A long bus ride and a very wobbly boat ride later we arrived at a place called Si Pan Don or 4000 islands in southern Laos. We stayed on an island called Don Det in a hut on stilts (literally a hut!) over looking the Mekong with 2 hammocks, a bed and a mosquito net (what more do you need?) We went tubing again - a more sedate affair this time - they drove us up river in a tiny boat 'til we were (apparently) 3km away and then told us to jump out of the boat into the river. I'm not sure if you can imagine the Mekong but by this point it's already travelled from China and through lots of countries that don't seem too worried about river hygiene... The water was brown and moving very sluggishly, but by that point we didn't have much choice, Mark, a guy in the hut next door called Simon and I all jumped out into our tractor tyre inner tubes and away we went. We could see out huts from where they dropped us off but it still took an hour or so drifting back. All was going swimmingly until we got separated, Mark and I drifted to the other side of the island and almost made it ashore when we spotted a rather large snake swimming in our direction - luckily it got pulled away by the current but it was a little scary! We spent the rest of our time there swinging in hammocks, reading and sipping the local tipple of Laos Lao (home brewed whisky) lemon juice and honey which worked wonders on my stuffy cold.
Next we were off to Ban Lung after crossing into Cambodia. We were told the road there was really bad (pot holes and dirt track) but it didn't seem too bad - maybe it's worse in the wet season. Ban Lung is a small but sprawled 'town' on an unsealed red dirt road, it's completely out of the tourist trail but so worth the trip. We hired a motorbike and with Mark driving (and only falling off the bike a couple of times..."pot holes" apparently :P) and a hand drawn map, set off to see three of the many waterfalls around the area. The first one we could only look at from a distance, another which went into a huge plunge pool with a big cavern underneath and the last which dropped 40 foot straight onto rocks - this was where Mark lost the motorbike key which fell over the falls while he was leaning over the edge. 'Oh SH*T" was pretty much all we were thinking... Out in the middle of no where with no one around except the ticket guy who clearly didn't speak any English and only had a cow for transport. After about 15/20 minutes of manic searching down river Mark changed into his swimming shorts and went climbing through the falls. Incredibly he found the key wedged between two rocks - he is possibly THE luckiest, fluky **** I have ever known!
Once we'd regained our composure and calmed down we went to a volcanic crater which is now a huge circular pool, the water was really warm (and not at all eggy smelling which I thought it would have to be to keep the water warm?) It was crystal blue and sooo good to swim in and wash off the red dust that had completely covered us on the ride. We both looked like we'd had a bad fake tan with orange eyebrows and stripy legs!
Next it was on to Phnom Phen which is a little hectic and crazy - similar to the road in Ho Chi Minh in Vietnam but dirtier. We woke up early and went out to the killing fields where there are hundreds of mass graves, a memorial site and S21, an old high school that was turned into a torture camp during Pol Pot's reign, some pretty moving and disturbing sights. After that we were planning on going to the local museum but I fell down a crack in the pavement and twisted my ankle badly so we ended up having to go back to the hotel where all the tuk tuk drivers kept telling me they'd drive me to hospital to buy crutches. Haha. No.
We then got the bus out to Siem Reap in north-west Cambodia and spent two days exploring the Angkor temples. My favourite was definitely Ta Phrom which hasn't been restored and is completely overgrown with towering trees that are the only thing holding the buildings together. We went to the most well known temples of Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom but they're incredibly overrun with tourists and tour groups. We both agreed that the quieter temples in the more secluded areas were definitely worth the effort to get there to escape the crowds.
After an uneventful crossing into Thailand we've spent the last couple of days in Bangkok, which definitely lives up to it's seedy reputation! ("ping pong show?"). We're catching the train down to Phuket this evening to go and find the perfect beach and diving/snorkeling sites just in time for Mark's birthday and Christmas day... 30 degrees on a beach :D
HAPPY CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEAR EVERYONE! x
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