We're in Si Phan Don! I can finally let out the secret we've been keeping...we bought a motorcycle. We bought a Minsk, a Russian bike, about a week ago in Vientiane, and we drove about 2/3 of Laos on this motorcycle. Before you worry too much, it was on Highway 13, which is very straight and paved. 
It was so much fun! We're selling it today because we're going to Cambodia next, and we don't know the roads there, and we're not sure we can even get it across the border. That's okay, we had a good run!
From Thakek, we took a day drive to Savannakhet, which was awful (total rundown town, practically Soviet), spent the night there, went to Pakse the next day (a little better, spent the night there), and then to Champasak, where we saw Wat Phu Champasak, a temple complex that pre-dates Angkor Wat. We got there at 8 am, and beat all the other tourists, who started getting there around 3 hours later. You walk up stairs about 500 feet to the top of the mountain, where there is a sacred spring (water comes from the rocks) and a beautiful little temple with very intricately carved lintels.
After our visit to the Wat, we decided to head down to Siphandon, otherwise known as Four Thousand Islands. We got there pretty quickly, and jumped on a ferry with our motorcycle. A motorcycle ferry involves two canoes lashed together with a platform in the middle, really quite effective for crossing the Mekong. We arrived on Don Det (Det island) and headed for an island just south called Don Khon. We took a wrong turn, and although we got there, we took the route the map marks as "Rocky and Shadeless." Oh, well! We ended up choosing a hotel right on the water--in fact, it was directly on the water, floating on a bamboo raft. It had a lovely little balcony out back with two chaise lounges. Really lovely.
We relaxed a bit, and then took a walk over to Don Det (the party island) where we hung out at this Israeli guy's bar, having Beerlaos and playing chess. Today, we moved to a new hotel on Don Det (much cheaper, a cute little bungalow), posted signs for our motorcycle, talked to a Lao woman who might buy our motorcycle tomorrow, and generally just hung out. Very relaxing.
Sidenote: We went to this great place called Big Brother Mouse in Luang Prabang. They publish children's books in Lao and English, mainly focusing on Lao traditional stories. They also make village trips, where they pass out the books. We bought a big stack of the books, and have been handing them out at various places. Despite handing quite a few out, we still had a rather big stack left, and since we're going to Cambodia in a few days, we figured we'd better get rid of all of them. We found the loca primary school and managed to locate a head teacher, and gave the whole stack to the teacher. Hopefully the school will be able to use the books. Although we didn't get to see the individual faces as they received the books, giving them to a school maybe means that more children will be able to read them. It's a great organization, and you can give to them or get more information at www.bigbrothermouse.com/
One more day in Siphandon (we'll try to see the Irrawaddy dolphins tomorrow) and then we're off to Cambodia to Angkor Wat, and then a bus from there to Ho Chi Minh City, where we'll fly out on the 25th.
Little boy reading books from Big Brother Mouse.
Our second hotel in SiPhanDon.
It was so much fun! We're selling it today because we're going to Cambodia next, and we don't know the roads there, and we're not sure we can even get it across the border. That's okay, we had a good run!From Thakek, we took a day drive to Savannakhet, which was awful (total rundown town, practically Soviet), spent the night there, went to Pakse the next day (a little better, spent the night there), and then to Champasak, where we saw Wat Phu Champasak, a temple complex that pre-dates Angkor Wat. We got there at 8 am, and beat all the other tourists, who started getting there around 3 hours later. You walk up stairs about 500 feet to the top of the mountain, where there is a sacred spring (water comes from the rocks) and a beautiful little temple with very intricately carved lintels.
After our visit to the Wat, we decided to head down to Siphandon, otherwise known as Four Thousand Islands. We got there pretty quickly, and jumped on a ferry with our motorcycle. A motorcycle ferry involves two canoes lashed together with a platform in the middle, really quite effective for crossing the Mekong. We arrived on Don Det (Det island) and headed for an island just south called Don Khon. We took a wrong turn, and although we got there, we took the route the map marks as "Rocky and Shadeless." Oh, well! We ended up choosing a hotel right on the water--in fact, it was directly on the water, floating on a bamboo raft. It had a lovely little balcony out back with two chaise lounges. Really lovely.
We relaxed a bit, and then took a walk over to Don Det (the party island) where we hung out at this Israeli guy's bar, having Beerlaos and playing chess. Today, we moved to a new hotel on Don Det (much cheaper, a cute little bungalow), posted signs for our motorcycle, talked to a Lao woman who might buy our motorcycle tomorrow, and generally just hung out. Very relaxing.
Sidenote: We went to this great place called Big Brother Mouse in Luang Prabang. They publish children's books in Lao and English, mainly focusing on Lao traditional stories. They also make village trips, where they pass out the books. We bought a big stack of the books, and have been handing them out at various places. Despite handing quite a few out, we still had a rather big stack left, and since we're going to Cambodia in a few days, we figured we'd better get rid of all of them. We found the loca primary school and managed to locate a head teacher, and gave the whole stack to the teacher. Hopefully the school will be able to use the books. Although we didn't get to see the individual faces as they received the books, giving them to a school maybe means that more children will be able to read them. It's a great organization, and you can give to them or get more information at www.bigbrothermouse.com/
One more day in Siphandon (we'll try to see the Irrawaddy dolphins tomorrow) and then we're off to Cambodia to Angkor Wat, and then a bus from there to Ho Chi Minh City, where we'll fly out on the 25th.
Little boy reading books from Big Brother Mouse.
Our second hotel in SiPhanDon.
This has been so much fun. Sam and I have read the blog along. Hope you have taken some pix you can post when you get back.
ReplyDeleteLove, Aunt Cathy