Southern Loas

Sadly today is our last day in Loas, tomorrow we are flying to Cambodia to begin our Intrepid tour.

After Vang Vieng we did a kayak trip to Vientine. It turned out to be more sitting squished in a little bus than kayaking but was still good fun. Gary & I shared a kayak and managed to be the first to capsize in the first rapid. As it is the rainy season the rapids were a good size and the river was flowing nicely. We had about 3 good sized rapids and managed to fall in twice. It was nice to cool off even if the water was a nice brown colour.

We stayed in Vientiane (the capital) for three nights near the Nam Phu fountain. We spent one morning looking around the city and went to the Patuxai - Vientiane's Arc de Triomphe. We climbed to the top and had great views of the city. We had a relaxing afternoon and spent the second day doing a cooking course.

From Vientiane we caught the early morning flight (up at 4am) to Pakse. From the airport we headed straight to the bus station and pulled

Pataxai
Vientiane's Arc de Triomphe replica.

in just as our bus to Don Khong (4000 Islands) was pulling out. The bus stopped and the driver organised things we got on and off we went - not 100% sure we were heading to the right place. Eventually we arrived after catching the "vehicle ferry" to the island. In the afternoon we cycled about 32km around the whole island which was impressive considering the bikes we were using.

We took a boat trip to Don Det and Don Khon. We cycled around Don Khon to see the Tat Somphamit waterfalls. Unfortunately we were unable to swim as there is currently too much water in the river. If we had more time this would have been a great place to spend a few days relaxing...maybe next time. We also visited Khon Phapheng Falls which are the largest (by volume) falls in Southeast Asia.

Today we headed back to Pakse and are catching a flight tomorrow morning to Cambodia to begin our intrepid tour.