Blogs from Tha Khaek, South, Laos, Asia - page 3

SORRY FOR THE DELAY PEOPLE So week 6 kicked off with a late arrival in Thakhek, thanks to a broken down bus in which we think someone stole our fucking camera. Little bastard. 1am in the morning and we share a tuk tuk in to the town with an English couple called Rich and Lucy. They are also planning on doing ´The Loop´, a 350km round trip through mountains around most of central Laos. We met the next day for a chat about how we were going to tackle this little challenge and met a Canadian lad named Ben, who was also about to take on the trip. We all thought that a little entrouge like this would hold us in better stead for a safe and enjoyable time. So now with myself,Ryan, Andrei, Snaedis, Rich, ... read more

Merry xmas to you! It's the 25th and I am in a Thakhet restaurant, a little sunburned, but otherwise healthy. I left Vientiane on the 22nd to go to Thakhet in south central Laos. I arrived in the early evening and focused on renting a hotel room and getting some dinner. I am at the Travel Lodge - a decent guest house that is not linked to the american chain of hotels. On the morning of the 23rd, I joined a fellow traveler, Garret, from the Netherlands, for breakfast. He was preparing to leave on a 2 day trek to visit several limestone caves and to spend the night at a small village in the jungle. I called the tour company and managed to join the trek on short notice. Then some fast packing (stuff to ... read more

Well we have just returned from a 5 day motorbike trip doing a circuit called the loop. The trip started in Tha Khaek and in an anti clockwise direction took us along dirt roads, forest tracks and up into the Annamite mountains within 30km of the Vietnameese border, and then through limestone karsts possibly some of the nicest scenery so far. The places we visited were very remote and the people were not used to seeing many tourists at all, getting a recognisable meal that you fancied eating was quite a challenge at times. The chain broke on the motorbike and we had to push it app 2km, then a young man repaired it for us it took him about 45mins inc going to fetch a new joining link, he charged us 10,000 kip (11,500 = ... read more

Through feats of sheer human strength we tipped ourselves out of our hammocks (clambered back in once whimpering, and then tossed ourselves out again with greater resolve) to head north to lands of (slightly) greater activity. Laos is in general the most laid back of places we've ever come across - at times you feel guilty ordering food in a restuarant or enquiring about a room, forcing the poor owners to reach some level of activity. But the effort of leaving Si Phan Don had to be seen to be believed - a mass of slumbering tourists standing on the beach with three long boats in front of us and the two 'organisers' randomly assigning people to boats, recounting, checking tickets constantly with a questionning look on their faces - after being the first on the ... read more

I spent a night in Pakse which was a pretty boring little dusty town and then headed out to check out the sites along a plateau along town. We saw a few waterfalls, some villages (including one that makes coffins), a tea plantation and some other things. It wasn't all that spectacular of a day, although the waterfalls were pretty nice and I did enjoy swimming in them. The next morning I went to the 4,000 islands which was great! I took a few hour bus and then hopped on a boat. I arrived and found a little guest house that was run by 'mama' who turned out to be insane! It was located right on the river and had tons of hammocks to just veg out on! The islands were so nice because although there ... read more