Sala Savanh Savannakhet

Savannakhet is a rather beautiful small city located in its namesake province in central Laos. I don't think it sees a huge number of tourists, making it a very authentically Lao place to be, as the visitor must fit in to the daily lives of the people, rather than a place very much set up for tourism. Wandering through the streets was a really lovely experience, there are some ...

... increasingly annoyed with both parties. Eventually he started to grab our bags and threaten to dump us back at the airport. We finally agreed on $3. Welcome to Laos!<br><br>For the next day and a half we didn't see any other tourists. The town was dead and wet. Although there was some old French charm scattered around it just felt a lonely place. To spice things up a bit we signed up for a one day trek in the jungle the following day. This was a great ...

... Thailand, we grabbed a tuk-tuk and headed out there. It is forbidden for Lao people to gamble so this casino is entirely for Thais to nip across the border for a quick gambling fix, and subsequently everything is done in Thai Baht. This unexpected currency switch confused us and Raj had won and lost £250 thinking it was £25 before we realised. Taking a break from the gambling we went to inspect ...

... t serve us. Of course there wasn't much else we could do, if we had tried to get back on the bus it would have been stopped immediately by the guards who knew we didn't have a visa. <br><br>Eventually the official stopped sulking and we were just finally getting served when our bus, without warning, drove off, together with our luggage. The less-than helpful guards at the border told us that the bus might have stopped at the nearest town for lunch. So we walked a couple of kilometers (in ...

... how stretched. Plus 2 bottles of water didn't help. In Vientiane, we caught the night bus to Pakse. This was suppose to take 11 hrs but ended up taking nearly 14 hours! It was a little crammed-2 people to 1 bed-and head room was a minimum but it was brightly coloured and so it made me happY! However, when the young Lao guy handing out food forgot ...

... performing class slapstick.. Somethings, I guess are universal. So my last major junction in my Laos experience, Savannakhet. Not much to report from the town, although the charming Dinosaur Museum was an interesting experience, the region has had a large number of important historical finds. But the Museum, which is made up of 1 medium sized room doesn't seem to have any of them.. still the staff were welcoming and ...

... voor twee dagen luxe-bus plus overnachting aan de grens. Na drie uur rijden werden we uit onze "luxe" bus gehaald om te overnachten in een piepklein kamertje achter de keuken van een wegrestaurant waar blijkbaar meer ratten komen dineren dan mensen. Volgende dag om half 5 smorgens een lokaal buske op samen met alle marktkramers van de omliggende dorpjes, de grens mochten we te voet doen (toch wel 4 km met rugzak en 700 graden celsius in de schaduw). Daarna nogmaals de lokale bus ...

... trop de bruit la nuit et elle recupere toujours les draps degueulasses! Elle me fait delirer un moment lorsqu'elle refuse un couple comme cela en leur disant qu'elle etait "fool', en me faisant de gros clins d'oeil. Une femme vraiment hors du standard Thai, vraiment adorable, marrante et souriante. That Phanom, un endroit que j'ai beaucoup apprecie avant de quitter la Thailande pour de bon!

We arrived from Thakhek on the local bus . It was only a 3 hour journey , which was quite short , by previous standards. The town stills retains its old French colonial architecture, however it is now looking distinctly passed its best ( if it ever had one). Again we were greeted by a lot of stares and cries ( none hostile, always friendly - typical of Laos - has to be one of the friendliest places we have seen ever) We treated ourselves to massages ( daniella ...

... hey, it cost about 1 pound 50p. Savannakhet: Well, we've only spent an afternoon here. Admittedly it is a Sunday. It is also a public holiday (Laos national day or something). However, we've checked with some other people staying at our guesthouse and apparently it isn't much quieter than normal.... ...Savannakhet literally feels like it was evacuated for the war a year or two ago! Apparently it had (and still has ...