Posted by Anita
Sun, 05 Aug 2007 05:20:00 GMT
Location: Pakse, Laos
Tha Khaek was quite interesting. The Tha Khaek travel lodge which was the guest house we were staying at seemed to be the only thing around aimed at tourists. It was very nice, with a fire pit outside for sitting around and an ok resturaunt.
In the morning we decided to go down town to get breakfast because we usually find that there are several good places down town with maybe a better menu or outlook or somehing.
However what we hadn’t counted on was the walk to town being about 3km and the day was already sweltering hot. When we finally go there it was like nothing was open. There were a few places around with mystery meat barbequing outside but nothing like what we expected. After wandering around a bit we found a place where wat we ordered was not what we got and the bill was different again.
The buildings in the town were pretty cool though I took a few photos and we took a tuk-tuk back to guesthouse in time to check out at 12.
We had intended to take the overnight bus to Pakse and spend the day (hopefully) relaxing beside a swimming hole or waterfall but enquiries about anything like that in the area revealed that the closest one was 20 odd km out of town and would be too expensive to get to and back so we just went straight to the bus station and caught the next bus to Pakse.
We spent and hour and a half in Savanahket on the way and arrived in Pakse at about 11pm. This was very lucky because the guesthouse we got closed at midnight.
Reto and Sylvia headed off to 4000 islands this morning. So we said our farewells. We plan to spend a day resting and planning some travel around Pakse. At this stage we plan to head bak to Thailand on Wednesday.
Posted in Travel | Tags laos, Pakse | no comments
Posted by Anita
Sat, 04 Aug 2007 03:51:00 GMT
Location: Tha Khaek, Laos
We were picked up in the guest house by Phan, the guide from green dicovery tours at 6:30 to make it to the bus to Na Hin that left at 7:00. When we got there the bus was already pretty full I had to wedge myself between a motorbike and luggage in the back seat. Sylvia and Reto had one and a half seats between them. Phan had to sit on the floor and the one other person on the tour had to sit on top of bags of rice in the aisle.
Immediately outside the bus terminal we had to stop as there was a man with - I kid you not - a pickup truck piled high with fruits and vegetables that he wanted to load onto the bus. The operation took the better part of an hour as there was just not enough room for it all. Alot of it went onto the roof, some of it went underneath Phan. Bags were packed in around the Motorbike that was hemming me in. It was insane. The man with the vegetables kept trying to get me to give up my seat (such as it was) to his fruit and I have to admit I was quite rude to him. I have no idea where he thought I could go.
After quite an uncomfortable journey we finally made it to Na Hin where we booked in at a really quaint little guest house. The next activity was biking to a resteraunt in town. Of course, typical of Laos, there was one bike that had no brakes. On mine the gears skipped if I pedaled too hard and the chain would get stuck every time I went through a puddle.
Lunch was awsome. Laap (minced meat with mint, other herbs and beans) and sticky rice. But almost the minute we finished the skies opened up and it started pouring. So we sat around having Iced coffee unitl it slackened.
The next little trip was mountain biking to a trail which we hiked up to a waterfall. I don’t know if it is the sandals or what but I found myself slipping over far more than my fair share, bruising my shin and grazing my hand. The waterfall was worth it though. We swam in the pool at the base which was fantastic - we were so hot and sticky on the way up it was pure luxury to cool off in the water.
If we thought that by swimming we had washed for the day we were sadly mistaken. All the rain had made the mountain biking track very muddy so by the time we reached the guest house we definitely needed a shower.
The next day was raining again in the morning but by 9am it had abaited long enough to head for the boats that would take us upstream and through the 7km long cave. We were very lucky that the tour provided us with drybags to keep all of our valuables, and most of us managed to get our clothes and everything in as well.
The boat ride up the river was very nice. It took about three hours to get to the cave and we traveled through some amazing scenery. The guide book calls it karst scenery - a word I’m not familiar with, but there were huge cliffs with jagged peaks and trees growing out the sides. It was very cool.
The Cave itself was amazing. It was so big that my little LED headlight barely lit anything up. The boatmen had better lights though so we could see some things. There were also places where the water enters the cave from the roof so every now and then we’d go through a shower and get wet.
When we came though the other side It was raining a little so by the time we reached the village we were staying at we were all thoroughly soaked.
The village was another of the very basic kind. No electricity, no running water. Just full of very friendly, very welcoming people. Its quite funny, in these villages sometimes you dont feel so much as you are the tourist going to watch the natives in their homes but more that you are the entertainment. Everyone comes to look at the falang (foreigners) who have come to see what your doing and be amazed when you try to do the things they do everyday.
At the home where we stayed the night the people were so wonderful. They didn’t speak a word of english but they were so welcoming and happy just to spend time in our company. The grandmother of the house chewed Beto which is like a leaf and a stick that you chew and spit out your saliva which is red. She was keen to share so Sylvia gave it a go, she said it was quite bitter and it stained her teath and tounge bright orange which was quite funny.
We had a bit of free time in the afternoon so we wandered around the village and took photos of the buildings and the animals. I think the rainy season is when most of the animals give birth because averywhere we’ve gone there have been pigletts, ducklings, chicks, kittens, puppies, kids, calves - you name it there were babies around. The children of the village were gathered around playing a very familiar game - hopscotch!
Sylvia, Reto and I all felt the need to wash up in the evening so we went down to the water pump with all the locals who stood and watched as we washed anything we dared to expose.
That evening there was a Baci ceremony where the elders tie white cotton around our wrists and wish us good luck and safe travels. They then put some sticky rice, chicken and Lao whiskey in your hand that you are supposed to eat/drink but I slipped my whisky to Jack which Phan said would be alright since he’s my husband.
We then had a barbeque duck, soup and sticky rice (I’m so going to see If I can buy this rice at home, it’s seriously fantastic) for dinner. Delicious!! After dinner the Grandmother showed us how to get the seeds from the cotton (like carding) and spin the cotton into thread.
The lights that were on and the neighbours television which was blaring in the village were all powered by little generators under the houses which were quite noisy.
In the morning we were woken several times starting at about 4am by pigs being fed, people walking around and finally by the rice threshing machine that sounds like a big wooden hammer dropping at regular intervals.
After breakfast we said goodbye to our host family and headed back to the river. We were to kayak back through the cave to a village on the other side. The kayaks were of the inflatable variety and all of them had at least one hole that would cause each kayak to deflate at different speeds. Phan and Sylvia ended up with one that had a hole about 2 fingers wide that caused it to deflate very quickly on one side. And there were only 5 paddles for 6 people so Reto and I (on seperate boats) shared a paddle.
Going through the cave without motors was a totally different experience. It was surreal. I kept thinking about Jules Verne and the journey to the centre of the earth. Of course that made me think, every time there was a point of light reflecting back at me, of eyes in the dark. Gollum might have been quite at home in that cave too.
Jack took some delight in steering us under most of the water falls comming down from the roof and Phan was a expert at flicking water at people so between the two of them I was quite saturated by the time we got to the end of the cave.
Just after the cave there was quite a big rapid that Phan and Sylvia navigated no worries (thanks mostly to the fact that they had two paddles). We got through the rapids but got stuck side on to a rock on the other side and the water slowly overturned us. Reto and the other guy weren’t so lucky. They fell out at the first rock and hit every other rock on the way down.
At the village on just downriver we got into the longtail boats again and I slept in a very uncomfortable position for the 2 hour trip back to the road. From there it was straight back to the guesthouse in Na Hin for a shower and a change then out on the side of the road to wait for the next tuk-tuk heading for the main highway south. When we got to the highway we were again waiting for the next bus heading to Tha Khaek. Luckily, neither of these waits were particularly long and we were in Tha Khaek by 8:30.
Posted in Travel | Tags konglo, laos | no comments
We had intended to take the overnight bus to Pakse and spend the day (hopefully) relaxing beside a swimming hole or waterfall but enquiries about anything like that in the area revealed that the closest one was 20 odd km out of town and would be too expensive to get to and back so we just went straight to the bus station and caught the next bus to Pakse.
