Well, we managed to pull ourselves from our hammocks in order to leave the island and head into mainland Laos. We are now in Savannakhet having travelled up via Champasak and Pakse. The journey was by local style bus and a bit of a magical mystery tour. You had to change buses for different locations along the way and passengers were literally sold on to differenrt companies as you went. The longest journey was from Pakse to Savannakhet, about 6 hours. I didn't t...

Had a really quite straightforward crossing into Laos yesterday morning, with only a small amount of additional payment for stamping our visas. We opted to stay at one of the the Four Thousand Islands, Don Det and about as far South as you can get in Laos. We are staying in a bamboo hut that overlooks the Mekong River and the whole place is completely chilled and works at a romantically slow pace. Having walked right the way round the island yesterday afternoon (...