Sunday 22 December 2013
Saturday 21 December 2013
Don Khong to Bangkok.
A marathon of ferry,minivans,bus and taxi brought me from slow, easy going,laid back,take it easy Southern Laos to full on, frenetic,go,go,go Bangkok.Since I arrived ahead of time I went Christmas shopping for minuscule items that I could squeeze into an already bursting at the seams backpack,so the A$13,000,000 Rolls Royce,Wraith and the long wheel base Silver Ghost a steal at A$12,000,000 remain on the showroom floor.The Lamborghini people suspected I was not a serious shopper so wouldn't even let me take a photo,and this used to be such a trusting town.
My last sunrise over The Mekong.Goodbye Laos.
Monday 16 December 2013
Savannakhet
By virtue of its position at the crossroads for North,South Laos and East,West Thailand to Vietnam,and despite it being the second largest town in Laos,Savannakhet is curiously unexciting.Unless you count the proprietary and meanest street dogs in all of Asia that find sport in western passers by,but it is nice to see that the cats treat the dogs with the total contempt that felines the world over are noted for.But back to Savannakhet also called Savan and now renamed after a dead politician,it has some surviving French Indo Chinese architecture,a few tourist friendly restaurants and guesthouses within a small old city precinct and that is about it for the town itself.There are places of interest within reach but since most transport is the long distance bus to Cambodia or Vietnam arranging intermediate travel is not the easiest here.There were two local buses daily for Pakse,the next largest town south, at 7am and 5pm,after one day in Savvanakhet I was on the former.
Vietnamese Temple.
St Theresa Catholic Church.
Old Villa.
Loved the Orchids here.
Si Phan Don
.Also known as 4,000 Islands,Si Phan Don marks the the southern end of Laos and the border with Cambodia and is the place where The Mighty Mekong river is at its most serene and also it's most ferocious.
Si Phan Don.
The boat and fellow passengers.
Old French bridge between Don Khone and Don Det.
Cambodia.
Cambodia and the Dolphin habitat behind me.
Irrawaddy Dolphin.
Cute blurry dolphin.
Back on the bikes.
Somphamit Falls.
At Khone Phan Pheng.
Homeward bound.
I found on arrival at Pakse after a frustrating six hour bus trip from Savannakhet,that in half an hour a mini bus was leaving for Don Kong,the largest of the 4,000 islands,it meant another three hours of travel but the promise of an anticipated destination at the end of a long day won out over a transit rest stop at Pakse.So with the last light of the day disappearing and after probably the last ferry crossing of the day my mini bus dropped me outside a guesthouse on Don Kong.
At the last possible moment the following day I tagged along with a Chinese tour group of seven for an epic day tour of the islands.The day was overcast and untypical grey as we boarded a long tail boat at the guesthouse.A two hour cruise through islands big and small brought us to Don Khone which along with its neighbor Don Det are the two most tourist populated islands.The two islands are connected by an old French railway bridge,Det is the choice of the younger, party loving crowd and Khone by the older quieter culture.Both being veritable townships of cheaper guesthouses and restaurants.
On disembarking the boat we set off on a five kilometer bicycle ride along the track which was once the railway to the far end of Don Khone,and indeed to the far end of Laos.Here we board a smaller boat for the short crossing to Cambodia where for an entrance fee of three dollars,no passports,no questions, we were allowed ashore.We are here in hope of a sighting of the very rare and endangered freshwater Irrawaddy dolphin,a small species of grey/ blue animal, less than one hundred in mumber,and thought to have been trapped in this very small environment at some time in history.Once a sighting has been made we return to our boats and head towards that spot,where we drift around in the hope of a closer encounter and hooray it happens.They are fast and cute and too illusive for the photographic skills of yours truly but is was magical and each new breach drew shrieks of delight from my fellow travelers.
All too soon we return to our parked bicycles and we pedal off in the direction whence we came but divert to the Somphamit waterfalls said to be the biggest in SE Asia,the roar and violence are in direct contrast to the serenity of our previous location,I am almost mesmerized by a large bird,a crane or perhaps stork perched in the midst of the falls looking for its next meal.
We return to the township for lunch and the heavens open,it pours with rain relentlessly for a couple of hours before easing enough for us to splash our bikes through the muddy puddles and return to our original boat. Heading for Nakasang,the small mainland port that serves as the ferry terminal for Don Det and Don Khone here we disembark into a minibus for the trip to the Khong Phapheng Falls which are perhaps even more impressive than Somphamit.
Returning to our boat and resuming our journey in the deepening gloom of nightfall and the cold drizzling rain driving uncomfortably in on us,I am grateful to my new Chinese friends who share umbrellas and take pity on the unprepared ferang from Australia.
Arriving,finally back at the guesthouse a couple of LaoLao cocktails soon warm me up after a big day out.
Friday 13 December 2013
Tham Kong Lor
The purpose behind my traveling to this rather off the beaten track destination was to visit the not so famous cave here.There were plenty of compensations for the journey,the meandering road through the karsts was a scenic wonderland and the bus terminates at the rural Lao village of Kong Lor where the locals live as they have always lived,tilling the land,tending the crops surviving another day.They also run a few basic guesthouses for us tourists to sleep in before and after visits to the cave and to my great delight they unaffectedly provide a window into rural day to day Lao life.
It's a straight forward walk of a kilometer to the river bank and the entrance to the cave where you pay your entrance fee and your boatman and hire a headlight.From here another short walk over the bamboo bridge and and down into the mouth of the cave,which almost unbelievably remained undiscovered until 1995.The boats,long narrow skiffs powered by a long tail motor, crewed by a bowman and and skillful driver whisk you straight into the pitch blackness at high speed and it becomes immediately apparent why life jackets are provided.Often during the nearly 8 kilometer journey it is necessary to disembark to assist in pushing and manhandling the boat over extreme shallows and through rapids.With no warning you go from high speed to a sudden, grating stop as the boat hits the pebble bottom.In fairness to my two young companions,Jonas and Dennis from Germany,I have to admit I was sometimes allowed to remain in the boat during these manoevres ,perhaps in recognition of my being more hindrance than help or in deference to my advancing years.
There is is also a place to leave the boat and walk through an eerily lighted area of some of the best cave formations I have ever seen.In parts this magnificent tunnel cave through the base of a mountain is so high the torches beam disappear in the inkiness and so wide as to be almost a lake.The hazards are numerous,other boats,partially submerged rocks,low ceilings and jagged projections.At some point I lost my flashlight,whilst adjusting my camera and perhaps like nighttime mountain journeys it becomes a blessing that you can't see.
At the far side of the cave it is possible to go ashore for a drink and snack from the riverside huts the enterprising locals run.There is a village not far from here of great interest to anthropologists because of its isolation and it is possible to do Homestay here.
After a refreshing drink,in my case a beer to steel my nerves for the return journey we reembark for the second leg of the adventure which was as exciting as the first.
Jonas and Dennis were on a tight timeline and if possible did not want to spend a second night in the village of KongLor,so by virtue of two long and painful Tuktuk rides and one propitious encounter with a pair of rogues delivering new cars to Pakse we were able to make it to Savannakhet at about 9 that night.
Kong Lor.
Mouth of Tham Kong Lor.
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