Blogs from Si Phan Don, South, Laos, Asia - page 12

We spent our last day in Vang Vieng tubing down the river. It definitely gave us a new perspective on Vang Vieng because.... it was worthwhile! As we floated down, there were bars by the riverside and the workers there would hook onto our tubes and reel us in chanting Beer Lao, Beer Lao. At the riverside bars there were also huge rope swings that customers could use to jump into the river! It was a real great time but seeing as there is nothing else for people to do in Vang Vieng except drink happy shakes and watch Friends, we decided to head to Ventiane, the capital of Laos, the next day. There wasn't a whole lot to do in Ventiane except walk by the river and visit the fake Arc de Triomphe. After one ... read more

Got the nightbus to Pakse from Vientiane last night, it took about 10 hours but I reckon i slept through most of it, so it was ok. We arrived at Pakse at 6am, feeling and looking pretty rough: We were greeted by tons of tuk tuk drivers offering to drive us everywhere- we managed to fend them off so we could get our bearings. We decided to leave Pakse straight away and catch a "bus" to the 4000 Islands (as the name suggests, these are simply loads of Islands that lie in the South of Laos in the Mekong river) The journey from Pakse to the Islands was quite an experience, we were in a truck typed thing that could hold about 10 people, but we managed to get 32 passengers on it (About five of ... read more

To be fair, I was constantly on the move for the next week so I can't really pin this blog down to one particular place but I was in Si Phan Don for 2 nights so I'll put it under that. Anyway, as I was saying... If you read the last blog I did then you'll know that I got on a bus from Siem Reap absolutely shitfaced still and having had 1 hour kip so wasn't the most pleasant journey I'd ever had but I got to Kompong Cham by dinnertime and form there I got a share taxi with a Cambodian bloke and an Ausie couple (she was actually from Gosford in Sydney where I used to live years back and all, small world innit?!), to Kratie to get me closer to the Laos ... read more

Nous nous rendons à l'ile Don Det, où l'électricité est assurée par une génératrice qu'on éteint à 22 h. C'est d'ici que nous partons en kayak pneumatique pour descendre le Mékong jusqu'aux chutes Liphi. Nous pagayons sur le fleuve, d'un coté le Laos, de l'autre, le Cambodge. Nous accostons du coté du Laos et suivons un sentier qui nous amène aux chutes, puis redescendons sur des rochers pour rembarquer dans les kayaks et franchir les rapides. Je suis avec un guide, mais Jim manoeuvre seul et s'en tire avec brio. Nous franchissons ainsi 3 séries de rapides, puis continuons à pagayer jusqu'à l'heure du lunch, que nous prenons au milieu du fleuve sur un rocher, dans l'espoir d'apercevoir les fameux dauphins du Mékong, une espèce adaptée à l'eau douce. Cependant, pas de chance... Nous pagayons encore ... read more

Départ de l'hotel à 4 h 30 pour le vol sur Pakse, au sud du pays, qui décolle à 6 h 30. Arrivés à destination, nous prenons un petit bateau pour nous rendre au site du Vat Phou. Construit sur une montagne, cet ancien temple, dont la partie supérieure date du IXe siècle et la partie inférieure, du XIIe siècle (il est donc antérieur à Angkor), est d'inspiration hindoue et bouddhique. Comme il est en montagne, tout comme le Macchu Picchu et les pyramides mayas, il faut grimper. Si je prends du poids au cours du voyage, ce ne sera pas faute d'avoir fait de l'exercice! Nous visitons le musée, qui renferme des statues (Vishnou, Brahma, Siva, Bouddha et beaucoup d'autres symboles) excavées par les archéologues, avant de nous rendre au site proprement dit. Trois allées ... read more