Hey Everyone, I know I haven't updated this thing for a while, Laotian internet is painfully slow or non-existent. Here goes.

 I arrived in the small city of Thahkek from Vientaine. After riding out into the country on an old dilapidated bicycle to see the famous caves, I decided that it was time to head south to Pakse, and then onto Don Det in the 4000 Islands in southern Laos. The plan was to take the local public bus. I was told it would take 6-7 hours to Pakse, and that sounded simple enough. I would catch the bus at 10am and be in Pakse at 530pm, or 6pm at the latest with ample time to find a guesthouse for the night. Things work differently in Laos however, and your plans need to be very flexible as I was to find out.

I arrived at the Thahkek bus station at 930am. Plently of time to get a ticket and have a bite to eat before my journey. I heard from Martin, an Austrian I had met, that the bus was delayed by half and house. I boarded the bus at 1pm, 3 hours late, and after we loaded various pieces of cargo including tires, barbed wire, a goat, which was tied to the top of the bus' roof, and a motorcycle, we set off bound for Pakse.

Bus journeys are always bumpy in Laos. This probably because the buses are from a previous age, or maybe it's the potholes that cover the road like mines. Cows corss the road all the time and couldn't care less if a bus is coming right foe them. We nearly hit one, but swerved just in time to avoid it.

On my bus the driver and the Laotians at the front were engaged ina lively conversation, always roaring with laughter and cheering which could be heard above the Lao and Thai pop music blasting at top volume. Behind me was a family who had chickens with them. These animals were not pleased to be on the bus at all. At every stop we would pause the trip for an hour it seemed, and any thought of a 7 hour journey were quickly gone.

We stopped at one town to drop a passenger off, but her luggage couldn't be found so we turned around and headed north back towards Thakhek. After backtracking for an hour we pulled into a makeshift pool hall at the side of the highway. An argument ensued and soon police arrived to sort out the situation. I am still not sure if there was luggage missing, I never did figure out why we took the detour. Eventually we turned around and headed south to Pakse arriving at 10pm, a 12 hour trip.

I left Pakse quickly and headed for Don Det a relaxing island on the Mekong River just slightly north of Cambodian border. Right now I am in Ban Lung, in Cambodia's northeastern Rikkatani Province. This place turely is the wild west. The roads are red and dusty, and the hotel I am staying in apparently has a Karoake/Brothel on the main floor. Yesterday I rented a motorbike with my buddy Jason and we went to a crater lake and waterfalls. Unfortuately I managed to crash my bike and scrapped myself up pretty well, but no permanent damage. Tomorrow I head south bound for Angkor Wat and then the Cambodian coast.