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Published: September 2nd 2007
Don Det Island
Our hammocks! Aw... we miss them dearly...Okay, lightning quick through this one as we were lightning quick through Laos. I am sat in the internet cafe in Pakse in southern Laos about to head into Thailand and we thought now would be a good time to tell you about Laos.
Last time we spoke we had just left Ban Lung in Cambodia. The rather exciting news here is that we had to 'bribe' our way over two borders in ten minutes. Well, bribe is maybe a little strong. We were asked for one dollar each and we paid but it was still quite cool. The thing was that we were crossing this very remote border on a Sunday and the border guards requested 'overtime payment' (thier quotes, not ours). Of course it was corrupt but it just seemed easier to pay it and we knew it was coming as our guidebook mentioned it. We debated whether to place the dollar in the passport like they do in films but decided against it. The Cambodian guards didn't even bother pretending it was for overtime, they just said, 'now you pay a dollar'. The Laos guards wanted two dollars but we were by now experienced bribers so would
Don Det Island
The view from our balcony - a perfect accompaniment to our Beer Lao. only give them three dollars plus our last bit of Cambodian money.
After this minor excitement we made our way to Don Det, an island in the area called Four Thousand Islands. It was so relaxing here. We were able to find a bungalow overlooking the river with two hammocks for three dollars and basically spent our days drinking beer, talking, reading and swinging (in the hammocks). We did drag ourselves out for a bike ride one day but it was a bit of a bind to be away from the hammock and we were back in them by 2pm. The sun was out, food and drink were cheap. Happy Days.
We (literally) tore ourselves from the hammocks on day four and made our way to Champasak to spend a night overlooking the Mekong river and a visit to the ruins of a temple thing. Another good day. Then we got on a bus to a place called Tadlo in the Bolaven Plateau and resumed our relationship with comfy chairs, Beer Laos and river views. Another two days were spent with the minor irratation of a quick walk to the three waterfalls nearby. It was great.
Then
Don Det Island
See... we did get away from the hammocks and go exploring! it was this morning and we got on another bus, arrived in Pakse, found a really nice hotel, had a massive pizza and booked our transport to Ubon in Thailand tomorrow.
We'll keep the blog up to date again soon with news of Thailand, when Catherine (Jenny's sister) will be joining us...
By the way, thanks for all of the lovely messages you are leaving on this site - it's great to know you care... (;o)
Don't work too hard...
(;o)
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Dad
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T shirt
Dad says "change your bloody T shirt". We know it's an old favourite but it's in nearly all the pictures. Only joking. It's a very nice T shirt, and I'm sure it's very comfy!