Onward to Pakse

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We woke up and headed to the bus station in Ban Nahin. A Lao asked us "Where you go?" and we replied, "Pakse." Of course he didn't really say much afterwards... A songthaew was going by and stopped to ask us "Where you go?" and we replied again, "Pakse." He waved at us to get in to take us to ThaKhet, and from ThaKhet catch a bus to Pakse. Two hours in the back of a truck was hot and our butts got pretty sore. Halfway we had to pull out our sunscreen as we could feel the back of our necks burning. They all laughed at us whities not being able to stand the sun. They never have a spot for garbage on buses, or songthaews. Everyone just chucks it out the window, or out the back of the truck. I had a popcan that I had been holding onto since the beginning of the trip, and I was going back and forth in my ind whether I should chuck it or not. I always feel bad as when I was younger my Dad would give me a hard time everytime I'd chuck something out the window. He would say I should be proud of the country I live in and not want to throw garbage onto the roads and make it ugly. You are probably wondering if I did it... I finished the pop and put it on the floor of the truck. The wind caught it and it flew out the back on its own. In ThaKhet they started unloading our bags and told us to take a tuk tuk. It's hard to pay a tuk tuk 40,000kip when you know he's driving you somewhere within town, when the 2 hour bus ride only cost 50,000kip. Anyway the tuk tuk took us to the bus station which was just outside of town (to far to walk) and we got tickets to Pakse. Unfortunately its another regular bus with no aircon. The locals like to eat dried fish and it really smells. Poor Tris never has leg room and has to sit on an angle. This bus ride SHOULD take 6-7 hours, we'll see! (I'm writing this on the bus).
Later: Bus was on time for once. We met Duncan and Candice and are staying at the hotel as them. Apparently the hotels here in Pakse are dumps. We grabbed a bite to eat, had a shower and now relaxing for the rest of the evening. We are looking forward to sleeping in!

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