http://blogs.bootsnall.com/Savuth a return home to unknown personal expectations Tue, 08 Apr 2008 06:46:28 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Early in the next morning in Ban Lung after meeting Joonas, we all meet up at the park office to pay our fees, list our next of kin and insurance info, and meet the guide. We also met a fourth trekker, Danial from Switzerland. Also with us is Catherine from ... http://blogs.bootsnall.com/Savuth/virachey-national-park-trekking.html The three day trek through the jungle of northern Cambodia will have to wait. For now I am getting ready to board a flight to Bangkok to get some Muay Thai gear straight off the press for my brother. I will shortly be back in Alaska, home to cold, but ... http://blogs.bootsnall.com/Savuth/the-end-for-now.html The following morning I bordered the minivan to Ban Lung, the "major" town in the Rattanakiri province of Cambodia. The guest house owner, Mr. T told me that the minivan was $7.50 per person and "two people, one seat." He wasn't kidding. It started off fine with only four of ... http://blogs.bootsnall.com/Savuth/rattanakiri.html The following morning I reported to the guest house where I had purchased a minivan ticket all the way to Stung Treng, Cambodia. The owner, Mr. Pon then tells me at the last minute that I would be going by motorcycle since I was the only one going. As it ... http://blogs.bootsnall.com/Savuth/back-into-sruk-khmer.html 3/25/2008 I think. The next day I caught the minivan to Sii Phan Don, the Four Thousand Islands in southern Loa, bordering Cambodia. About a third of us got off at Don Khong, the biggest of the many islands. I had decided to stay here as it would be easier to ... http://blogs.bootsnall.com/Savuth/don-khong.html Not a single other person had signed up for a tour of the Bolaven Plateau by 7pm last night, not at any of the three places I went to. I even tried to get a ride out with the owner of Delta Coffee, a little cafe/restaurant in town with their ... http://blogs.bootsnall.com/Savuth/motorbiking-the-bolaven-plateau.html We got to Pakse about 6:30am this morning and of course were inundated by over priced tuk tuk drivers. The ride up was fairly smooth if frigid. All of the bus staff were wearing jackets, yet they had the a/c cranked all the way up. Even with the vents closed, ... http://blogs.bootsnall.com/Savuth/pakse-hot-hot-hot.html It took me an hour and a half to upload about ten pictures yesterday, so no more of that here. I also saw a familiar gait on the sandbar of the Mekong and sure enough, it was Jean-Pierre from Luxembourg whom I've met four other times already in Laos. We ... http://blogs.bootsnall.com/Savuth/vientiane-iii.html Last night I met up with Marco and Rene from Chiang Kong, slow boat, and Luang Prabang. We ran into each other at the music festival on the river which turns out to be the first annual Mekong River Festival. I also met a teacher consulting here for the past ... http://blogs.bootsnall.com/Savuth/vientiane-ii.html I bought a ticket for a "VIP" bus to Vientiane from one of the many travel agencies in Luang Prabang for 110,000 kip. I specifically asked what the VIP bus was and was shown a picture of a nice, purple bus with a toilet and nice seats. I asked for ... http://blogs.bootsnall.com/Savuth/rally-to-vientienne.html