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Archive for January, 2005

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The (Lao) Road More Travelled: Vientiane and Luang Prabang

Monday, January 24th, 2005

Laos isn’t a heavily touristed country compared to some of its neighbours (most notably Thailand) but it still does have some areas that receive a good number of visitors. The most notable of these are the capital, Vientiane, Luang Prabang, 330km to the north and areas in between. It was to this part of the country that my travels would take me next.

Though the bus ride to Vientiane had taken a painful nine hours (to cover just over 400km on the best road in Laos) I was finally there. It took a bit of negotiation with tuktuk drivers to find an even vaguely reasonable price for my trip into town, but eventually it was done.

I climbed aboard and off we zipped (I’m fairly certain now that the only proper descriptor to use for travel by tuktuk is “zip.” Unless they’re stuck in traffic, of course.) into the streets of Vientiane, headed for a dense concentration of inexpensive guesthouses as noted in my guidebook.
[read on]

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Off the Beaten Track in Southern Laos

Tuesday, January 18th, 2005

Part two of my Lao adventures began in the city of Pakse, capital of Champasak, the country’s southernmost province. I arrived in Pakse at about 14:00 along with many of my newly acquired friends from Don Det. Most of them were headed across the Mekong to Thailand, but myself and Kate, a girl from New Zealand were planning on staying in the area for a bit and had made plans to travel together for a few days.

This was more or less the extent of our plans, however. Our first stop in Pakse was at the Jasmin Indian restaurant, recommended by Lonely Planet as a good place to find information about the region. Before further planning we had a quick lunch (the Indian food was a nice change from the steady stream of [tasty] Lao fare in Don Det.)

After inquiring about transport to a few nearby towns we eventually decided to head for Paksong, 80km away on the Bolaven Plateau. This appealed for a couple of reasons. First, Kate formerly worked for a coffee distributor in New Zealand and was interested to see the heart of the Lao coffee industry on the plateau. Second, there was nothing more than a half sentence about the place in our guidebooks. Finally, we knew from the restaurant proprietor that there was a guesthouse there, and that if we hurried we’d be able to make it there that evening.

With that, we climbed aboard a jumbo (the Lao name for a tuktuk) and headed 8km out to one of Pakse’s two bus/songthaew stations. Upon arriving a kindly Lao man who had shared the jumbo with us located a songthaew headed for Paksong and we climbed aboard. And waited. Though the Paksong songthaew (apparently) normally departed at 15:00, we didn’t get moving until about 16:00. This gave us a bit of time to explore the small market near the bus station, and to try some of the snacks for sale by the usual crowd of female merchants.

After our hour of waiting and driving around the market to pick up cargo (and one additional passenger) was complete, the songthaew pulled out on to the road towards the highlands.
[read on]

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My Reading List

Tuesday, January 18th, 2005
Both for myself and for anyone else who might be interested, I've decided to keep track of what all I've read since leaving home on this trip. I may have missed a few from earlier in the trip, but ... [Continue reading this entry]

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Don Det, Si Phan Don: The Most Relaxed Place on Earth

Thursday, January 13th, 2005
The title of this entry probably makes it seem like my first days in Laos were sunshine and roses (or at least hibiscus flowers) and for the most part they were. But first I had to deal with getting ... [Continue reading this entry]

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Ever North up the Mekong: Final Days in Cambodia

Wednesday, January 12th, 2005
After my evening in the town of Kratie, I was well rested and ready to hit the road again. Or rather, the water, as I my route headed still further up the Mekong river to the town of Stung ... [Continue reading this entry]

Posted in Cambodia | 1 Comment »