Southern Laos - mistake at Pakse, a verrry long cycle ride, relaxing on the islands and a massive waterfall!!!

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We had a long bus journey down to Pakse in southern laos, it was our first bus that actually had beds in it and they were not that generous on the space! as we got on out seats were taken by others and we ended up (thankfully) right at the back which was just a massive mattress which we only had to share with another lady and her little girl! but we saw two other tallish lads trying to squeeze into their shared bunk! we reached pakse and had planned to go straight to a place called paksong which was supposed to be the jumping off point for visiting the boloven plateau which had been highly recommended! so we got another local bus straight away out to paksong and got dumped off on the main road of town. main being just a small track, when we got there we realised there was absolutely nothing there at all for us! no one spoke english, no hostels in sight, no restaurants! so like evacuees we were stood at the side of the road with all our bags working out our next move! the main sight of the tat fan waterfall was on the way back to pakse and civilisation, so we decided to head back and see the waterfall on the way back! we flagged down a bus which dropped us off just nearby and we walked the rest, the waterfall was pretty spectacular. as it was deep in the jungle we could only see it from a viewing point but the water just rushed straight out from the jungle over a massive cliff drop and we couldnt even see the bottom! we returned to pakse for the night, enjoying a seafood dinner on the river! we got well and truly lost on the walk back to the hostel in the dark, but we got to see the real community of the place with all the children playing in the streets and the families eating at the small local restaurants which was really nice! the next day we caught a local bus to the four thousand islands - the local bus was interesting as we were both at the back surrounded by all the local food which was being sent down to the islands in loads of bags and boxes which had been crammed on! the smell was delightful, the tuna sandwiches were whipped out to try and improve the situation!! we arrived first to Don Khong, the largest of the islands. we met a really nice english couple at the restaurant in the evening who had just got married and were on their honeymoon! the island was really really quiet, not many western people at all, just the locals who come out to play badminton in the evenings in the street! we hired some bikes and decided to cycle around the island, but it turned out to be a bit of a mammoth cycle, we crossed the island first passing all the wooden houses on stilts, farmland and paddie fields and finally got to the river on the other side and stopped for lunch. feeling ok at this point, we thought we should just cycle around the whole north part of the island to then get back to our hotel. we did underestimate the distance as 4 hours later we arrived back, severly burnt by the sun!!!! my st christopher medal had left a white circle on my chest!!! our exercise for the week was definately complete! on our way we heard all these dogs barking and a few locals in this garden area looking down at the grass so we slowed up, but then saw him lifting this snake on a stick, there was a poof of dust as we peddled off with all speed!!! the island was really beautiful and quiet, an amazing place just to relax and get away from it all!! we got a boat next to the smaller more travellery island on don dhet where we managed to get a mega cheap room for the grand price of one pound fifty -it was virtually a wooden cell with a bed but it was saving the pennies and it had a great view down the river and some handy hammocks on its little terrace! we spend out days doing nothing at all but waking, eating, reading, eating some more then maybe an afternoon nap and then an evening meal, drinks and bed!! we did do a short boat trip to a big waterfall nearby - for the volume of water it was the biggest in southeast asia and the noise of it was loud! we managed to get pretty near the waters edge for some photos with the 'danger' sign! having spend several days on the islands we got very lazy but also restless again so the following day it was time to get back on the road and another border crossing! Cambodia....here we come!!!

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