Blogs from Laos, Asia - page 581

Dear Diary, Our 2nd last day in Luang Prabang was spent climbing up this big hill in the middle of town (called Phou Si), great view from the top and all that malarky. Then in the afternoon we rented our bicylces and did a bit of exploring which was grand as the weather was not too hot at all. The following day we set off for Van Vieng (VV). Our 9am minivan ended up collecting us at 9:40 and by the time we had collected everyone, got some documents from the transport office, and refuelled we didn't actually leave LP until 10:30.......but we're kinda use to 'Laos Time' now so it's ok. We arrived in VV at 5pm, so a longish trip, although that included a 45 min stop for lunch. What no one told me ... read more

Howdy all! Didn't do alot in our last 3/4 days in Chang Mai. We did get ourselves organised though and sent some unneeded (or so we thought!!) clothes off to our man in Brisbane, cheers for that Dave !! Sent on monday 22nd and due to take 2 weeks.....we'll see!!! On Tuesday we left Chang Mai and 5 hours in a minibus later we were in the border town of Chang Khong. Guesthouse there was part of the total cost (23 euro) of the trip to Luang Prebang in Laos. Basic accomodation in PJ guesthouse with rock hard bed!! Up early next morning, down to border and checked out of Thailand. Then 5 minutes by boat across the Mekong to check into Laos through their border. Changed 100 euro in Laos money (called the kip), and ... read more

PHOTOS... read more

PHOTOS... read more

I left Pakse at 7am.  My tuk-tuk driver was a lazy bastard and took me to the wrong bus station so I missed the truck I was supposed to catch down to Champasak.  I ended up hiring a sawngtaew for the reasonable price of $3 as I wasn't going to stay in Pakse a moment longer than I had to; there's very little to do there except drink fruit shakes and eat too much Indian food at the cafe opposite my hotel. I was driven to Ban Muang by the Mekong at a breakneck speed.  There's something frightening and exhiliarating about travelling so fast.  I tried to convince myself that if we crashed I would land in one of the mud puddles with a wallowing buffalo and be ok.  At Ban Muang I caught a boat ... read more