8th email: Pakse, Laos

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Hello everybody,

After 3 weeks of drinking (well for Kris) and dancing in the kiddie pool, we have managed to crawl out of Utopia, with tears in our eyes, while dodging lassos from all the people there trying to pull us back in, we headed up north, back to Phnom Phen with Kris' infected and largely oversized foot and ankle because of boys being boys with skim boards. (Honestly, his foot was the size of a small football.)

In search for Amoxcicilyn, and our Laos visas, we chilled out on the Lake side with 3 of our Utopia friends. We watched like 5 movies in one day, beacuse we could.

We straggled into the Cambodian border (which by the way is in the middle of the nowhere jungle), 3 days late which meant $15/ea overstay charges becuase our bus broke down and therefore was late getting into the Stung Treng (the town next to the border). So we had to unfortunately stay an extra night in Cambodia. The border officials (or so called) told us that because we were late, there was a $30/ea tax on top of our overstay charge. Uh huh! Of course we argued with the official and stood our ground. After 15 min, the official broke under pressure and let us go (without having to pay the extra $1 they charge for who knows what at the border).

We then walked through the jungle to the Laos border with less complications and eventually ended up in Don Det--one of the 4000 islands in the south of Laos.

This island was a relaxation retreat. We found a buglaow on the river and kicked back for a few days so that Kris' foot finally had time to properly heal ( We are glad to say that it has finally scabbed over and there is no more swelling and puss). We have been uber active over the last couple of days, renting kayaks to roam the northen islands, and bikes to roam the southen islands and catch the waterfalls and the rare Iwadarry dolphins (we didn't see any). And Yesterday after running out of money, we decided to rent a canoe and paddle (laos style) across 2 km to the river shore town, where we could exchange our left-over Bhat for Kip. On our way back, the black clouds envelopped the sky and we furiously paddled back to our island through the winds, and the harsh downfall of rain. That tiny little boat gave us one of the most thrilling adventures we've had as of yet. We're in Pakse right now, possibly heading to the Bolavan Plateau, and then up to Vientiene we go.

Stay safe, like us.....we love you tons,

Kris and Izabela

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Photos

Gecko
Kris and our massive gecko friend. He lived in our room with us, and was he ever freaky looking.

Kayaking around Don Det
Bella giving it her all in the kayak.

Kayak-a-thon
A bird's eye view of Kris kayaking around Don Det.

Sexy Time
Striking a pose at the waterfall in Don Khon.

The Spot
This is where the rare Irradewy dolphins were supposed to be....we didn't see any.

vroom vroom
Kris on his shiny red bike during a trip around the islands.

5 Star Travel
Kris on the local bus going to Pakse. Crammed with locals and lotsa fish.