From the North to the South……(The South)

After Vang Vien, we spent a day at Vientiane before we headed south to Pakse in a super comfortable VIP bus. Dinner and drink and wet towel and candies were provided. And the air con worked. Hee hee.. but the adventure only began when we arrived at Pakse..

5) Paksong – “haunted house”

JM said, most people stayed at Paksong, which is abt an hour journey from Pakse and so we went. Sam, an Austria guy, was with us.

In Paksong, there are only two guesthouse, we went to Paksong Guesthouse (USD5) which listed in Lonely Planet…. We were lazy to check out the guesthouse next door, anyway its just for a night.

In the day time, the room was fine… when we returned in the evening after visited two waterfalls… the room began to look eerie…

No flushing system in the toilet, there was a huge tall water container instead. And you could see a thick black layer down at the bottom… I don’t know wats that…its kinda scary.. And its party time for all kinds of insects!

Its only later then I found out that JM was scared of that water container too… ha ha…

However, the guesthouse owner has a cute dog. He wanted to play with me, so he kept hitting my leg with a stick.. but dear dog.. it’s a stick full of spikes! OUCH!

6) Tow Huey & Hum Chin Ben

We were trying to get some breakfast before we left Paksong. Hey! I saw a woman selling Tow Huey (Bean curd) in the market! JM asked: “ you dare to eat meh?” Thats my favourite, I am not going to give it a miss. Sam hesitated… but joined me later… followed by JM …. We were all fine

Oh, there are stalls selling You Tiao and Hum Chin Ben too…Yum yum……

7) Pakse – Transportation

In Pakse, there are 3 bus stations. During our short stay in the South, we had been to all three. As its raining season, so the bus stations are very muddy. The bus system was not very established, so when we wanted to go Paksong, we went up and down a few buses before we were on the ‘right’ bus.

A common transportation here is “sawngthaew”, its sth like tuk tuk, but instead of motorbike, it’s a truck. We were ‘packed’ together with vegetables while traveling from Paksong to Pakse… Later we realized we were lucky, some were “packed” with fish! Hee hee…

Pakse bus station is also the place I nearly blew my top. The tuk tuk drivers here were very aggressive compared to the North. In the North, all you need to do is smile at them politely and say No.. they will not disturb you further. But not here… they will just keep crowd around you ……

Arghh… Leave me alone!! I don’t like human!!!

8) Khone Pha Pheng Waterfall

This is where the Mekong falls……

It is introduced as the largest cascade in Southeast Asia, with its 15m high and 1km wide rock formation, forcing the calm flow of the Mekong to roar through its narrow gorges.

A guy actually crossed over to the other side using a rope tied on the trees… dangerous!

But it’s a nice place to stone……We spent quite some time there……

9) Don Deth

Don Deth is one of the 4000 islands in the South. A place without luxury…The room here is cheap, 15k kip/room. Of course, no attached toilet. Condition wise… well…. A heaven for spiders… Hee hee…

There are villages, padi fields on the island. We rented a bike to explore the place…. The scenery along the trail is nice, I believe I will enjoy more if I can cycle beta… Hee hee…With my great riding skill, I nearly dashed into one of the padi fields…

Although the condition on the island is not very good, I enjoyed my two days stay. Rain always come ard 3p.m and go in the evening…. which make a perfect nap time at the hammock outside the room……

I told JM: “I am going to stay here. Could you please inform my sis to bank $200 into my account every month? Then I can lead a comfortable life here liao..”

But of course… my dream never come true, I am back home… sigh……Next trip please!

From the North to the South……(The North)

Had a two week break from 1/7 - 14/7, travelled from Northern Laos to Southern Laos. I have heard much about Northern Laos, and didnt expect the Southern Laos is so different from the North.... an interesting trip...a few unforgettable experiences...

 

1) Udon Thani - Vientiane

Hmm...taking things for granted, we thought the mini van we took at Nong Kai will wait for us to clear Laos custom and bring us right into VT ... So we happily left our luggage on the van. Soon we realised, NO! The van will leave once its filled! Argghh, dont tell me I am going to lose my luggage even before my actual journey begin?

Phew, luckily we didnt take long to clear custom and manage to get on the same van... Ha ha...

 

Note: if you take the UTN - VT direct bus (80B) at Udon Thani bus station 1, you can leave the luggage on the bus, safe! And you will arrive at VT's bus station situated near the morning market. But if you are taking the van (15B) at Nong Kai bus staion, it only cross the border, so you have to bring your luggage with you, after which, you have to pay 250B to VT town centre, or 300B to the bus station.

 

2) Luang Prabang - Gate crashers

We didnt know that we need to pay entrance fees at Phu Si Hill. So when a woman asked us to pay 20k kips, we were stone for awhile. Happened that a Chinese lady came along with her boyfriend, she told us dont have to pay, as she paid last time but no receipt was given. So, we walked up to the hill with her.. without paying a cent...

However, JM found out later that there is actually entrance fees to Phu Si Hill, but the guide book stated 10k kip only...must be due to inflation.

But, we pay $0..

The next day, we walked along Mekong River to where Wat Xieng Thong is. The entrance fees is 20k kip. We thought, without a guide, we wont get to know much about this Wat, so we intend to just shoot from outside. Just when we were walking back to town, there is this gate with cute little kids, while we were taking their pictures, we realised that its another gate to Wat Xieng Thong and its not guarded. Hmm... maybe we dont have to pay at all...Those men at the other gates are conman. We stepped in, took a few shots, the man from the other gate walked up to us, we turned back and left. Ok, now we confirmed, everywhere has to pay...

Sorry, we really didnt mean to be gate crashers...

 

3) Luang Prabang - Monks collecting alms

In Luang Prabang, Monks collecting alms in the morning has become a tourist attraction. Yes, I am a tourist so how can I miss that?

We only manage to witness the event the morning we left LP. The air was cool, the colors were vibrant, and what attracted me most was a Scottish couple who took part in the offering. Their sincere looks touched my heart, and of course became the subject of my frames...

 

4) Vang Vien – Tubing

I cant swim but would like to give tubing a try.. it looks fun! I had my life jacket on and kept asking JM: “will I die? Wat do I do if I fell into the river?” Being very helpful, JM reassured me: “ With such strong current, swimmer will also die.” Very kind of him hor?

And JM was carrying the dry bag with our cameras, I kept telling him, you can fall into the water but make sure our cameras are dry, haha…Me not evil either ya? 

Ok, I was on the tube liao, but how come my tube not moving? Hmm… when I tried to paddle… it went in all funny directions…And the water was cold! Ha ha.. the guide and JM had to come to my rescue as and when….

Sound like a stressful trip? No lah, it was fun..

During the break, JM tried the jump into the river… Looked fun too.. but nope nope… too challenging for me…