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Published: November 21st 2008
There is not that much to say about my first too destinations in Lao - Savannakhet and Pakse apart from mentioning that in Pakse there is the most amazing indian restautrant that does brilliant aloo gobi and that at Pakse A&E you are not allowed to throw up!!
4000 Islands - Don Det
Took the local transport from Pakse down to the islands in the south of Lao, this involved a 4hour drive in the back of a pick up truck. It was really nice because you get a really good view of the countryside the only down point was the lack of soft seating! Plus i knew i was being charged 10,000 kip more than i should have been, there was even a price list in the back of the truck but apparently they have to cahrge know since the list was written 2months ago as the roads have improved - ha! but there was nothing i could do apart from laugh about it! I know that in Lao even foriegners who live there who can speak the language pay more for everything so it didnt bother me too much.
Once on Don Det (one of the
islands) i ended up staying at the guesthouse belonging the Mike, the man who had picked us up in his boat, and it was such a nice place to stay i stayed for three times as long as i had intended to! For just 20,000 kip a night which is a little over a pound i had my own bamboo hut right on the river front and because it was at the south end of the island it was really quiet there. Plus the food that Mike's wife cooked was amazing and as usual i always rate places by the quality of the food - that is quality dad and jack not quantity!!!
Both Don Det and the adjoining Don Khon islands are very relaxed places to stay but Don Det has the cheaper accomodation and more of the restaurants and bars. On the second day i biked right round both islands in just a few hours - so they are not big as i am so unfit more can only bike at snails pace! I spent the rest of my time there in my hammock reading or sleeping. Apart from on the last day when the national boat
race festival took place all across Lao and so we went to watch the one on one of the other islands. Mike and his wife took me and a couple of other people staying at the guesthouse at the time. It took about an hour by boat to get to the other island, it was quite a funny journey as Mike did not really know where he was going and so we nearly got very lost! Once there it appeared the race was much more about eating and drinking than about the boats! And in true Lao style it was two hours late starting! That eveing we joined in the celebrations for the end of the rainy season. All the locals sent rafts lit with candles down the river which is supposed to bring them back good luck, and many flares and fireworks were let off. The river looked amazing with all the candles floating along it.
Really loved it on Don Det and could definately have stayed for a lot longer but places to go, people to see!
Vientiane
I took the night bus from Pakse to Vientiane, which was an experience in itself!
The night buses in Lao involve sharing an extremely small double bed with possibly a complete stranger! Fortunately i had been late booking so i got the bed across the back of the bed which was bigger and i was sharing with some people i had already met.
Not really that much to report about Vientiane, it is a very attractive city with alot of nice bars and restaurants and a very entertaining Buddha park - you may have already seen some of the pics taken there on facebook! The next highlight of the stay there was the visit to the Lao beer factory to sample a few free beer lao! Very good beer!
Vang Vieng
Well one word springs to mind - TUBING!! Had an absolutely amazing time here. This place may not be for everyone as you will not find much culture here, well not Lao culture anyway, plenty of western drinking culture to be found! But it is so much FUN! Imagine a really brilliant day and night out with a group of friends and then imagine you are all in massive inner tubes floating down a river in absolutely stunning surroundings, the
sun is shining (definately not in the uk then!), there are loads of water slides, zip lines, swings and a mud volley ball court (i am sure you have seen these pics on facebook, that was mud volleyball not mud wrestling as it may have looked!) and finally each bar is serving buckets full of alcohol at very cheap prices with many free shots thrown in along the way - this is some to describing tubing! Brilliant! I didn't take my camera because i did not want to lose it so i dont have many pictures. It was a really good day apart from accidently putting my tube on a rock and then jumping in it - i couldnt sit down comfortably for quite a few days!
Luang Prabang
Most important thing to mention here is the 5000 kip vegetarian buffet at the night market and the delicious 10,000 kip chicken baguettes! Food heaven! The city is also beautiful and we went to the blue lagoon which is an amazing waterfall with so many clear blue pools you can swim in. Also had a very interesting random night out bowling with some guys that we met which
was really good fun. Also went to the Buddha cave - not really that impressive to be honest epecially not when i had to climb up so many steps in the heat whilst nursing an awful hangover!
Then we took the slow boat from Luang Prabang to Houay Xai, the Lao - Thai border town. The boat was ........... slow! But is was enjoyable much better than being on a bus as there was room to get up and move around. It took two days with an overnight stop at Pakbeng - which also has a good indian restaurant!! Each day on the boat was about 9 hours but the surrounding countryside was beautiful and so there was plenty to look at, plus my travel sickness tablets knocked me out for most of it!
Gibbon Experience - Bokeo Province
This was my final adventure in Lao and in order to do it i had to wait around in Houay Xai (HX) for 5 days which anyone who has been there will know is too long! I could have gone to one of the minority villages nearby but just seemed to sleep all day, apart from one
day when the lady who worked in the hotel took me to experience all the foods that the locals in HX ate!! It was such a funny day, she spoke no English and would not take no for an answer, i have never eaten so much in one day especially not so many things that i had no idea what they were! And then icecream sandwiches to finish the day off. Should also at this point mention yet another indian restaurant serving very good food which happened to be right next to my hotel!!
Finally i was off on the gibbon experience, basically this is where you live in tree houses 100m up and get to zip line through the national park like a monkey!! And if you are really lucky you may spot a gibbon! Well we didnt see any gibbons but on the second morning we heard them and it was an amazing sound, they were so close but unfortunately it was too foggy to see them.
The whole experience was so mcuh fun. Once you had been taught how to use the zip lines safely the guides went home and left us to play! Some
of the lines were so fast and so high above the valley it was amazing, at some points you were over 150m above the floora dn some of the zip lines were really long - in particular the one that i managed to get stuck on half way out! It was so high and i was just hanging over the valley and so the guide came out and pulled me in, sometimes it is soooo much better to be a girl!! One of the guides took quite a liking to me and said if i married him i could have my own tree house - now there is an offer hard to refuse!! Absolutely loved the gibbon experience and would reccomend it to anyone. We stayed in the tree houses and they brought us loads of great food and each night we were visited by various animals, mostly rats, but on the first night in tree house one a big jungle cat came to visit! I jumped up with the torch when i heard it land and woke Kristen up, we couldnt see it because of our mossi net but in the morning there were big scratch marks on the
food box! On the second night i saw a huntsman spider on the bed right next to me and had a nervous breakdown and then made craig spend the next hour searching for it!!
Overall really enjoyed Lao, would definately love to go back. The country is beautifull, the people are very friendly and so laid back, you get hardly any hassle which was so nice after coming from Vietnam! And the beer is great! Plus i am now slightly addicted to sticky rice and Lao definately has the best, plus a chain of great indian restaurants! I was very sad to leave Lao but finally on the 2nd nov i crossed into thailand and headed to Chang Mai
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anonymous
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Sooooooo jealous
WOW - looks absolutely awesome - sorry to keep repeating myself but lost for words really! WISH I WAS THERE!!! love lots miss you Mumsy xxxx