
Floating along the Mekong river from Chiang Khan to Nhong Khai ... crossing mountains in Northern Laos between Vang Vien and the Plain of Jars ... crossing the Mekong in the deep South of Laos to vist Wat Pho Champasak.
I met up with Graham and Anthony in Bangkok airport in June 2006, and we flew on to Undon Thani in NE Thailand. We spent the next afternoon getting as far upstream the Mekong as we logically could by local bus and landed in a sweet little old-fashioned riverside town, Chiang Khan. We spent a whole day floating down the Mekong River to Nhong Khai, from where a couple of days later, we successfully negotiated the bus across the Australian-built Friendship Bridge, into Laos. Not a happy crossing for me; I held up everyone for an hour between immigration and customs while I dealt with one of my recurring stomach upsets!
Anyway, taxi to lovely guesthouse, where we got a family sort of suite for three. French breakfasts on the terrace and a nice relaxing garden with pool around the old house. We saw a lots of wats and museums, ate a lot of good food - the
Full Text Entry: Mainly in Laos
PhonsavanWe saw several unexploded bomblets in the ground on this couple's farm.
PhonsavanEntering their house. The family is ethnically Lao.
PhonsavanTheir cooking fire was laid on the floor in the middle of the house.
PhonsavanLooking up at a Hmong village beside the road.
PhonsavanGrass-thatched houses in a Hmong village.
PhonsavanThis village fence is built from the metal casings of US cluster bombs.
PhonsavanMore ex-American ordance being put to practical use in a village.
ChampasakChampasak, in the deep south, is the site of an ancient ruin, Wat Phu.
ChampasakWat Phu had just been declared a World Heritage site.
ChampasakThere is a lot of work to be done to fix up Wat Phu.
ChampasakThe rails in this window are stone which have been turned on a lathe, a technique used at Angkor Wat.
ChampasakIt was built as an outpost of the Angkor Kingdom.
ChampasakOriginally Wat Phu was a Hindu temple.
ChampasakLater it changed to being used for Buddhist devotions.
ChampasakThe main shrine at Wat Phu Champasak.
ChampasakWat Phu is close to the Mekong River. This car ferry is a large raft lashed to two separate boats: a catamaran I suppose.
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