Mar 23-24 - Vientiane - So to be honest, this was a couple of days of not doing much! We wandered the streets of Vientiane like real tourists, just browsing in the shops and restaurants. Sunday morning was a late start ... I think we only got out of bed at about 11AM, and we grabbed a couple of books at the local bookstore before finding a cafe for a leisurely brunch, and then setting off to peruse the shops. I found a brilliant little tailor on a street close t...

Mar 21-22 - Tat Fan to Vientiane via Pakse - Waking up to the sound of Tat Fan falls was great. We showered, breakfasted, and headed back out to Pakse. We saw the German 'bikers' waiting at the local tuk-tuk stop, still in their leather pants, and with not a bike in sight. Oh well, they looked happy together. We turned out onto the main road, and before we knew it, we were back in Pakse. We'd been unsure where to go next, but we eventually thought that we'd skip ...

Mar 20 - Attapeu to Tat Fan - So we just about survived the night in Attapeu. At least there were no more rodent attacks to report, and all our fingers, toes and other bit still appeared to be attached the next morning. We'd toyed with the idea of trekking out a bit from Attapeu, as the far east of the country gets some good write-ups, but another hazy brown morning put us off the idea. We hopped on our bike, and headed back out of town, stopping for breakfast at...

Mar 19 - Salavan to Attapeu - After checking out of the Saise hotel, we headed out to our bike. I'd stupidly managed to park this under a tree that must have been holding a cicada convention! As well as keeping us up all night, they'd also left our bike covered in a kind of sticky, sap-like secretion. I don't know what it actually was, and I don't want to! Anyway, we cleaned it all off, and set out. As we drove out of the hotel, I was struck again by the wierdnes...

Mar 18 - Tat Lo to Salavan - The morning light filtering in through the curtains woke us up gently. We strolled up to the restaurant and, after talking to the manager, decided to take a quick ride on the elephants that we'd seen bathing the day before; as they looked like they actually had quite a good life here. We wolfed down a quick breakfast, and walked out to the front of the lodge, where they'd constructed a mounting block of sorts - a wooden structure that...