From Siem Reap we headed to Pakse, Laos. We flew the national airline, Laos Airlines. Once known for its horrible accident record, it was one of our better flights with their new planes, decent food and good service. They even had an entertaining (and informative) country guide explaining some of the does and don'ts. It would be cool to see other countries do something similar!
On arrival we had planned to stay at a home stay, but we hadn't contacted them in advance and the house was closed. We ended up at the main hotel in town, the Pakse Hotel for $30 per night (mighty expensive for this part of the world and beyond our local budget, but it was nice to have a comfy bed, free WiFi and AC). Our favourite restaurant in town was across the street, the Xuan Mai. Fresh salads and fruit milk shakes rounded out our afternoon. At this point we had (pretty much) given up caring about food safety, but no worries here in Laos because we consistently found that food is prepared fresh! Ultimately Laos food would turn out to be one of our favourite cuisines of the trip. Yummy!
After dinner we made our way over the Se Don bridge, visited a budhist temple, and followed the river to its confluence with the Mekong River, where river side grills dotted the banks and cooked up whole fish on the grill (yum). We wrapped up the evening with a return to the hotel, sunset on the roof, and take-away dinner from Xuan Mai (Lee even bought some Orchids for Jazz while waiting for dinner!).
The next morning we headed to Don Khon, a southern river island near the Cambodian border; but luckily visited a Pakse ATM to get some Kip for us to make it through the next two days (there are no ATMs on the islands). We hopped on the local minibus, for the drive through Laos countryside to the islands. The Mekong was high as it was the end of the rainy season and due to recent rains (which were reeking havoc in Thailand). Ourr little canoe style motor boat just barely peaked above the water.
Along with two other backpackers, we arrived on quiet, laid back Don Khon island. The Mekong was so full that the only road was flooded, so we navigated barefoot along with the local school kids (how they kept their clothes so clean is a mystery to us, who got dirty within 2 minutes of arriving). We grabbed dinner on a floating restaurant, with the river literally lapping at our feet below the deck with such high velocity that it seemed the restaurant could easily be ripped off its pillings (more on this later....). We rented a riverside bungalow (more on this later) and took a bike ride through lush rice fields. We saw the local area waterfall, which was more a massive rapids due to the huge flows, and hired a boat to watch for the famous Mekong river Irrawaddy dolphins along the border with Cambodia. Luckily our boat was able to navigate against the current to get us back, though it was touch and go for a while... The dolphins really were gorgeous, and the Mekong there was an awesome force.
While getting ready to leave the next morning, around 7:30AM, we heard a massive crash. One of the bungalows (which was perched over the river - and for that reason why Lee wouldn't let us stay in it) had been ripped off its pillings and was carried, along with the restaurant we first ate at, into the old French concrete rail bridge downstream of us. Crazily enough two tourists were inside the bungalow and climbed out unscathed (although quite shook up). If not for the old bridge, they would've been carried downstream through the waterway.
We watched the rescue efforts for a bit and saw how they systematically pulled the restaurant to the side and dismantled it bit by bit, before ripping into the roof (all made from straw) of the bungalow and getting belongings out. Crazy, but not all together uncommon for them when the river floods.
We then headed to breakfast at a fantastic restaurant called Chanthoumma and had delicious food (spring rolls, banana pancakes, chocolate and banana rice pudding, and fried rice with chicken) while helping round up the lady's baby chickens (sooo cute). We waded through the Mekong and got into the boat at 10:30AM, taking nearly an hour to navigate upstream against the current (video to make it online eventually...).
We unloaded in Pakse and found our way to Imoun’s Guesthouse for nice showers and a tasty but dang spicy chicken and pork dish (again the food ohhh the food). A bit of blog writing, computer work and a visit to the local wifi cafe rounded out the evening.
Next up: Motorbiking and waterfalls on the Bolaven Plateau, and a visit to historic Luang Prabang
