Southern Laos

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David here...

We arrived at the bus station safe and sound, along with about 12 other people in the small Songthew that picked us up and we found our beds at the back of the bus, along with another English guy and an American. Quite cosy, but not too bad. The bus started off and straight away they brought out the evening meal of fried rice and egg, which was surprisingly nice actually. Once most people had finished they turned off all the lights, indicating that it was bed time...at around 09:30. So we settled down and actually did manage to get some sleep, despite all of the bumping and bouncing as the driver put his foot down and overtook everything else on the road.

We woke up around 05:00 to find the bus not moving anywhere by the side of the road about an hour away from Pakse. It turned out that the buses brakes had failed and we were waiting for a spare part to arrive, which took another 2 hours for it to arrive and be fitted. We arrived at Pakse around 09:00 and proceeded to our guesthouse. It was the Sedon Riverside guesthouse, which was O.K. It had a nice garden to sit in and a nice view over the Mekong. There wasn't much to do in the town so we decided to book a trip down to Don Det, one of the 4000 islands as we had heard it was a beautiful place to stay. This area is where the Mekong river extends out over 13km around lots of little pockets of land, giving the place it's name.

The next morning we jumped into our mini-van and headed about 2 hours South and then jumped into a long tail boat and reached Don Det island at around 10:00. This place has only had electricity in the last few years, so we were expecting basic and that is exactly what we got. The only road was a dirt track that essentially ran the whole circumference of the island and had Chickens, Cats, Pigs, Dogs and Water Buffalo everywhere. We headed away from the main 'party' area of the island and decided to stay at the Paradise guesthouse about 10 minutes away for 30,000 Kip (less than £2 a night). The wooden 'shack' had a bed in it with a mosi net, a fan and a light hanging off of the bed...and that was it. The bathroom facilities were a shared facility behind the restaurant. The big plus point however was that it had a balcony with a view out over the Mekong and a couple of hammocks. The place was just made for relaxation, which is exactly what we did after a walk round the island, which took about 1hr 30mins.

The next day, we decided to walk the island again and take our time. Whilst out and about we finally saw our very first live, wild snake. We rounded a corner and saw a grey snake, measuring about 1.5 to 2 metres in length, trying to eat a big frog. Before we could get a picture however the snake sensed we were there and disappeared into the paddy field behind it sharpish. The frog hopped away in front of us and into the river. We saved that frogs life. Our first thought was that the snake was a King Cobra as it looked big enough and had similar markings, however subsequent research now leads us to think that it was a White Bellied Rat Snake, which I'm quite glad about as I was a little jumpy after seeing what we thought might be the biggest venomous snake in the world in front of us. I kept thinking it would come back and get it's revenge on us for it missing out on a frog feast. We then spent the afternoon just relaxing on the balcony, reading and enjoying the scenery.

Anyway, just like NCT buses, you wait ages and 2 come along at once. While relaxing we spotted another smaller snake swimming towards our guesthouse across the river. This one was about 1 metre in length and proceed to poke around the rubbish underneath our shacks. Quite pleased that these things are built on stilts, even though most snakes are good climbers.

We had done a lot or research and reading about our next stage of the journey, which would take us over the border into Cambodia. The journey is supposed to be a nightmare and the border is notorious for scams, with travel companies leaving people stranded with no onward travel. We found many travel companies on Don Det offering travel to the Cambodian capital Phnom Pehn, with prices ranging from $12 to $28. After speaking to the travel company right next to our guesthouse, Happy Tours (Mr Deng) we decided to go with them. The cost was $12 each and included the boat back to the mainland, a bus to the border and then a bus waiting on the other side to take you to Phnom Pehn. A couple of other guys from the guesthouse went with Mr Mo's in town and we actually all did end up on the same bus. We reached the border with no problems and then proceeded to be 'processed' out of Laos and into Cambodia. First up was the departure stamp out of Laos ($2) and then a health declaration between the 2 border points ($1). You then pay for your visa into the country ($23) and then finally get your entry stamp into Cambodia ($1). Total cost of entry $27 dollars per person. At each stage you need to fill in various forms with your details, however we got through in about 20 minutes and found the process to be very clear and helpful right along the chain. We then got on the bus for the 8 hour+ journey to Phnom Pehn.

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Comments

[anonymous]

Keep going on the blog - I am enjoying seeing the world second hand. You are cramming a lot in - are you managing to talk to anyone who is local, or are you moving on too fast for that?