The plan, such as it was, was to take the minivan from Kratie to Stung Treng, do a ride along the Mekong, travel up to the 4000 Islands region of Laos, and somehow hopscotch over to Vientiane and then up to Luang Prabang.
I arrived in Stung Treng (not to be confused with the Stung Trang of my last post) and found the town to be a dusty, sunny, shithole. Looked at a map, and saw the ride I planned required a mountain bike, and I've had enough time in the Mekong mud. Rode around for a bit, checking out guesthouses, before settling on the one noted to be "popular with travelers." There were a couple of backpackers in the cafe, so I took a (crappy, overpriced at US12) room and began chatting with the two women (haven't spoken to anyone for a few days, so was time). Turned out that neither was staying there; they were waiting for the 3PM bus to Laos--one was heading to 4000 Islands, and the other to Pakse.
I thought about the Mekong, and how brown it is during rainy season, Then, I thought about lying in a hammock, in a driving rainstorm, looking at the brown water. And I thought, "4000 Islands, maybe not this year."
And so, I'm in Pakse. I got here around 7:45 tonight. In my usual dumbass way (Mom, you can stop reading here!) I decided to ride my bike into town even though a. it was dark, b. I have no freaking idea where "town" is, and c. I don't speak Lao and can't ask for directions. Oh, and d. I was sort of disoriented by the layout of the "bus station." On the bright side of things, I did put my eyeglasses on, so would have been able to read street signs, if there were any (there aren't). I somehow managed to ask directions (and corroborated them) and get to "town." Go, me!! Yayyyy!
After some mishaps (got slightly snippy with one desk clerk because I thought he told me that his grotty room (in a hallway that stank of durian fruit) was $30. Turned out we had an accent issue, and he actually said $13. Which is still too much for a hallway that stinks of durian fruit.
Have a nice clean $13.75 room with shampoo and a towel. Ate some food. Feel pretty good about the whole thing. Will be based here for a five or six days--some nice long (60-90 km) trips I can do from here (overnight trip to Champasak--I'll leave the extra tires here, and 90% of the toiletries). Then, 10 hour overnight bus to Vientiane.
I arrived in Stung Treng (not to be confused with the Stung Trang of my last post) and found the town to be a dusty, sunny, shithole. Looked at a map, and saw the ride I planned required a mountain bike, and I've had enough time in the Mekong mud. Rode around for a bit, checking out guesthouses, before settling on the one noted to be "popular with travelers." There were a couple of backpackers in the cafe, so I took a (crappy, overpriced at US12) room and began chatting with the two women (haven't spoken to anyone for a few days, so was time). Turned out that neither was staying there; they were waiting for the 3PM bus to Laos--one was heading to 4000 Islands, and the other to Pakse.
I thought about the Mekong, and how brown it is during rainy season, Then, I thought about lying in a hammock, in a driving rainstorm, looking at the brown water. And I thought, "4000 Islands, maybe not this year."
And so, I'm in Pakse. I got here around 7:45 tonight. In my usual dumbass way (Mom, you can stop reading here!) I decided to ride my bike into town even though a. it was dark, b. I have no freaking idea where "town" is, and c. I don't speak Lao and can't ask for directions. Oh, and d. I was sort of disoriented by the layout of the "bus station." On the bright side of things, I did put my eyeglasses on, so would have been able to read street signs, if there were any (there aren't). I somehow managed to ask directions (and corroborated them) and get to "town." Go, me!! Yayyyy!
After some mishaps (got slightly snippy with one desk clerk because I thought he told me that his grotty room (in a hallway that stank of durian fruit) was $30. Turned out we had an accent issue, and he actually said $13. Which is still too much for a hallway that stinks of durian fruit.
Have a nice clean $13.75 room with shampoo and a towel. Ate some food. Feel pretty good about the whole thing. Will be based here for a five or six days--some nice long (60-90 km) trips I can do from here (overnight trip to Champasak--I'll leave the extra tires here, and 90% of the toiletries). Then, 10 hour overnight bus to Vientiane.
Is there a noticeable difference now that you are in Laos vs. Cambodia?
ReplyDeleteYes. Different tuk-tuks, ladies wearing those pointy hats, and I haven't seen any places where they sell petrol in one-liter glass Pepsi bottles. Haven't left Pakse yet, so don't know what else. Um... ducks hanging from the back of a tuk-tuk, whereas in Cambodia I saw chickens hanging from the backs of scooters.
ReplyDeleteIce coffee exactly the same.
Sounds like you're having a minor adventure. Kind of glad for air conditioning at the moment. Yes I've grown fat and lazy.
ReplyDelete