After we left our homestay experience, we spent the next three nights in a really quiet little riverside town called Savanakhet, which had the best darn pate baguettes we have come across so far. beats the hell out of subway sandwiches. we just relaxed and walked around Savanakhet, mainly since there wasnt all that much else to do. The best thing to do was sit by the Mekong river, and watch the sun set over thailand on the other side of the river. beautiful.Well, as fun as almost deserted dustbowls are, we left Savanakhet and headed for Champasak.... which was deserted.... and dusty.... but distinctly more rural, so that justifies it. Champasak was one of my favourite spots in Laos, since it has a nice 'country' feel to the place (cheap food, not many people, lots of animals wandering the streets).
The people were so approachable that i ended up playing bochi with a bunch of the locals (and losing). Just 10km outside the town are some great pre-Angkorian ruins that we went out to explore on pushbikes. great fun, even though the bikes looked and felt like they were built sometime in the 1800's. The ruins were great, and were built into the side of a mountain, with a giant stone staircase leading to the top. considering how flat the surrounding countryside is, we had some verrry nice views from the top. Hope that Everest Basecamp in January will be this easy :)Ever heard of the 4000 Islands of Laos? yeah, Laos is a land-locked country, but the Mekong River widens to about 12km across at one point, and there are a bunch of little islands (about 4000 id say) that populate that huge watery gap. Anyway, a few of them are inhabited, so Kate and myself decided to spend some quality time on the island of Don Det.
Being on the island was like stepping back in time. Everything was SUPER cheap, people were really friendly, there were no cars, and electricity only came on between about 6pm and 10pm. We payed about $2.80 AU for a riverside shack on the western coast of the island, where we could lie around in hammocks and watch the sunset. We met people who stayed on the eastern side and watched the sunrise..... what, couldnt they afford the western side or something? sadists.The big thing about the islands are that there are meant to be 'beaches' where you can swim. well, unless you are impervious to waterborne diseases,
and can swim faster than an average speedboat, i wouldnt recommend going in too deep. The currents in the mekong are anything but calm. you have to literally grip onto something on the bottom to avoid being washed away, and the water is a murky brown colour, so dont put your head under. hey, its all fun right? and its the best Laos can do for swimming, so fair go i say. i went for a dip until something bit my leg. One thing worthy of mention is that the sand on these beaches looks like it is speckled with gold, probably cos of the shiny limestone that the islands are made out of, which the sand consists of as well. looks beautiful anyway.After 4 or so days lazing around the island, our laos visa dried up and we had to leave. 24 hours or so of bus based transport later, we arrived in Bangkok, Thailand. wow, it was nice to have hot water and good food again, not to mention 24 hour electricity and internet access. we are still here, waiting for our Indian visas to be approved, but are considering spending christmas back on Koh Samui (yeah we love that place and you know it).
Shame our Laos experience is over. it is easily one of my favourite countries so far, given how friendly the people are and how remote and relatively isolated you always feel. Maybe one day we will go back, cos there is just so much of the country that we couldnt squeeze into the 30 days we had on the visa.Take it easy :)
//Brendan
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