Tuesday 29h June 2010

A good night and a cool one at that. We are still not sure if the ‘snakes’ were ones that slither in the grass or walk in the grass, in any case all is well.

Our sarong men are now in uniform and disappear up the road. The camp where we are ( Don Karhn)  is the old border crossing and the Cambodians are in the middle of building an impressive new post 400 metres up the road. We arrive there and are greeted with friendly smiles all round. Both immigration, and customs for the trucks was easy and efficient.

Laos was 100 metres on, they are also under reconstruction to keep up with the neighbours, but currently immigration is still handled in the old blue shed. Customs for the vehicles is 500 metres further on. We have met our representative with the 3rd party insurance and truck papers so within ½ hour all is well and we are on our way. Our representative tell us that they only handle only 3 to 4 vehicles a year and considering they are the largest, we are amongst a small set of travellers in this area with foreign vehicles.

See Overland Laos for details

A turn left is the entrance to the Khonphabeng waterfall. This is the largest on the Mekong River and stops all boat traffic along its mighty length.

Impressive is the volume of water that flows over the falls, not so much the height, yet amongst all the turbulence, fisherman set traps for the river fish.

The southern part of Laos is not as poor as its Cambodian neighbour; noticeable is also the pride in the country side. It is clean. The country is still dry as the rice farmers wait for the start of the monsoon season. From the dense forest of the highlands, trucks dissipate with Mahogany for Thailand and Teak for Viet Nam. 

Heading up into the National Park, we pay the park entrance fee and head for the Kingfisher Eco Lodge only to find that it has been closed for 4 months and will re-open in two days. From the local villages we attempted to negotiate an elephant ride to the top of the hill only to be thwarted by mathematical calculations. In the local currency of Kip the price was K320,000 which calculator calculated comes to about US$45 for all of us. (K8200 = US$1) Their long division came to US$320 and after a significant amount of explaining it was easier for us to just give up.

 

Returning to the highway north to Pakse the highway toll fee was K5,000 (US$0.60). On arrival in Pakse we refuelled (Diesel K7140/litre= US$0.87) however Elizabeth was not feeling well so we elected to stay at Sitthilat Hotel for US$10 per night.

Camp 29:  Sitthilat Hotel -Pakse.

N15* 07.094 E105* 51.761   

Distance Today: 199 Kms

Total Distance: 4943 Kms

Wednesday 30th June 2010

Elizabeth feels much better this morning, in fact we all are, after long hot showers and an air-conditioned room for the evening.

Driving up onto the Bolaven plateau the temperature starts to drop and I think it is the first time we have turned our truck air-conditioner off since arrival at KL. The Tad Fane Waterfall is quite spectacular and sitting in the guest house restaurant sipping strong black Loa Coffee sweetened with condensed mike made it more special. I had to buy some of that ground brew from the markets plus some very runny but great tasting honey.

Topped up our group larder with pineapples, corn, and bananas, however meat is only fresh if purchased at 6am due to lack of market refrigeration.

Following lesser trails we head east of Paksong towards Viet Nam.

At an unnamed water fall, which in itself is inspiring, is the remains of a stone road.

All these roads on which we are travelling form part of the grid of roads that make up the famous Ho Chi Min Trail.  The Viet Cong used these tracks illegally (According to the Geneva Convention) however the US also bombed the trail (illegally) making the most bombed area during the Viet Nam War. UXO’s are everywhere, only yesterday one was found beside the road we are on.

Just before reaching Nan Tok Katantok Falls we come across an Australian, Simon, pushing a motorbike with a flat tyre. He is miles from anywhere, has only a cup of water left, and he tells us that he made a video to say ‘good by’ because he thought it was the end!

In the middle of Laos, in the middle of no where, 4 Australian Trucks turn up. With the bike strapped to the bull bar, Simon gratefully joins us for the drive into Sekong about 35kms away.

During our Sekong market visit we eat the battered bananas but gave a miss to the other offerings:

Frogs, Crickets,  and a Goanna – Just purchased was its head, now on the scales.

A large assortment of UXO’s found in the area.

‘Lonely Planet’ recommends the Pha Thip for a good meal, and it was great. Seven different large meals, a little spicy for some, plus 3 beers all for US$4.50 each.

Having had a taste of external accommodation we had to wean ourselves off it so elected to get one room at a newly built  place recommended by the owner of Pha Thip.

This served as a shower and toilet base for the four trucks now dominating the court yard. All for K50,000 or US$6.

Camp 30:  Sekong Guest House

N15* 20.510 E106* 43.071

   

Distance Today: 148 Kms

Total Distance: 5090 Kms

Thursday 1st July 2010

Last night’s dinner at Pra Thip could only be excelled by the pancake breakfast of this morning. Volumes of pancakes, chocolate sauce, raw sugar, (our honey) lime juice and 4 platters of fresh fruit – pineapple, bananas, watermelon, tomatoes and carrots ! Cost US$4 each

....and do not forget more of that thick Lao Coffee with condensed milk.

At Salavan and another set of falls the small children were turning rocks in the river looking for small crabs and fish.

This boy painstakingly moved countless rocks, and with a face mask searched for his feed. Once found he dropped it into the cane basket he wore on his back.

Passing endless villages and rice fields all seems peaceful, then you see a couple of motorbikes go by with two teenagers each supporting an AK47 assault rifle.

Just as lunch finished the Monsoon started. With blackened sky and claps of thunder the rain started. At times visibility was only two vehicle lengths ahead.

Fortunately we are off the highlands and almost back on the main north road.

Camp is slightly off the road about 50Kms south of Savannakhet. It is still raining and between storms we had that corn for dinner, well actually we think it is maize.

Camp 31:  Sweet Corn Road Stop 

N16* 11.438  E105* 17.412  

Distance Today: 276 Kms

Total Distance: 5366 Kms