Down here among the 4000 islands of the lower Mekong River before it flows into Vietnam. Wonderful setting and waterfalls and very hot and sticky. 16 November 2006.  There are only three ways to travel in Laos: bus, boat or plane, and the first two are very slow.  It would have taken us two days to travel overland from Luang Prabang in the north, to Pakse in the south, our stopping off point for onward travel down to Si Phon Don, also known as Four...

Just arrived in Pakse on our way to Don Khong Island (one of the '4,000 islands' on the Mekong River). So an update will appear later.

Wow - just had a bus journey and a half. From Luang Namtha to Luang Prabang it took nearly 11 hours as the road goes up and down and round and round as it winds through mountainous and beautiful scenery. But it was tiring only helped by me singing - the wheels on the bus go round and round ..................Took us 11 hours on a very hot, dusty and bumpy mountainous road and it was dark when we finally arrived in Luang Prabang (LP), but it was worth it for the fa...

On 5 November we leave China crossing the border into Laos and Luang Namtha where we'll stay for a few days to soak up the relative peace and quiet of the country.6 Nov update:  Arrived late yesterday after a very tiring and long bus journey from Jinghong then a change at Mengla (where we rode through town on motorised wheelbarrows) to a small bus for an even more tiring and dusty ride to the border.  The scenery was magnificent following the L...