http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/South/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Asia , Laos , South en-us Sat, 26 Jul 2008 21:02:53 BST Sat, 26 Jul 2008 21:02:53 BST we've nearly reached the end of our time in laos. very close to the border but we think we'll stay where we are for another 5 days or so. arrived early this morning in an area called si phan don which means 4000 islands slightly less islands now it's the rainy season. we're on don det a small island about 4km long and 2 km wide in the mekong river. we found a great bamboo hut on the riverside http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/South/Si-Phan-Don/blog-304367.html We took a flight from Luang Nam Tha in Northern Laos to the capital city of Laos Vientaine. For a capital city it had a bustling but easy going atmosphere which is in keeping with the laid back lifestyle of Laos. After our overdose of sticky rice and eggplant up North we were happy to find some nice cafes serving western food delights that we haven't had in ages and so we indulged and washed it d http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/South/blog-303089.html After the islands we decided to hire a motorcyle for the next couple of days sorry Mum's and Dad's to go touring round the Bolaven Plateau. Obviously Patrick was keen but I was a little unsure so the decision was made to hire the bike for one day see how we go and if I survived and felt safe enough we could look at getting it for longer.Day 1 PakseChampasakWe headed out of Pakse on our http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/South/blog-303003.html We have now been in Laos for nearly 3 weeks already.....wow time flies.The 9th to the 15th was spent on the island of Don Det which is one of the '4000 Islands'. This was our cheapest accomodation yet about AUD1.90 a night for a very basic bungalow overlooking the Mekong. The bungalow had a squat toilet and a big bucket of water so essentially a bathroom since we could use the big bucket of wa http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/South/blog-302999.html i arrived at the jetty on the mainland after catchin a mini van from Vientienne and changing at Pakse this change was where the problem started. it worked out that when we changed minivans my bag was loaded first but i was last to get on and ended up not havin a seat instead of unloading 10 other bags to get to mine it made more sense to just jump in the other minivan and collect my bag at the http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/South/Si-Phan-Don/blog-302137.html PART TWOSo this part covers Laos. I've been here three weeks now so it's a looong story.So we slept one night at the border still in Thailand Chiang Khong. We had our last nice meal because I have to admit if Thailand is good for something it must be the food. It's deliciousThe next day we took the boat over the mekong 5 minutes to Houei Xai. Apparently they still love the French after th http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/South/Savannakhet/blog-300890.html I've been slack. This blogging is harder than I thought. I will go back and write about our beautiful island Ko Chang and Bangkok but I thought I had better update you about our whereabouts.As you can tell by the title we are now in Laos. We are in South Laos in Pakse. We crossed the Thailand border yesterday after catching an overnight train from Ayutthaya to Ubon Ratchatani and then an Int http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/South/Pakxe/blog-296837.html The last third of our second stay in Laos continued the thematic trend set by the first two that of water and stupor. The only differences being that the water rather than flowing lazy and muddy past our bungalow as the Mekong now came predominantly from above in the form of rain and several impressive waterfalls. The soporific stupor engendered by dwindling funds did not change however. The http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/South/Bolaven-Plateau/blog-294206.html We arrived at Savannakhet at 2am slightly concerned that we'd be kipping in the bus station til sunrise however we decided to take our chances and walk the 300 metres into town to try and find a guesthouse. Thankfully there was one almost directly across from the bus station and luckily there was a late footie match on so the Laos dudes were still up. Our room was the nicest one we'd had for a http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/South/Don-Det/blog-289460.html The thing about writing a blog is how to go about doing it...some people painstakingly print out all their work on notes and then put it together when they get to an internet cafe but I prefer to get it all out while I am sitting here...this makes for some lost memories and things I realize I should have mentioned but I like the stress of getting it all out without spending a fortune...Presentl http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/South/Savannakhet/blog-289301.html Laos if I could compare thee to a dish then you would certainly be spaghetti carbonara. Why Because spaghetti carbonara is such an incredibly delicious dish easy to make with so few constituent ingredients but can be and often is made extremely badly mine of course being the best. Spaghetti egg yolks cream bacon parmesan and pepper that's it nothing more yet what an abominable ha http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/South/Si-Phan-Don/blog-288738.html 824km 4 puntures 2 new inner tubings 1 new tyre a few cuts and grazes 2 very sore behinds BUT one amazing tripThe last 4 days have been fantastic some of the best on this trip so far but boy are we glad to be back walking Today is considered as a nothing day to us as we sit and update the blog. We woke up late and enjoyed having another shower to wash off the final filth. After breakfast c http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/South/Pakxe/blog-287519.html With over 200km to travel today we were slightly apprehensive due to the problems we had the previous couple of days with the back tyre. However by 7.45am we were checked out and raring to go First stop was the petrol station to fill up our little baby but with a very small amount of money remaining we hoped she would not guzzle too muchThe night before had brought a huge monsoon storm and we http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/South/Bolaven-Plateau/blog-287513.html We had decided not to set an alarm but were wide awake by 7am anyway. We watched a little bit of TV before setting off. The goal for the day was to find the village of Pha'am which apparently still has an antiaircraft gun from the war. The village was meant to be about 35km from Attapeu but as our odometer ticked past 45 km alarm bells started ringing. We had asked for directions plenty of times http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/South/Attapeu/blog-287503.html Late start this morning meant we were ready to go by 8am we said a quick goodbye to the two girls as we passed their hotel and headed off for Sekong. 35km later after some very rough track we stopped for some pho foe and then continued towards Sekong. Today we both felt as if our asses had been in some kind of accident because they were incredibly sore On the way to Sekong we passed a sign fo http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/South/Attapeu/blog-287501.html 7 in the morning arrives quickly and Mark and I jump enthusiastically out of bed...to discover that the AC unit in our lovely room had been very busy leaking all night and the floor was awash with water. How i laughed when Mark's bag was soaked only to find out on closer inspection that mine had suffered a similar fate After sorting all this out and leaving our big bags behind at the hotel we h http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/South/Bolaven-Plateau/blog-287497.html Very early in the morning the light streaming through the window woke us both up and we reluctantly packed up what remained of our possessions and headed to the pier to catch our boat. Of course the rain was pouring and we got a tad wet but we managed to get onto the boaqt along with three others for the journey back accross the Mekong. Arriving at the other side we unloaded our stuff and walked t http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/South/Pakxe/blog-287488.html After a rough nights sleep mainly due to the huge storm that raged outside but also partly due to the hundreds of assorted bugs crawling all over us At one stage Me and Ollie in our very subdued states managed to get out of bed collect our washing from the line and 'batten down the hatches' At around 10am we dragged ourselves from our beds and the safety of the 'bug forcefield' also known as http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/South/Don-Det/blog-285699.html Today we left Kratie to head North into Laos. We knew it would be an interesting journey but what occurred was very fun. Early morning start at 6.30 am to be downstairs for the bus which would pick us up at 7.30. By 8.10 we started to wonder but a pick up truck did arrive and Mark and I threw our bags into the back and hopped in. One minute later we stopped and were shown out of the truck and into http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/South/Don-Det/blog-285688.html Okay so just hours after the previous rather optimistic blog we find ourselves completely screwed over in the middle of nowhere Previously I was mentioning problems with exchange ratesgetting ahold of money here. So Alyssa was unable to get money out of the atm this morning at Pakse so we were living off what I had out until we got to another atm. We took at longtail boat the guy completel http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/South/Don-Det/blog-284447.html We randomly found our way to Don DetLao one of the countries 4000 islands After a not so great experience in Lao's capital Vientien where we both got really BAD vibes witnesses really bad poverty infections on the street just everything We also had a dismal time there because there was pretty bad storms going on with massive lightning and thunder the front of our hotel and the bathroom http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/South/blog-283204.html Text will follow later but I'll let the photo's speak for themselvesWhat a gorgeous countryLove Steve and Laura. xxx http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/South/Tha-Khaek/blog-282757.html OKay so we are in Vientien in Laos. We have been away from home for a month now it seems like a long time but yet again it doesn't at the same time. We made it to Koh Phi Phi which is really beautiful and had a good market. We took a longtail boat to visit the island where The Beach was filmed saw Viking cave and we snorkled around that whole area... maya bay and we went to some other rea http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/South/blog-282396.html Good to see you popped in to check the latest news of our World Amazing Discoveries Adventure Trip. Guess u r fine and everything039s under control in your place hope the daily business doesn039t suck all your energy and power try to keep a portion for the happy hours.With smiles on our faces and some teardrops in our eyes we crossed the border from Cambodia to Laos recently. You can fe http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/South/Pakxe/blog-282113.html Don Det http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/South/Don-Det/blog-281279.html Hi Everyone Hope everything is good back at home And no more nail bombs in Exeter How weirdSorry we havn't blogged for a while we are in Cambodia already but will have to backdate due to lack of internet action lately Also thats why you havn't had any emails guys sorry. We will do the Cambodia blog soon as well now we are back in some kind of civilisation. Anyway... from Pakse in Cen http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/South/Khong-Island/blog-280673.html I had a few hour lay over in Pakse on our journey from the Four Thousand Islands to Vientienne. I was disappointed to read in the Lonely Planet that there was not much going on in Pakse that it was a sleepy town and quite boring. They couldn't have got it more wrong or perhaps they haven't been there for the New Years celebrations. There were a few interesting Watts and a river to check out so http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/South/Pakxe/blog-279548.html Day 28 The journey to Don DetLeaving it just a little too late to comfortably get breaky in as usual we had it thrown into plastic bags as we jumped on a tuk tuk15k heading to the ferry only to wait there for another 15minutes before it left. We got the ferry across as it started bucketing down rain our tuktuk then dropped us off at the local bus stop which provided some shelter as we waited http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/South/Don-Det/blog-275779.html Day 26We arrived in Pakse after as good of sleep one could expect on a bus at 6.30am only to be bombarded by 10 people demanding to take us somewhere We eventually jumped on a tuk tuk apprehensively with another 8 people and headed for Sabaidy Guesthouse only to find it full. Not keen on waiting around for people to check out Jez went exploring whilst Carly minded the bags and we ended up sett http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/South/Pakxe/blog-275775.html Vientiane the capital of Laos did not disappoint. My Indian dinner with Michael former Peace Corps Volunteer was great. And I met some awesome folks at my guesthouse Lili Patricia and Kieran. Somehow it came out that Kieran's birthday was coming up and having spent some birthdays far from home my heart went out to him. So we rented bicycles to go to the temple and have an herbal sauna and http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/South/blog-273132.html