Entries from Junio 2008
Jun29
On the same day we had arrived back to Pakse from our three days motorbike loop through the Bolaven Plateau, we took a songthaew (kind of a pick up van with two benches very common in Laos as a local bus) to the Thailand border crossing of Vang Tao. Once in Thailand again, we decided to try our luck and increase our hitch hiking experience and got a free ride to Ubon, the closest railway station with a daily train service to Bangkok. Our expectations of getting an sleeper train and have a good rest that night could not be accomplished and we had to complete our 10 hours night ride in a quite small and hard 3rd class sitting bench. One of the inconveniences of travelling without any fixed plan or booking-security, but who needs that…? At least not us.
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Back in Bangkok
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Jun25
The fertile Bolaven Plateau is a semi remote area in the south eastern part of Laos, famous for its cool climate, waterfalls, fertile soil and high grade coffee plantations. In the last years, some “good roads” –sealed- have been constructed and it is now easier to travel around the province either by motorbike or by public transport. We decided to rent a 110 c.c. motorbike, the most convenient way to cover the area. Shopping around in Pakse we found a brand new Honda with only 15000 km and for a reasonable price and started the loop on the same afternoon.
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The Bolaven Plateau
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Jun19
Our visit to Champasak was brief but exciting. The city itself has not much to offer but it is located in a pretty emerald green scenery. We arrived in the early afternoon, after crossing the Mekong river with a local ferry, and were ready to start exploring the town in almost an hour, the time which took us to find by foot a convenient guest house for our one night stay. There we rented brand new bicycles (never again with a hired old bike!!) and went to the nearby ancient Angkor style temple ruins.
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Champasak and the Wat Phu ruins
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Jun17
Unexpected things are the most rewardable things that may happen while travelling and we didn’t expect Don Det to be so laid back and beautiful, so it was really pleasant to stay there for almost a week. The accommodation offer in Don Det consists in many similar wooden bungalows overlooking the river. They all look the same but there are little aspects that make big differences. We found our place in Vixai Guest House on the sunset side of the island, a family run Guest House in which the ambience was really peaceful and from where it felt very difficult to leave on the last day. The Vixai family were great hosts –always with a smile and ready to help- and it was real fun to interact with them, share a ride on their long-tail boat along the archipelago, play with their son Sitta and try to make bamboo instruments with Vixai. The room was pretty basic –mattress, mosquito net and no power or light, just candles-. The attached shared terrace/balcony outside the room worked out as a living room –with hammocks, table and chairs- and was less than 2 metres above the Mekong water, so you could almost wash your feet from there. The view was superb: water, islands, birds, vegetation and the wonderful sky with its blue colour and its amazing cloud shapes and colours.
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Don Det and Don Khone, the smaller islands
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Jun14
Si Phan Don is a vast area just north of the Laos-Cambodia border, where the Mekong river opens out forming an intrincate network of channels, rocks, sandbars and islets 14 km wide. During the rainy season this section of the Mekong river fills out and covers up most of the islets. The largest of the permanent islands are inhabited all year round and offer fascinating glimpses of tranquil river village life: the fishermen in their long-tail boats, water buffaloes wading in the water, families planting the rice in the paddies, women washing the clothes or weaving textiles and children swiming in the river.
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Si Phan Don, the 4000 Islands
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Jun12
On our way to the south we have visited the Mekong river towns of Tha Khaek, Savannakhet and Pakse, with their lowland Lao communities, decadent French colonial arquitecture and lethargic lifestyles. The central “waist” of Laos is full of emerald green mountains, pristine rivers, dramatic waterfalls, huge caves and rugged karst terrains. Our staying is been very short in each place, more as a stopover to catch the bus to the next town, but enough to pay a brief visit to these little towns.
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Central Laos
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Jun9
Vientiane, capital of Laos, is situated on a bend in the Mekhong river, which will follow our way down south Laos, crossing Cambodia and up to south Vietnam. The city is the country’s hub for travel to the rest of the country and it can be visited in one day and the truth is that there is not much to see. There are still few traditional wood houses and colonial mansions, but most of the city is now full of concrete structures with little appeal. We walked along the streets, explored the market, saw some nice French colonial houses, a couple of Buddhist temples and that was it.
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Towards the capital, Vientiane
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Jun6
For many centuries the city was the former capital of Laos, where artisans, Buddhist monks and merchants of the Khmer kingdom lived in harmony. Dominated for several kings during 6 centuries, it was the most powerful area of the Indochina peninsula. For many years suffered the occupation of Burmese and Siamese reigns until king Oun Khan finally signed a cooperation pact with France, starting thus the French colony period.
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Luang Prabang
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Jun5
We went back to Huay Xai just as a stopover before boarding a slow boat going down the Mekong river southeast to Luang Prabang. We got into the barge with many other foreigners and a couple of local people. There we found Kip and his wife again, a Dutch couple that we met in Thaton and again in Chiang Rai and who are travelling around Southeast Asia riding their bicycles (it’s not the first time that we keep on finding again and again people that we have met along the way).
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Navigating the Mekong river downstream
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Jun3
This is not much more than a couple of streets in the middle of a plain and surrounded by some small mountains and forests, but Muang Sing has been a well known place since long ago. First as one of the biggest opium markets in Laos and nowadays as the starting point for many eco-minded treks in the mountains. Even having asked in many guest houses, in the tourist office and to some locals too, we could not get much information about trekking independently in the surrounding area. It was thanks to an american guy who gave us a copy of a hand made map that we could start to think it was possible to hike by ourselfs, with no guides, group or whatever.
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Muang Sing, the northern mountain region
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