So another day, another early rise and another bus. This time, a so called "sleeper bus". We weren't really sure they meant "sleep" literally as it wasn't much of an option on this ride. Once again, karaoke blared from the early hours of the morning and a thin full reclining chair with a little bottom boxed in metal area that our clunky Western legs had to perform contortion acts to even think of squeezing into. Border crossings can be a little tense at the best...

We were picked up early in the morning by our guide for the day, Coh, and his driver, Ding, for a day of trekking. The trek started in a local coffee plantation. Most of the coffee is of the Robusta variety and according to Coh has played a vital part in the recuperation for the local people from absolute poverty. Laos was until recently one of the 20 poorest countries. Wandering through a small village nested in the coffee plantation, we noticed a local farmer ...

It was time to leave the 4000 Islands and we awoke early to make the boat back to the mainland with a bunch of other backpackers. Looking around, we were far and away the lightest travelers. At first we figured maybe it was because our trip was much shorter than everyone elses. While this was the case in some instances, there were still people travelling for less time than us with 5-6 times the amount of luggage. Anyway, the boats arrived and we were crammed ...

Being smack bang in the middle of the Mekong, it's a strange feeling waking up on an island surrounded by the mainland. Today, we were off again to see another waterfall with our friends from the previous day. This waterfall was to put all the others we had seen to date to shame. The Mother Pearl of the Mekong is the widest and probably the most powerful in the Mekong. The water below the waterfall looked like a wash cycle on serious steroids. We found ourselves...

We'd heard there was a waterfall to the South of the island so a we hired a couple of "girls" bikes (these seem to be the only type on the island) and we were off to explore. Little more than a 20 minute ride and we were looking at a tirade of water roaring down between large crags of rock. Following the waterfall downstream, we found a secluded little waterhole overlooking one of waterfalls. Having not worked the bus grime off yesterday's clothes, it seemed lik...