| Laos 2006 - South |
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| The "Smile Boat" restaurant in sleepy little Tha Kek. It was great! Totally cheap and tacky with lots of Christmas lights and good inexpensive food and a view of Thailand. |
| The "south" statrted for us with a bus from Vientiane to Tha Kek. Here's the translation: "Tha" is a water landing or pier and "kek" is a foreign visitor. Even customers in the tourist business are referred to as "Kek"s. Tha Kek was a landing for many foreign visitors in the past, but now it is a very quiet riverside town with mostly muddy streets and just a few crumbling French-style buildings. |
| Further south, Savanaket is a much nicer small riverside city. Among it's picturesque buildings is this Catholic Church. It was a Sunday and the place was full of Laos Christians singing the praises of "Phra Yesuu" (Jesus). |
| Even the Buddhist temples have French-style windows in the south. There really are some nice-looking rustic colonial buildings here. |
| The new bridge from Savanaket to Mukdahan in Thailand will complete a link between here and the freshly modernised highway to Vietnam, making a big trade corridor between three countries. |
| Near the southern city of Pakse, on a river crossing to see Wat Pu. It is a very interesting crossing with many local market traders using the link. |
| Wat Pu Champasak is a three-tiered Angkor period temple ruin - well worth a day trip, or stay in the nearby town of Champasak (named for the province) and quiet way to see the area. |
| Wat Pu is famous as a sort of fountain of youth and it is important for older people to come here and collect water that drips off the cliff face. Then take it home and drink a little each day until your next visit and you will live forever. |
| Romantic dinner in Pakse. |
| A few hours in this songthaew from Pakse and we were at the island of Don Kong in time for a rainbow and a sunset. It is one of the "4,000 Islands" region (Sii Phan Don) and a very realxing beautiful place. |
| Tranquil scenery on a day-long bicycle trip around Don Kong - very peaceful! |
| A large gekko ("Tukkae") eating a praying mantis. Looks happy |
| The Mekong drops several metres at the Khon Phapheng falls. |
| The bridge between two islands - Don Det and Don Khon (not to be confused with much larger Don Kong) |
| Arrival at dreamy Don Det |
| The French tried to build a railway across the island. Now it is a wreck and most of the track is thrown across dropouts in the interior pathways. Getting across the island means tiptoing across the rail - and doing it with a bike in our case. |
| We were invited to eat this iguana, but we had other business |
| We took a boat trip to try to see the freshwater dolphins. We did see them, buy they were quite far away. Our boat could not go further because the far side of the river, where the dolphins usuall are, is the Cambodian border. We were with two Finish girls who I told to go make dolphin noises in the water to bring them closer - and they did it (didn't work, but it was funny). |
| French gravesite near the railway |
| Charismatic pig and other animals seen throuought the island |
| Some really great sunsets on Don Det |
| Lonely road to the Cambodian border |
| RIPOFF REPORT: So now I can tell a story of the ripoffs at the Laos/Cambodia border. You should buy a ticket from either Pakse or Don Kong, Don Det, or Don Khon - whever is your last point before crossing the border, and compare prices. Buy a ticket at least as far as Stung Treng or Kratie in Cambodia - not just to the border. You then go in a van or pickup to a place near (several kms from) the border where Laos Customs and Immigration have a station where you officially leave Laos. This is where ripoff artists hang out and try to get your money in various ways. The border police, who actually stamp you out of Laos usually ask for $1-2, but that is seperate from the ripoffs who are in plain clothes. |
| Please see the picture at left. This smiling guy is a ripoff artist who scammed two English guys in our group out of $22. He did it in two ways, and unfortunately they made themselves easy targets. They (1) brought excess Laos Kip and were (2) trying to pay for a Cambodian visa on arrival with it and change the rest. Mistake! He changed their money at the worst immaginable rate - twice (first to US$, then to Riel). Then he told them to pay 50% of the Cambodian visa cost to him, to "clear the police" - otherwise they would not be allowed to go to the border. They protested and he became angry - of course. They gave in and we went several kms down the lonely road to the actual Cambodian border. |
| You can see the border crossing at right, showing a sign (in white) for "Visa On Arrival". Of course once we were there the officials knew nothing of the 50% up-front payment the two guys had made, and they had to pay the full fee of $20 plus the usual $1-2 they always seem to ask for (and because it was Sunday they asked for $3). We had the phone number of the ripoff guy and my Thai girlfriend called him and asked him about it. He denied everything and eventually she really chewed him out - and she almost never gets angry. We learned later that he had lost about $200 playing cards the night before and "needed" more money - hey why not rip off some more tourists? I promised I would post this guy's picture on my website. So there he is. Right-click on the picture and Save As to download and print it. Take it to the border with you and show him that we know! Trust me - he understands English. Good Luck. |
| WARNING: Never give your passport or any money to anyone other than a uniformed border police official. |
| The real Cambodian border where visa on arrival costs $20 plus a couple dollars for "service", but this is normal. Visa in advance or on arrival you still should expect to pay $1-2 extra to the officials. |