed on the island of Don Det, and it is a truly beautiful part of the world. As we arrived fairly late, and we were getting tired we decided to just stay in one of the first guesthouses on the northern tip of the island, and look for the bungalows we wanted the next day. This turned out to be one of our worst nights of accommodation thus far. Bed bug plague, Laotian fighting mice, a roof leak onto the middle of our bed, subsequent power outage, and all in a room right next to the noisy kitchen! Lucky it was only $5, but if we'd known the extent on Ben's bed bug attack at breakfast we wouldn't have paid a cent!

Itchy, cross and tired we walked south to find the quieter, non-backpacker part of the island. We found some lovely bungalows right by the river, clean and friendly (also $5 which made the previous night even more irritating!) We spent 3 days relaxing, bike riding, eating, swimming, and visiting a fantastic waterfall. Khon Phapheng waterfall is the largest in Asia (by way of water volume), and its hard to imagine what it would look like in the wet season!

Now feeling fully recharged and ready to take on the next adventure, we decided to take a night bus all the way to the capital Vientiane. This trip involved a boat ride, local bus and then sleeper bus for 10 hours. Unfortunately Ben's tummy was fighting some internal demons all the way, so we were very happy to get a bus with a loo, though it made a long trip that much more tiring. We have decided that there is no way of knowing what standard of transport you are booking, and the general trend seems to be that all the foreigners end up standing by the crappiest bus, while the locals and other tour groups jump aboard luxurious buses with proper air-con, curtains, wifi, and enough room to fit your knees behind the seat in front of you. We have only managed to score this mode of travel twice so far, out of dozens of attempts!

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