Khammouane Hotel Muang Khammouan

... was really ******. Loud Karaoke noise all night, they had only rooms with TV so extra expensive but the TC didn't work, nor did the toilet flush. And if you used the sink, the water splashed right onto your feat. I asked fo a discount afterwards but got the usual reply... "The boss isn't here right now". Oh well... at least it was in a nice location. <br>

27th October - bus to Thakek<br><br> I took a 5 hour bus ride from Vientiane to Thakhek (Tha Khaek). This time I made sure I had a good seat. It was a comfortable, enjoyable ride. I consider bus and train rides as one of the 'attactions' of travelling. This was sort of like a 5 hour documentary! <br>At certain parts we drove alongside the Mekong river. We came ...

... chickens! We stayed in a really nice place called the Thakhet Travel Lodge, our room was huge and had a really nice four poster bed with mosquito net draped over, it looked very luxurious. We were originally going to do a day trip on a motorbike to see some caves and swimming holes, but after reading a log book other people had left about doing the 3-4 day 'loop' we decided to give the whole thing a go. We got our bikes off Mr. Ku who had a shop just ...

... We finally arrived in ThaKhek 13 hours later after numerous stops for food &amp; toilets (not that there were any) Every time we stopped,a swarm of locals would appear selling grilled chicken, squashed bananas, various vegetables, fruit, honey,water,eggs,sticky rice etc,you dont go hungry! We also had a puncture but they couldnt get the wheel nuts off so just smashed the tyre with ...

... stepping down off a rock and Jack had to shoulder-lift me down. It was only three feet but had a drop next to it and not much room to turn around as had to get past a rock by clinging on to it. Couldn't believe Jack said it was easy! the next one contained the source of a river which we then followed for a while till lunch which was cooked on the banks of the river - barbecued fish washed in the river and cooked on an open-fire along with larp, bamboo soup, three ...

... to discover they hadn't set up yet - but had printed the leaflets with where they planned to set up on the map we had picked up in Vientiaine cheeky people! the other tour operator had stopped doing tours - so we had just the tourist info centre so at least the choosing wasn't difficult! this then gave us the day to check out this French colonial city (yes another one!) and go on a small trip to see on of the local attractions - a giant wall. This was marginally ...

... someone up/let someone off...!!!! Tomorrow we'll decide on whether to stop here and do a 4 day kick-start Ewan McGregor motorbike ride to a 7km long cave, or get the bus north all day. Given my slight claustrophobia and the safety aspect of neither of us having any motorbike experience it may well by a voluntary tedious bus! btw, here's a new list of Things Wot Have Landed On Me * Cockroach * Flying Cockroach * Cricket * Leech * Frog!!! That felt like a heavy bug alright.

... enough he spent most of the night standing up. We spent the next couple of days wandering around the town and chilling out, which was good for mind, body and wallet. On Monday we decided to explore the amazing scenery further a field and hired a tuk-tuk driver to take us to several caves and a secluded swimming spot (whilst we were swimming, we took a moment to think of you all getting ready for work on Monday morning J See the photos as words will probably not do the caves justice.

... bags of rice, the standard ten people seated in the aisles, and two motorbikes. Every so often, some more people piled onto the bus waving around a variety of fried dead beasties on sticks, momentarily stopping my heart from beating every time. It was a little sweaty and a touch smelly, a situation not vastly improved when one of the many children ...

... throughout town. We had also managed to have a group of 6 together all on our own bikes to tackle this one because its known to be tough, you never know who you'll need in case of emergency! Day 1: No more than 3km out of town and I had the first bit of bad luck, a puncture, fortunately it was about 10metres away from the bike repair shop! A good start to the trip, well, funny at least! We drove to the Buddha cave, a cave high in a limestone karst filled ...