Day 7 - Wednesday, May 6, 2009 - Savannahket to Laos on a local bus!

12:15pm
We woke up, packed up, and caught a tuk-tuk (a motorcycle with a carriage/trailer on back of it) to the bus stop. Our breakfast consisted of a baguette and water with some mixed nuts.

From DrB HK

From DrB HK

From DrB HK

Along the way a woman on the bus gave us some golf ball sized fruits that had a taste a lot like grapes. Irvin gave us some Filipino fruit very similar to this on back in Hong Kong. ***As I write this a sign that says 70km to Pakse passes by*** Hopefully we will get in to Pakse around 1pm. I'm ready for some food, coffee, and a nap. I think we're going to push for Cambodia/Siem Reap/Angkor Wat tomorrow, so we can have a day of not travelling and enjoying the sights instead of pushing though them

-9:45
We made it into Pakse Laos around 1:30 and were dropped off outside of town. A tuk-tuk brought us into the town center. We were dropped off at a hotel and decided to keep looking around. We then went to a travel agency to check on a bus service to Siem Reap. We found out it would be a day and a half travel with an overnight stop and 3 transfers for $44. We really didn't want to lose that much time, so we were quoted a price for a 1 hour flight right into Siem Reap, Cambodia at $130 US. We wanted to think the investment over and were in desperate need of some food after the grueling bus ride.

Off we went towards Lonely Planet recommended "Delta Coffee." We ordered a round of iced coffees and I asked for some spring rolls, green curry chicken, and red spicy chicken soup. We sucked down the iced coffees like God himself had fresh brewed it for us.

From DrB HK

Our main course came and I devoured the deliciously fresh, but curiously piquant dishes. This was the most expensive meal yet, coming in at a whopping $10 US for each of us...It was worth it though.

We arrived at the decision that the extra $90 we'd spend on the airfare was worth it for one extra day and a half of taking in everything we possible could. After our gourmet cuisine was finished, we wandered around and checked out a few more places to stay. We ended up deciding on the Lankham Hotel for $5 a night each, with all the fixins' A/C, TV, huge bathroom. After resting up and using the Internet we set out to finalize our airborne time saving plan. There were 5 seats left on the plane leaving Friday morning so we booked 3 of them. We also booked a tour tomorrow (Thursday, May 7) to see a coffee & tea plantation, 3 waterfalls for $30 each for a guided all day tour with free lunch. The travel agent (Chan) finalized the tickets and we went across the street to get some more locally grown iced coffee @ 8,000 Kip each (aka ~$1) after a few minutes Chan returned and handed me (the so called dad/father of the trip) the envelope with our confirmation letter for the flight.

We wandered a bit more and browsed around a mall, there was a crowd gathered around a stage with a Laotian man doind feats sharp blades. We watched for a few minutes, he was trying to get a volunteer from some of the locals in the front, but no one was accepting. Then he looked back at us (the only Westerners in the place) and coaxed Meghan to go up on stage. She reluctantly accepted to the cheers and applause of the crowd. He situated a cucumber in her mouth and had her lean forward. He rose the suspense of the moment by dropping his blade as he was playing up the spectacle of the show, then proceeded to chop little bits of the cucumber in her mouth inches from her face. He sent her back to the crowd to much applause and then looked back at me and motioned for me to go up next. Ever the showman and not wanting to disappoint a crowd I made my way up to the stage. He sat me down and placed a cucumber between my thighs and proceeded to chop off pieces of it as the crowd oohed and awed. A flurry of applause erupted and my 15 minutes of Laotian fame was over.

We moved on, I bought some lightweight sock, I don't know what I was thinking bringing my wool socks on this trip...

We stumbled across a Laotian acoustic band playing at an open cafe on the side of the street. We sat and enjoyed fresh ice cream (coffee and coconut) as they played on a small stage in front of us.

I write this as I lie in bed high on life, (and caffeine from Pepsi, in a glass bottle!) I'm feeling as if my soul has somehow been refreshed and fulfilled by the deliciousness imbibed today. Spectacular coffee and ice cream hasn't occurred at all since arriving in Hong Kong. Time to read up on Angkor Wat and watch some crappy TV with Laotian subtitles, hooray for sleeping until 7:30 tomorrow!