Blogs from Tha Khaek, South, Laos, Asia - page 5

Asia » Laos » South » Tha Khaek February 13th 2008

Day 1 - first truck on which we loaded the moto

The Loop 08/02/2008 - 11/02/2008 2 scouters 4 days - 3 nights 475 km We arrived in ThaKhaek with the intention of doing the Loop. A 475km route around central Laos countryside. We checked in the ThaKhaek Travel Lodge, known for having numerous books written by travellers who have done the Loop, so we could read about other people's experiences. On the 8th, we rented a couple of small scouters from the guest house. The owner only had one left, and had to borrow another one from a friend. He told us he had checked the motorbikes, the wheels were good and had plenty of oil to last the 4 day trip. DAY 1 We left at 9am, going first to Kong Lo cave. After only 22 km (in a very good road) Manu's bike got ... read more

More activities at the Lions GOS

Asia » Laos » South » Tha Khaek January 11th 2008

pinlay

More pix and activities as we spent our time at the clinic. A typical day is from 730am - walk from hotel to the site - a short 15 min walk along the scenic Mekong River then to the venue to help out in crowd control and then the various stations. Work typically ends around 4pm followed by a de-brief and then dinner at around 7.30pm. The weather is cool in the morning and nites and it was rather fun eating steamboat and hot plate without having to perspire. A luxury indeed for typical Singaporeans like us who r very used to humid and hot weather all year round. ... read more

At the Gift of Sight Mission

Asia » Laos » South » Tha Khaek December 20th 2007

enroute to tha khaek

pinlay

This journal is about our few days at the mission itself. Starting from Tues afternoon to Friday. We arrived at around 1pm at Tha Khaek and checked in to the hotel, a modest looking dormitory facing the Mekong River. Moths were everywhere and stuck on the wall...as if it was the most natural thing to do. Clinic days start from 6.30am with breakfast then at 7.30am we went to the site and help out in various stations - until the last villager was sent off. The max no of villagers on thurs was 3663 - a pretty large figure considering that each villager has to go thro' registration, testing of eye-sight, checking by the doctors, prescription and then dispensing of specs. Every villager gets a chance to own their sunglasses - for some, i suspect it ... read more

Hin Boun

Asia » Laos » South » Tha Khaek October 11th 2007

Colourful Umbrellas

drbexl

Brochure Text Day 11 Hin Boun: Drive to the border town of Hin boun where we overnight in a small but friendly guesthouse. This is our last stop before heading into Vietnam the next day. Thursday 11th That colourful umbrella really is wrong for this day! We all meet 8.30am in Joma to help Lynne celebrate her birthday... Still feeling pretty rough but order 'Egger Bagel' (egg, cheese and something in a toasted bagel!), and get a cinnamon bun for lunch (had my eye on that for a while). We grab our 'usual' table upstairs (really, this is getting like Friends), cheer Lynne as she enters and Ricky is a while ordering Lynne her surprise - which was going to be a cake to share, but limited supplies meant an individual cupcake with a candle and ... read more

Somewhere over the rainbow

Asia » Laos » South » Tha Khaek September 16th 2007

marimalko

When your're not looking for it, when you couldnt care less what you do with the week, thats when the special things find you. Here's what happened to me last week. Im in Thailand, with 2 weeks to kill till Alex gets here, figured I might as well pass slowly through Laos. Dave gave me a book last Christmas - "1001 Natural Wonders to See Before You Die" and I remembered one of the pages - the river passes through a limestone mountain for 4.5 km, emerging through a striking stalagtite lined cave mouth in a seperate valley. The river is a major throurough fare for local villagers. Armed with this vague notion, I set out to find it. Leaving Chiang Mai, backpacker Mecca, I have no clue that I will not see another farang for ... read more

The Loop! (Tha Khaek)

Asia » Laos » South » Tha Khaek May 30th 2007

On board pickup heading to Nakai to repair our puncture!

Benzo83

Hi all! Thank you so much for all of your emails, it's brilliant to catch up on everyone's news. We've become seasoned travellers since we last wrote! The last day we wrote to you all we left Luang Prabang (North Lao) and headed for Tha Khakhek in the South provice. Bit of a mamouth journey: We left at 7.30pm on a local bus to Vientiane, arriving at 5.00am where we immediately caught the next bus to Tha Khaek, finally getting in at 11.30am. Needless to say not much sleep on a journey where they actually hand out sickbags!! Oh yes and the guy next to us had an AK47 machine gun "tucked" under his seat. (We liked to think he was in the army, he seemed friendly enough). We heard stories of nightmarishly loud karaoke ... read more

One of the slippery red ice-rinks we came across!

Male grooming - pet monkey collecting a meal out of Ben's hair!

Determined to get across! - Some bridge workers helping us get our bike across our "bridge"!

The Loop

Asia » Laos » South » Tha Khaek April 18th 2007

That's Me, I Promise

emmypie

The Loop It may sound like a new dance craze, but the The Loop is actually a circular road leading out of and coming back to Tha Khaek in central Laos. It goes through quaint villages and rugged, mountainous areas. We, meaning Deene, Greg and I, rented motorbikes from the city center of Tha Khaek and visited the police station/ tourist office to get more suggestions of where to go. The friendly man at the office told us of an anniversary party taking place for the next three days at the Konglo Cave to celebrate its 5th year of being open to the public. We photo copied a map of the area and its attractions and decided we would do a Reverse Loop in order to catch the party. We told Greg our idea and ... read more

Resisting the temptation of octopus beards

Asia » Laos » South » Tha Khaek March 12th 2007

Rebel

Jabe

Rather than a straight run through to Pakxe, I fancied breaking up the journey with a couple of days in Thakhek to see some karst scenery nearby. My attempts to obtain info about suitable buses to Thakhek proved highly frustrating, with different sources stating the "only" daily bus was at, variously, 6:30AM, 7:30AM, 11AM, and 8:30PM. I chose to turn up at the bus station at 6:15AM and take it from there. 7:15AM was the correct answer, but even then the ticket seller said it would take 4 hours to reach Thakhek - which would have required an average speed exceeding 90 km/h, which I doubt even Laos Airlines could achieve. The first thing I noticed was that Thakhek was extremely hot. The north of Laos had been getting close to my temperature threshold, but Thakhek ... read more

The Loop

Asia » Laos » South » Tha Khaek March 1st 2007

Another Waterfall

mattylee

Pakse Comparatively speaking, Pakse is a metropolis in southern Laos; a veritable backpacker heaven. Well that was my first impression at least, an impression which gradually changed during the days I spent there. To start with, I chose a bad guesthouse. The bed was too short and not a great deal more comfortable than the floor, the communal showers were all broken, and to top it off the restaurant downstairs became ridiculously noisy at 6am every day. That aside though, I really did enjoy the town due to the fact that virtually every tourist in southern Laos spends a night or two there. In three nights I managed to meet such an eclectic assortment of people that there was never a dull moment. In fact, on the first night there I ran into the Australian baker ... read more

The Loop and Kong Lor Cave! Fontostique!!!

Asia » Laos » South » Tha Khaek January 28th 2007

it all began around the camp fire!!!

Brummy

Current Mood: Aching but laughing!! So the move was a good laugh!! On the 16th we had planned to leave but on waking we found that my now good buddy Steven had spent all of his funds and was unable to pay for his Guesthouse hahahaha!!! Being in Laos this is an issue as there isnt any way to get money if you have none to change in the beginning!!! oooooh and no ATM's!!! Luckily and many thanx to Nessa (AKA bogie) i had my leaving Pressie in the form of a twenty pound note in my pocket so changing it gave us a few thousand Kip to get through the day and get off the isand on the next day!!! So skint i really chilled out for the day at Reggae bar not drinking which ... read more

Brief history of Laos

Laos was under the control of Siam (Thailand) from the late 18th century until the late 19th century when it became part of French Indochina. The Franco-Siamese Treaty of 1907 defined the current Lao border with Thailand. In 1975, the Communist Pathe...more history

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