Nanhai Hotel Savannakhet

So...our visa was running out... we were in Siem Reap....the Visa office was in Phonm Penh...we were sickly and un peu lazy....we booked a non-environmentally friendly flight. I still have nightmares. Gone were the days of our plan to do the whole of Russia, China and SE Asia overland. <br><br>Our rickety propeller plane landed promptly in Savannakhet. It turned out that most people on the plane had a connecting flight to the capital. Only four of us ...

<br>Our bus into Laos was uneventful enough, Raj and Jie promptly fell asleep as is their way, leaving Ritchie to watch the 80s vietnamese pop video VCDs that were looped on the TV. At the border it was just us three foreigners that had to sort out visas so the impatient Vietnamese passengers told us in sign language that they were hungry and would meet us for lunch in town - we must walk. With our ...

We got up at 6 to catch our bus to Laos, however the bus didn't actually leave until 9, communication between bus companies and tour operators isn't much of a priority here. But eventually we left, and that's when the fun really began.<br><br>On the bus we met a young American couple and a retired British couple who seemed ncie enough and we enjoyed swapping stories and tips about the area. When we arrived at the border we filled out all the forms and queued to get our visas.The other 2 ...

Gestern sind wir mit dem Bus nach Savannakhet weitergefahren. Auf dem Weg haelt der Bus diverse Male an und Verkaeuferinnen ueberfuellen den kleinen Bus. Jede will ihr Fleisch an den Mann oder die Frau bringen. Neben Poulet und Fisch gibt es auch Kaefer und Eidechsen am Spiess. Da wir die einzigen Touris im Bus waren, sassen wir anschliessend auch als einzige ohne Spiess da :-) Einer hat doch ...

... from the border to Savannakhet (5 hours by local bus, after waiting for the driver to finish his breakfast- 7 hours in total). Barnaby experienced many things on the bus, including meeting a Monk (he wasn't allowed to take his picture and Miss Williams wasn't allowed to shake his hand).

... get to in a minute, but the actual town is just endless rows of bars with english guys sitting aroind in watching Tv and getting ******. I walked down one street at about 9ish one night and it was like being in some **** package holiday resort in Ibiza or something. Anyhow, the next day we went tubing which was really good fun. Tubing is basically just sitting in a big tractor tire inner tube and floating down a river, as you float down there are lots of bars on eitherside with zip ...

... very nice spot. I like most of the food we had, buffalo is very nice! Not keen on the bamboo stuff we had though. After lunch we chilled out for a bit by the lake. Mark fell asleep lol. After that we continued the trek until we came to a hut where some locals lived. We were lucky as we got to see to monkeys that happened to be there at the time. We feed them banana's which was cool. We then played a local ...

... behind a pile of bricks but I was worried that if I disappeared for a few seconds then both buses would seize the opportunity to avoid Savannakhet. Eventually we got back on the original bus but this time without a seat. We finally arrived at a small bus station which I assumed to be Savannakhet, wrong again. We were off loaded from the bus not knowing where the hell we were. There were a few blokes hanging around doing whatever it is that blokes do in these ...

... sadly to the foreigners and what they have turned this place into. The principal lure is an activity called tubing which basically involves sitting in a rubber ring and meandering down the Nam Song river. Along the way you can stop at makeshift bars and enjoy a drink. However, when we arrived we witnessed that day's troupe of river-rats returning for the day, they were off their faces drunk and making such a racket. This loutish behaviour really just ...

... conditioner!" he yelled over the cacophony. I gave him the thumbs-up, then went back to reception to check in. As is the custom in the region, everyone has a little side business going. The bloke on the reception desk said to me, "If you want girlfriend, you let me know, I arrange." It was kinda strange to think that the offer coming from a hotel guy has a greater feel of non-shonkiness than the same offer from a tuk-tuk driver in Bangkok ...