Laos

---

OK, OK, OK, I admit I have been a bit slow in keeping you all upto date with our travels, I promise to try harder in future.

So after arriving in Stromtrem only to discover that there are no ATM's (again) and that we cannot change money at the boarder we needed to find a solution , the solution seemed to be to go across the boarder carry on as far as Pakse where there was a bank we could get a cash advance on our cards, the only hiccup in this plan was by the time we paid for the hotel for the night some food and the transport, we would have exactly minus three dollars. The answer to this minor problem came in the form of Mr T the travel agent who agreed that we could pay half ticket now and the other half when we reached Paksi to the driver. So being cash rich again ($20) we had some supper and went back to the hotel to sleep.
In the morning back to the Riverside Resturant (Mr Ts) to get our bus to Paksi, so first we take the public ferry (a small wooden boat that you can fit about eight people two motorbikes a stack of supplies and two falang with there backpacks in) across the Mekong river, we get to the other side and look around, no bus, a man comes over and asked "Laos?" and we follow him to his share car (Toyota camrie) which would normally be hired out to seven people at a time,we where very lucky as there was only four of us,this takes us as far as the boarder and once we have paid $1 to have our passports stamped we are out of Cambodia,back into the car for the 300m drive to Lao passport control where we paid $1 (to have our passport stamped again) and there our car leaves us. We know that there was a change of bus near the boarder but we are the only ones there so we ask the boarder guards if there is a bus to Paksi "yes" they answer "when is it due" we ask,the only response is a shrug of the shoulders and a grunt, we take that to mean sometime, so the guard goes back to his game of cards and we settle down to wait, after about 30 minuites a small minibus and a small coach pull up and people get off and mill around (no one seems to be in a rush to get there passports stamped, they seem more interested in having there picture taken with Emma) then suddenly the mini bus driver calls to us and tells us to load our bags into back and we are off again but this time in someone else's minibus and not to sure where we are actually going, as it turns out he was taking us to the pickup point for the Loas minibus to take us to Paksi.
We swap to the new minibus and join back up with the four Irish people we met briefly the night before at Mr Ts (they made the crossing by boat) and it's on our way to Paksi, about two and a half hours on good roads (after Cambodia any road is a good road)
Once in Paksi the four Irish go to wait for there luxury bus to Vientiane and we go to the bank for some more of those filthy American dollars.
The trip had been so comfortable and speedy that we decide that we would see if we could negotiate with the driver to make the two hour trip back to Si Phan Don (four thousand islands) which meant that we should arrive just before sunset and leave ourselves enough light to choose accommodation, as it turned out it took two and a half hours to make the return journey so we landed on Don Khon island just as the sun was setting, we where dropped off at Souksanh guest house, Mama (or Madam,madam) showed me the rooms while Emma spoke to a young man (Martain) from New Zealand who was staying there, after agreeing a price of $1.5 (75 pence) a night, we were sold, we dropped our bags in our room (which was built on the edge of the Mekong river) and went back to the resturant to have a drink and chat to our new found friend Martain, while we where chatting Papa (the head of the house) came over with a small coke bottle filled with lao lao the local rice spirit quickly followed by another small bottle of lao whiskey (which looks like pink parafin) soon the evening was flying by (and so where we) and it was 11pm and time for the generator to be switched off (electricity is normally from 6pm to 10pm).
Next morning we wake about 8am and go for breakfast Mama and Papa again supply us with large quantity's of lao lao and lao whiskey (Emma says that she is feeling unwell and goes back to bed) so Martain and I end up chatting not moving from the resturant all day,Emma joins us in the afternoon but is really looking unwell now and has a bit of a temperature so she soon goes back to bed, during the evening Emmas starts to burn up and she says that she is feeling cold so we pop the last of our paracetamol and hope that will make her feel better, Mama and Papa look through there box of pharmaceuticals to see if they have anything that might help and give me some Tiffys and paracetamol, I took her temperature and we decide that if her temperature has not broken by the morning we will have to get her to the mainland and a hospital, fortunately for us her temperature does brake and she starts to make a slow recovery, Martain goes on his way and we decide that we will stay until Emma is fully recovered (which meant we ended up staying about eight days).
During this time papa invited us to the blessing of his new bungalows (these will be $3 rooms)so at 6:30am we are up and sitting in the middle bungalow while Papas brother (who is the local mayor)says a few words of good will and blessings to make the house spirits want to stay in the bungalows, then they turn to us and bless us and tie white cotton threads around our wrists to keep our own spirits with us, then as with every other day Papa brakes out the Lau lau and Lau whiskey followed by a huge meal of sticky rice and chicken, later Papa takes us off in his boat to see the waterfall and to check his fish traps, along with the both of us Papa takes his very good friend Mr bottle of Lau lau who helps keep us company while Papa checks his fish traps but he made sure he was back in time to join in the "conversation".
After eight days it was time to leave (and let me tell you paradise is a hard place to leave) Mama gave us some sandwiches and water and there three children stood on the riverbank waving and shouting "sabadee,sabadee" (the Lao general greeting/farewell) as Papa took us across the river to the local bus stand and made sure we got on the right one to head back to Pakse and get the luxury bus to Ventiene (and this one really was a luxury bus).
Ventiene is the most laid back city I have ever visited and made a wonderful change from all the busy places we have visited over the last five months,on our first evening there we walked along the riverbank past rows of plastic tables and chairs that where being set up for the evening street resturant trade and into the Thongbay guest house to book ourselves onto there cooking course the next day.
The next day we arrived at the duly appointed time and met two Australian girls who were to join us on our course, firstly we took a trip to the market to be shown all the produce that we would be using to make our culinary masterpiece, we had chosen to make spring rolls, chicken curry and beef laap, all traditional Lao food and although I only thought the cooking course ok, the eating bit was great fun.
Emma wanted to go on one of our now famous walking tours (famous for me not getting tipped and Emma getting hot) we started our tour at the concrete runway (a building that looks a bit like the Arc de Triumph), which is so named because the concrete used to build it was meant to make a new international runway at the airport, by lunch time we where hot and hungry so we stopped at a riverside resturant for some noodle soup, as we where eating lunch we noticed some small rabbits down near our feet eating the scraps from the kitchen and wondered how long until rabbit was on the menu, after lunch we walked slowly beside the river under the shade of the trees until we got back to our hostal.
Soon it was time to get moving again so we sat down looked at “the book” and decided that we would take the bus to Luang Prabang (which maybe should be called the vomit express) which wound it's way up through the countryside and into the hills like a day long roller coaster ride, when we arrived at the bus station we haggled our fare into the temple area of the city (when I use the term “city” think more of a quiet village) the first hostel was fully booked out so we walked across the road and booked into that one, the only shock was being awoken at 4am by the temple drums calling the monks to alms, other than this Lang Prabang was a very sleepy city.
Emma had decided that she regretted not stopping on the way up to Lang Prabang to see the plain of jars so we set about looking for a tour that would take us back to there, after a little hunting around we found one and arranged for the two of us to go in three days time, while we were waiting to go to the plain of jars we decided that we would pamper ourselves a bit and have a full body treatment at one of the many massage parlours around (this would be the first of many pampering's).
The trip to the plain of jars started with a small diversion to the Ta Prom water falls, beautiful blue pools with water cascading into them (Emma decided that cozzie or not she was going to have a swim in this breath taking location) after to short a stay it was back onto our minibus and on our way back across the hills towards the plain of jars, we arrived at our hotel at about 5pm and booked in and walked into town to get something to eat there was not a great choice of places to eat in fact we only found one so in we went and ordered our meal, after we headed straight back to the hotel as it was an early start in the morning, after breakfast we set off to see the local market, this one had a lot of different types of dead meat in the forms of squirrel large rats and some things I have never seen before, some of the meat was still alive and kept in boxes and I still didn't know what it was.
Site 1 the largest of the three sites and has the largest jars and was not quiet as I had expected it to be (for plain of jars read field of jars) and through the rest of day we visited sites two (jars with lids) and three (square type jars) with a stop for lunch in between, and then back to the hotel as we would be leaving early the next day to return to Lang Prabang. Please don't get me wrong it was worth seeing the jars, it was just not as I had expected (it would have been worth stopping on the way up to Luang Prabang, but not really worth making a three day trip for).
Once back in town we decided that we would treat ourselves to a traditional Lao style BBQ where they put a set of coals in the middle of your table and you cook your own selection of thin strips of different meats and vegetables on a dish that you keep adding water to(and at the end of the meal you are left with a lovely soup from where you have been cooking everything.
By now Emma mind is turning towards Christmas and the fact that we will be with her other family soon, so now we start the hunt for suitable presents for the children in Australia, fortunately for us there is a good night market and we are able to pick up a few gifts there.
As the time starts to get close for us to leave we book a small trip upriver to see the Buddha cave and on the way upriver we saw elephants draggig tree trunks down to the riverside and on the return trip a stop in a local village to see how lao lao and lao whiskey is actually made and how long it takes to distill (10 days) Emma goes and collects the piece of paper she had made a few days earlier and we do another (I should have learnt by now) walking tour of the palaces and temples which as it turns out was very nice indeed, and so with heavy a heart the time comes for us to pack up our rucksacks, and say good bye to Lao and once more and get on our way. Next stop Thailand.

---

Photos

Resting in the 4000 Islands
Me and Meow Meow doing what we do best, resting

All our own Work
And it tasted as good as it looked