On the Road again - Vang Vieng to Southern Laos

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We have had both a hectic and relaxing few days...and
have been completely unable to get to any phones or
internet. The organic farm in Vang Vieng
www.laofarm.org was fantastic. The most amazing man
"Mr T" runs it, primarily as a mulberry farm. They use
the berries to make beautiful mulberry shakes,
interesting wine and the leaves for mulberry tea and
battered tempura style and served with honey.

We helped out by putting a few systems into place
for his emails, helping him with overseas tea orders
and painting a large recycling sign (of course!!).

We traveled from Vang Vieng to Vientiane by kayak
which was pretty cool. Flat most of the way so we
paddled quite a bit, with one huge rapid where we
capsized! That we definitely a highlight, except Sarah
lost her sunglasses. Straight onto an overnight bus to
Pakse, hub of Southern Laos. Arrived at 6am and jumped
to a local bus....though it could barely qualify for
that name....it was pretty much a rust bucket.

We arrived in the tiny village of Tadlo at around 10.30.
A really pretty region in Laos, full of waterfalls and
bush, including heaps of coffee trees which make a
pretty strong brew. Had a relaxing time reading, swimming plus a little elephant riding.

Left Tadlo for Si Phan Don, or the Four Thousand Islands. A really cool part of the country where the Mekong divides into 1000s of little rivers and islands. Hung out on a laid back island called Don Det and bumped into quite a few people we had met along the way. The islands are basically tiny villages with no electricity (save for a few generators) or phones...so an enforced break from NZ contact.

Unbelievably relaxed lifestyle, we whiled away our days dong basically nothing. As we've both left our boyfriends in NZ, we thought we better have an eventful date on Valentine’s Day so we took a boat to see rare Irrewaddy Dolphins in the Mekong - apparently there are only 50
left.

Unfortunately no showing off as per NZ because the river's
too shallow but it was cool to spot them never the less. We visited a couple of stunning waterfalls, one of which was
South East Asia's biggest, in terms of the huge amount
of water flowing over it. Can't imagine what they would be like in the wet season.

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Photos

Vang Vieng Organic Farm
L-R Sarah, Mr T, Kate and the local English teacher.

Reuse, Refuse, Recycle
The recycling sign we made at the organic farm

Last sighting of the Gucci's
Sarah's sunglasses make a take a final bow as we kayak from Vang Vieng to Vientiane.