Blogs from Savannakhet, South, Laos, Asia - page 6

I did a three day trek around Dong Phu Vieng NP. I had a fantastic time. There were ten of us on the trip plus our two guides. There were two french couples, two Australian girls, an Israeli couple, an American girl and myself. DAY ONE We travelled in a sawngthaew for two hours, picking up locals and dropping them off in different places. Savannakhet is well known for dinosaur footprints so we saw a few near a small river. They were quite small, with three claws. I was expecting bigger and more impressive prints. Then we travelled two more hours in the sawngthaew. It was a really pretty road, passing rice fields and there were plenty of mountain ranges in the distance. Once we got off the main road, it was 21km of dirt road. ... read more

Edifici di epoca coloniale, perlopiu' decrepite case dai tetti e finestre in stile mediterraneo e spesso, nelle case piu' aristocratiche, anche colonne classicheggianti, si ritrovano in tutte le maggiori citta' del Laos, in condizioni che variano dalla rovina fino al fin troppo invadente restauro, praticamente una ricostruzione; cio' che pero' si puo' probabilmente trovare solo qui a Savannakhet e' una vera e propria piazza della chiesa, come in una qualsiasi citta' italiana. Una bianca chiesa cattolica, costruita da ferventi vietnamiti durante la dominazione francese, sorge nel centro citta' e la grande piazza rettangolare e' contornata da vecchie case a due piani con abitazioni di sopra e negozi al piano terra; e' persino possibile sedersi nell'unico bar e passare un tranquillo pomeriggio, tra una birra ed un caffe', affacciati sulla piazza, credendo di trovarsi in un tranquillo ... read more

i actually think that maybe my brain is rotting....... i feel like a snobby, spoiled tourist, but i'm really bored here in savannakhet. we have eaten some incredibly ordinary food, and exhausted the sight-seeing possibilities by about 9:26 this morning. i think that all this "chillaxing" is catching up with me - suddenly i feel the urge to go and do something improving, like working in an orphanage for so little money that i can't afford to eat. maybe i'm missing those days of being in australia and dumpster-diving and being on the dole, etc. so i'm whingy. and there's nothing like a lack of decent food to make me whinge even more. perhaps i'm becoming food-obsessed..... i seem to be developing the habit of flicking through the 'planet for restaurants that say "vegetarian" anywhere in ... read more

Vom 16. - 20.07. warn wir in Savannakhet, Laos 2. groesste Stadt. Matze wurde hier von meinen ganzen Verwandten un Freunden "laotisiert". :)Zwar gabs hier nich viel zu sehn, dafuer haben wir umsomehr mit unseren Freunden erlebt!... read more

The next morning we started the trek. Also on the trek was a French couple, a Dutch couple and a Dutch guy. They were good people and we are still travelling with the Dutch guy called Jan. Since there was more than us the price dropped to 35 dollars. Everything started with a visit to a salt-mine. Not that it is a mine in any way. There are really big beds that salty water is sprayed upon and then the sun evaporates the water and the salt can be collected. Since we come in the rainy season these beds can't be used. Instead they use another kind of bed under a roof and with a fire underneath to get rid of the water. I already knew how to make salt so from that point of ... read more