[ed: excuse the lateness of the post, the internet connection  in Pakse was very flakey so I haven't been able to post it till I arrived in Cambodia]

Savanaket

I arrived in Savanaket on 4th, After an 8 hour bus ride - It's a funny little town (well not that little) with a rather more grand "mirror image" across the other side of the Mekong, where it's sister town in Thailand resides, Mukdahan.
After grabbing a room at the Nong Soda I went for a bit of a walk before the sun went down - which was pretty cool, as the crumbling french colonial architecture is best viewed with a soft and slightly more forgiving light ;o) Basically Savanaket seems to be personified by red dust, tables by the mekong serving beer and meat on a stick to locals with their Honda "wave" scooters parked near by, small children letting off home made bamboo fireworks on the riverside and lines of trucks parked by the wharf, waiting to get the barge across to Thailand (as of yet the Bridge is still not finished between the two sides of the Mekong, though it only looks to be a year or two off completion)

That night we went in hunt of the "Cafe de Paris" - apparently it's the best food in town - apparently it also doesn't seem to be open any longer - so we settled for the slightly less cool, "Cafe Paris", or something to that effect - which served fairly
blah food - but what can you expect with the "de" - the hi-light of my meal was when I got a pottle of icecream from their freezer for desert, peeled back the paper lid and discovered it had already been half eaten - thankfully the lady running the joint
replaced it ;o)

In the morning I took in the amazing sights of the Dinosaur Museum (It's worth a look because umm.. well... it's small and convenient placed?) and then went for a long meandering walk, eventually stopping by the Mekong-side and having a baked fish
with sticky rice for breakfast - shortly after I started on my meal I was accosted by a couple of Laos guys who were studying English, and who desperately wanted to practice on me - I think I ended up talking for almost 2 hours before finally making a
polite exit (though it was quite interesting, they were shocked at my age.. 25 and not married ... for shame!)

Pakse

That afternoon I jumped a bus to Pakse, about 6 hours - and then got an ok'ish single room for $4 - though the fan seems pretty ineffective against the night time heat here... slept maybe 4 hours total last night? Though it could be because of the 3
bottles of M-150 I drank that day.. which kinda tastes a bit like "Top secret" (do they still even make that stuff?... Then went out to dinner at "Delta Coffee" - where I got a nice chicken and green pepper fettucine and garlic bread... western food, tsk tsk.. It was good though.

And then this morning I got up and shared a Tuk Tuk with Charlotte to Wat Phu Champasak, which is about an hours trip from Pakse - the best part of the journey is getting the "car ferry" across the Mekong, as it's just 3 small boats (the centre one
twice the size of the "outriggers") with a large wooden platform stuck across it - cars drive on to the structure from the sides, and at one end is a garden shed masquerading as an engine room, and at the other end you normally get a wheel "house" with
accompanying pot plant.  I didn't get any good pictures of them, but at some point I'll post what I got.  They're pretty funny to look at ;o)

After crossing the river you end up in Champasak, and Wat Phu Champasak is about a 10 to 15 minute drive from their.

Wat Phu Champasak

So ... Wat Phu Champasak, what is it?  Well basically it's the archealogical site of a temple structure dating back to pre-Angkor times, built by the original Khmer people - It stretches in a reasonably straight line heading up a hill (with some quite tricksome stairs) and offers great views and some very precarious looking structures that will probably fall down if they have a bit of a shake.  It's overgrown with trees and a lot of it's collapsed but it really does look (and feel) great, or should I say old and grand - it's got quite an unusual atmosphere.  Interestingly it's a bit of a mix 'n match, with what appears to be animal worship, hinduism and eventually Buddhist's all making use of and extending the sites. Basically this will all sound like drivel till I post some pictures, but I thought it was pretty sweet.

Tomorrow I'm heading down to Don Khong (with a g, there's also Don Khon... which is apparently nicer, but doesn't have electrickery 24x7) to hang out for a while before crossing into Cambodia, I think there needs to be some coffee and beer drank while sitting in the sun.

Well I got up early today to visit the Cambodian embassy... two photographs, $30 US and 6 hours later I have a pretty new 30 day visa for Cambodia - all the information I'd read on the internet was a little out of date, and it appears that the border I wish to cross at is officially open, and that Vientiane does offer an express visa service of 1 day when you spend $30 US instead of $20... which is a relief, as I can now travel southwards once more towards my eventual border crossing into the land of killing fields and Angkor Wat.

After the Visa malarchy in the morning Charlotte and Myself got a tuk tuk to That Luang, basically a very large golden stupa - very picturesque - while here we also had a look at the horrendously prolific Laos artist who had his work on display, I think I counted at least 100 works... mostly oils and acrylics,but there was also some water colours and mixed media to spice things up...

After that we headed back into the central city, killed a bit of a time, then had lunch at Joma (I think that's what it's called) - basically a Zarbo's equivalent - I got lasagne and a
tastey salad.  Outside the restaurant was a lady with a cleft palate and a little baby girl of 7 months, who was very talkative, she even told me which direction I would have to
walk if I needed to get to Bangkok... though it's a little far ;o)

In the afternoon I explored the Laos National Museum.. this museum starts off with a small section on dinosaurs, then the plain of jars and similar ancient sites, very briefly covers
minority races in Laos and then jumps into the main attraction on the second floor (which dominates most of the building) - that being the french occupation, declaration of independence and rise / fall of communism (including the secret war obviously) in Laos
- the english labels are patchy but you get a good feel, and the "artifacts" they've collected are great... it's not often you get to see a revolutionary leaders 1950's style spring "chest
expander" - some of the pictures are fascinating, as you see Castro and Uncle Ho having a jolly old time with the Laos leaders.

The museum cements a view of the Laos as a progressive nation, with funny little displays of pharmaceuticals manufactured "right in Laos", as if the boxes of pills were required as proof that such a feat were possible.. and captions on pictures suggesting such wonderful things as "Disabled people are well cared for in Laos"... the "smell" of communist working class heroes and government saving face abounds, but I also could just be jaded - the people in Laos do generally seem to wish well of each other in general.

On the side.. at the guesthouse I'm staying (dragon lodge) a whole gaggle of IT students have arrived from Singapore, and are assisting the local hospital with improving their information systems and architecture over the next 2 weeks - which is interesting - I never really think that a skill set such as my own could be put to good work in an area like this... food for thought, and it does make me wonder why New Zealand IT institutions don't think of doing something like this... it would have to be great P.R, not to mention a lot of IT people would jump at the opportunity to combine study with a little travel.

Tomorrow I'll be jumping the bus to Savanaket - about 7 to 8 hours, so that will pretty much take me out for the whole day... I haven't done a lot of research on the southern destinations of my journey through Laos, guess I'll do that in transit, it's nice
to have a bit of a surprise anyway.

Phonsavan

A mere 8 hour bus journey from Luang Prabang on some of the windiest roads I've encountered so far on my travels, and I arrived at the rather... umm.. Arid town of Phonsavan... Why had I come here?

Well... to see the plain of Jars of course!

At any rate, after the 8 hour bus ride and chilling to various sounds (I was feeling a little mute, so I cranked up some Neutral Milk Hotel and followed it up with some Jean Grae - I really seem to be growing fond of her hip hop while on holiday... mmmm) we
arrived at the Phonsavan bus station, I quickly got friendly with 2 people.. A Lady Charlotte, Social worker from London (who I'm stilling hanging out with) and Pierce, a fun almost-uni-student from the UK as well.

We all ended up heading to the Khong Kheo guesthouse (I Think that was it's name, near the old runway) - and then after securing some rooms we went out to explore the town... of which there wasn't much, eventually having some beers and shooting the breeze - after that we went in search of a Meal, originally we had decided to find the Lao Youth Centre Restaurant, or something along those lines.. which took a while, but we eventually discovered it, though it's now called the New Wave (opposite the Maly hotel) ... sat down, got menus, went to order and was told they only had sticky rice... hmm... so we went across the road to the Maly (best food in town it says on the door, which I think was actually accurate - which also has a nice display of weaponry on the wall, actually everywhere has a nice display of weaponry on the wall in Phonsavan..heh).

At any rate, the following day we were up at 9am to do a day of touring the plain of Jars (sites 1, 2 and 3) - our guide/trip wasn't cheap ($8 US each) - but I think in the end it was
probably worth it because his interest in the sites and the Laos war was wonderful, and I learnt a great deal - the day started off with a visit to the quite large market in Phonsavan (well worth a look all on it's own) - followed by a visit to a derelict russian tank, then site 3, site 2 (with lunch) and site 1 - site 1 being the biggest.  In all there are 60 jar sites known to locals, and 50 documented so far by UNESCO.

The jars themselves are a bit of a mystery, but dating puts them at around 2,500 years old - far longer then the Laos people have been occupying Laos - and each one is cut from solid stone, some with lids, and weighing up to 2 tonnes - and dates back to the
early stone age of the original south east asian people in this region.  I dont think you could describe it as an exciting place, but it's definitely quite surreal to think of just how old
they are and to see them rising out of the ground like monaliths - a Laos stone henge.

The really interesting thing is that this is also a hot spot of the secret war in Laos (Laos being the most bombed country in the world, aproximately 3 million bombs dropped over a 10 year period AFAIK) - and in site 3 was the situation for a large revolutionary camp, where various Vietkong troops and supplies were smuggled from Vietnam.  Bomb craters are everywhere and UxO is a major problem, the MAG (Munitions/Mine Action Group) has
done a lot of work (supported by nzaid no less..) to make safe paths to the various jars - and it's depressing to think of the damage done to this truely unique site during that conflict.

Vientiane

The following day I left Phonsavan, originally I had planned to go to Vang Vieng - but after to talking to some people I didn't really feel like it - for some odd reason I was in the mood for a city - so I skipped and got a bus straight to Vientiane.  The bus ride was quite comfy, I took VIP - which has more leg room and you get a free drink of water and biscuits, at the cost of another $1 US.  The ride was uneventful, accept for a flat tire and that one of the support crew for the bus driver carried a Kalashnikov with him everywhere he went, at one point the barrel was resting on the back of my seat (Though I didn't know).. which would've been OK till an Israeli guy pointed out that they've got a notoriously ineffective safety.. erk - while changing a tire he just left it lying on the ground outside where I could've just picked it up... Laos does have a bit of a banana republic feel at times - you just have to keep on smiling ;o)

Vientiane is pretty cool - the decaying french colonial architecture is eerily beautiful, combined with the dusty roads and really good french food.. I'm splurging while here on a very nice room, with Aircon and T.V! Which is costing a whopping $12 US a night, sometimes it's nice to remind myself that I'm not a

"scratching to stay alive" backpacker ;o) but a lazy overpaid software developer after all.

The food here is great - and expensive for Laos - but still bloody cheap for home and of equivalent if not better quality - dinner with Charlotte last night was a big ice cream sundae (3 big scoops of Rum & Raisin).. a really nice Carbonara pasta and a couple of big bottles of beer.. for approximately $9 NZ... not too shabby.  I discovered that she's met Tom Waits in person, and seen him in concert - I'm rather jealous!

Probably the funiest thing today was heading to Patuxai, a large concrete monument that is very reminiscent of the Arc De Triomphe n Paris.. It was built in the 1960's with United states purchased cement that was supposed to have been used to construct a new
airport..  I wonder what the states thought of that ;o) Also interesting (and Just by the arch) are 2 rather large fountains, which are sychronised to funky Thai and Laos music

that plays in the background - they're pretty cool, and donated by the Chinese government - In fact everything in this country that looks new appears to have been donated by some foreign government, even on the outskirts of town Japan is funding the
construction of a weather radar station. Yet just like China most people don't have clean water. On the down side today I went to apply for my Cambodian visa,

however it's bloody labour day here - and everything was closed... so I'll have to do it tomorrow, hopefully it can be processed quickly as it would be a shame to burn up too many days here, apparently it can take 3 days (ugh!) - though you may be able to convince them to do it on the spot.. so I might need to do some sweet talking or attempt my first bribe (I was silly not to get it done while in Chiang Mai, when I got my Laos Visa... only takes 1 day to do it in Thailand.. meh)

At any rate, I'll probably post some pictures next time I update with what I've been snapping lately and talk about my adventures with the Cambodian embassy.

Cheers...

Alex

Well I'm back in Luang Prabang today, arrived yesterday afternoon, planning to head to Phonsavan tomorrow to go see the plain of Jars.

Originally I had planned to head south earlier, but after talking to some people coming from the north (and seeing their pictures) I decided to head to Muang Ngoi Neua with Hayley and Pauline (A dutch lady I met on the slow boat).

To get to Muang Ngoi we took a 4 hour bus ride to Nong Khiaw, then jumped on a boat for a 1 hour ride up to the village - there are no roads leading to this village you see - the boat ride was spectacular as we plied our way upstream through little sets of rapids between the mightly limestone peaks.

Once arriving at Muang Ngoi we headed to the quiet end of town and rented some Bungalows, mine cost $1 US per night, for a double bed and a couple of hammocks outside on my deck - all very pleasant.  For the first day I pretty much just drank some Laos tea and slept in the hammock while the sun went down, finishing off a book (Titan, which has a daft ending IMO..).

That night we had quite a violent storm (loads of fork and sheet lightening) which was amazing to watch - thankfully my bungalow stayed upright ;o)

Second day we got up and went on a bit of a Trek, first to some nearby caves, and then off to the Huay Bo, about an hours walk away which is of mixed Laos and Khamu village people.  It was here that we got befriended by a man who runs the local guesthouse and I ended up sampling 5 or 6 shots of his home brewed Laos Laos... which was surprisingly clean compared to the crap we drank on the slow boat.. though it was still painful.

After this we headed back to the village, chilled out and had some dinner.

Third day was lazy... a little more reading, I'm onto "American Psycho" - not something I'd normally read, but It was recommended to me by Charlotte, so I thought I'd give it a go - so far it's been pretty funny. This day I got a really dodgy stomach, cramps, the whole shebang... not sure what I've eat that's caused it - but it's no fun - didn't sleep at all.

Fourth day I got the 9:30 boat back to Nong Khiaw, then took a jumbo truck (basically a small truck with 2 bench seats running down either side of the back tray) - which was not the most fun I've ever had - back to Luang Prabang, and got myself a $8US (extravagance!) guesthouse room with own bathroom, where I'll stay till I feel better.

Fifth day (today) - feeling a bit better, will travel to Phonsavan tomorrow morning unless I feel really sick again - though I can probably counter that with the magical "Imodium". anyway, here are some pictures:

The guesthouse owner who fed me up on his Laos Laos (rice wine).

The local dock at Muang Ngoi, the roofed boats are what they stuff 20 people into when negotiating the rapids up/down stream.

The view from my Hammock - not too shabby.

Some more pictures for you all, this time we have Laos - only a few as I haven't been taking many:

Kids... Laos is all about the people, all the kids are friendly, most of the sales people aren't  pushy.. it's pretty good - though poverty is ever present.

Hayley, the NZ girl from Christchurch I met on the slow boat who I've been hanging out with for the past week.

Same Same, But Different - the Laos tractors are like overgrown rotary hoes - nothing  here is built as heavily as the Chinese counterpart, though I still smell a soviet influence which was not present in Thailand.

The waterfall near Luang Prabang, truely a little piece of paradise.. all the young monks flock here from the local wats at lunchtime to swim for an hour or two - this is only the base of the last waterfall and there are multiple plateaus rising up for 200 odd feet above this point.

There a bombs in the strangest places here... Laos is all forrest and farmers, it's hard to imagine it's one of the most bombed countries on earth, though it does make you follow the well trod tracks - UXO, unexploded ordinance, is a very real problem here (like Mines in Cambodia).