Marissa left for Bangkok this morning, and I carried on to Pakse, in southeastern Laos.
The only reason I came here is because I couldn't get a plane ticket direct to Vientienne. However, this turned out to be a good thing, because not many backpackers stopover here, and it's quite a nice little town.
Met up with a girl from Ireland at the airport (getting the Laotian visa was no problem because I flew in) (although it's not as nice looking as the Cambodian visa) and tomorrow we're going to rent motorbikes and head to some of the nearby sites. There's a couple waterfalls that are supposed to be pretty cool.
Pakse itself is a small little town, about 60,000 people. The local people don't seem to mind tourists, in fact we're almost ignored which is quite a novelty.
We wandered around town in the heat today, and I ended up buying a guitar! for only $15! So now I have a guitar to lug around, but it's kinda cool in the guest houses, because it seems like almost everyone plays guitar.
Anyways it's quite expensive here for the internet so I'm off to drink. Apparently the local beer (Beer Lao) is the best in the world, and it's darned cheap. We just paid 4000 kip (about 50 cents) for a 668ml 5% beer! I think it tastes pretty good, but I'd like to have a side-by-side taste with a Keiths. (I like Keiths a lot).
Glad you're having a great time. We've been logging in to your blog with anticipation. Tony & I also visited southern Laos -- I was drawn to the fact that no one went there and there were sights that sounded interesting. Our only problem was that we didn't have enough time. Local buses were a bit of a problem. Buses only left really early and to get to most places, you needed to connect but by the time you got to the connection, it had already gone for the day. Because of this, we inquired about renting a car, but it was darned expensive ($100 US per day) and having a driver was compulsory, so the bus it was. (We never thought of renting a motorbike (probably because we don't know how to ride one!) We got as far as Tad Lo and spent the night there before heading back into Thailand. The highlight was walking into villages that were definitely not used to foreigners. In general, Laos is a lot less touristed than Thailand and most people leave tourists alone. At least that was the case 5 years ago. Further afield than Tad Lo, I think there's some pretty special things too, which with a motor bike, I'm sure you'll see.
ReplyDeleteVientiane (notice the spelling) is okay. A city. More special is Luang Prabang and Vang Vieng has spectacular scenery. LP says it's dangerous but you have to check with other travellers for up to date info.
You'll see why Laos is on my list of top destinations. TK