Thursday 1st November - Monday 5th November - Pakse & Don Kho HomestayAfter another lengthy bus journey, this one made longer because although the departure time was planned for 11am, the bus wasn't deemed to be full enough to leave until 12.30pm, we stopped unexpectedly and again in what appeared to be the middle of nowhere; our bags were hoisted off the roof in more heavy rain, and we followed them blindly to a much smaller, (and thankfully more water resis...

Wednesday 31st October - SavannaketAfter another early start and lengthy bus journey,we arrived in Savannaket and took the last room in one of the few guesthouses in town - this involved a great deal of lino, cold water and a toilet that although in the western style, was raised an extra foot off the ground for some reason... meaning that a bit of a climb was involved to make use of the facilities! Still, the door was secure, there was a fan and the bed didn't ha...

Tha Kaeke - Tuesday 30th OctoberAfter making a casual enquiry and agreement in passing the previous evening, we probably weren't that surprised to see a tuktuk patiently waiting outside our guesthouse at 5am, ready to take us to the bus station - the experience is the exact opposite of trying to get hold of a taxi at 2am on a Saturday night/Sunday morning in Wolverhampton!As we have experienced previously, everyone in the vicinity of the bus station seems to have...

Vientaine 24/10/07 - TodayWe arrived into Vientiane at about 4ish in the afternoon and again avoided the tuk tuk drivers and strode off confidently bags on backs. All seemed pretty normal until we reached the river front and then we hit the stalls. The book had been going on about this quite relaxed city with a slow pace of life and all we could see was a long line of market stalls selling everything from flip flops to nappies. This is the capital city of Laos an...

Monday 22nd October - Vang ViengWe left Phonsavanh towards Vang Vieng down what seemed like the wiggliest road in the world. We had been warned by the guidebook, but none of us were prepared for how bad it would be on this part of Route 13 - I had to stop to say hello to my breakfast again, and we were all quiet during the torturous 140 km journey, concentrating hard on the road ahead out of the front window, although at least we weren't on a public bus.We arrive...