One major highlight for Liz and I about travelling south in Laos was the prospect of a "sleeper bus" to take us through the night down to the river crossing to Don Det.

Once we had finally been picked up by the bus in Vang Vieng (after it drove passed us about 3 times!) we headed to Vientiene where we would have about 2 hours to kill.We weren't too fussed about missing this out as it struck us as just another gritty city - of which we have seen plenty so far.

As always when we arrived in Vientiene we thought about our stomachs and panic bought a pretty crap pot noodle each.However when the time came to board the bus we were delighted.A proper bed to sleep in and just before it was lights out they brought us some spicy rice, a bottle of water and some strange but quite tasty coffee sweets.With this gone and ready to sleep we realised that as always with long trips we make, we had some weirdo sleeping in the next bed, at first talking to himself and then to us about how he was a mess from 6 years of smoking opium and drinking whisky.We ignored him as best we could and then he washed down about 3 valium and 9 other pills and he was out like a light - thank god!

Our arrival in Pakse was pretty smooth with a mini bus waiting for us and time for beans on baguette(!) before finishing the journey to the islands.There was a bit of deliberation on which island to choose, one is more travellers and the other more Laos.As we were only staying 2 days we opted for the closest one being Don Det and found a cheap place called Mr B's over looking the Mekong.All we did was catch up on some sleep after Vang Vieng and read our books in some hammocks in the sun.

Room was a bit grotty but it was okay to sleep in for the 2 nights before we would head to Cambodia for some serious sight seeing in Siem Reap.

Sam