KRATIE

My first introduction to Kratie was being dumped by the bus from the Lao border at a crossroads six or so kilometres from the town centre. Fortunately there was a tuktuk waiting and fortunately there were three other travellers to share it. One was a middle age Scotsman, John from Perth, and two were young Swiss women.

The tuktuk driver took us to an area of the riverbank road where there was a choice of accommodation. It was just a few steps from the Balcony GH which I had noted down as a place to stay. I got the last room with its own facilities. In this case it was a large room with two double beds, but as I would change to a smaller room the next day I only had to pay the smaller room charge.

The expat owner, well legally his local family down as officialy the owners, was a friendly ex-Kiwi. But one who had lived in Austrtalia for many years. However, Andrew did seem pleased to have New Zealand roots and passport. It turned out that he has a doctorate in archeology. I find it interesting to meet such a varied range of people as I travel.

Later on that evening I was able to have a meal at one of the roadside stalls with the two Swiss women. One was a primary school teacher and the other had just completed her medical studies. Her mother had rung to tell her the results and so she was on her way home for graduation. As we talked I added to my knowledge of Switzerland. They came from the German speaking part of the country but could also speak French and English. Interestingly, English is now the first foreign language the primary school children start learning I the German speaking section. Perhaps that was true for the whole country as well?

The next day the Swiss woment moved on although I did catch up with John again briefly at a cafe.

At the Balcony I got chatting to Joseph, an older Austrian man. It turned out that he lived in Beijing and worked for or actually managed, the Austrian Tourism Office for China. He had spent his working life moving around various overseas destinations for Austrian Tourism. He had now been in China for around nine years. He was a great conversationalist and had a variety of languages he could speak. At the guest house he was taking the chance to have Khmer lessons each day. He had visited Cambodia a number of times and was making good lingustic progress. Certainly, he took every chance to practise.

Coming into the conversation group was a young twenties something Australian woman, Es – a Welsh name, who joined us for some meals and for out trip to see the dolphins. She was a graduate in Sales and Marketing and was keenly reading a book on the psychology of evolution. She was finding it very interesting as her major degree subject had been psychology.

There is not a lot to do in Kratie to be honest about it. So sitting on the balcony at the Balcony GH reading was a relaxing way to enjoy the destination. It was also cool with a gentle breeze during the heat of the day. On the front lawn beside the lily pond was a open sided gazebo with a couple of hamocks providing another cool and relaxing spot. Even I managed to successfully get in and out of a hamock although I did feel that I could easily tip out if I wasn't carefull.

Kratie is located on the banks of the Mekong River and naturally a road runs along the river bank. On the riverside of the road is a wide path or esplanade. Walking along it though isn't always easy as market traders and food stalls with their seating seem to spread out over it, forcing walking on the road itself.

There is or had been a central market building which had burnt down. Now a double story replacement is being constructed. As is the case in Cambodia, the scafulting is simply thin brances and tree trunks fastened into position. Looking at the wall of the new building is like looking at a wooden pallisade from ancient times. I spent a bit of time watching the workers putting more trunks into place. They would have one foot places on a secure looking crosspiece and another on something less secure while they attached the next 'stick' in place. They didn't look very safe, but then neither did the construction process.

In the meantime, stalls are spread along most of the streets and sometimes block the street for traffic. So walking through the narrow passageway between stalls can often bring you up against a motor cyclist trying to pass along as well. Everybody just takes that in their stride. The people are very accepting.

Of course the market consists of all the regular stalls. There are plenty of women's clothing outlets and hardware sellers along with plenty of fresh vegetable and fruit stands. Down one dusty street I found the meat and fish sellers. Surprisingly fly free at most stalls. I find it interesting to pass along seeing the mostly women sellers, trimming their meat and scaling fish. They all seem so skilled in it. At one stall, a girl was beheading small fish and removing the innards then passing the fish to a boy who split it open and scaled it – all very quickly done.

Several of the meat stands had full pigs' heads on display. Some of the fish stands had bowls of live fish, including a mass of riggling eels at one place. Others had piles of animal intestines for sale.

On the corner of a couple roads full of stalls, I spied a man using a saw to cut a large block of ice. He was working on the back of a hand cart. From behind I took some photos and video of the action. His friends and customers could see what I was doing and when he stopped told him. I gave a wave of thank you and moved on down the row of stalls. On the way back one of the friends indicated that he would like to see the picture. So I set my camera to show one of the videos. It shows as a still until I press a buttlon. So once the ice man had seen the picture of himself and grinned I pressed the button and it started moving. That really got an excited reaction. The size of the viewing group increased and the ice man especially laughed out loudly and with lots of excitiment. They watched it several times before the iceman and I shook hands and I moved om.

Backing the market stalls in the streets are the usual shops and businesses and customers have to wind their way through the stalls to get to them. Quite a number of shops selling amplifiers and music mixers for some reason. Also large speakers. I found a car battery shop with boxes of the product piled up outside, as every shop does. One brand was Obama Power. Several were variations on on the Panasonic name. Lots of phone sellers, often along with other quite different products. Nokia seems to be the most common brand for sale in Kratie. There didn't seem to be many (any?) smart phones though.

All of the shops were single units as if they had been or still were, house shops. Certianly it was common to pass shops were a whole group were sitting on the floor together having a meal. In fact often when you looked into a shop it looked rather like looking into a home. A sort of strange combination of contents and use really.

One cafe had all the seats at tables facing just one way. Facing a large tv screen showing a DVD feature film. To either side were a couple smaller screens showing different tv channels. There were a fair number of the seats in use, so the idea must work even if the clients stay longer than they need to.

Did I mention how dusty the roads were? Looking down a road showed a haze of dust which did look very photogenic in the strong sunshine. I took some photos of course but would have like to have had a larger zoom range to really pull in and compress the street view. I think that would have produced quite a good effect.

An interesting town which looked a little run down. It would amazing the transformation if only everywhere had a fresh coat of paint.

On my final day I spent the morning wandering around the streets again. It was a national holiday to celebrate the king's father's 89^th birthday. Most of the businesses were open as usual but there were less street stalls especial in the meat and fish. The streets were decorated with flags and pictures of the king.

In the afternoon, Joseph, Es and I rented a tuktuk and headed off to hunt for the local dolphins. It turned out that the guest house manager was also the tuktuk driver, but he only had a two seater machine. So a cushion was produced for Es to sit on the front 'shelf'. Both of us offered her a seat but the driver said no as he needed to balance weight.

It was about a 15km drive along the riverbank road till we reached the boat landing. Most of the route passed through continous roadside housing – which varied considerablly in quality and size. Most were village homes made out of wooden planks but some out of cement and others just huts from palm fronds and matting for sides. Many were on high posts to get above flood levels. We did pass some evidence of flooding still covering some low farm land.

Because there were three of us we broke into the second price structure for the boat, $7 for 90 minutes. I noticed that the next day, 1^st November would be the beginning of the tourist season and the boat time dropped to just 60 minutes.

We headed out into the middle of the river where a couple of boats already were. Sure enough when we got to that area we began to have dolphin sightings. We were not very close but could see them emerge from the water for breathing. Ocasionally I spotted a tail as the dived back underwater. Within 100 metres of dolphins the boats are supposed to stop engines and us a paddle.

We followed them up river for a while and then motored ahead to where branches of submerged trees were sticking out above the surface. The boatman tied the boat to a branch and we floated there waiting for more dolphin sightings. They did surface at a distance. At our best count we decided that there were perhaps just four, but of courde we could not be sure. A couple seemed to be black but the others were a pale blue-grey. With my short zoom lens I did not get very close images and need to enlarge them on the computer to see them more clearly. I did waste a lot of time with the video filming the river surface in the hope of getting them breaking out. No I didn't in case you ask.

I did feel that we got more sightings that I had expected, especially considering how rare they now are. It seems very likely that numbers are too small to ensure their continued existence in the Mekong. The part of the river where we saw them is an area of deep pools which retain a good depth even during the dry period.

Well we got within five minutes of our 90 and thought that was pretty good.

Back at the guest house we sat down for pre-dinner drinks which slowly became dinner drinks. We ordered a pizza to share then another then broscetta then pate and bread. In the end the evening saw three bottles of Kangaroo Tail red wine get drinked away. It was a very pleasant evening with Joseph telling about his job as a Austrian Travel Office manager, life in China and lots of chatter about films. Every now and again he would rush off to check the International Movie Data Base to check a directors name and so forth. We both have similar interests in film.

The previous evening we had something similar with Joseph ordering the bar's last Jacobs Creek red to go with garlic bread, pate and more pate. Both nights Andrew would come in and out of conversations as his bar and serving work allowed.

But on the holiday evening we could hear concert music being amplified in the night. About 10pm when the dinning was finished, Andrew suggested we go and find the concert as in previous years it had been pretty good. So four of us managed to get onto the tuktuk and off we went along the river bank road to the Ministry of Culture grounds to see the 'action'. Although I filmed a couple of items by the same singers, the crowd was very small and the performances were adequate. So instead of having the planned 45 minutes there, we were off again in 15.

Well it was an experience even if it didn't meet Andrew's expectations.

Next morning it was a quick bagette before the mini bus pick up arrived at 7am. So I was off and my visit to Kratie was over. It was interesting and different to many other destinations. There was the dolphins of course but it was also the relaxing and talking with interesting people which will be the highlight.

There were other guests, mostly young couples who came and went each day but they tended to keep to themselves and I guess avoid old guys. But then they were not all English speakers and that would perhaps be a reason why the stayed more to themselves. Not unfriendly, just private.

VANG VIEN

Before I left Auckland I meet a couple of young friends who had recently
travelled through Laos. When they heard that I planned to stay a few
nights in Vang Vieng, there was a look of horror on their faces. They
asked if I knew anything about the place. I commented on hords of
drunken back packers and drugs and dangerous tubing and so on. But then
I added that I understood that there was fabulous mountain scenery and
caves. They agreed with that, in fact they agreed with each of my comments.


So here I am in Vang Vien and I haven't seen tubing but I have seen a
pile of tubes. I haven't seen any drunken youth, but then I have not
been out late at night. I have seen some amazing karst limestone
mountains. Today I have seen around lunchtime several young women going
along the street in brief bikini tops, in one case a brief bikini, with
bare topped males. One woman was even in the cafe I was eating in. Now
obviously they have not read the comments in Lonely Planet about modesty
and not showing off too much by either gender.


Coming back from a walk in a farming valley a male just in swim shorts
and his girlfriend in shorts and bikini top rode their bicycles past me.
Both were pale skinned, sweating and although the evidence of sun cream
could be seen, they were already showing a bright pink tone. I suspect
that they will be somewhat tended and painful this evening.


Being around 1pm it was certainly hot even hotter, so I understood their
lack of attire. I was feeling hot too and stopped off at a little local
resturant for a cool bottle of soda water. I find this bottle soda
water, from Thailand I was told, is a great drink to cool down with.
Shop price here is 5000 kip and that is what I paid today. However I
have had times where there has been an attempt to charge me 15000 kip. I
did not pay that.


Vang Vieng is an interesting small town. It is obviously undergoing
rapid development to cope with an increasing tourist interest. It
specialises in adventure activities such as river tubing, caving,
kyaking and cycling. As such it is a young persons town and this is
obvious from the majority of tourists I have seen here. There are some
older adults but few or none at presnt who would seem to be my age.
Consequently, the tours and activities which would suit me better are
not running for lack of customers. Having said that, I could pay an
inflated price and have the tur all to myself.


There are a mixture of sealed and unsealed streets, but generally the
more commercial streets are sealed and have good quality footpaths.
Smaller lanes and less commercial streets are generally unsealed and
lack formed footpaths.


I am staying at Pan's Place, a somewhat quirky relaxed guesthouse which
was set up by a New Zealander and is now run by another kiwi and his Lao
partner. He original owner Niel, a New Zealander, is still around, while
the present expat partner, Chris is a friendly guy who enjoys a good
conversation. Chris's Lao wife is the actual owner and is also on duty
during the day.


Price is low end and compeditive. My room has ensuite a good fan and
also an expell air unit. Pan's Place has a lounge and resturant area
which opens up onto the espresso bar on the road frontage. There is an
honesty system for the drinks refrigerator for guests. Upstairs is a
small TV lounge with a large supply of movies on hard drive. The only
problem with this was that I could not get the TV set to actually work.
It did not seem to switch on. And I did try!


Vang Vieng is full of guest houses of all kinds and price levels. Some
look very up market and have a hotel look about them. Others, well, you
could find yourself disappointed on arrival. More guest houses are being
constructed. This seems to be a norm for Laos at the moment. Obviously
they are expecting tourism to grow even bigger. But this is the off
seasonfor tourists and the streets are largely empty most of the day. I
walk past empty cafes and restuarants by the dozen. Yesterday around 4pm
I went to a large bar/resturant for a cool drink. I would have expected
it to be crowded at that time. But no, there was just one other guest
the whole time I spent there. So I was able to have one of the Oriental
style reclining bed/seats with a great river and valley view. And there
was a lovely cool breeze blowing in the open sides.


At night there is a small area of food stalls. The main feature here are
a couple of BBQ stands with their rotating spits. Along another nearby
street is the place for pancakes. Why would you find a dozen pancake
waggons all togther and all offering the same menu? Wouldn't it be
better to scatter around the streets? Perhaps but there are some other
pancake stands doing that. But these ones are up market as they sell crepes.


Shops are mainly clothing based but some with other items such as tables
of hardware items. Most also have some sandles and jandels on sale. Then
there are the travel agents each trying to outdo the other with the
largest signs. Most are offering the identical packages plus bus
bookings. There some kyaking and tubing outlets. All interspersed with
guesthouses.


It is interesting to wander around the streets and look into the various
business. I have seen shop owners asleep on hamocks and camp type beds.
Mothers with their young child in their arms or quietly asleep near
them. Around meal times whole families or groups gather in the shop for
their meal. It seems a very social way of mixing work and family. I
guess this is to compensate for the long hours the shops remain open.


It must be dissappointing for a shop owner to stay open long hours and
do little – perhaps no – business. In the clothing shops so much of the
stock appears identical, how does the shopper decide which shop to
enter. The Lao shop leepser is genrally friendly and quietly hopeful.
But they are not pushy or inistant you buy, buy, buy.


While there are many caves around the area, some are easier to access
and some are more interesting than others.


On my first afternoon here I walked for perhaps 30 minutes to inspect
the closest.This was Tham Jang. I had to walk to Vang Vieng Resort and
pay 2000 kip to cros their land and bridge. Once on the other side it
was just a few minutes walk along a part, past food and dring sellers to
the cave enterance. At the foot of the cliff a stream came out of a cave
and formed a small swimming pool which some locals and tourists were
using. Some just jumed in fully clothed as there was no obvious changing
facilities. It is possible to swim a short distance into the cave; about
80 metres I believe. Although I had swimming togs with me the lack of
changing facilities made me reluctant to try to change and with long
pants on I didn't want to go in fully dressed.


Admission to the actual cave, for non-Lao individuals is 15,000 kip.
Having paid this you then climb a steep stairway of a couple hundred or
more ( I stopped counting half way) concrete steps. At the top is a
small shrine and young children selling flowers and incense to place on
the shrine.

Inside the cave is a wooden and or paved pathway going in different
directions. There are bare light bulbs along the walls to dimmly
illuminate the way. The interior is generally a high cavern which winds
around various rock formations. The stellatites and stelamites are often
quite tall and thick. Some are impressive but with the low lighting
often not the easiest to define.


I was able to take photographs and movies but sometimes the results were
rather dim. I did try using my torch to help lighten rock shapes but
this tended to be too artifical and provide a curcular patch of light.


I must have spent close to an hour exploring as it was quite a large
cavern. Then back down the many steps to ground level.


This morning I set out and walked across the toll bridge (4000 kip
return) and along the rocky and muddy valley road. I headed for the
closest cave, ham Pha Daeng. Not the best or most exciting cave to visit
but the closest along the road. It was dissappointing and did not match
the roadside descriptive notice. Nowhere could I find the promised
crystal swimming pool. Although the young boy selling the 10,000 kip
tickets could say the price he was not able to answer questions about
swimming. However, I did enjoy the long walk along the bung path between
fields of paddi rice. I spied small fish in the water races and chased
butterflies trying to photograph the most attractive ones. Very
difficult to do I must add and I did not manage to catch any of the
large swallow tail ones which seemed so colourful. Well later I did get
some shots of one with its wings closed and I think it must have been
asleep. Do butterflies sleep?


When I finally located the cave after a few false tracks in the bush,
found it quite small and with a sort of cave foyer. A narrow passage
went donwrds from this but with the light of my small torch, the wooden
ladder, two thin tree truncks with a few attached cross prieces, did not
seem safe to use. So after a few minutes it was outside again and
butterfly stalking. The best shot was of the butterly which rested on my
bootlaces.


It was even hotter walking back to town so I stopped off at a small
local resturant on the island between the two bridges. Cool soda water
was the drink of the day. The establishment was all made of local
materials with a palm leaf roof. All sides of the eating area were open
to the coolling breezes. An nice place to pause at. I would assume from
watching the people dynamics, that it was family owned and run. There
were a number of children assisting and I wondered why they were not at
school. I had passed the town's primary school on the way out and seen
all the pupils in a playground break.


It is now four pm as I write this account. Looking up from my table in
Pan's Place I can see that the streets are a little busier. Half a dozen
young visitors are walking along the road with large back packs. Perhaps
they are looking for a guest house to book into. The sunlight is
developing that special late day light. Shaddows are lengthening and I
sense a cooling of temperature. Mind you it is still warm. It will get
quickly dark around six pm. Across the road the shop keeper is closing
and removing his large sun umbrellas.


A girls has just cycled past hold up an umbrella. That's one of the
things you notice – people riding along the road holding open umrellas.
They can be on bicycles or scooters. Sometimes it is the scotter
passenger who holds the umbrella over them both. I have seen several
Buddist monks cycling along holding umbrellas too. Quite common to see
monks walking along with umbrellas up.

At Pan's Place, Chris explained to me that the Lao prefer lighter skin
and that they want to avoid getting tanned in the sun. A Lao person with
darker skin is seen as inferior. It implies that they work in the fields
and are likely to be poor. The ideal male to marriy apparently is
someone with a long nose and a pale face – and hopefully a full wallet.


Soon I will need to think about tea. I have had an Israeli pork snitzel
with Israeli salad. Do Israellis really cook pork?There are at least
three resturants here with an Israeli theme. The meal was nothing
special. Last evening I went to a local pizza house but had Lao Laap.
This is a dish of finely minced meat (in my case pork) mixed with local
herbs. Not too spicy and quite enjoyable. I also had a papaya salad
which was much more spicy and I am not too sure just where the papaya was.


Tonight I visited the Aussie Bar and had fish and chips with the fish
being especially good and not oily or fatty. I got chatting to an older
guy called Steve who was the owner. Steve wandered around in just a pair
of baggies and nothing else. It seemed strange to me that the bar
manager would do that. However we had an enjoyable hour and more
chatting away and I was able to learn a little more about living and
running a business in the town. He pointed out his partner, her daughter
and his child as well as other members of the family working around the
bar. Steve had come from Perth so running the Aussie Bar seemed a
suitable business. As with other expats in town, the way to stay in Lao
was to have a local business partner who actually owns the business and
then they apply for an annual visa renewal for the expat. All the
business men I talked to actually had a Lao female partner. It is easy
to understand why someone would want to live in the town as the setting
is so pleasant.


Incidently, I would try to aviod the many establishments which seem to
be screening a continous supply of 'Friends". There is a limit to how
many episodes I can watch in a row.


While wandering around the town I came across Wat That. The main
buildings are very decrative and colourful. Restoration work seems to be
in progress and a painter high on a scafulting, much like Leonardo de
Vinci, was painting frescos onto the top of the ordamental gateway.

In the centre of a hall or temple, a groups of ladies with food baskets
was sitting waiting. Soon a group of monks arrived and sat down at the
front facing the ladies. Finally the senior monks arrived and small
tables of food were carried from the ladies to the monks who moved into
groups of four to siz around the tables. However before they ate, the
group of monks chanted what I suppose would be the equivilent to a
Christian grace.

Pan's Place also provides meals but they are Western so I tend to just
have breakfast here. Yesterday a nice omlette and today Scottish
porridge where both well prepared. For my final breakfast it was again
omlette, but this time with bacon and vegetables in it. The New Zealand
owner/partner has trained his staff to make western dishes with an
attention to detail which should have them appealling to western
visitors. Looking and the many menus displayed in front of eating
establishments I can not help but wonder how well they prepare the range
of meal styles on offer. European, American, Itallian, Israelli, Thai.
Lao, Chinese, Korean, Japanese.


One thing I have noticed is the regular rubbish collections. In fact a
large green truck is slowly coming down the street collecting the binned
rubbish out on the curb side. Some is in baskets some in plastic bins,
bags, boxes, in fact any sort of container seems to be ok. No authorized
council bag or wheelie bin system as in New Zealand.


In addition there are individuals who go around on bikes or with hand
carts collecting re-cyclable plastics. They pay a small amount based on
weight to the provider of the plastic. Chris tells me that the staff at
Pan's Place sort out the plastic drink bottles and similar from the
rubbish bins around the guest house and on sell them to the collector.
This is a small 'perk' which they share the proceeds from.


So while I didn't get to all the caves and villages that I would have
perhaps wished for, even just sitting at a shady table in front of Pan's
Place, or anywhere actually, gives me the opportunities to observe the
local life and interplay of activities. I find this equally fascinating.


Would I come back to Vang Vieng? Yes I would do that. It is different
enough to provide an enjoyable stay of a few days. Perhaps sometime I
will return with Robyn?

PAKSE or PAKXE

While Savannahket has a population of 140,000 +, Pakse only has just over half of that number, at 75,000. However, in some ways it seems a larger town. I suspect that this is because Savannahket may have had shopping areas which I did not locate.

Pakse or Pakxe, is located where the Se Dom River flows into the mighty Mekong. The way the Se Dom flows into the Mekong creates a peninsula in the same way that one exists in Luang Prabang. This offers Pakse a sheltered boat landing area. However, while I was in town, the only boats I saw were small local motor ferry boats. I was somewhat amazed to watch one of these long, narrow boats being loaded with countlessbundles and parcels even though many seats were full with passengers.       Along the riverbank, several old larger riverboats have been moored and converted into restaurants and bars. One was very busy over lunchtime and may have been an organised function from the neatness of everyone's tidy clothing. Up on the side of the riverside road a whole series of food stalls are set up under the shade of spreading trees. Most have set out small tables and plastic chairs. One even had cane units which incorporated reclining seats with low tables - sort of what I consider to be Middle Eastern fashion.    Near the centre of town is the market and the market shopping centre building. In the building are the typical Asian small business stalls. There were mostly clothing stalls grouped into women's, men's and children's areas. But, there were only a few 'other' businesses - a cell phone outlet, a couple jewelery and some shoe sellers. Upstairs, I located a well stocked supermarket with food, household items and a children's toy area.    In a neighbouring open sided building was the produce market. Here were the fresh vegetables, a large dinning area with a number of cooking spots selling similar meals. There were also some packaged food stalls as well.  

I felt that the commercial hub of Pakse was more compact than say, Savannahket, although when leaving I did pass a market area and large supermarket which I had not been too. They were on the edge of town near the Mekong River bridge.

The streets and footpaths in the commercial area are well maintained although it was common to have walk along the road because food stall filled the pavement or cars were parked along or across the pavement. No one seemed to mind.

Several of the cross roads have traffic lights as does the one way bridge. In every case traffic obeyed the lights although you seem to be able to turn left against the light pattern if traffic allows the clear space. Mind you, on many of the light controlled intersections, there was also a police control kiosk with several officers always present.

I met a tuktuk driver parked near my hotel on the first morning. He told me that he ran tours and gave me his flier. I was not interested in doing anything on the first day other than walking around and getting to know the town. However as the day progressed the thought of doing a trip got increasingly interesting, especially a half day trip into the Bolaven Plateau where I would see and ethnic village a tea and coffee plantation and a couple of water falls as well.

I spent much of the day thinking about the idea as I walked around. I had to balance this with the need to stay in Pakse for an extra night and to delete a day somewhere during the next few days.

The next morning was clear sky and sunny. It was too tempting not to stay and do the trip. I rang to check he was available and then extended my room booking.

The area we were going to travel around verges onto the Dong Hua Sao National Protected Area and consequently there was a cost 5000 kip to entre to see each waterfall.

The route out of Pakse was the road to Paksong the next town on the map and then further on to a boarder crossing with Vietnam.

This was one of the areas heavily bombed by the USA during the Vietnam War and there are still many UXO (Unexploded Objects) lying around. Each year there are still people being injured and killed from unexpectidly stepping on a hidden land mine. Fortunately, the area I was going to was considered cleared, at least in the most visited areas. Certainly I have lived to tell the tale.

Our first stop was at a Katu ethnic village established along the roadside. The Katu are a section of the Mon-Khmer ethnic grouping.

As we had travelled to this point I had already noticed the way in which village varied in the construction and style of their houses.

This particular village had the houses built up abouve the ground with storage space underneath. There couild also be some household activities there as well but there was no consistency with this. The village people seemed happy to have my driver and I walking around and I suspect that he was a regular visitor as this would be on all his itineraries.

The homes were largely palm and thatch construction. Palm trunks for framing in many cases and woven palm frond matting panels for the sides of the houses. Roofs were also made of palm thatch. However, I did notice modernisation as well. Some houses had corrogated iron behind the palm wall panels and some had it on their roof. A few had sawn timber boarding incorporated into their construction.

The area around the village was largely bare earth, still damp but not muddy. The moisture gave the ground a black colouring overall. There were scores of hens and roosters wandering around freely as well as a few ducks. Also a pig or two as well. A few hens were enclosed in small cane domed baskets about a metre wide. These seem common in both town and country throughout this part of Laos.

Of course along with kitchen and cooking utensils on the hut decks or in areas on the ground, there were also large water collecting and storage jars as well as the very common rusting satellite dishes which are everywhere in Laos. One lady I talked to who had visited Laos around 6 years ago said that there were no satellite dishes at that stage. Dishes imply tv sets which imply a supply of electricity. It is very common to see power lines running to even small villages but the wiring around huts and homes would not pass NZ safety inspection.

At this village there were some stand alone rice storage huts which looked a bit like the Maori food storage huts.

One thing which did interest me especially was the school. In the centre of the village was hut with only lower half walls, but with a roof of course. This was being used for a school. I was told that there was another school somewhere else but it was being rennovated. That would be good as the conditions here were not good. Home made desks which would seat 3 or even 4 pupils with a little storage shelf underneath. Floor was bare earth. The children seemed happy and although they were on a break when I arrived they quite soon returned to their desks and got exercise books out readyI met the one teacher, a young man. He was teaching two classes here and I noticed his seating arrangements. At one end of the hut he had a large blackboard on the left hand side with desks and students facing it.

At the end closest to me a large balckboard was on the right hand side and the desks here facing in that direction. He was teaching the 9 to 12 year olds and the young ones were at one end and the older pupils at the other. In the conditions available to him, I thought that this was a good seating arrangement. I was told that as there was a teacher shortage in this part of Laos it was common for teachers to take two classes. Actually I had read something about this in a Vietaine English language newspaper while I was staying there. Obviously a situation of concern to the government as even when they assign teachers to the area they shift as soon as they can. Alos apparently, once a teacher achieves public servant or public service status, there is a tendency for them to move into other government departments.

I took the opportunity to take a few photographs of the classroom and the pupils.

After the village we soon turned into a driveway and parked at a tea and coffee plantation.  First we inspected some tea bushes which were not much more than chest height and later some similar height bushes with very thick trunks which weee over 40 years old. That's how long the present owners  have been there.     We saw tea leaf sorting and drying and the brying kiln. It was all on a small scale though. I picked some recently oven dried tea leaf and smelt it and tasted it. Surprise - tasted like crunchy tea. This was the process particularly for green tea. Oolong tea is sundried. I had always assumed it was the reverse. Oolong tea 'with its strong bitterness it will clear up your throat and curb your cholesterol and glycemia rates,'  claims the packet.  It is distributed by Sinouk Cafe Lao Ltd. They also have a few cafes in different towns to push their own coffee brand. I had to visit Sinouk Cafe in Pakse because it had free wi-fi and the hotel's system was down for a couple of days; not that they seemed that worried. So I walked through heavy rain in my plastic poncho to get there. The poncho is a throw away item but so far it is standing up to quite a few re-uses. Mind you it does smell if you don't get it really dry before wrap  ping it up for storage.    I was invited by Mrs Ya to enjoy a cup of their coffee and couple cups of their green tea and it was pleasant.      Unfortunately I didn't see the coffee process as it ws not harvest time. Both crops are sent off to large companies for processing and sale. So the coffee beans were just from the general area rather than specificly from this plantation.     They were all robusta because of the farm's altitude - it was not high enough for arabica.   I met both the the owner, Mr Ong Ya and his wife who are Vietnamese and they did seem elderly. He is the master tea blender and had his picture on the tea packets. A sort Mr Dilmer character. I took his photo with the tea packet in the forground.    Later we drove on to the national park to see The Tat Fan waterfall.Admission was 5,000 kip. First, we had to walk down a very muddy road from the highway to the national park about 800m to 1km – but interesting of course. The depth of the mud and ruts running for a distance would have made if difficult even impossible for the tuktuk to get through. Walking down the road took me past several small holding coffee plantations. In one place they were still clearing land amongst the remanents of tall tree trunks. Another had a coffee plant nursury set up under shade cloth. There were hundreds even thousands of small plants in their individual plastic bags.     On the more mature bushes,most were covered in masses of coffee beans. Only a few beans here and there were showing the red colour indicating ripeness. So it was too early for me to see harvesting in progress. Most of the bushes along this road were arabica. Talking to small holder through my driver I found that they would get $3-4 US per kilogram of washed and dried beans. That would be beans with all their skin and flesh removed and just the green bean ready for roasting.    Well, we walked through the grounds of Tan Fan Resort to the lookout points. Across a large wide ampiheatre were two rivers falling side by side to unite in the plunge pool below. I could see that each was coming down their own jungle clad gullies. They were not just a division at the top of one river. I read that the falls are 120 metres high and I am sure I have also read that they are the highest in Laos- but I cann't be sure on that.     Certainly seeing them plunge from the dense forest covered hills was impressive.    The next falls, also 5000 kip entry, were also very impressive. First we climbed down a steep rocky step access called 'the step ladder' which brought me down to a spur jutting out at spray level. The path carried on from that observation point further into the spray and mist, but it looked rather a slippery venture along the ridge of the spur.     Coming down the steep windy series of steps cut out of the rock face was challenging enough and I wondered how I would go climbing back up. Much to my surprise I was able to ascend without much difficulty. I just made sure I had hold of the step railing all the time, I did not want to slip on the damp stone steps.    Back at the top and I could now go out on a path which took me over some low bridges near the top of the falls. Here chairs and tables had been set up for people to have picnics. I did think that would have been a good idea, but rain was just beginning to lightly fall so it was time to move on.        Actually, the previous afternoon around 4 pm, I had been wandering around a large wat just along from my hotel when the rain suddenly commenced. Actually, not quite suddenly as I had glanced at the sky and seen the heavy dark clouds and some unexpected gusts of wind swept past me. So I had seen the signs but didn't expect such a heavy and prolonged downpour. My little folding umbrella would be of no use at all. So I stood under the overhanging verandah of one of the buildings and watched the surface water build up and move across the landscape.    In the middle of the heaviest rain, several monks came in through the gateway complete with umbrellas up, but completely soaked. You often see monks  with umbrellas but they are more likely to be using them as sun shades. At least the rain was warm.     I watched it come off the roof like a waterfall. Lightning flashed and thunder rolled across the sky like a long tympany drum roll. It did remind me of similar thunder on some Suva afternoons years ago.    I am reading through Bill Bryson's book 'A Short History of Nearly Everything' as I travel. I noted some informiation he gives about thunder and lightning. 'Lightning travels at 435,000 km per hour and can heat the air around it  to 28,000 degrees Celsius' He adds that that this is several times hotter than the surface of the sun. Best to keep out of its way I suggest.    Well, that was Wat Tham Fai, which on its roadside wall had a notice that read:  'Dear guest we welcome your sight seeing'    But although the War had spacious grounds it did seem fairly typical. But, there was a sort of rotundra at one spot were there was a raised statue of what appeared to be a very elderly Buddha. Was this really a representation of an old Buddha? One who was nearing the end of life? If so, it would be rather unsusal as most Buddha statues seem to show a youthful image. So it would have been unusual, although I have read about another one some where in Laos.     There were two ladies present, worshipping at a nearby rotundra which contained statues of Buddha for every day of the week. This is something that does appear in some other wats. There is the reclining Buddha and Buddha in various hand poses. Some had recent offerings placed in front of them and inscense sticks were still smoking away.    After about half an hour the rain lessened and finally ceased. People started moving and the traffic resumed. I continued my wander around the wat,carefully avoiding as many pools of water as I could. Then back to my hotel to dry out. On the way I thought that I would stop at Delta Coffee shop for an esspresso, but just as I got almost  there, a double deck tourist bus pulled up and a large group moved to the waiting tables inside. It was pretty obvious that trying to get a cup of coffee now was not going to happen quickly. So I gave it a miss and coontnued back to DaoVieng 2 - my hotel.       There are about 20 wats in Pakse and the only other one I looked at was near the Se Dom – a tributory to the Mekong River and one town bridge.  This was Wat Lung and behind its tall white walls were a crowd of buildings funneral columns and stuppa. I chatted to several novices who where getting ready to go to school or at least to classes. It seemed that the large multi soried building was a dormatory for the novices. I also chatted to a 23 year old monk who it seemed was a teacher.    As I wandered around I glanced into one doorway and saw that it was a modern looking office with an older monk intently working on a dest top computer.     Back in the Pakse shops, I sorted out a couple of DVD to purchase. The lady wanted 7,000 kip each and would not budge, so I gave them back to her and left. A couple of days later in another shop I was able to get similar DVD for 5,000 kip each. That's the going price in most towns I have been to. Quite cheap really as it is about 80 cents NZ per DVD. However, the selection is not that great and it is quite 'exciting' to find a title or two of interest to me. Most titles in English are action movies, some rather ancient and a lot totally unknown to me.. Of the newer titles I have been able to get 'Black Swan' and 'The King's Speach' .    Late one afternoon I went back down to the river bank. It had been a nice sunny day and I was hoping to get a sunset across the Mekong photo or two. Well I was in luck and although there were clouds against the horizon and some higher; there was a decent sized gap in which the great glowing ball of the firery sun shone through. So some shots of this ate various camera settings and the darker images seemed to be the best. The rich reds and oranges came out best when I underexposed the shot. A pity though that there was no general overhead colouring of the clouds and sky. I sunset effect was localised and short as it tends to be in the tropics. The time of sunset was 5:40pm with the previous hour or so being very much into the twilight zone.     But keep in mind that sunrise is about 5:45am to 6am, so the day remains around 12 hours long.      My hotel was Dao Vieng Number 2, a modern 6 story affair fortunately with an elevator, as I was on the third floor. No resturant but a large ground floor foyer and reception area. The staff seemed to spend most of their day here watching local tv. The single room with ensuite was reasonable, a little small perhaps, but other wise ok. The charges had increased over the listing in Lonely Planet and no way could I get them brought down. But it was the end of a long day in a bus with little leg room and the next accommdation was down the road a couple of blocks, so I stayed.     Later, talking to other travelers I realise that a better bet would have been ther Lankham Hotel which was more into the centre of town, but a little noiser I am told. Very good value I am told.     I crossed a large bridge leaving Pakse. This was the Lao-Japan Bridge which was opened in the early 2000's. It is a modern bridge with suspension wires at one end. However I had not noticed a similar feature at the start of crossing it.    With the crossing completed it was good bye to Pakse and here I come Champasak.  

DON KHONG – KHONG ISLAND

Into the 4,000 islands region of the Mekong River.

The mini bus pulled into the tiny village of Ban Hatxai Khun, really nothing more than a few houses and a shop or two. This was the ferry landing for transport across the Mekong to Muang Kong on Khong Island.

Don Khong is a large island in the middle of the Mekong River. It is one of the first islands in the '4000 Islands' area of Southern Laos. It is 18 km long and 8 km wide in average width. A road goes right around the coastline and there is one which crosses directly across the island.

Within a few minutes three of us were boarding a motorised long boat, with a roof, to cross the river. The boatman asked 15,000 kip (under $3NZ) per person and would not bring it down at all. This seemed a fixed charge no matter how many were actually travelling. But the guest houses lining the oposite river bank looked inviting in the distance and after an hour plus in a fast moving mini bus, who wanted to worry about a few kip!

I suppose the trip across took 5 or so minutes and it was pleasant to be riding across the smooth flowing late afternoon water. Up stream I spied several islands of varing size and I suddenly realised that yes, there must be some of the famous 4,000 islands. And that was sort of exciting.

We eased in to the muddy river back between two other long boats, giving us a certain degree of stability to alight with. Just a step from the bow and I was onto the sloping earth bank. A few steps climbing up to the end of the concret steps and onto the road above. Straight away to my right I could see two of the guest houses I had selected to check out.

Inspired by a fellow passenger, I made sure that where I stayed could get ESPN sports channel. A Canadian, John was mad keen to watch the final of the world cup rugby that afternoon and I thought it could be worth doing as well. He had decided to come here rather than Don Det because this was the location where some guest houses mentioned having satellite tv. So his first question wasn't 'how much' but can your satellite system pick up the game. The first guest house seemed promising but I checked out next door as well. Rooms and price were ok but they could not get the channel I needed on their tv.

Back at Pon's Guest House the foyer tv set was already tuned in and the one in the room I was shown also picked it up. Seemingly the system had been specially retuned while I was checking out next door. However right on start time he realised that it was not on ESPN and so maade the manager search. through 200 channnels to find the coverage on Star Sports. I didn't know that was happening aand was in my room scannning. the channnels trying to find it, when suddenly there itwas about 2 minutes into the match. Thanks John from Vancouver.

At Pon's GH I was given a front room #10. It is a upstairs double room at the front of the guest house which gives me a river view. Slightly obscured by trees and a restaurant roof or two, to be completely honest. It opens out onto a large balcony with cane chairs and tables. Seems a very colonial feel. I could just imaging a group of colonial expats sitting here in the late afternoon enjoying their gin and tonics. It could be just was director needed for a feature film.which opened out onto the verandah- this was shady. and airy and from time to time a cool breeze woulde bnloww over it. My room comes with air conditioning, fan expellair and ensuite -with hot water.

Pon's have their own resturant set up on a roofed, open sided terrace jutting out over the river. Several other ghs havesimilar arrangements..This is not the busy season thank goodness but I can imagine in a month's time that all these terraces will be a hive of activity. The same owner runs a more modern up market hotel a little bit further along the road. This is where we go to get an internet connection.

While both Pon's establishments have pretty much the same restaurant menu, the hotel is better presented with table service set up starched white cloth napkins etc. Prices do not vary much between the two though. Cooking standards do though.

There isn't a lot to do here in the village and several people are just stressing out and relaxing while their final visa days run to a close - as I am also.Why not!

Besides long boat day trips down the river to Don Det you can hire a bicycle and ride around. This not a. costly aactivity asbike hire for the day is only 10,000 kip.

Now let it be known that I last rode a bike at least 50 years ago and I had no way of knowing if I could still do it. There is a comment about never loosing the riding skill - but you have to test it out to find out.

So taking courage in both hands I did rent a bike for the day. My take off was a little wobbly but I soon realised that I was going to manage ok. The bike technology was what I recall from all that time ago.Two handbrakes and no gears. No safety helmet either. The new thing for me was a basket on the front. There was no cross bar and in the old days I would be riding a woman's bike.

When I chose my bike I thought it would be good to have one where my feet could easily touch the ground, so I suspect that I got a bike a little small for my use. Oh well, I did not have to angle across to put afoot on the ground.

So off I went on the bike tor my first long ride. I knew it was 8 kms across to the next settlement and that meant I would be doing at least 16 kms for my first ride. Actually, coming back around the island on a mixture bank top track and the parallel road must have bought me up to around 20 kms. Not bad eh?

Fortunately the road was not only sealed the whole way, but it was flat as well. Mind you I did have weave around several pothole collections along the way. Sometimes the pothole had been filled in and sealed with a light coloured material which looked the same colour as pothotes did. So sometimes I was avoiding something completely safe.

The flat rural countryside was ideal for rice farming and that is what I found. I really enjoyed the slow cycle through the rice area. It seemed to be at several stages in its growth. Some fields were at the padi stage, others varing stages of greenness and some a golden colour of ripeness. In there fields I saw many small groups of women bending over cutting the stalks. It seems that harvesting is very much the women's job. I did see some men doing it but women were in the majority. I did tske photographs but in most cases the workers were just a bit far away for my short zoom lens to really do justice too.

Along the road a bit I came across a small group operating a bright blue threshing machine on the road side. Blue seems to be the standard colour for these machines inLaos. I have seen a number working as I have traveled along in a bus and they were all blue.

But this was nice and close so I stopped and took several photos of the activity around the machine. Chaff would fly out of a shoot in a graceful golden yellow arch before landing on a pile beside the machine. Very picturesque. Like several I have seen, this was on a trailer attached to a Kobto cultivator engine. These units are a crucial part of rural life and pull various impliments and trailer units along the road. I have seen one which was a regular passenger transport between a town and a village. I know because it was written on the side of the trailer. But today I also came across a couple which had their rubber tyres and wheels replaced with metal wheels edged in 'paddles' to assist with cultivating in the damp padi fields.

So although the ride was hot, it was interesting even if the main scenery was fields of rice. Amazing how interesting that can be if you keep looking. I past various styles of fish traps set up in the drains and padi field water races. There were larger irrigation channels which fed lines of smaller subsidary channels. There were bufalo grazing as far as their teather would allow.

Finally I could spy the radio and microwave towers ahead and knew that Muang Saen would not be far away. Lonely Planet describes the town as ' as busy river port' and I sort of though there would be a few larger river boats there. But no, all that was around were the narrow long boats used to ferry folk across the river or to an island. Not much more activity than at Maung Khong. However, the actual town had lots of small businesses trading in the basic essentials of local rural life. A couple phone outlets, some clothing mixed with other goods, hardware and dry grocery goods. I went back later to inspect the little local market which I had passed coming into the town. Perhaps 20 fresh fruit and vegetable stalls, some fish and that comprised the middle section. I assumed from the protective wrapping aropund some fruit, that it had been brought in from outside the island. We have the same sort of protective wrappers on some NZ imported produce too. I thought about the way in which the world is increasingly becoming just one great global community. I remembered elsewhere in Laos seeing imported USA grapes as we get them back home. Apples I think were Chinese. Disney was right 'It's a small world after all".

Around the perimiter of the market courtyard layout were dry goods clothing hardware – exactly the same sort of gods which the shops lining the streets also had.

I did see trays of bright red chillies set out in the sun to dry next to three trays of small fish, open up to dry more quickly I supposed.

Floating on the Mekong was quite a large local style bar and restaurant and I went aboard for a cold orange drink, which although it came from the bottle refrigerator, was not all that cold. It was from Thailand and only 25% orange with added sugar etc. It didn't taste all that like orange I know.

Once I had walked up and down each side of the four short shopping areas radiating out from the central cross road and the short shop row from the market, I had seen the town.

So I headed off along the curcumference of the island. The guide books indicate the existence of a

useable track along the top edge of the river bank. And yes I did locate it and follow it along. It was quite rutted and muddy in places and in others it lamost dissappeared amongst the low ground cover. However, I kept going knowing that the road, which I could often see, was only a house or two inland from the track.

Finally I came to a section which I could not easily pass. The old bridge timbers indicated that it had long since ceased to function and the small cliff on both sides of the stream were too much for me to carry the bike down and up. I wondered if the guide book writters had actually done the track?

At this point I made my way back a bit until I found a well defined track leading to the road and past a couple of houses, past as well a rack of tiny fish set out to dry.

So I continued along the road but as I went I began to notice people obviously using the track – so how to get onto it again. UI came to a Wat which obviously backed onto the track and so I went in and across the grounds; only to find a hige wire fence and every gate padlocked. Onto the road again. But next was a school and I could spot pupils coming onto the grounds from the track. So that was the way I went.

Going along the track gave me quite a good look into the ajoining homes and small villages. On my right was the river with often good views out across to other islands and channels. Each house seemed to have their own boat moored to the bank. Often they had made convienent steps down to it – or to a fish trap, usually a basket style.

There were plently of tall over hanging trees providing welcome shade and for a while I was riding through glades of tall graceful bambo. I enjoyed that and though it very much and Asian stereotype.

At one point I came across a small shop perched above the river and beside the path. Some houses also had terraced decks set up above the river bank and often groups would be sitting there. One group of older men offered me a cold beer as I went past but I declined gracefully.

In time the track merged out onto the road. I could not find where of if it continued on later. So from then on it was along the road as were students heading for school. Often we would exchange Lao greeting. However, three young girls ahead stopped in the shade and as I past by one said in perfect English "Good afternoon". I was impressed.

Along the way I came to the vehicle ferry landing along with its few food and drink stalls. This seemed a good place to stop and watch for a while. I watched motorbikes being transported across the river on small barges made by joining two or three longboat hulls together and placing a flat deck on top. It worked and I saw four bikes and riders on one and it could have taken another four as well. Then it was buy a cool drink and sit in the shade and just watch the activity going on around. I also enjoyed watching the local collection of roosters and hens strutting around beneath the food stall tables. I decided that they have very long legs. Another time I watched a black hen in a grass area pecking away looking for all like a black pukeko.

As I got back towards Maung Khong I was again able to connect with the track. This took me past a food stall outside the back gate of a small school and kindergarten, past buffalo, turkeys, hens and motor cyclists. Then back to Pons Guest House for yet another cool drink. Soda water is a drink of choice for me but I think this time it was fresh lemon and ice.

I was originally planning to just stay here for a couple of days and then move on down river to Don Det or Don Khon. This so I could see the famous waterfalls. However,when I found that I could do a day trip from Don Khong the need to actually relocate dissapppeared. As it has for others as well, I discovered.

Pon's GH runs a boat down river to Don Det and Dopn Khon each day departing at 8:30am. They offer two choices. A return trip down and up the river with enough time on Don Khon to walk to one of the famous waterfalls. Then alternative carries on from the time at Don Khon with a transfer to a dolphin watching 'cruise' and then a mini bus to see the higher falls, before mini bus up the road to the ferry base for Maung Khong. That was alonger trip getting g back just after sunset.

I chose to do just the cheaper return boat trip although I now think it would have been good to have paid the extra cash and done the longer trip. Yes they did see dolphins.

The trip along the river followed one rir side down stream moving often through different channels to the return. Coming back we largely followed the opposite side of the river.

It was interesting passing along the bank and seeing villages and rural life. In the afternoon we found many children on the bank waving to us. There had been some in the morning too. I saw one little boy with an older brother, both were waving. But when we waved back, the littlest boy started jumping with a happy small on his face.

So we saw adults gardening, checking fish traps, in long boats – fishing in some cases, or just standing watching us go by. On most times the top of the river bank was at least 2 metres above us, usually more.

Quite often there were mature trees growing up out of the water and I assumed that during the dry season the water level would drop so that they were on dry islands. We also passed by reeds and grasses growing up well out into the river. I spotted what seemed like lots of small branches sticking up in groups. The water was making them dance and wriggle around in quite a chorographed manner. I could just imagine the dance music playing for them.

When we got to Do Det we pulled in to drop a ypoung back packer off. Don Det is reputed to be a swinging youth hang out much like Vang Vien is. Certainly when we arrived around 10am the place was totally dead. The bars were empty. It looked sort of depressing.

But we carried on along the edge of Don Det which seemd to be almost a continous line of accommodation choices. Once we past the towering remains of the French wharf with its loading facility. The colonial French had a system of wharfs and a connecting railway to get cargo past the Mekong's falls which are the spectacular attraction at this point. They block all shipping up or down the river, which is a pity in many ways. But the falls are impressive.

Further on we came to the connecting bridge linking Don Det with Don Khon. The bridge was multi purpose; railway and narrow road. It looks like a typical rural French bridge with low archs connecting solid square pillars in a regular pattern across the channel. We landed a bit before the bridge but shortly I had a good look at it as I passed by. Actually beside it is the ticket office where you pay 20,000 kip per day for the pleasure of visiting the island and viewing waterfalls and old French railway engines. The one I saw was surprisingly small with just two wheels per side. It looked like something out of a childrens construction set. But it was in qite reasonable condition for its age and wasn't too rusted away. The old railway track is now a road or cycle trail.

But I was off to see the Li Phi Falls. This was a three kilometre walk in the hot sun through fields of ripening rice. I did pass a Wat on the way but didn't go in. Later I discovered that there is a shady path from the back of the Wat to the falls. A pity I didn't know. But then I would have missed getting the photos I took during my return 'stroll' of a buffalo in its personal muddy slush pool. It kept flicking water with its tail and rolling its head into the pool. It didn't seem to mind me watching at all.

The falls were pretty spectacular really. They are not high and it is just a mass of tumbling water racing through channels in the rock rock. There seems to be a drop over a ledge or resitant rock. The first view is the one the tour groups spnd most time at. Yes we had a couple of groups there all wanting their picture taken in front of the view. But they didn't stay long really. It is possible to move on along the track and find other views of the first part and then to see fresh parts of the total falls. To the left the falls look like some gigantic rapids with a slope rather than a distinct 'fall'.

I walked on along the drack to find the beach. Yes there it was, a small bay with sand piled up high and the river water coming in and out like the actio n of waves in the sea. It was pretty obvious that the currents were curving in and out strongly and except for a shallow paddle swimming was dangerous. It wasn't very far out into the main channel with the rushing water and the currents of the little would get you out into the river pretty quickly.

So it was an interesting day. Well worth doing. I walked back into the settlement of school, guest houses and a few basic shops. I found a pleasant waterside restaurant for lunch, where I could gaze at the river sement flowing past and at the picturesque bridge and image I was in France. Then it was time to reconnect with the boat and travel back up river after a brief side trip to drop off the full day tour passengers.

From then on, my stay was really just a few days of rest and relaxation – a nice term I suppose for being lazy. True, I did wander around the near by streets, such as they are and spend time on trying to get my blog entries done.

At 5:45am there is the chance to watch the sun rise directly across the river. I did take some photos of the emense glowing ball just above the horizon. Stunning. As the sun rises, so does the feeling of warmth. The heat of the day begins. It all happens quite suddenly really, as it does in the tropics. Sunset is the reverse with the sense of twilght dulling starting around 4pm and sunset at 5:40pm followed quickly by darkness.

Last afternoon around4:30pm we had a heavy down pour with rain and wind gusts. The guest house staff rushed up to the balcony and lowered the rolled up canvas blinds to protect the area from becoming too damp. That produced a strange sort of dullness on the balcony area. During the tropical downpour the power went off for a long while which just increased the darkness around me. It did not return until around 7pm.

Meanwhile the rain had soaked the open sided restaurant where the staff had put the chairs at an angle against the tables to let the rain drain off more quickly. As soon as the rain decreased, they had to set up two long tables ready for a bus load of tourists who were coming in for dinner. That made me decide to dine at the empty resaurant next door and so get my meal with little delay. Fried pork and vegetables with sticky rice. A tasty dish, freshly prepared and cheap.

There are two Wats close to the village of Maung Khong. The first I visited one afternoon and it was on the southern end of the settlement. I had seen it before but not gone in. The striking feature about this wat is a large statue of Buddha with a even larger representation of a naga (seven headed/toungue snake) towering up behind him. Freshly painted and bright in the late afternoon sunshine. There are paintings round the base of everyday local life and scenes plus some religious story telling.

Near the front gate a group of monks and novices were hand mixing cement and puttin in curbing and what looked like would be a path to a building. Around the wat perimeter was a high white wall with a continous series of text acknowledging the donation of money, with the amount clearly stated and the currency it was in. Obviously the temple complex is being slowly up graded as there was a half finished large sim like building standing to one side of the grounds.

At the northern end of town is yet another wat. This is spread out under tall coconut palms which provide a welcome coolness. I had walked to reach the wat and appreciated the coolness. A light breeze off the ajoining Mekong also helped.

The main feature here was an old sim which dated back 150 years or more. I took photos of the front of it which looked a bit like some Khmer ruins, but which were just a different design to the usual sim I have seen. A number of small children were playing in groups around the grounds. It all looked very peaceful and tranquil.

Across the river is a small hill. Along the ridge line can be seen a couple roof tops of Buddhist buildings amongst the trees. As well, there is a commanding Buddha statue which looks out across the Mekong. I happened to look out at the river and realised that the statue was in direct line with the Wat if was currently visiting. In fact I thought that the statue was looking right at the doorway of the sim. Not sure of the signifigance of this but I thought that it had to be more than coincidence/

Staying at Pon's for several nights were a group of travellers who are doing long journeys in 4 wheel drive vehicles. A Land Rover and a Nissan Patrol were two. One had come Australia, shipped his vehicle to South Africa and travelled up the continent. Explored Europe and then headed across Asia on his way back to Singapore, from where he shops the vehicle to Darwin and so back to home base in the south of Australia.

The other couple had set off from Europe and after crossing Central Asia, Mongolia and China where also heading for Singapore.

A third was aiming to carry on to North America before returning to the UK.

They had all met up along the way.

What a great thing to do although I guess having the vehicle and some mechanical knowledge would help. One driver said that he carried spares and this had helped when his wheel bearings gave up in rural China. Another had two blow outs in one day and had to flag down a passing motorist, luckily British, in some remote area and go 100 kms to get replacement tyres. The helpful motorist then took them back to the vehicle. That was a great way of helping a fellow traveller.

One group is attempting to raise awareness and money for UK Mountain Research and to help this have a website; www.landroveroverland.co.uk where they add blog video and photos of their travels.

The guest house became much quieter after they left – not that they were noisy, rather there were not many other guests. If any?

This is my last day on Don Khong. After farewelling the 4 wheelers, I spent time on journal writing. This one in fact. Around 11 am I set out for a walk along the path or track which runs along the river bank. While I had cycled along part of it a few days ago that had only been for the final part of this section. So I headed out as the mid day heat began to build up. Fortunately there were plenty of tall trees to provide shade over head. It proved to be a very interesting thing to do on foot. I past several rather flash guest houses and small hotels but most did not appear to be open yet for the busy season.

I went past a couple of schools and a kindergarten which all had parents waiting for their children just like in NZ – except there were no cars. A few scooters but most would be walking home. There were grazing buffalo to pass by not that any seemed to offer any challenge. Lots of hens, roosters and ducks running around. There were several groups of young chicks with their mothers scratching in the grass and earth along the track. Of course there was almost continous housing – homes constructed largely out of local materials and lots of open spaces to allow for the hot climate. Most were up on poles providing useful space under the raised floor. People were of course going about their various tasks – one woman had bowls full of washing which she was working trhrough. She was still there when I returned an hour and half later.

I was interested to look at the various gardens. Some were fenced in with bamboo rails but others were built on small terraces cut into the river bank. There were several small banana gardens too.

Much of my walk along the path was slowed down as I tried to capture some of the beautiful butterflies which were forever flying around me. In the end I did get some photos but not as many different butterflies as I would have liked. There were spme very large and colurful ones fluttering around me much of the time. Plenty of small ones as well, but it was the larger ones I really wanted.

Outside one guest house they had placed trays of sliced banana and other fruit out to dry in the sun. Here I found one medium sized butterfly which was more interested in the sweetness of the banana than in my moving around it. So here I did achieve a few good shots which I am pleased about.

I came across what appeared to be a small Chinese temple beside the track. It had an small outer room, then a small courtyard before an equally small temple with a Chinese looking god statue at the far end. Most ot the altar tables looked neglected and there were lots of leaves on them. I did wonder what the history of this small temple was.

As usual I past lots of school children coming and going, most smartly dressed in the white shirts and dark trousers or skirts. Many of the boys had little triangular scarves around their neck with the red triangle part neatly between their shoulders.

One school gate had a busy food outlet. Nothing flash, a tin roof and sideless with a raised floor which became a sitting area. Stock was very minimal. As I past along through small villages there would often be a more substancal shop beside the track. Always small but usally crowded with the stock they did carry hanging around the front area,

Finally I came to a branch in the track with one direction leading out to the road. I thought I recalled from my cycle ride a number of small shops and as I was beginning to think that a drink would be a good idea, I headed onto the road. Ahead I could see the masts whioch were at the vehicle ferry landing so I knew that there was food stalls there. I carried on along the road. On the way I was passed by several women on scooters which were laiden up and over loaded with hardware and kitchen goods. The local travelling salesperson. We gave each other cheerfull 'bai dee' greetings as I took photos.

I finally reached the ferry landing. From the map I knew that this was 2 km from my guest house. I was able to buy a couple of cans of cool drink but the food turned out to be a packet of potato crisps. Well OK, that will last me on the way back.

I located the track enterence to save another hot walk along the road under the mid day sun and set off. Less butterfly chasing this time and less need to take landscape photos as I had done it all on the way. But I did find a few new shots to take.

Finally back into the village and into the first terrace restaurant I could find. As it was 3pm, the chicken sandwich, soda water and fresh lime juice were all very welcome.

After a rest I headed down the road to Pons Arena Hotel use the Internet. Connection was fairly straight forward but downloading was painfully slow. There were only 23 emails to bring down. In the middle of it Robyn tried to establish skype contact but I didn't have the needed microphone or headphones with me. And I was in the hotel foyer. So I had to let it pass. A pity though.

Around 5pm I headed for the Pon's Restaurant terrace for a cool dring and to watch the dark rain clouds build up as the breeze got stronger. Interesting and in the distance lightning flashes and thunder. Right on 6pm, just as the bus load of tourists arrived to take up their reserved tables, the rain began. I retreated upstairs to the balcony and to type this. Once the rain had begun for earnest, staff came up and lowered the protective canvas screens. My view was blocked, not that it is all that great from here. There are trees and roof tops which block out most of the view. A pity really. The power did go off but only for an instance before everything was on again. All in all this was a much smaller session of rain than was yesterday's downpour.

My final evening meal: was a fish curry And I enjoyed it.