Southern Laos

One single word can encompass Laos...

.....QUIET........Peace and quiet......

After our wreck less private car ride, numerous boat/bus/car transfers we arrived in Southern Laos in an area called 4000 Islands. Here we shacked up in these cute bungalows on the small island of Don Det where a generator runs from 6-10pm providing the whole island with electricity for only those hours of the evening. This couldn't have been a more relaxing place to come to, especially after our car ride from hell and all I we experienced in Cambodia.

Here all I wanted to do was relax, and maybe explore a little, oh and maybe kayak, oh and... well I just wanted to go with the wind. There was something sooo relaxing about Laos. The people were more mellow, not as in your face and we were out of a city which was a great change. The first day we were befriended by a group of travellers renting a boat and going exploring around some of the islands...sure why not?! It was great fun meeting a whole new group of travellers full of new stories and many laughs.

The next day I embarked on a little 13km kayak adventure where I saw; two sets of waterfalls, one which was the largest in all of Southeast Asia; paddled through some small sets of rapids, still enough to get the adrenaline pumping; and while eating lunch on a rock in the middle of the Mekong River Delta (the 2nd largest river system originating in China and ending in Vietnam), Laos on my left side and Cambodia on my right, watched the rare species of Irawaddy dolphins jumping in the water around us. Could it really get any better??

Somehow there is always another adventure ahead of you. Galit, a new travel friend from Israel, and I decided to make the trip to Northern Laos. Well the boat from Don Det to the mainland was fun as we bailed water out of the old wooden longtail boat only to reach land, transfer into a pickup truck with 3 benches in the back, and me at the end of the middle bench pretty much out of the truck. By the end of the 3 hour trip, not only was I covered in a film of red dust, I had wished I could have rode on the top of the truck like the locals did!

Stop over for a day in Paksay, just long enough to walk around and go for a massage before catching another night bus to the capital city Vientiane. Night buses might become the death of me if I keep having snoring machines behind me!! The capital city is a very small and yet very quiet and relaxing, with numerous delicious bakeries with real bread not just white baguettes!!! Oh and how can I forget, good coffee too!! A day and half of walking around meeting more travellers to swap stories with, and it is off to the next city Vang Vieng for some tubing and cave exploration.

Laos is proving to be an amazing country, so beautiful and at much slower pace. The people are friendly, always greeting you, I feel very safe as far as cleanliness and safety, and the country side absolutely takes your breath away.