Hi,

Another update for you all, our last one from Laos! So, we left Vientiane on Sunday 14th March, catching an overnight VIP bus down to Pakse in the south of the country. This bus was awesome! Flashing neon lights at the front, full beds to lie back on, pillows and blankets provided. We had a nice little meal of pork fried rice thrown in as well! We arrived in Pakse really early the next morning, and grabbed a minibus up the hills into the Bolaven Plateau (Maggie managed to get rather mixed up, and ended up calling it the 'Taliban Plateau'!).

The Bolaven Plateau has been really beautiful, and a perfect respite after the pace we set touring through Luang Prabang, Vang Vieng and Vientiane with Maggie and Dave. We relaxed here for three days, enjoying the (relatively - it was still in the high 20s!) cool temperature, and sitting outside on our bungalows' verandahs, reading our books and taking it easy. We were staying at Tad Fane resort, which has an impressive twin waterfall falling for what looked like forever over steep jungle-clad cliffs. We couldn't actually see the bottom from the viewing point! It was really peaceful here as well, the only sounds being that of birds, insects, lizards and the waterfall. The food at the resort, however, in at least Jo and my opinions, was pretty awful. I had one of the worst meals I've had travelling so far on the first day for lunch - papaya salad (which I've liked on previous occasions, when less fishy), with raw, unripe papaya shredded up, lots and lots of chillies, and this time, with some kind of raw, fermented fish sauce, which it was literally swimming in...It made my breath pong for the whole day! I brushed my teeth three times that afternoon and ate loads of blackjacks that Maggie and Dave had kindly brought out for me! On the second day we had a guided walk through coffee and tea plantations, (the Plateau is famous for Lao coffee, really good), to some more waterfalls. These we were able to swim in. There was also a raft that you could stand on, with a rope attached to pull the raft under the falls, ensuring you got drenched by the freezing water...Pretty refreshing!

We also used the Plateau as a base, hiring a sowngthaew (literally a truck converted into a large tuk-tuk) to Wat Phu Champasak on our last day there. The two hour drive was really scenic, coming down from the hills into the Mekong delta, and having to use a pontoon-type car ferry to get us across the Mekong. This was basically made of a load of longtail boats harnessed together, with planks of wood on top to put the vehicles on! The wat was pretty huge, built on three levels, and pretty tiring to climb up. Built by the Khmers in its modern form, the site had been of religious significance since the fifth century. It must have been massive and pretty awe-inspiring in its day.

On Thursday we made the journey south to the 4,000 islands, and our particular island, Don Khon. We had an air-con bus from Pakse to Ban Nakasang, the jumping-off point for the islands. Here, we tried to hire a longtail boat to Don Khon, but we were told the water levels were too low around the island, and instead, we could only get a boat to Don Det. Arriving on Don Det, the tuk tuk drivers seemed to know the only way we could get to Don Khon with our bags was with them. They rinsed us for cash, but we had to do it! Don Det and Don Khon are linked by an old railway bridge, built by the French in an attempt to bypass the Mekong rapids in this area and continue the trading all the way up the river into China. Now, it's completely disused, and serves only to get people between the islands, either on foot, bike, motorbike or the few tuk tuks that are around. The islands are completely laid back, with dirt roads, roaming animals and schoolchildren, palm trees and sweltering heat. Electricity is a pretty recent phenomenon, and all the locals are absolutely glued to television...We literally lay in a hammock on the first day, apart from sitting in pretty riverside restaurants to eat!

Yesterday we hired motorbikes and toured both Don Det and Don Khon. The roads were absolutely awful and bone-dry, we bumped and jolted our way between places. We stopped off at some rapids on Don Khon, then in the afternoon lay at the beach on the northern tip of Don Det, reading our books and going for the odd dip. In the river, Jo, Dave and I all felt an odd nibbling sensation, only to look down and see tiny fish crowding around us, going for the odd nip!

Finally, today we went on a river tour, heading to some more rapids, much more impressive than those yesterday. Here, a million litres of water a second forces its way through the rocks and down the slopes, crashing over the border into Cambodia. There was no chance of swimming here! Then we got a minibus southwards, swapping back into a longtail boat a bit further down. The boat took us through some beautiful scenery, dotted with islands in the middle of vast waterways, and past traditional fishermen with conical hats, casting their nets. We stopped in a deep pool/pond-like area, where we could literally see Cambodia. Here, after a few minutes of patient waiting and scanning the horizon, we caught a fleeting glimpse of an Irawaddy dolphin. More popped up every few minutes or so, briefly showing us their heads, back and fin for little more than two seconds. Jo and Maggie even managed to get pictures! We were incredibly lucky, as there are apparently only around 15 dolphins left in this area, as many get caught accidentally in fishermens' nets.

Tonight is our last night in Laos, and our last night with Maggie and Dave, a pretty sad occassion. We can console ourselves with the thought that tomorrow we are heading back into Thailand, and by Tuesday night, after meeting up with Joe and hopefully Ben, Darryl and Jack, we will be down in the south, sunning ourselves on some perfect beaches! Not bad, eh?!