An hour and a half after leaving Hue, our bus pulled up, our bags were thrown on the floor...we knew it was our cue to get off...so off we went without a clue what was really going on. Before we knew it we were casually boarding another bus (this one was the right one, we only knew this as it had Savannahket Open Tour Bus written down the side in huge letters) and then we were off to Laos (The land of the orange monks)...finally! 8 hours later and a Vietnam/Laos border crossing passed we arrived in Savannahket wondering where on earth they had dropped us off. We bargained down a tuk tuk driver with 4 other girls to take us to a guest house...which was full...obviously. We then set off on foot, they were refusing to pay for a 1minute drive round the corner, to another guest house. We only found this cheapie one after stumbling upon it on our walk. It was £3 exactly...Yess its cheap again!! It definately wasn't luxury...we had some slugs and some cockroaches...the usual..haha...but the staff were so friendly and definatley a big help, so we stayed put, we couldn't complain at the price after all!
Our first day...well we arrived at 6pm...was nearly over, so we all grabbed some dinner together and had a little walk around the town. We were planning on leaving the next day to get down to Pakse asap, there was more down there that we wanted to see but we just didnt have the energy to travel for another day on the trot, so after some deliberating...well me persuading Dom to stay for two nights...we planned to sight see (haha) the next day!
Savannahket definatley wasnt the type of place you could sight see...that was for sure! It was more of a place to walk around and see the place for what it is....We walked around for 4hours...visited nearly every Wat in the town, had a little walk along the Mekong River and realised that that was pretty much it!...It was fun though, the locals were so friendly, all the kids wanted to shake our hands...well they wanted to shake mine and I think Dom scared them..so they ignored him...they even wanted to pose for pictures with their puppies...Considering Savannahket is one of the main cities in Laos, its crazy to think, there are about 2 streets, and it's soooooo quiet! hardly any traffic anywhere!...I think this is what we loved about Laos from our previous trip, a complete contrast to Vietnam!
After a relaxed day wondering around Savannahket, we got some sleep ready for our early morning bus to Pakse....Early mornings for Dom and I are definately a no-go! We had got up, packed, got a tuk-tuk to the bus station (the price was bartered down by our landlady to 'Laos price'!) and put our bags on the bus before we said a word to each other! (both wayyy too tired) ...we got a local bus which was pretty cool...we had missed using the local transport in Vietnam mainly because it was easier to go on the tourist services. We bought our tickets and set off on the 5 hour journey south to Pakse...We decided that we would start taking malaria tablets, being in Southern Laos, next to the Great Mekong in the wet season!...so far everything was fine! We stopped at every corner possible and had a 30minute stop with the opportunity to buy some fried crickets. We passed on this and set off again....this journey was surely going to last forever...we were wrong, 5 and a half hours, and we had arrived...not quite in Pakse though, 9km outside of it! So off we went in a Sawngthaew (a kinda pick-up truck thing with two bench seats...they strap pigs and chickens to the roof...haha...and inside is crammed with people) 20,000kip each (Laos prices I'm sure) to Pakse. We found our guest house with ease...we were beginning to get good at this...and set up in our cabin of a room for the night. As it was only 1pm, we had the rest of the day to do the usual, walk around! So we grabbed some cheap lunch and set off...another large town yet it still only had the same old two roads...there was less to see here than in Savannahket, so after a beer on the Mekong and the talk on when should we leave...we agreed...the next day it was...4000 Islands here we come!!
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