Green Bean Ice Cream ... I have been trying to find that in the States (for 7 years) with no luck...
I really miss those!!! (and for 1 RMB, too!)
how I got here: stumbled onto your site in my roughly annual Google-ing of that ice cream.
:) We're in Phnom Penh at the moment... Great blog, sums it all up well. We really liked the city when we were last here in 2008, we're loving it even more now as it's surprisingly really child friendly! :)
Safe travels...
As we stood looking at those mass graves We had to wonder how that much evil could exist in one person. We are always amazed at man's inhumanity to man.
Another great blog! I've just read this one. I'm not sure how we missed it. I supposed it is possible I had not subscribed or recommended you before this one was published or maybe I just missed it. Big fan of your work. Nice wildlife photo.
More blogs on the way. Hi Dave and Merry Jo and others, fear not, there will be more blogs coming! I'm not travelling at the moment but last year's overland trip is still not all written up and will carry on appearing over the next few months. I tend to put the publication date as when I was actually there for the sake of it probably being more useful to other travellers like that!
We always enjoy your blogs. You have not written in awhile. We hope you will be traveling again soon and blogging more.
Great understanding of yourself and others comes through travel.
You have many fans--even if we forget to tell you or recommend you which I did this morning as I don't want to miss your publications. It is always good to recommend so you don't miss an entry.
An interesting blog. People travel for lots of reasons and I admire yours ... "I just want to see and absorb and try to understand as much as I can" I hope you continue to absorb and understand others and particularly yourself even more through your travels.
Wat Phu Champasak and Si Phan Don Hi Frankie,
I think that you are going to have a hard time seeing Wat Phu and any of Si Phan Don in one day and making it back to pakse. Especially using public transport.
As far as I know, You would have have to get to champasak/wat phu (1+ hr songtheaw, I read about buses but saw no evidence) . Then go to the ferry terminal, cross the river, get to the mainroad, get something going south to hat xi khun (2hr), where you could find boats to take you to don khnong. then you'd have to get the ferry back to hat xi and find something running north straight up to pakse (3 hr).
I did both these journeys southward by songthaew but as far as I know these only leave in the morning, so that wouldnt work. There were tourist minibuses running to both places but once again I think these all left in the morning. Everything leaves in the morning!
Have you looked into boats? I'm afraid I dont know much about this option, but I think you could hire a boat at most of the ferry terminals. The problem with this is being a tourist area isthat the prices may be high. But it would be beautiful!
Could you consider spending the night at either champasak or on the Si Phan Don? There are lots of guest houses and you could probably get back to pakse for lunch time the following day; you can either buy a bus ticket from the guesthouse or get to the road at around 8am and flag down a bus(much cheaper!). Considering it's afternoon travel that's the problem, this might be the best option.
In summary, if you could spend the night then I think you could do it independently but it would still be a hassle. I would be inclined to say try and organise a tour via an operator in Pakse.
I'm sorry I cant be more help, goodluck!
Tamara
Tour Package vs. Independent Travel? Nice blog about your experience in Laos, and very informative, too. I was in Pakse with some family members and a friend last May 2010 but we had to give Wat Phou a miss since the VIP Bus to Vietnam does not leave every day and we had to catch up with Hue Festival 2010. This year, I am making another trip to Pakse to visit Wat Phou and if possible go further south to Si Phan Don. After reading your blog, I had some serious doubts if we can make it back to Pakse at the end of the day since we can only spare one day for Wat Phou and Si Phan Don.
Tour packages in Laos are outrageously overpriced. I inquired about car hire and the cost comes close to those tour packages. Since I am traveling with family members do you think it would be wiser to throw away some money on an organized tour rather than take chances waiting for public transport?
Thanks for sharing your experience.
Frankie
Ah, it's great to hear about Vientiane. I remember dearly my arrival there, the most surprisingly least hectic arrival ever, never has there been such a sleepy and mellow capital city, surely.
cluster bombs Hey Martin (and anyone else thats interested!),
Cluster munitions are now generally recognised as horrible and in 2008, an international treaty was opened banning the use of cluster bombs. It was put into force last year, however, some key players like the USA, Israel, Russia and China have neither signed nor ratified the treaty so are not bound by it. More info here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convention_on_Cluster_Munitions .
In terms of Aid, I found the following quote from 2003 "The United States, which spent $9 million a day (in today's dollars) bombing Laos for 10 years, last year contributed $1 million to UXO Lao". (http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2003-12-11-laos-bombs_x.htm). In 2004, the UXO directed aid was increased to 2.5 million a year. In 2010,it looked like it was up to $5m but I cant find a good source. On MAGS list of funders, the USA is listed last, but i don't know if that's because they give least or if its random listing.
Helpfully, in 2006, the USA gave MAG the details maps of where the bombs had been dropped. somemight say 30 years too late...
grr, it's all very nasty!
So sad to hear that 35 years later these communities are still limited like this.
I didn't travel any further south than Vientiane and missed all of this history.
Are those responsible for the ordnance doing anything to remove it?
I remember being asked to sign a petition to ban the manufacture of cluster bombs a year ago, I hope it took effect.
Great photo of the little girl :)
Amazing i already read this article.Its such nice and beautiful journey to travel in.Hope someday i will go there and see all places my own eyes.Cant wait anymore to China and feel diffrent experience.It so Luxury Safaris.
what's on the menu In my haste to read this, I misread the sentence about Tibetan restaurants in alleyways and thought you said the restaurants were serving fully clad buddhist monks. Interesting visions came into my head. Have since read it more slowly.
mason
non-member comment
Green Bean Ice Cream ...
I have been trying to find that in the States (for 7 years) with no luck... I really miss those!!! (and for 1 RMB, too!) how I got here: stumbled onto your site in my roughly annual Google-ing of that ice cream.