Tadlo Lodge Pakse

... around once we got there, just a stack of petrol trucks waiting to get accross. Exiting the Thai side was pain free and form there it was only a 50M walk to Laos's tiny Immigration building. We already had Visa's sorted this time so they couldn't scam any money out of us that way but inflation must of hit hard as the "Stamping Fee" has went from 5 Baht to 50 Baht.<br><br>We managed to share a ride the 50K's into Pakse with the same guy's we shared with to the border and got in ...

31st October - bus trip Thakhek - Pakse<br><br>This day turned out to be a loooong one. I wanted to do the 6-7 hour bus ride south, from Thakhek to Pakse. Some locals had told Ilse and me that buses started running in that direction early morning. But when I got to the station at 8.30 a.m. (3 km and an expensive tuk-tuk ride out of town) I discovered, just as Ilse who was already there, that the first bus was at 10.30. Pfff. <br><br>Filling time<br>We filled our ...

... to coconut shells) lining the streets. After our night in Vientiane we jumped on the bus once more for an 11 hour overnight trip to our final destination, Pakse. When we arrived we signed up to do a tour to a nearby spectacular waterfall, UNESCO listed Wat and the picturesque Bolevan plateau. However we dependent on two further people signing up to the trip before it could ...

We packed a few things and left our main packs at the guesthouse and set of towards Tad Lo. On the way we stopped of at a waterfall and a local village. It was really nice here but for the life of us we cant remember what the name of the place was called. From here we went straight to Tad Lo. It was a rally quiet little village ...

... around 30 kilometres away. Our driver turned out to be a rarity. He signaled when overtaking and didn't try and force motorcycles off the road. A very comfortable drive indeed. Unfortunately his English wasn't the greatest and at times we didn't know when we would arrive at our destination.<br> <br>The journey through the area was very scenic. The highway seemed to have a permanent incline and at times we were driving through the ...

... up a few Lao phrases and make ourselves understood - thanks to the little phrase book Hay Group gave me when I left. We're trying to learn a phrase or so a day, and it's easier than Vietnamese, Cambodian and Chinese. So here's a Lao lesson:<br>Hello = Sa Bai Dii<br>Thank you (very much) = Kawp Jai (Lai Lai)<br>Where are the toilets = Hawng Nam Yuu Sai<br>two = Sawng<br>Hot tea with milk and sugar = saa nom hawn<br>How much = Thao dai<br>

... country?? I do realize that even if there were street signs I probably wouldn't be able to read them seeing as my Laotian isn't so great but anyway...) and ended up taking a tuk tuk. He looked at me like I was confused when I said I was planning on going to Don Kho for the night, saying there were no guesthouses on the island and it was a little bit late for a day trip. He dropped me off at the spot where you can take a shared sawngthaew to the village and they explained to me that ...

... it with girl talk. We finally fell asleep because when the bus arrived at 6:30 we needed to be ready to work. When I woke up people were deboarding and I was seriously groggy from the night, but I got off the bus and the staff was there to drive us to our hotel. <br><br>We were staying at the Salachampa hotel, that at first looked a little sketchy, but when I looked it up, my guidebook said it was ok. I know I shouldn&#8217;t be so hesitant but sometimes I ...

Pakse, gateway to the Bolevan Plateau. After a night bus from Vientiane essentially this was just a rest stop on the way to the 4000 islands further south. <br><br>There was not a great deal to do here but we managed to keep ourselves amused for our one afternoon and night. <br>

... that had us swimming back briskly to where we had left them. Nothing to worry about. Indeed we returned to the spot having a lie in the sun, gazing at the palm trees knocked against the blue sky, having the time of our lives hearing her recount some experiences teaching in Africa which nearly weren't as successful as Asia. In fact, she left before her time was due, awful it had been.<br>Coming back to the village, we decided to stop off and order some ...