From Don Det, we took a boat then bus up to Pakse, somewhat of a capital of southern Laos, I think, and about four hours further up the Mekong. At this point, and covering about the next ten days of our travels, my blog entries will be short, in accordance with the amount of time we stopped anywhere! With Sara having less than two weeks left, and Matt also keen to press on, we moved quickly. Ironically, very much in contrast with the general pace of Laos! "Laos time" is a term we've heard on numerous occasions, incidentally, something to which one needs to adjust, in order to avoid frustration. And waiting for a bus to depart or a meal to arrive (or rather, the second dish, as the first is usually placed in front of us fairly promptly, before the awkward wait for the other one begins), we've experienced it plenty of times too, not just heard it!

Pakse stop number one (of three, for Paula and myself, which I'll come to accordingly) lasted less than twenty-four hours. We arrived mid-afternoon, found a guesthouse, had a bit of a wander around the quiet and pleasant, mid-sized town, and then grabbed a bite to eat at one of the hotly competing Indian restaurants. Sitting on opposite corners of one of the busier road intersections, apparently one was borne of the other in some way. Daughter of old-ish, bushy moustache restaurant owner opening up her own joint, we reckoned, after sussing out both. So certainly a more fierce rivalry than your average curry house competition! Although both seemed to be full every night we were there, so perhaps everyone was happy in the end. Matt and I then embarked on what we half expected to be a fruitless search for the Merseyside derby (the first game at Anfield of King Kenny's second coming at Anfield, no less!) on TV. But obviously we had to try. Matt, handily for match banter, being an Everton fan. But on the cusp of giving up on our quest, we caught sight of some football on TV, through the window of what looked like a closed cafe. Our longing eyes were spotted, and two minutes later we were sitting in the adjoining, outside bar, with something like a forty-two inch flatscreen on the counter top in front of us! Result! Only ultimately it wasn't, for either of us, as the score ended up a 2-2 draw. For the record, though (it's my blog, Matt, I can write what I like!), Liverpool deserved to win.

And then the following morning, we set off on a motorbike tour of South-East Laos. Public transport being virtually non-existent, we found bikes for hire at under five quid a day, packed lightly, leaving our main rucksacks behind at the guesthouse, and hit the road. Matt and Sara on bike one, myself and Paula on bike two. Nothing overly risky, though, Mum, as we trundled along at a top speed of thirty-something miles per hour, on the best roads we've come across in South East Asia. Wearing helmets, of course. And yes, I kept my eyes on the road and took regular breaks. No idea why they decided to invest in such good roads, mind you, as there was barely anyone else using them.

And so our motorbike adventure / waterfall tour began!