Blogs from South, Laos, Asia

Located on the Mekongs widest stretch of the river, the emerald green waters welcomed me to days of relaxation in a hamock outside my own bungalow, next to the river. I could have stayed here for days, lying in my hamock with my beer lao sleeping, reading, watching the river, sweating and getting up every hour to take a shower or jump in the cool water. I went and saw the Khon Phapheng Falls (the largest waterfall in south east asia) and Tat Somphamit falls. I went kayaking and cycled around the island visiting the falls and beaches. At night the town came somewhat alive and people came out of their hamocks to chill on the beach and listen to some music next to the fire. I could have stayed here a few more days but ... read more

Laos PDR "Please Dont Rush" really lives up to it's name as we experienced. Seems when it comes to transport in South East Asia we are jynxed. Something always seems to go wrong. Our bus journey from Luang Prabang to Vang Vieng got off to a good start with the bus only being half full so we had as much space as we liked. The next 6 hours was like the Bolivia episode of Topgear. Narrow, winding roads through the mountains with a 300ft drop at the edge. We spent the whole journey sliding about our seats and getting whacked with things flying out our bags. At one point the bus just came to a stop behind a queue of buses and trucks. A few people went off the bus to investigate the reason for the ... read more

Vanaf Phnom Penh hebben we de bus naar Si Phan Don gepakt. Ook wel bekend als “ the 4000 Islands” en het ligt helemaal ten zuiden van Laos. Het is een groep eilanden gelegen in de Mekong rivier. Een erg mooi stukje natuur en het is er cheap! Ik had mijn eigen hutje met hangmat voor 30.000kip (3euro). I Like! De eerste dag even lekker bijgekomen van de bus reis, de volgende dag hebben we een kayaktocht gedaan! Erg gaaf, eerst een flink stuk kayakken om vervolgens een mooie waterval te bekijken (Li Phi Falls). Vervolgens weer aantal kilometer kayakken toen we de dolpijnen zagen! In de Mekong zitten nog een aantal van de zeldzamen zoetwater dolfijnen ( The Irrawaddy Dolphin). Ik was helemaal blij dat we ze hadden gezien! Toen lekker lunchen en die had ... read more

4000 Islands - finally! We got picked up from our guesthouse in Paske at 8am (again no aircon in the minibus). As it is with Laos transport, everything takes a while and you have to be patient. We stopped after about 20 mins to pick up a friend of the driver (as we found out after asking him). The friend was obviously in no hurry and leisurely arrived after 40 mins. She then strolled to the bus and took her time getting into the bus. She was oblivious to the 35 angry and very hot tourists. Oh don't you love travelling in Laos??!! The bus driver then tried to convince us that we are booked to go to Don Kong but we told him that we are going to Don Det. When we arrived near the ... read more

Two of my friends from London joined me in Laos for 2.5 weeks. As time was limited we travelled the length of Laos from North to South in a short time ending our trip at 4000 Islands. My friends flew back to London and I was left with 8 days before I could travel into Vietnam. I decided to travel back up north again and booked a bus form Dong Det to Champasak. I had been warned that Champasak is a one street affair and that there isn't much happening. When we got there it was only me and another guy getting off at Champasak. I didn't even know that you had to cross the river but luckily he had a guide book for Laos. I only have the Lonely Planet for the Mekong region and ... read more

After leaving the Kong Lo cave we started what turned out to be the journey from hell (what else can be expected when travelling during the country's most important holiday). With the help of a local who spoke English we thought that the owner of the Eco Lodge in Kong Lo village had ordered us a minivan to take us to the street from where we could catch a local bus giong to Paske. It turned out that he hadn't and we had to take two of these truck style local busses to take us to that road. Each bus took more than one hour and was packed to the rim with locals, luggage, animals (3 puppies in a tiny crate with no food or water - horrible) and sacks of onions and other veggies. Just ... read more

After renting bikes for 10000 kip (just over a dollar). Niki and I set out to ride around the island and maybe over the old railway bridge to the next island over. The ride around the island was beautiful. We biked down bamboo fenced lanes, past little riverside bungalows and the quiet homes of the locals. The weather really cooperated with us today and we got some of the first real blue sky we had seen since entering Laos. Its the burning season for the country, which means the locals do controlled burns over small stretches of mountainside to prepare for the next crop season. It also means the sky is generally pretty hazy. Today though it was all blue skies and a nice breeze, perfect for a ride. We did a lap of the island ... read more

We set off from Phnom Penh (Cambodia) to our 3rd country Laos. After a very long bus journey (again!) we arrived at the border and found it really strange that there was a pricing list for different visas, turns out the English are one of the expensive ones. Plus we had to pay a $2 bribe to the Cambodian police to leave the country then a $2 bribe to enter Laos. We felt like there were alot of bribes! Our first impressions of Laos was good apart from the roads, when we say roads they dont have tarmac on most of them, they consist of alot of sand and random rocks - makes a hell of a ride! We stayed on the Island Don Det which is in the 4000 islands in the Mekong River near ... read more