Sep 06

Armed with the Rough Guide to SE Asia that we picked up in Hong Kong, we decided to extend our trip to include a little time in Laos, reducing our time in Cambodia but leaving plenty to cover the highlights in both.

Whilst pleased to be getting to Laos also, we knew our time was short so restricted ourselves to Route 13, heading south and following the Mekong all the way - would have liked to head North to Louang Prabang and do some tubing, but not this time round.

By the way, The Rough Guide to SE Asia includes Hong Kong, unlike the Lonely Planet for the same area.

After our overnight train ride from Bangkok (comfy beds, though noisy Air-Con), we weren't too sure what to expect at the Laos border, what with Visas and stuff.

Needn't have worried as the whole border crossing process was easy and we were through within an hour, less $31 each. You need a photo to accompany your Visa application.

We probably paid over the odds for our transport to the capital, Vientiane, but was good to ride in a classic Mercedes from the early 70's. Having said that, it probably should have been crushed back then too.

Vientiane

Amazed at the change in pace in Vientiane - surely the world's most laid back capital - a distinct lack of people and traffic, however, not complaining at that. Travellers too, a fairly rare sight.

Our hotel (Douang Douane) a nice, but quiet, place - I think only one or two other guests. No doubt the reason why they're running a $15 a night promotion until further notice, including a nice breakfast. Of course, no doubt cheaper rooms elsewhere.

Took a stroll around town in the afternoon - very attractive, if not decaying, French colonial buildings and a pleasant visit to the oldest temple in Vientiane.

First experience of Beer Lao a nice one, overlooking the Mekong River. Good fruit juice here too.

One thing we read up on, and were looking forward to was the free (they were everywhere/not 'free') availability of Baguette's - thanks France, for your prior occupation. Couldn't find frogs legs...

Day two and we walked out to the Patouxai (Monument) aka 'vertical runway' along the main boulevard. So-called as it was built with materials supplied by the US, that was meant for a runway. Great views of the surrounding countryside from the top. Walked out of town further to visit the That Louang (buddhist temple and Laos's national symbol) - fortunately we had run out of small notes to pay for both of us to get into the Stupa compound - Chris wasn't that impressed. Tip - $10 notes and above are little use around here, so keep a stock of littluns. Local currency used more than we expected, so load up on Kip too.

Chris nearly eaten alive by guard dogs on the way back... (Paul observed from a distance!)

By the way, there's a couple of ATM's in Vientiane, though no others that we found in Laos - plenty of other places to change cheques/money though.

Unsure what travelling around the country would be like - turned out to be no problem at all. Took a public bus from South Station (a few KM's out of town) - left on time at 6.30am before stopping for breakfast (crickets on a stick, anyone??) at 6.32am, and stopped dozens of times along the way, however, still arrived pretty much on schedule in Thakhek several hours later.

The guys who work on the buses seemed really helpful when we arrived at the station - I guess, suspiciously so, however, no problems and they were truly helping us out, whether with loading our bags, or telling us when we arrived at our destination. Also, no problems with being ripped off for the ticket price - all fixed, with locals and tourists paying the same, though the smaller minibusses probably charge the foreigners a little more.

Thakhek

Not a lot going on here, around town at least. The guesthouse (Southida) was fine and friendly, but no atmosphere. Food okay (basic stuff, rice and noodles) though little choice around town.

Arranged for a tour (via the guesthouse) to the local caves - didn't quite turn out to be what we expected. Thought we had a proper guide/transport for the whole day (for $20), turned out to be a tuk-tuk trip where entry to all the various caves cost extra, and we didn't get a great deal of info. Also, not all the caves accessible due to high water. The Buddha cave was the most interesting - impressive formations but limited.

Scenery very nice - jagged limestone hills. Our driver was able to share a bit of local info but mostly his thoughts on England's poor performance in the World Cup. Note to self - double check the itinerary with the driver before setting off! The 'whole day' trip finished about 2pm.

Finished the day being eaten by mozzies whilst enjoying a beer by the Mekong.

Next stop, Savannakhet...bus journey down not quite as good as our first Laos travel experience. We left a little later than scheduled, and the bus was packed out - standing room only!! - though thankfully there's a supply of plastic stools to use down the aisle. Literally, a pain in the arse, and we arrived several hours later, with 2 new friends from Sweden. Anna and Eric.

Savannakhet

Our guesthouse here (sorry, can't remember the name, but on the main street, back from the river) also fine, with the basic amenities, though not much happening on the main road where it was situated - about a 8-10 minute walk from the Mekong.

The Tourist Office here is excellent and the guys very helpful. Lots of info about the local area (restaurants/accomodation/internet cafes etc). Worth a visit, even if just to chat with locals who speak good English.

We organised a one day 'trek' from here for the next day. The first stop was to visit a local salt mine, which was actually more interesting than it sounds. Briefly, salt water is pumped to the surface from 75 metres below - from there, it either goes into square salt flats to dry out under the sun, or to two areas where either wood shavings are burnt under a large tub-thing, or husks are used. The resulting salt is then cleaned up via a big machine and bagged by a friendly bunch of ladies (thanks for the banana and rice/coconut wrapped in a banana leaf).

From the saltmine we then met up with our guide for the 7km walk through the jungle. Not a great start, the guide trod on a snake - no-one said anything about snakes! Thankfully, just bugs and big spiders thereafter. Learn't how the locals get water from a certain tree, oil for torches from another and tasted some nuts and fruit.

For lunch we were treated to a Lao picnic - rice, noodles, fish on sticks and sausages with more lumps of gristle than meat. Sarcasm aside, we really enjoyed it and one just one more thing to contribute to an excellent day.

After lunch, a further 3.5km walk to the school - unfortunately, everyone had gone home for the day, but we sat in one of the roasting hot classrooms showing our guide (Soumphone) where we lived on the classroom globe.

Just before the tuktuk ride back to town, we visited a buddhist stupa which apparently houses a Buddha bone. Paul got a free shoulder massage on the way home .

Other than a stroll along the river, past all the various food sellers, not much else going on here - very nice place though.

Next stop, Champansak - not bothering to stop in Pakxe.

Champansak

Once again, good bus journey down and arrived on time in Pakxe, from where we took a smaller 'minibus'. Bit of a delay here whilst the minibus filled up with people returning from a mornings shopping at the market.

Once we were all packed up, with boxes and bags of goods filling every bit of available space, we took off for the hour or so down to Champansak. Our legs lost most feeling about 5kms into the trip, but arrived safely at the ferry, which crosses the fairly narrow stretch (about 300 metres). Again, waited a little while for the ferry to be slightly overloaded, resulting in being a bit wedged into the sandbank, but soon got loose and cruising.

Our accomodation in Champansak (Songpaseud Guesthouse - $5 dbl room/fan) well placed with the restaurant balcony overhanging the Mekong, and the owner surely winning the award for 'Jolliest Man in Laos'- anything and everything he did or said was followed up with hearty laughter. Another follow on from the French period is the ongoing, but diminishing, use of French language - we seemed to get by pretty well with school being a couple of decades ago!

Great stay here, and perhaps the place we felt most relaxed - maybe the hammocks helped. Also, good food.

Day 2 - hired a couple of girls bikes for the day and took off for the 15km ride to Wat Phou (pre - Angkor Wat). For the record, girls bikes are absolutely no good for doing any tricks. There's an interesting museum/exhibition hall before you arrive at the Wat itself, then a further short ride the main attraction. Really cool site, great setting and interesting history.

Would have been nice to stay on a little longer here, though, again, not a great deal else to do. So, with the clock ticking we head off again further south, towards an area known as 4000 Islands, though our destination being Don Khong, the largest and more on the traditional tourist route down.

Back on the bus then.....

Don Khong

No problems on the busses and we were dropped off at another ferry point for the $1 ride across the water

Our room in a teak house was fine and just 100m from the riverbank. Not much life here and the owners speak little English or French. Thankfully one of the guesthouses along the riverfront does great food and seemed to attract the bulk of tourists on the island. Coffee shakes here - yummy!

The road around the island is good and pretty flat, perfect for a cycle. Again, on girls bikes, we took off on what turned out to be a pretty hefty run - probably covered a total of 60k either side of lunch. Bikes pretty poor, despite being just $1 for the day - both chains came of numerous times over bumps, and one flat tyre, but thankfully just as we arrived back.

The scenery around the island very pretty, and a mass of green (many rice fields) with a little wildlife along the way. We're told there's ostriches, but they were hiding from us.

Lots of greetings from the locals as we made our way around, though moreso the children rather than adults. A mass of 'Sabai-dee's'(Hello...) followed us as we passed a group of school children, though we felt a little bad when we passed a group of kids on bikes and one crashed into the back of another - too busy waving. He went down like a sack of spuds, and his 'friends' wet themselves - thankfully, he suffered no lasting injury.

Don Khon

The following day we head down the Mekong by boat- beats travelling by minibus but a numb bum nonetheless. We choose to stay on Don Khon rather than Don Det as Chris preferring the description of " a delightful sleepy place" - certainly that. Ventured from the boat to our bungalow, a mere few steps. Very little to see and do so Paul grabs the hammock and stays there until we are persuaded by a German guy to venture to the other side of the Island. Glad we did as we walked through some lovely emerald rice fields and local villages to get to some very fast flowing rapids. We didn't end up paying the fee of 9000 kip as we went north rather than south but its quite possible that we didn't see the Falls.

Paul didn't fancy a day of just chilling on the hammock so the very next day we get a boat to the mainland and by bus head to the Laos/Cambodian border. Our transport across the border is all arranged through the owner of the bungalows on Don Khon so it couldn't have been easier. Got into a very nice air con minibus for all of 10 mins - they switch minibus at the border, for a crappy one, with slick tyres!

No complaints though - passed through the unofficial border ($1 charge!), then the bumpy road through no-mans land....

Paul and Chris

Our time in SE Asia is mainly outside of Thailand where we have flown into from Hong Kong - just a handful of days straddling a month or so.

We decided to grab a little more luxury here and booked into the Asia Hotel, which was one of the cheaper options we found at www.hotels.com (no problems booking through here).

Getting away from the current airport (new one runs from late September 2006) was nice and easy and cheap, on the airport bus (number 2, dropped us at the hotel) - took about 40 mins.

The hotel was fine and well placed - about GBP25 a night, and bang in the middle of the shopping district, and handy for the Skytrain (there is a walkway straight into the hotel from Ratchthewi station), which was just a bunch of concrete pillars when we were last here in 1998.

Was great to have a swim, though the pool wasn't huge. Not too much of a problem, as not too many people in it. Was also good to get to use the gym for a run or two - two hot and muggy outside on the street.

Things have changed massively since 1998 - a shopping mall back then was a poor experience - today, they're up there with the best in the world. The food court at the Siam Paragon is out of this world.

Getting around the place is a lot easier now too - the Skytrain quick and cheap (though doesn't cover a huge area), as well as their equivalent of the Underground. Didn't bother with tuk-tuks this time, nor taxis - traffic a nightmare at most times of the day. The taxi drivers don't like to charge against the meter either if there's a lot on the road.

Shopping aside, we did do a bit of culture, Chris enjoyed her trip to the Marble Temple by water taxi. Also tried to get to see some Thai Boxing, but arrived on local championship night and was a little too pricey - will try again when we get back to Bangkok in October - worth seeing.

Of course, a stay in Bangkok wouldn't be complete without a visit to Khao San Road. Not much seems to have changed, just the prices - still a busy place full of backpackers.

Spent an evening around Patpong (for the night market!) - Chris not impressed with the sleaze and the opportunity for some ping-pong. Of course, Paul not impressed either....

Dinner that evening at 'Cabbages and Condoms' - highly recommended, great food and setting, can be found around Sukhumvit 13 (I think), and about 100 metres back off the main street. This place was set up to help fund the humanitarian work they do, which started with family planning issues, latterly AIDS, but also wider humanitarian projects. Accompanying the bill - not mints, but....condoms.

Again, just 3 days here before moving on.

Have decided to change the itinerary a bit. We were advised before we left home that a month in Cambodia may not be necessary, so will take just under a fortnight in Laos, starting in Vientiane, and working our way down Route 13, hugging the Mekong River all the way down to the Camdbodian border.

Our Laos experience started with the overnight train from Bangkok, heading north to Nong Khai....

Paul and Chris