Alright folks, here we are with another long-awaited blog posting. First of all, we send our love to you and hope everyone is well. Just a few thoughts to finish up on Laos (especially since we've been in Cambodia for 1.5 wks). It seems like we did cover a good amount of the country, but we easily could've stayed for a few more weeks and had plenty to do. We loved Luang Prabang (except when we were being extorted for Pete's wallet)! We did not love Vang Vieng, although we do know some lovely people who feel differently, so we will not slander this town The capital of Laos, Vientiane, is where we experienced something called, "cold." It actually rained for the few days that we were there and you would think that after traveling around in the heat for a couple of months, we would appreciate it. Suprisingly though, I was longing for the warm days to return. All of my layers were just barley enough to keep warm. I was saying to Pete the other day, however, that we should spend lots of time in San Francisco this summer so we can get some more cool weather so we don't have to wait until next winter to not be hot. Needless to say, it's been HOT and HUMID as per usual lately. Really makes one appreciate little breezes and big ones of course too!
After Vientiane, we headed south to Tha Khek, a small town on the Mekong. Tha Khek is not far from many cool caves and some waterfalls and is the starting point for the moped tour that we did called, "The Loop." The Loop is somewhat popular among travelers and we stayed at the lodge in town where you can get all the information you need, such as what to bring, which way to go on the Loop (clockwise or "anti-clockwise"), the best guesthouses along the way, condition of the road, where to especially be on the lookout for rogue animals in the road, etc. I read the whole log (the English parts, anyways) and then felt ready and excited for our 4 day journey (Pete was already ready and excited from the beginning). We just needed to buy some jeans to keep our leg skin intact, in case we fell off the moped(which we did not). Jeans shopping in the small town was an interesting experience. At the first shop, I, Kira, made a small child cry. Just by looking at her!! And no, I was not baring my teeth and growling like I usually do when I interact with children. I was smiling at her! Luckily, her mom didn't seem to think I was a scary Westerner as well. We finally found some jeans in the 3rd store we tried. I don't know where they sell women's jeans that would fit me or if they make any that big (tiny Asian women! and men too for that matter), but I did find some hot, green, stretchy men's jeans that work. Pete bought his first ever pair of Wranglers. Those big "W"'s on his back pockets looked great and of course now, they stand for, "Wampler." And the next time we go to Texas, Pete will fit right in.
We were ready for The Loop. We tried to get on the road early the next morning, but you all know us . . . We made it out about 10 km and turned around to repack our stuff into one backpack (instead of 2 small ones) and then, we were really ready to go, at 1:15. We rode about 186 km that day and made it to Kong Lor right as the sun was setting. We were soooo stoked that we had pushed on and made it there because that is where we got to partake in the Laos ceremony at our guesthouse. We think that the town spiritual leader/mayor was there performing a song/blessing. Everyone was seated on mats on the floor. Then, the men took white strings from an elaborate candlabra and started tieing them onto each others'wrists, while reciting a blessing about having good luck and returning to the village in the future. Pete and I each got 6! Onto the food! We were given lots of it, much of it was pork, both fat and meat (Kira deftly hid some in her hand and give it to a hungry puppy), and welcomed to imbibe the homemade rice wine. The rice wine was in a very large container with two 1 m long bamboo straws. The locals didn't like to drink alone, so we were invited to sip often with them. My face hurt from wearing a perma-grin all night.
We did set off early the next day and went to the Kong Lor Cave, also called, The 7 Km Cave. A river runs through the whole 7 km of this huge cave, so we got 2 local guides to take us on a boat. It is Huge! We rode most of the way on the small boat and got out at one point to walk on a pathway through giant stalagtites and stalagmites. The path was lit with bright white and blue lights, casting nice shadows on the cave walls. It was the beginning of the dry season, so the river was very low at points, requiring us to get out and walk along and push the boat a few times. Pretty cool.
It being dry season also meant, apparently, that it was the beginning of fire season too. We passed by sooooo many fires that had been set on purpose, for agriculture and for resettlement. It was a bummer. There were also some windy parts, but we faired well. We did see some nice scenery interspersed throughout the four days. And many, many animals, on the sides of the road and in the road. Cows, chickens, dogs, pigs, goats. Other highlights include: buying gas out of a glass bottle from a bunch of village kids (we already posted photos); smiling locals, not hitting any animals; Pete's perfect driving on the stretch of road that we had read was super sketchy; getting to Sabaydee Guesthouse (on the 3rd night) and seeing a group of our new friends there and then playing bocci ball into the night; swimming and chilling with a Polish couple at Tha Farang lake ("Tha Farang" means Land of the Westerners).
After rocking The Loop, we chilled in Tha Khek for one more night and then set off to the 4000 Islands with 3 Canadians (Val, Sanda and Evie) and a Brit named Rob. BTW, the next day was our 6 month anniversary!! We celebrated, of course, by taking a couple of bus rides. After the first one, we bought tickets for the next leg and found out that we would arrive in Pakse pretty late. While we waited for our next departure, we thought it'd be a great idea to get a tuk-tuk into town and call a guesthouse to reserve rooms for our whole party for the night. So we did. Then, it was time to board the bus and a crowd began to form around the door. Pete told me that he'd deal with our bags and I should get in line. I looked at our tickets and saw that we had assigned seats, so i relaxed and got annoyed at the local who was pushing behind me. I wonder if anyone laughed at us when we got to our seats and looked perplexed because they were occupied. As was the rest of the bus. It did take awhile to feel lucky that we were provided with little, red, plastic stools on which to sit in the aisle. The seats were so cramped and tiny that after awhile, Rob traded seats with me. Wait, our anniversary was not over yet!! 5-7 hours later, we arrived in Pakse and were stoked that we had rooms wating for us. Too bad that the guys working at the hotel had no idea what we were talking about. Rob went on a reconnaisance mission and found us all rooms fit for a king, or actually a backpacker traveling on a budget. (Look for the photo).
We had all decided to meet up in the AM for a proper breakfast before our last leg of the journey to get to the 4,000 Islands, which are in the Mekong and just across the border from Cambodia. We knew that the VIP bus left at 8:00 in the morning, but we really wanted our breakfast. Good thing that it was delicious because we had to take a ride from hell afterwards. Our "bus" was actually a truck with benches along the sides of the bed and one in the middle and a roof. It was supposed to be a 3.5 hr ride and we probably got there in 5. We'll let the photos speak for themselves. We stayed on Don Det, the backpacker island. Good place for relaxing. We had a bungalow with a deck overlooking the Mekong. We rented bicycles and explored Don Det and the next island south, Don Kong (or Khong?). There was an amazing Indian restaurant that we probably ate at 4 times and spent 8 hours because the serv i c e w a s s o S L O W. One semi popular activity to do in the islands is to rent tubes and float down the river. Pete and I and the gang tried this one day and spent most of the time paddling to make sure we wouldn't miss the beach/dock area and head to the dangerous falls downriver. Time to go to Cambodia!!
and time to sign off for now. but we will add more soon as we will be staying put for awhile to celebrate the Khmer New Year!! we Love you!!
