Zelma’s Trip

I absolutely loved Luang Phabang.  It was such a quaint riverside town with an amazing combination of architecture from very French colonial style buildings to traditional Laos Wats.  I was also quite keen to leave so was relatively less worried about using Laos airlines than I perhaps should have been.  It was the smallest plane I have been on with around 20 passengers.  I was also surprised (hmm, that may be putting it slightly mildly) how much more small planes get affected by turbulence.  A European woman was sitting next to me and as the plane dropped what felt like a very long way on more than one occasion and then bumped about she shrieked and yelped.  They did serve a damn good meal though even if your chocolate cake did keep threatening to lollop onto your lap.  The flight actually arrived in Pakse about half an hour earlier than was scheduled.  When I got out of the airport I bumped into an Australian woman, who I have now met in far too many places, and we managed to get a shared tuk tuk into town and then I shared another to the bus station.  When I say bus station I mean sawngthaews station.  Like a large shared truck.  As per usual my camera had run out of batteries at the opportune moment.  There were also numerous stalls including one with a guy who was obsessed with trying to sell me a rather large knife.  I wouldn’t have minded too much but he kept demonstrating how quickly the blade sprung out about two inches from my chest!

The journey turned out to be an experience.  I was the only Westerner and the focus of all conversation.  My Ipod proved most amusing and I have now deduced that Laos men dislike Mozart but love Pink!  In order to get to Champasak you have to cross the Mekong River and we drove onto the craziezt Roll On Roll Off type ferry I have ever seen.  The women in the truck kept shrieking as the driver tried to get as close to the edge as possible and kept nearly reversing off the side and into the river.

When we arrived in Champasak I was surprised just how small it was.  I wasn’t expecting a sprawling metropolis but it is tiny and quiet. My guide book described it as “An up-and-coming backpacker resort”.  All I can say is that by my reckoning it never came!

I checked into a guesthouse and then wondered around the town (village/ hamlet).  There were very few people around but a lot of animals which I found myself talking to in order to try to get better pictures.  I’m actually starting to worry about how entertaining I find my own company when I’m traveling.  It’s sooo good when you can tell a joke and know that you’re going to find it hilariously funny!

Anyway so I checked into a very friendly family guesthouse and was in an ensuite bungalow for the princely sum of 30,000 Kip (around $4 US).