Vientiane and Pakse

We spent three nights in Vientiane, the capital of Laos. We didn't arrive until 6pm our first night and after finding somewhere to stay (a bit more expensive than we have been paying) our room was 100,000 kip a night. So 8 euro between us, this got us air con, ensuite and a tv.

Anyway, our first full day was spent getting our visas for Cambodia, this took up a few hours, we first arrived at the embassy at 11.45 only to find that it was closed for lunch from 11.30-2.30. Typical... we got them eventually though at the price of $30 and the rest of the day was spent wondering around the city.

Day 2 was spent doing the usual touristy thing, visiting monuments etc.... it was roasting hot day so perfect weather for being outside and getting burnt! We were asked by a few monk novices if they could get their picture taken with us.. and we thought we were the tourists??

Our last was spent killing time really as were were getting an overnight bus down to Pakse, so we went bowling and visited the national museum. Our overnight journey was quite eventful... we booked a sleeper bus, but our beds were ridiculously tiny, even i felt squashed in never mind ste... But then a miracle happened. The bus wasn't full so the conductor said that we could take the platform at the back of the bus designed for 5 people, which was about the size of a double bed. We were estatic, ste especially.... we had that many pillows and blankets there was talk of building our very own fort!

We spent 2 nights in Pakse, while we were here we took a day trip to the boloven plateau. We went to a tea and coffee plantation and a couple of waterfalls in the morning. The afternoon was spent visiting a couple of local villages which was really interesting. The first village celebreated a water buffallo sacrafice every march, in the past they used to sacrafice a boy and a girl every year to the gods. Kind of glad that doesn't happen anymore. The second village was different again, their death rites are unique in that they build a coffin while the dying person is still alive to fool the spirits into sparing the death of a loved one. Imagine being ill and a coffin being put down beside your bed.. would make anyone get better.

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Part of trip: SE Asia

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