We weren't expecting to do a great deal back in the capital, but one of the good things about travelling is that you meet people, get talking and find out what they've done. One of things that kept popping up in conversation was a place in Vientiane called COPE. So after finding some accommodation, having a quick freshen up and a bite to eat we headed straight for it.COPE (Cooperative Orthotic and Prosthetic Enterprise) is a local rehabilitation medical c...

Not feeling well, it was a struggle to hoist my backpack on and clamber aboard a narrow, unstable boat, back to the mainland, followed by the bus and another boat to reach Champasak. Chris, the gentleman he is, looked after me and carried my bag so I could concentrate on not being sick and keeping hydrated. Seeing it was just over 1km to the beginning of the accommodation in Champasak, we decided to walk. We asked and looked in several guesthouses, before settlin...

We arrived on one of the '4000 Islands' after taking a bus from Pakse to Naka Sang, then a boat across to Don Det. Si Phan Don is group of islands on the Mekong river. Located in the south, literally just before the boarder of Cambodia. Boarder-police boats patrol the river regularly. We met Svante (from our trip in the treetops) on the boat from Naka Sang and after disembarking we all decided to hunt around for accommodation. Svante was a gentleman, lett...

We took the night bus from Vientiane, leaving at 8pm, sharing the back row with an American couple. We thought we got lucky as we could actually lay down properly (unlike the other 'beds'), and had plenty of space...until an hour down the road, we pulled over to pick up a local man, who wedged his way in between us two couples - awkward! It was either too hot or too cold, and again a very bumpy journey for 12 hours to Pakse.There isn't much to do in P...

We arrived in the capital at around 8pm. Looking for accommodation was a nightmare, most places were either fully booked or cost more than the yearly Laotian salary! In mid-2007 the government put a restriction on the number of new permits for hotels, guesthouses and hostels etc, hoping for quality rather than quantity. After searching high and low we eventually found a place called 'Lao Silk Hotel'. It was fairly expensive at 160,000 Kip ($20), it was ov...