Laotian Interlude

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After reaching Laksao with our van full of fish, we parted ways with it and hopped on an open air bus for another 4 hours over bumpy, dusty, red earth roads. We were dropped off at the only road going north/south throughout the country and told to wait for a bus to pass so we could flag it down. We didn't have to wait long and soon found ourselves clambering over boxes in the aisles and claiming seats on an all Laotian bus with Avatar (of all things) playing in Lao on the ever-present-on-Asian-long-distance-buses TV screen at the front of the bus. I nodded in and out of sleep, finally arriving in Savannakhet at 7 pm, a full 24 hours spent on either riding buses or waiting for them.

Savannakhet is not a large city by any standards except when compared with the size of most other towns in southern Laos. We decided to spend a couple days there walking around, taking in what sights there were, and eating at various cafes where the locals would inevitably share whatever they sweets they had with us. It was a pleasant place to unwind after the difficulty in actually getting there. After a day there we kept going south to Pakse. We had read that Pakse didn't really have much to offer so didn't plan for a lot of time there but were pleasantly surprised on our arrival. It was a fairly large town with many things just a bus ride away including the Bolaven Plateau, hill tribe towns, ancient Khmer ruins of Wat Phou, and 4,000 islands in the south. We made the decision to leave Laos a few days earlier than we'd anticipated so we could get a full week in Cambodia and this left us with one full day in Pakse. Naturally we spent in going to the ancient Khmer ruin of Wat Phou.

We left in the morning on a small bus for Wat Phou and found it to be a pleasantly overcast day, the clouds shielding us from the heat of the sun that had been beating down on us since our arrival in Laos a few days earlier. The ruins were set on a hill and although not even close to comparing with the grandeur of some other Khmer ruins I've seen were quite a nice place to explore. Lots of interesting carvings and not too many other people there. Zak and I now consider ourselves to be something of amateur ancient Khmer architecture experts/enthusiasts and spent the ride back to Pakse discussing our plans for seeing as many as we could once we reached Cambodia again, requiring a night in Thailand.

After crossing the border to Thailand we were facing a 1000 baht cab ride to the nearest city, Ubon Ratchathanni but just when all seemed lost a very nice man pulled up and said he was heading to Ubon and offered us a ride. Happily we accepted, jumped in the car, and spent the next 2 hours chatting with him about Thai exports and tourism in Thailand. Upon getting to Ubon we spent a night enjoying the ability to walk on paved streets and buy snacks at the local 7-11. The next morning we woke early and began the journey to the Cambodia border.

Although my time in Laos was limited due to our anxiety to get to Cambodia I still had a great time there and wished I had more time. There was much more in Pakse to see and I wish to sometime come back and visit the northern area. Although I have yet to leave a country and not wish I'd had more time explore. All for another trip I guess.

Zak's take:
http://thewobbes.com/zakabroad/?p=86

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Comments

[Zak]

我也会看你的博克，写评论，但是我不想要吹牛我的能力。而且我的博克比你的够好了。那现在干么！？