Blogs from South, Laos, Asia - page 2

This morning we are off on a tour of the Boleven Plateau so we are up early for breakfast and an 8am pickup. The minibus is a pleasant surprise...decent seats and seat belts...which work! We are not the first pick up so our seats are near the back. We decide to move one seat forward sitting separately. We are fed up of bouncy back seats! This turns out to be a smart move as the lady sitting beside me disembarks after 30 minutes, leaving a double seat for us. It appears that she was just being delivered to the bus terminal. Now we are just 11 in a 14 seater bus and we are on our way. We have reached our first stop - Tad Fan. This dual waterfall comes tumbling out of the forest, dropping ... read more

Pakse is the second largest city in Laos - for visitors it is most known for being close to the Bolaven Plateau (full of waterfalls, traditional villages and coffee plantations), Wat Phu (a temple that pre-dates Angkor Watt), and the 4000 islands (laid back...at the time traditional...islands in the Mekong along the border with Cambodia). I first visited Pakse 8 years ago, and was surprised how much I loved it. At the time, it wasn't on the backpacker/tourist trail - there was one hostel, a couple of big hotels, and not much else - I walked around and saw a lot of temples and folks living normal life, and absolutely no one tried to sell me a thing - it was the best. Fast forward a few years and the backpacker trail has changed - Vang ... read more

Being the journeymen we are, we sign up for another Wat Tour; What's that you say another Wat? Yes, apparently this became a world heritage site in 2008 and was built in 10th century when this area was under Khmer rule. It is a much revered site by Laotians, older than Angkor Wat. It sits at the foot of the holy mountain called Phou Kao and was identified in ancient time with the Linga, the phallic symbol of Shiva, a Hindu God. We are assured by several visitors we have talked to that it is well worth the visit. After breakfast, we take our VIP mini bus for the about 1 hours drive to Champasak, which takes us over the Mekong via the Japanese Friendship bridge and then along the Chinese toll road which is straight ... read more

Rising leisurely for our 2 pm flight to Laos we enjoy a lazy morning and after a splendid breakfast we get a Tuk Tuk for the 20 minute ride to the New International airport. We are to check in at the Garden Terminal, nbr 1. On arrival we are understandably a little disappointed, as from the outside it looks very traditional in design but the departures gates prior to check in are very sparse and utilitarian, not quite living up to it's promise. Nonetheless, the airport staff and immigration personnel are friendly and efficient. Our small 80 seater prop-Jet is comfortable, and for a short flight 50 minutes the Cabin Crew manage to serve Coffee and a filled Brioche roll. We barely have time to fill in our landing cards and Visa forms before landing with ... read more

Once again we gained another group member in the tuk tuk into town from the bus station, Daniel from Switzerland. We all headed to the no.1 trip advisor ranked restaurant and ordered 5 chicken sandwiches and 5 beers.. sometimes you need a treat! We checked into DownTown Hostel run by an English guy and chose a corner spot in a dorm room for the night. The next day we set out to hire mopeds (standard) but for half the price we were offered semi-automatic. After a few laps round the streets by the hire shop jack had got to grips with the bike and so we set off with everyone to visit the waterfalls and coffee plantation. The gear changes were not as smooth life on the moped but the bike was much better than anything ... read more