Champassak Grand Hotel Pakse

... about 50 k's away up on the Plateau, they also make some bloody good Italian style food!<br><br>Afterwards a leisurely stroll down to the local bus arranger kinda guy sort out our tickets down to 4000 Islands and that is all that was achieved today<br><br>Laos has that kind of affect on a person<br>

... they'd picked from trees, it looked like a brown long bean containing smaller beans but was a very sour and fresh fruit, with a hard yellow potato-like texture. <br><br> More chats<br>We had some great laughs because those students were hilarious. Especially the two girls were giggly and naughty. They had told me that one of them wanted a tall 'falang' boyfriend, so when she stood next to the tall French guy she measured him and made all these funny faces. And ...

... had to get on and share with other men and there was no gap between you so they had to lay touching a stranger for 14 hours. When we arrived we got taken to the largest of the islands which we decided looked boring so we got on a boat to another island to look for accomodation. When we got there we soon discovered that there was no electricity on the whole island but we found out that the next island had electricity for limited time so we decided to hop onto another boat ...

... track for 20km and back to Pakse in a loop on day 2. Saw amazing waterfalls, beautiful countryside, went elephant riding in a forest and stayed in the cheapest room of our hols (20,000-about £1.60). Saw loads and loads of coffee plantations, and drank the best coffee I think we have ever had!<br>I got a puncture and we had to walk about 3km to fix it- could be worse!! I skidded in the mud- the bike ran away with me as I tried to keep it upright- still with my hand on the accelerator!! We ...

Today we packed up again and headed towards Paksong and again we heard some stories about these dirt tracks..Amateurs..Was all good again and this road or rather the scenery along this jungle red dirt track was Stunning and thats an understatement. The road weaves in all directions carving its way thru the jungle towards Paksong. 16k in we saw THE most amazing waterfall. I even likee it better then ...

... especially if it stalled. Luckily he stopped the car and decided this must be the wrong way and performed a miraculous u-turn to our delight. However the road back to the highway was now uphill, extremely muddy and filled with pot holes. This was going to take a long time!<br> <br>It got so bad at one point, that we were thinking of pushing the car up the hill ourselves :) Our driver must have been feeling the pressure, so we jumped out and ...

By this point I have decided that a normal bus ride just isn't in the cards for me and meg. We get on our sleeper bus to take us from Vientiane to Pakse on a 10hr trip. There are 2 people to a bunk bed that is so tiny that we have to take turns one of us laying on our side and one flat. We are lucky though because people traveling alone have to pair ...

... weaved around a long stem. <br><br>We ate lunch of all the girls prepared with the food they grow on the shelter grounds. The mushrooms were so fresh. We worked on finishing the flowers but while we worked we played Lao music and one of the girls had me teach her the English conversation I worked on with her friend the previous day. They had me play American music and they really liked some of the rap songs, I think because they sound similar to the Thai ...

... Anne-Marie had got the kids to sufficiently make exhibitions of themselves and had her curiosity satiated, we were off - again - this time to find the end of an old railway line the French had constructed during their occupation of Laos. It involved encountering a few obstacles.<br>An area of thick woodland made it impossible to know what lay ahead.<br>An American traveler pulled up on his motorcycle:<br>"Do you know the whereabouts of a waterfall around ...

... foamy roar and chatted facing a couple of conversant guys.<br>A long-haired young woman was busily kneeling down chopping the kern or shells of the coconuts she was selling as well as manning a stall. Anne-Marie couldn't help but comment:<br>"It's always the woman who work the hardest in these parts. It's the same in Cambodia. The men think they don't need to, once they have woman to do the work. Is it the same in China?"<br>"Largely, yes ...