Southern Loop - Attapeu

Trip Start Mar 06, 2006
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Trip End Dec 22, 2006


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Flag of Lao Peoples Dem Rep  ,
Wednesday, April 26, 2006

From Tad Fane, we got various forms of transport down to a place called Sekong where we spent 1 night. Not a lot seems to happen in the town, although it was quite fun being 2 out of only 4 tourists and being dragged into more New Year celebrations, generally by people who are young to be drinking, even by UK standards!

Sekong to Attapeu was a bit of a trek. Waited 2 hours for a bus, which we got on, went 400 yds and stopped. As it wasn't full enough (i.e. it was comfortable) we were being transferred to a songthaew - these come in a variety of sizes but are basically flat bed vans with benches down the side and are open to the elements save for a roof. So we crammed into this van, then toured Sekong looking for someone to fix a puncture. Once we finally got going, the number of passenges kept on increasing to a point where people were on each others knees, the roof and basically anywhere where there was a sniff of a space Ho Chi Minh Trail... maybe?
Ho Chi Minh Trail... maybe?
 . The live chickens and bird chicks in a plastic bag definately added to the Laos travel experience.

Attapeu was a nice place; small but quite spread out. Once again, there were only a few falang and we stayed in this rather large, faded glory hotel - think a grand Fawlty Towers, minus other guests. We went off to try and explore the Ho Chi Minh Trail, except according to the locals it doesn't exist round here. Bit of a strange conspiracy going on we thought, given it was definately on the track! Still, even without the historical element, this was a great day - we got out into some beautiful, non developed countryside which no doubt will be ruined in a couple of years time through logging and tourism (damn backpackers!).
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