Southern Laos

Our last stop in Laos was the 4000 islands in the south. probably not as beautiful as we had hoped it to be, but we had a good time. we spent one night in pakse which is a weird scene...there isn't much going on there at all, so we basically just wandered around a little and set up a three day kayak trip. Green discovery, the company we had used before in Luang Prabang, had a good reputation and we had a good outing the last time so we figured it would be a no-brainer.

Well, the next morning at 8:15 we were a little worried because they were supposed to pick us up at 8:00. We ended up hiring a tuk-tuk to the Green Discovery office to find that the person who was supposed to be our guide apparently hadn't shown up...and they had to call in reinforcements. Our gui (Lai) was nice and all, but definitely didn't lead kayak trips too often. The first day in the water he turned his boat around in a rapid and me and mimi crashed into him, capsizing. fortunately we were wearing the proper safety equipment and it was pretty much the only rapid we had undertaken that day so everything was fine. we stayed on two different islands in the area known as the 4000 islands. It is called this because in the dry season (now) the water level is low and exposes what might appear to be decent sized boulders with some shrubbery growing on top. This type of "island" probably makes up moost of the 4000 islands, with some of the larger ones being habitable. On the first night of our trip we stayed in a little bungalow by the beach, dined at a local restaurant..overall it was enjoyable. The next day we kayaked (with a few more rapids this time but no capsizing) until we found ourselves at another island. This time our accomodation was not so pleasant. The second night of our trip was supposed to be a "homestay" which literally consisted of some little mats on the front porch of a family's home that we never met...weird. We had bug nets but somehow plenty of small bugs managed to creep in. I tried reading to fall asleep but my head lamp only attracted more bugs.. After a while Mimi and I decided that an easier way to fall asleep would be to go downstairs and have a few beers at hte local restaurant across the street-this proved necessary. There were also many geccos sleeping with us. This doesn't bother me much but Willy is not a fan so that was a little upsetting as well. \Our last day of kayaking was nice, and they had a little leaving ceremony for us on the island where a former monk said a lot of things in lao that i coudlnt understand and tied yarn bracelets around our wrists. I think he was supposed to be wishing us well in our life and travels which was kind of cute because he was old. After that we headed to the port where we caught a bus to Cambodia..

Boarding crossing and Cambodia blogging to come soon.