Blogs from Pakxe, South, Laos, Asia - page 10

Comme il n'y a qu'un vol direct par semaine de Pakse à Siem Reap (le mercredi), nous devons retourner à Vientiane, puis attendre le vol sur Bangkok, puis un autre de là à Siem Reap. Nous en profitons pour visiter le Musée national du Laos, au centre-ville de Vientiane, qui retrace l'histoire du pays, de la protohistoire, en passant par les divers rois, jusqu'à l'ère communiste. Le musée renferme également une belle section sur les différentes ethnies linguistiques du pays. Nous prenons l'avion pour Bangkok. À l'arrivée, une représentante de la compagnie Bangkok Airways vient nous cueillir à notre descente d'avion et nous amène dans une navette, puis à travers des couloirs, ce qui nous évite la douane et nous permet d'arriver à temps pour la correspondance vers Siem Reap. Quel service! Nous sommes accueillis au ... read more

Another fortifying breakfast before heading back across the Mekomg for the last time, in Laos at least. We are heading off to the Bolean Plateau to the coffee/tea growing area. The first stop is for a 2 hour elephant ride up to the ruins of an old temple and fortifications. All that remains of the fortress are columns consisting of flat stones sitting on a bed of lava rocks. The creaking of the wicker saddle we sit in sways t6o the lumbering gait of the elephant. The driver sits on the neck of the beast and directs it by grunts and pressure behind the ears with his toes. It is a hot dusty day and the elephant cools herself by blowing snot/water from her trunk. When an elephant has a runny nose, it really drips. The ... read more

Hello everybody! Its Chris writing again me and Mandy have become aware its been a while since we updated so we thought we should, update you all a bit. First of all thanks to everybody who's keeping in touch. I know its what friends and family do, but its still nice to get loads of e-mails the other side of the world! Were into Laos now, at a town called Pakse which is in the south. The last update ran up until Siem Reap in Cambodia we think? Anyway Siem Reap was really good, the temples of Angkor were really impressive, although I personally preferred a temple called Ta Prohm to Ankgor Wat, the temple which Cambodia is most famous for. Ankgor Wat was amazing, although Ta Prohm was better because it hadn't had anywhere near ... read more

We arrived in Kuala Lumpur and spent a few days climbing tall buildings and eating hot Malaysian food, courtesy of Simon's Malaysian friend, William, before flying up to Bangkok. I have to admit I was quite worried in advance about Bangkok being 'too much', but we surprised ourselves by actually really liking it! We didn't have long there though, just enough time to sort out a few visas before bus-ing it to a small town in eastern Thailand called Ubon Ratchatani. It turns out that hardly anyone goes there as it is not a typical route into Laos and we turned out to be quite a novelty! At first the town seemd dead and we wondered where we had ended up, but it turns out that they were just preparing for a big local festival, which ... read more

i never imagined that i could ever be this smitten by a country so...so...landlocked. but what laos lacks in surf and sand, it more than makes up for in complete and utter tranquility. this is possibly the chillest country on earth, where even the longtail boats and motorbikes - constant sources of cacophony in thailand - seem to float silently by; the place where the mighty muddy mekong, in its long ineluctable flow to the south china sea, realizes that it isn't really in that big of a hurry after all, and decides to linger in endless bends and eddys, smoke an opium spliff or two, and take in the breathtaking scenery of verdant valleys and brilliant sunsets that last for hours. this is one of the few places on earth that has remained relatively unscathed ... read more