EN FRANCAIS PLUS BAS MORE PHOTOS HERE Mud here is a way of life. It is everywhere and anywhere, red, brown, greenish, grey, and it is as much part of life as the river, the pace of which determines Lao's livelihoods. At first, like when I arrived in Don Det, you try to avoid it, jumping from one seemingly hard dry spot to the next. Then, after missing a few times and splashing mud all over your nearby friends, clothes and shoes, you realize there is no escaping it, and then it begins growing on y [View Full Entry]

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EN FRANCAIS PLUS BAS MORE PHOTOS HERE On Monday, I spend the morning walking around and visiting Luang Prabamg's most famed temples, until Keo catches up with me and takes me to a couple of slightly out-of-town temples on his motorbike. Foreigners are not allowed to rent motorbikes to drive around LP anymore, just as in Siem Reap in Cambodia, and there are no moto-taxis here, so I feel completely privileged. He even lets me drive it, thereby offering me my first motobike driving course ever, someth [View Full Entry]

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EN FRANCAIS PLUS BAS MORE PHOTOS HERE (title translation: I love Luang Prabang, Laos, very very very very much) As the bus winds up the mountains, the scenery changes from the steep karst formations to soft, argilous hills covered with lush, thick vegetation. We have to get off the bus a couple of times to walk through red mud landslides or let passengers cheat their motion-sickness with fresh air. Arrived late in Luang Prabang, I check in a cheap, dark, stuffy room, but as soon as I get up, I k [View Full Entry]

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EN FRANCAIS PLUS BAS MORE PHOTOS HERE On Monday, the nice little crowd of party goers finally departs that little piece of paradise. Along with one of them, Tait the Texan surfer-diver-carpenter-musician-traveler from Hawaii, we stop at Champasak, bidding farewell to our travelmates heading for Viet Nam, and rent a motorbike to go visit Wat Phu Champasak, an Angkor-era temple. The site is set on the FLANC of a mountain and offers magnificent panoramic views of the plains below. This, in spite of th [View Full Entry]

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EN FRANCAIS PLUS BAS MORE PHOTOS HERE It is exactly as the Lonely Planet puts it: "just when you thought your blood pressure couldn't drop anymore, you arrive in Si Phan Don," the so-called 4,000 islands on the Mekong, bordering Cambodia. And that's coming from Northern Laos. As I was coming from Cambodia, I really needed that morning in bed to help me adjust right away with the pace of life on Don Det! People here are mostly self-sufficient, growing their own rice, vegetables, coconuts, raising [View Full Entry]

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EN FRANCAIS PLUS BAS MORE PHOTOS HERE I can't quite figure out why I love traveling by bus so much. You get up at 5 or 6 am, the baby sitting next to you kicks and cries and barfs all over the place while his mom talks on her cell phone, or it's a big guy who likes to sit legs wide apart and burp; the bus either stops in the middle of nowhere where only guys can relieve themselves, or at roadside restaurants where the food is cold (though usually acceptable), and it stalls and all passengers get to [View Full Entry]

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EN FRANCAIS PLUS BAS MANY MANY MORE PHOTOS HERE And this has nothing to do with the fact that I've lost my compass and watch, which I really miss by the way. Actually, a note on war casualties so far: watch, compass, boxer shorts, tank top, sexy strapless top (don't get too excited, it was "lost" by a laundry service!), and calculator. Nothing vital, but I dearly miss the irreplaceable watch and strapless top (which was the only decent piece of clothing I had to go out...). And, while I'm at it, a [View Full Entry]

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EN FRANCAIS PLUS BAS MORE PHOTOS HERE Same, Same but different! Everything is different in Cambodia. "Same, same but different," as the expression goes. We felt it as soon as we had crossed the border and started navigating in the smaller, slower boat towards Phnom Penh. Cambodians have a darker skin (a warm, yummy milk chocolate shade), they're lean and muscular (eye candy for us on the river banks all the way to PP!!); instead of conical hats, ladies wear a krama (scarf) wrapped ar [View Full Entry]

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EN FRANCAIS PLUS BAS MORE PHOTOS HERE I wished the bus ride from Vinh Long to Chau Doc would never end. Breeze through the window, beautiful landscapes and charming villages, good music in my ears, a sweet tasty grapefruit messily enjoyed on the green skai seat, and wonderful day-dreaming made the five-hour seem like less than one. Yet, fortunately maybe, it did end, giving me the whole afternoon to enjoy charming little Chau Doc. With Hoi An, this is the place I have preferred to be in Viet Nam, t [View Full Entry]

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EN FRANCAIS PLUS BAS MORE PHOTOS HERE Granted, no one ever said that freedom was free. I stick to my promise (re-inforced since the Nha Trang boat trip) to stay away from organized tours, which would easily allow me to reach Phonm Penh in two to three days, visiting places of interest on the Mekong River, overnighting on board and with a family, for between $40 and $60. But no, no, and no. I resist the temptation and get on a local bus to My Tho, departure point for boats on the river. But freedom [View Full Entry]

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