Urban madness and sandy games

This post is sent from Myanmar where internet is restricted. That's why it looks a bit different than usual.   During our journey we came into contact with other travelers that went to Vietnam already and in most cases the story had a negative connotation: the hassle, the traffic, the noise, the not set prices, etc... and some even suggested to skip Vietnam which even the German couple from Laos ended up doing... and it was their loss. We are so glad we didn't let others' experiences influence our itinerary.   Whenever you come in contact with horror stories you have two options: either you believe them and change your plans or you listen to them carefully, keeping in mind that everyone has a different way of seeing and experiencing places and you decide to experience it yourself and that's what we did.   A 12 usd package was our entry ticket to Vietnam on board of a spacious and comfortable bus we did the route from Phnom Pehn to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon). The border crossing was very different from the Lao-Cambodia one. In this case we crossed by bus, just getting off to pass our luggage through X rays scan, our visas checked and yet another entry stamp appeared in our passports.   The closer we got to HCMC the more motorcycles that appeared on the road and the more beeping sounds we heard, the avenues looked like a river of colorful helmets that mengled with some cars and buses. From the more than six million people living here around four million own a motorbike. That explains the picturesque scene of the local traffic.   We were welcomed by heavy rain, that stopped soon enough to let us find the Thai Nhi Mini (get it?) hotel, were we had to climb up 5 floors to get a nice and affordable room, with free WIFI and an excellent location.   After our first walk in HCMC we were fascinated by looking at the crazy traffic. As Angela once said, her hearth contracted like a raisin skipping not one but several beats every time we had to walk in between the monsoon of two wheelers. For a taste click here.   The next morning we kept on training our street crossing skills and went walking around trying to find an affordable camera, while discovering the city under 39 degrees, but for us this temperature is now normal so nothing to complain about. We found the newer model of our previous Canon and it was cheaper than in Belgium so yet another item on the list of unexpected expenses.   To celebrate our new addition to the family (we call it Hochi) we went to Fanny's ice cream. We are sure that there must be one place in the world where you can find the best ice cream in the world NAY the universe! Well ladies and gentleman, look no further; Fanny is ice cream paradise. The rum raisin one was not a scoop with some rum essence and a lost raisin in it au contraire mon ami, it was like they put a whole stake of dried grapes in and we are sure that we could have set fire to the ice cream as you could feel the rum going down to your stomach. If you have tasted cinnamon ice cream before and thought it was nice then you would feel cheated after you tasted the one from Fanny. You could imagine the magnificent prize winning cow that provided the milk for the rich creaminess and you were teleported to fields full of cinnamon orchards. Feel like an ice cream yet?    Sightseeing is very rewarding here, the french influence is evident in the architecture of many buildings, like the Mayor's house, the Notre Dame Cathedral, the Opera, the Ho Chi Minh Museum amongst many others.   This last one was a very nice place to visit, not because of the artifacts inside but because of the nice wooden floors, spacious rooms that were accentuated by the sunshine coming in through the original white wooden shutters. No wonder it's a popular place with couples to have their wedding pictures taken.   On the way to the Reunification Palace we passed the fortress of the US embassy, were we saw a small group of Vietnamese women protesting of which Jonny wanted to take a picture, only to have a soldier coming up to him waving his hands in disapproval. Our walking tour went further to the Cathedral and the magnificent post office, the luxurious Diamond Shopping Centre, and the botanical garden, including a very poor zoo.   Once again we needed to pamper ourselves after a long walking day so Fanny welcomed us again, this time to taste the mint and chocolate and the nougat flavors. Imagine yourself being Marco Polo going to the Orient and discovering tastes that have never touched any Westerners' pallet... Well, you get the idea.   Concerning our stomach Pho Ga (chicken noodle soup) was the tasty welcome to the exquisite Vietnamese cuisine that just got better every day.   We also visited the famous Jade Pagoda, a Chinese temple, very dark but popular place, you can see it by the huge amount of smoke from the incense sticks burning there. It is one of the oldest pagodas and is considered one of the most spectacular  in the city, but it did not seem so spectacular for us. Nonetheless we got a nice pictures.   To close our visit to HCMC we went to the War Museum containing evidence of the horrors committed by the US during the Indochine war. It is a very well organized exhibition with many documents, striking/shocking pictures and testimonials of Vietnamese and American people. Visiting this place only awakens the feelings of anger, frustration, impotence,sadness, ... Once again like in any war innocent people are the ones that pay the highest price.   The most striking part was the one related to the still growing numbers of victims of Agent Orange. This defoliant not only destroyed all the Forrest, but was also highly toxic for every living thing (dioxin being the major component). How can someone think of such a method to be used against an 'enemy'. The effects of it were so devastating that even today people carry it in their genes of which you sadly see examples of in the streets.   This said we could not leave the capturing Saigon with feelings of war. We had to move on and decided to end our visit with a flashpacker practice spending over half our day budget at the bar on 23rd floor of the Sherathon hotel. We had 2 for 1 happy hour cocktails, looking at the sun setting and as darkness set in enjoying the show of lights being turned on over this vast Metropolis.   Next day it was time to head for the beach. If you like the high buildings and inflated prices of Oostende/Benidorm/El Laguito Cartagena go to Nah Thrang. If you like peace and quiet go to Mui Ne where it's not allowed to build higher than 2 levels. Also a favorite spot for wind and kitesurfers of which you see many wetsuits and kites drying on the lines of the hotel.   We found the nice Hong Di bungalows with beautiful sand garden area shaded by palmtrees that double as hammock supports, only 20 metres from the sea. Falling asleep to the "wooshing" of the waves and the wind blowing through the palm trees, we were certainly able to do what we planned here, namely rest after more than two months of traveling. Life is wonderful!   However you shouldn't come to Mui Ne only for the peace, quiet and relaxed atmosphere but also for the red and white sand dunes. After a nice night of rest we went to the small fisherman town to get some transport to the white dunes. At our arrival a group of 15 motorcyclists got around us to offer transportation.   We used many methods to convince them: writing in the sand, pointing, discussing  petrol prices (nothing in Vietnam), etc.... and in the end we got half the price of what they offered and a pat on the back from the oldest guy saying "good deal".   It didn't take long for Jonny's motorbike to get a flat tyre so he moved to Angela's one. We ended up doing 15 kilometres with 3 adults on one scooter plus one kid. Might seem a lot but is a common site round these parts. Next to the sea we arrived to the magnificent white dunes. It was around 9 am and the sun was already merciless. The only sound you heard here was the hot wind rearranging the dunes. Walking on the dunes takes a lot of effort as the sand is very hard on the side the winds blows and very soft on the side where the sand, that is carried by the wind, is dropped but it's loads of fun to jump into it and sink knee high. After more than an hour of ravotten/patanear (of which you can see proof if you click here) it was time to enjoy the ride back into town again. This time each had a motorbike.   We had a well deserved splash in the South China sea, some posting on our blog (courtesy of the WIFI of the next door hotel) and some swinging and napping in the hammocks. The sun was setting which made us take the shuttle to the red dunes. The angle of the sun makes for nice colours and shadowplay on these dunes. Some kids walked along with us offering us rides on their sheets of plastic which we kindly declined. Again some ravotten/patanear and watching the last rays of sun on the dunes.   The day before we had placed an order at the restaurant we ate at and now we were ready to devour our first lobster and crab ever and my o my did we enjoy it.   Time to move on after these days of relative rest.   Be sure to check out our next post covering easyriding, coffee slurping, durian train rides and much much more.

---

¡Obtén la mejor experiencia en la web!
Descarga gratis el nuevo Internet Explorer 8
http://downloads.yahoo.com/ieak8/?l=e1

9 days in the land of Khmer

WARNING : Next post might be very contrary to the horror stories you hear about Cambodia and might even convince you to go...

Last breakfast in Laos and then small boat ride and minivan ride, later we arrived at the Laos – Cambodian border. Got off from the bus and walked into no man's land, to be greeted by officials waving the visa-on-arrival documents.

After filling in the form, we paid the $20 visafee and as it was weekend we also had to pay $2 overtime fee to the poor officials that had to work on their “free” day. You can either complain about it, raise your voice, bang on the table, even threaten the man's offspring but in the end if you want the visa, you better pay the fee.

Our bus was full so we were put in a car where it was a comfy ride to Stung Treng, where we had a lunchbreak. I walked to the market five minutes away to exchange $ for the Cambodian Riel and bought some watermelon, which Angela happily dug into only to dispose off a couple of hours later when we arrived at Kratie, our first overnight stop in Cambodia. Angela stayed in the room to dispose the watermelon some more whilst I went into town. Kratie is the spot to also go and visit the same dolphins we saw in Laos, so many offers to go and see them again which I politely declined.

You hear many tourist complain about all the hassle from sellers to buy their goods or offering you rides. Just acknowledge their existence with a nod and a “no thank you” preferably in their language. You'll be doing this many times a day but it's up to you to let it get to you or not. The first is an assured irritation which will lead to not liking the people or their country, the latter an assured peaceful walking down the streets.

Next day off to Phnom Penh, where we checked in at the OKAY guesthouse were we got the mushroom room. Not because of the painting but because of the fungus decoration. Next night we moved into a well ventilated clean room.

Phnom Pehn is a so called danger zone where it's dangerous to go out at night, have to keep your guard 24/7 and need 360 vision to cross the street. Not sure if everyone was talking about this Phnom Pehn cause we saw nothing to justify this. Traffic however is hectic. Just cross with a steady pace and the traffic will swerve around. A sea of cars, motorbikes and cyclos that opens like the sea for Mozes. Never stop however cause this will be erratic behavior and a certain method to get run over. This is how you cross streets in all major cities, Saigon being the most fun and spectacular city to do this.

We immediately took a liking to PP and also knew what others didn't like about it. PP is a city of contrasts, which you love or you hate. It has a nice riverside promenade, with their version of the blauwe steen at the Schelde with many cheap or expensive eats, easy transportation, nice buildings to visit and nice people to add a nice touch.

However it's a very dirty city as people just throw away any garbage on the street, but next morning it is all clean again. Cambodia is ridden with NGO's all working their own field and bringing in a lot of money for the country. With them also come many well paid expats and thus fancy boutiques, big cars, high shiny skyscrapers. On the other hand, you see tonnes of beggars, young and old, families living on the streets and this not just in a back alley but right there on every street. While you are having a $ 4 gourmet meal (what an average Cambodian could live of for 4 days) about 5 beggars will come up to your table asking to buy something from them or just give money. The waiters just leave them be and allow them into their restaurants.

This is were the fun starts for us. People really don't like to be disturbed on their holidays by beggars or scenes of poverty. Some tourists get angry, some get sad. But generally, all ignore this frail, begging, malnourished hand that asks for help. We always say hello and tell them we are not going to give anything. This might sound harsh but if you give money to kids they will first of all never be able to keep it and second will learn that begging is rewarding and so remain beggars and dependant on charity all their lives. We gave occasionally but never to children. Always to victims of mines or of diseases like polio and then never more than 2.000 riel = $ 0,5.

The difference between the rich and the poor is baffling and we'll find it nowhere else in any country we'll visit.

What people see when they see poverty is in fact a mirror and they don't like the reflection : there you are flying all the way across the world, your nice clothes, digital camera, hundreds of $, staying in a nice room and there the poor are with hardly any option to ever get out of it. If you think they are annoying, just know that you can always go back to your country but they will stay begging there forever...

PP is not only about people watching but also sightseeing.

We went to a restaurant where former street children were trained to be waiters. Excellent food with perfect presentation and there we met an english couple that were on their way to Laos so we exchanged our Rough Guides for theirs and there was great rejoice.

After dinner we went to the river promenade to have an Angkor beer next to the locals, where we saw a thunderstorm getting closer and closer with the lightning getting more intense. Very nice spectacle indeed.

Woke up at 4 thinking about poverty, couldn't fall back asleep again so decided to get up and go for a walk. I expected a quiet sleepy city but nothing could be further from the truth. People setting up their marketstalls, tuk tuk drivers arriving at the hotels so they would be the first in line to pick up passengers,

tonnes of people at the park getting their morning exercise playing badminton, soccer, volleybal... People sweeping the street to get it clean. Not with a truck equiped for that, but just with an oldfashioned broom and a lot of sweat. Next time you wonder why they are all taking an afternoon nap is because they were up since 4 while you were still in dreamland.

After a nice bagel with cream cheese we headed for the Royal Palace and the Silver Pagoda, where we found a tremendous collection of Buddha images from all over SE Asia with a very remarkable marble one from Burma and a golden one encrusted with lots of huge diamonds.

Here we also had to arrange our Burmese visa so we went to the embassy, left our passports there and it was time to move onto Siem Reap and the amazing temple complex of Angkor!

A 6 hour bus ride later and almost deafened by the constant beeping of the driver we arrived at Siem Reap and checked into the Red Lodge GH.

The chique in PP pales in comparison to SR. Here the gap is even bigger thanks to the tourism industry, where expensive hotels and resorts are everywhere, mixed with the poor locals. Went for a walk around town and found a nice park with beautiful tall trees. Dusk was setting in and we could see that the trees where inhabited by giant bats that started flying to get their meals. There in my hair, there in my hair!

Next morning was time to visit the temples. Got ourselves a tuk tuk driver Non who would drive us around for the following two days.

We decided to leave Angkor Wat for the last and work our way upto the older temples first. Angkor is not just one famous temple but a whole bunch of them built by kings, who always wanted to make a nicer one than that of the previous king. You really see the sandstone carvings get more elaborate and the temples getting bigger.

Angkor is big business and you see hordes of tourists, so get in early if you want peace and quiet.

At every temple you'll also get the company of kids wanting to sell you postcards or steering you to their families' stand for water or soft drink. “buy postcard mister? Only $1. Maybe later OK? You remember me and buy my water OK? Why don't you buy? You don't like my postcards?”

Almost all the temples we visited are worth a visit cause they all have one or more features that seperates them from other temples. Don't try to see them all, just pick out a few and really absorb them instead of trying to visit as many as possible, without really seeing them. Ta keo, the famous Ta Prohm surrounded by jungle, where they filmed some scenes from the Tomb Raider movie, Pre Rup with its brick towers, Ta Som and Neak Pean..

You also see the power and time nature has...

Walking a lot and the heat take their toll and after a day of visiting temples is nice to have a cold shower and go to the $1 street stalls for some delicious noodle dish and refreshing lemon juice and treat yourself to some cake that is 50% off because the shop is about to close.

Another day, another temple. First a 38 km drive to Bantaey Samre which is off the main tourist trail and was completely deserted. It was without a doubt the most stunning temple we saw. When I took my last picture there our camera also died. Cambodia has luxury items but they are very expensive so we bought a disposable camera for the rest of Cambodia and decided to buy a new one when we arrived to Vietnam where they produce the stuff, so no more photos for the rest of this blog.

Off to Bantaey Srei for wonderful sandstone carvings. On the way back we visited the landmine museum funded by Aki Ra a former Khmer Rouge soldier who specialized in land mines and now with his knowledge is trying to have a mine free country, which will also help him to stop his nightmares.

Back in SR we look for a hotel with a pool and go for a swim to wash away the yellow dust, mixed with sweat and sunscreen.

Driving to and from the complex of temples, we passed by Khanta Bopha hospital, were we saw posters of a Swiss doctor “Beatocello”. On tuesday and thursday evenings you could see a movie at the hospital about his project and on saturday he always plays the cello for the audience showing up in big numbers.

He's quite the controversial figure, as he at one time sued the WHO and UNICEF for their passive genocide of children as he calls it. We really liked what he said. Stepping into the hospital you think you've stepped into a very fancy western hospital that makes you think what this kind of hospital is doing in this kind of country? He explains why. He believes that you can't help the people enough in a third world hospital. What's the use of a band aid when the kids need surgery? All kids in the 4 hospitals nationwide receive all treatment for free!!! A cough or a landmine victim, all get treated free of charge. The average consultation brings with it a cost of $170. Biggest cost is medicine and only 35% is cost for personnel and administration whereas with UNICEF can reach as high as 85%. The 4 hospitals are privately funded and need $ 20 million dollar a year. To the young he asks blood, the old he asks money, from us he got both.

Last day in SR and we take the bikes to cycle the 10km to Angkor Wat but first we go and see Angkor Thom with the spooky and mysterious Bayon, displaying hunderds of identical massive smiling faces, that seem to look back at you. Phnom Bakeng which is worth the steep climb just for the view. I fall victim to a flat tyre which is easily and skillfully repaired, so we can visit Angkor Wat.

The vasteness of the temple is enormous. The closer you get the smaller you feel. Because some people not knowing how to use stairs thereby breaking their legs and even losing their lives it is no longer allowed to climb the stairs, for a surely amazing view of the surroundings.

This all said Angkor Wat isn't the nicest or most intruiging but it's surely an impressive piece of architecture.

Back to PP to visit the Killing Fields and the prison of Tuol Sleng.

During the Khmer Rouge reign of terror from 1975 to 1979 reportedly in between 1 and 2 million people died either through torture, killing, malnutrition,... We met a Canadian who married a Cambodian who survived the camps and she told us that the movie “the killing fields” gives a good idea but in reality it was much worse.

We hired a tuk tuk driver to take us to the Killing fields for $8 and what we saw there can only be described as suffering. You see a tall glass obelisk, of which in the bottom you can see a pile of clothes of the people that were brought here to be exterminated. The rest of the obelisk is filled with the almost 9.000 skulls they found in the mass graves surrounding the site, of which many are still to be uncovered. When walking around the site you see different pits : one where they found only old people, one where they found many children, close to a tree where they could throw them against first... You also see that in the ground are still pieces of fabric of the clothes the people were wearing. You can only be silent and think about how the world let this happen and even supported the Khmer Rouge, but then you realize that it still keeps happening now and that we still don't do anything about it.

How lucky we are with our Western way of life.

On the way back our driver changed the rules and decided to charge us $ 8 to and 8 back, which lead to a big discussion, after us threatening him to pay only half and taking another tuk tuk, he took us back to the city and still claimed more money. Too bad for him, we had plenty of time, so I just sat down on the curb having a sip of water while he was losing time and possible fares. After 5 minutes, he was happy with the original 8 we agreed upon.

Now it was off to Tuol Sleng where we visited the s-21 school, which was a school that was converted by the Khmer Rouge into a torture center, or re-education center as they used to call it.You can see many portraits taken of victims, as well as the beds and pictures of the last burned victims found, the small prisons where they were kept and the torture techniques used by the Pol Pot regime. The whole exhibition leaves you speechless and at a loss for words.

We picked up our passports and next day it was off to Saigon in crazy Vietnam.

Cambodia was the victim of our trip as we only have 4 months to visit 5 countries but our 9 day visit was a highlight in our trip, because of the violent history of the country, beautiful Angkor and the contrasts between rich and poor all made this a very interesting country.

Halleluyahahahaha

Have you ever imagined your self walking in a sauna, with your clothes on and carrying a big backpack? Well that was the first impression we had from Vientiane... the oven capital of Laos.

After walking and sweating around looking for a guest house, we found a good place, even though it was a bit above our normal budget, we were more than happy to drop our bags off and have a refreshing shower, but the joy was bigger when we discovered that our room had air co as a standard feature. A fan is usually enough for us, but when we went out and realized that the temperature at 5 pm was 37 degrees we felt blessed, Halleluyah praise the Lord!!!

The next day we rented city bikes, great and cheap way to move around in a city like this, were the traffic is smooth, the avenues are spacious and not crowded and the distances between different monuments are too big to be covered by foot.

Our first stop was the Patuxai monument, a grey concrete giant, built with cement donated by USA that was going to be used to build an airport. It is also known as the local Arc de Triomphe, but that can be an insult to the real one, because in the distance this monument looks nice, but the closer you get to it, and the more you walk into it the less appealing it becomes but anyway we got a couple of nice pictures.

The uglyness fades away as we reach our next monument: Pha That Luang, the "Great Sacred Stupa" national symbol of Laos, representing the country independence and sovereignty. It's shiny and spectacular shape, together with it's beautiful surroundings makes us wander around for long time, while melting under the midday heat.

And here we sing Halleluya once again when a garden hose appears pumping fresh water to the colourful flowers making Angela lose control.

Time for lunch meaning some fresh bagels at the extraordinary scandinavian bakery were we stayed for one hour recovering from the heat, but the worse was yet to come, on the way out we passed a billboard displaying the time and temperature, and we almost wet our pants when we read that it was 2 pm and we were at 49 degrees LIEVE GOD!

But no matter the intense heat we did the homework and visited Wat Si Saket the oldest and nicest temple in the capital, built in the 15 century and rebuilt many times after many wars. This beautiful and peaceful place is famous not only because of its antiquity but because it houses thousands of Buddha images in all shapes and sizes, as well as a cloister, a library, and is still used as a monastery.

The next day we negotiated what we thought was a fair price with a tuk tuk driver and visited Xien Khuan Buddha park located 25 kilometers outside Vientiane. This peaceful garden (we arrived before the crowds did) displays over 200 Hindu and Buddhist concrete sculptures. The most remarkable of them was the huge reclining Buddha surrounded by colorful dragonflies, and the strange concrete pumpkin in which we were able to climb up trough narrow stairs, for a nice overview of the park.

Before finishing the trip in the capital we visited the COPE project were we were confronted with the sad story that most of the world has not heard enough about: The Secret War that the United States waged against the North Vietnamese and communism in the region and under which the Lao border with Vietnam (the Ho Chi Minh trail) was bombed for many years.

Because of these bombardments many parts of the country were devastated, many people were misplaced and thousands were killed. Laos has the questionable honour of being the most heavily bombarded country in history. Of course not all the bombs that were dropped exploded, and the Laotian soil ended up infested with millions of UXO (Unexploded ordenance), responsible for many more deaths and mutilations even now when the war has ended more than 30 years ago. This is also one of the key factors for the slow development and poverty in the country. At the current pace of clearing all areas Laos will only be bomb free in about 100 years...

This visit and the experience of seeing this reality only reinforced our perception of the Lao People, for whom we only feel admiration and respect. We find unbelieveable how welcoming and forgiving they are, no matter their painful past and their difficult present they stole our hearts with thousands of genuine smiles, in a country were there are no filthy rich and terribly poor, a place where everyone is the same.

And like that we were more eager to see more of this magnificent country, the south appeared in our itinerary and on a comfortable nigthbus we travelled for 8 hours to Savannakhet, were we arrived at 4 in the morning. Of course being so early it was not possible to knock on the guesthouse door, so we had to wait in the street until daylight, but during this time we saw the first colors of the day appear in the sky, while some monks were collecting alms and a group of young kids were running excitedly to an early soccer game.

After a well deserved nap and a greasy omelette we wandered around the third largest city of Laos, but there was not much if anything to see. We stumbled upon Wat Sainyaphum, were we sat under the trees for a little rest. Meanwhile a group of locals were having their saturday English lesson, were we were invited to participate by the teacher. It was a very nice experience to teach them how to improve and practice their English, while answering some personal questions, and showing with the Point it book where we came from or how things looked like back home. We took the opportunity to express our nice feelings towards their country and even apologized in the name of the tourist that do not respect their customs.

Next morning, next destination: Pakse, and more than 200 kilometers to conquer on board of a local bus, in which our bags were stacked on the roof next to motorcycles and household goods. Greedly enough we chose the chairs in the middle of the bus because they seemed to have a lot of leg space for Jonny, even when having huge bags of garlic cloves under our seats. In fact all the seats had bags of garlic under them so the bus and its passengers would be vampire proof for at least a week.

The more we drove the less space we had and the more people that were put on the bus. The space in front of us, between us and next to us, as well as every empty centimeter were filled with plastic chairs in which locals sat very uncomfortable sometimes sharing one but without complaining. Just when you thought no one could fit anymore five people got on the bus, one of which was carrying two chickens.

At one of the multiple stops many street vendors filled the few remaining spaces and offered the travelers all sorts of products: fired (not fried)chicken, boiled eggs, fried crickets, steamed corn, sticky rice, among others.

But even the warmth and the long 5 hours journey, and how horrible this bus ride might sound, we must confess that we really enjoyed it and like the locals we took it easy. Here we also meet a young Laotian that spoke very good English and who saved us from taking an unnecessary tuk tuk when we arrived in the city.

After a short walk downtown we found a good hotel, and met Aisha, a young Korean girl, that became a fun companion during this part of the trip. Pakse welcomed us with some rain, that felt like a refreshing pause to the intense heat we have been experiencing.

We tried to hire a motorbike to visit the nice surroundinngs but our lack of experience gave us an unsafe feeling, so we decided not to rent one and establish our own travel agency.... the goal was to visit Wat Pho Champasak, the only Khmer ruins located outside Cambodia. But without a motorbike the only option to reach the place was by a tour company, or by tuk tuk. The first option was quiet expensive, and the second was good only if we could find 4 more people to go with us.

With Aisha as our secretary and Jonny as the Manager and Publicist we started our visits to the bars and guesthouses in Pakse in search for more victims. We also negotiated prices with Tuk Tuk drivers and ended up having a cheaper deal, but we were only four people. The morning of our trip we talked with a French guy, who ended up joining us with a Swiss lady, and just before we left a German couple that we tried to persuade the day before also showed up... Halleluyah an international group and a great deal for everyone.

The way to the temple complex was lots of fun, nice scenery, warm breeze and a fun group of people. Together we crossed the Mekong by ferry.

The scenery was stunning, the climbing up the hill was rewarding, and nice under the shy shadow of many Frangipani threes.

On top of the hill we were able to appreciate the ruins and the nice details carved in the stones, as well as the great view over the Champasak valley.

To close our visit to Pakse we sat down next to the Mekong and were able to enjoy our very first nice sunset.... filled with energy and nice experiences we went back to the hotel and packed for our last Lao destination: Si Pan Don or the four thousand islands.

This archipelago of small islands is the top destination in Laos, a rewarding trip, for its natural beauty and for being home to the rare and shy Irrawadi dolphins.

From the many islands we chosed Don Khon, were the lack of constant electricity (only available from 6 till 11 pm) keeps the masses away and contributes to the quietness. Pan's guesthouse is our home in paradise, and for only 13 USD we got just what we needed: a spotless river view bungalow with a comfortable bed decorated with a mosquito net which gave it a romantic touch and a lovely hammock veranda, surrounded by palm threes and playful children.

A walk over the dirt pathways brought us to a group of water buffalos chilling out in a puddle whilst their backs were being cleaned by herons. The next day we rented bikes and after being completely shaken by the everything but smooth paths we reached the stunning river beach. There we walked over huge boulders and melted under the midday sun.

Later on we reached the most amazing place, the magnificent and gigantic Tat Somphamit waterfalls... no words can describe this place, it was simply unbelievable. We tough they were going to be a small place to swim, but there we were like little ants next to an elephant, contemplating the magnificence and the power of mother nature.

Later that day we rented a boat, together with a Dutch couple, to test our luck and see if we would be able to spot some dolphins in the distance which we did. We were able to see their backs come out of water and hear them breathing and meanwhile nature also gave us the chance to enjoy our beer Lao whilst seeing the sun going down over the rocks, while a group of birds was decorating the sky for us. Magnificent!

At the other side of the river we found Don Det, a bigger island with a different atmosphere, many backpackers, internet cafes and more movement, but there we found a pearl, the bakkery of an Australian guy serving delicious cakes and lemon juice, with a view over the river, refreshing, rewarding and a perfect way to regain all the calories lost during the walk in the sun

Our last night in Laos (snif) we visited a local festival, were we saw the Laotian way of parting, and a group of kids enjoying a man powered merry go round. Before packing we made a short walk in the darkness to the bridge that connects the islands and we sat there looking at the many stars, while taking our last picture in beautiful Lao.

There we think of our time here, and of the nice people we have come in contact with, Paul the Canadian guy married with a Cambodian woman, the Australian couple that inspired us to come here and to visit Vietnam, our friendly Korean friend and the German ex couple Lut and Mathias with whom we had the trip to Champasak, and the Dutch couple that shared the dolphins sunset experience.

But the locals are also wort to mention, the landlady in Luang Namtha, our trekking guides, the Akha people, and the ones we talked to during the long bus rides, all great people that helped us a lot with our understanding of the Lao culture and our pronunciation on the few words in Lao, for all of them a big Khawp jai.

It is now time to say good bye to the land of Frangipani trees, limestone mountains, emerald green waters, buffalos and wild pigs, farewell to the kingdom of resourceful and forgiving people, good bye to tasty fruits shakes, delicious beer lao and sticky rice.

With nostalgia and gratefulness we can say that Laos fulfilled and even exceeded all our expectations, from the countries in our itinerary this was the one we heard most adjectives about and they were not wrong. It is an absolutely magical place.

On the boat that will bring us to land and to the Cambodian border we can't help to wonder in fear how Laos will look in 10 years time from now. Hopefully development will still let the Laotians be the amazing people they are today.