An early start today. We waited for our Tuk Tuk, which was late, but we arrived just in time for the bus. Unfortunately we were in the back row on a local bus. We had to laugh as we were repeatedly launched off our seats as the old bus bounced along. The sort of bouncing that puts your stomach up near your throat somewhere. The seats were ripped & people were packed in everywhere & yet it was somehow more comfortable than the VIP bus yesterday. We had a baby beside us & she was quiet all trip, just looking around with her big brown eyes. The trip took 8 hours owing to the slow speed & frequent stops for toilets or to let people off at their houses. The toilet stops were funny as we'd stop in the middle of nowhere & all the locals would pile off & do there thing. Looking out the window there would be 30 Laos people squatting or standing within 10 metres of the bus. Finally we arrived at Pakse bus stop where all the westerners got off. Of course we were still 9 km's from town & we're guessing all the local people were dropped in town. Of course they can make money from us tourists so we had to share a Tuk Tuk to get into town. We were let off at our hotel which was pretty nice with amazing views out over the river & to the mountains. We hadn't eaten for most of the day so made our way to a restaurant near our hotel. We ordered, then it happened to me again. Jac got her feed & mine just never turned up. I got angry so didn't reorder & made Jac pay, with no tip. We went & booked our bus ticket for tomorrow to Don Det in the 4000 islands. The place is very quiet with not too much to do but laze the day away in hammocks, just what we feel like at the moment. We loaded up on cash as their are apparently no ATMs there, then grabbed snacks before we found somewhere that would feed me. The rain was starting to fall & with not much else to do in town we returned to the hotel. It was probably our earliest night for a long time, but with another early bus tomorrow, & nothing exciting to do, we just didn't care.