Back into Laos..or is it Lao

I really enjoyed my time in the North of Laos and since leaving the country, I'd heard nothing but glowing reports about the southern part. I had been planning on a few weeks in Burma, but given the recent events and civil unrest, I decided to bag that plan and do something else (I have no desire to put myself directly in harm's way, plus I'm fairly certain that my mom would have a heart attack if I decided to go to Burma right now...and we don't want any of that now do we).The back-up plan of returning to Laos, via the country's southern border with Cambodia, fell right into place.

After Dave's departure, Phil and I headed back to Phnom Penh and started our journey towards Laos (or is is Lao, I can never seem to get a straight answer about the county's official name, though everyone seems to be certain that their answer is the correct one). Traveling into Laos involved one more night in Phnom Penh (Cambodia is all about the hub and spoke road infrastructure). Upon arrival in Cambodia's capital, the smart thing to do would have been to call it an early night and rest up for the next day's long journey north, but we met some cool German travelers and ended up staying out way too late. At the time, we told ourselves that we would sleep on the bus. Sounds reasonable enough, right? Wrong.

The bus turned out to be a Sihanoukville-style Asian chicken bus, complete with blasting karaoke music and a screaming baby (who was, naturally, sitting right in front of us). In one of my more ingenious moments, I managed to spill an entire bottle of water on my lap. So not only was I tired, uncomfortable and unable to sleep, but I also looked like I had peed myself. Sometimes I really amaze myself. Well, the developing world travel gods must have taken pity on us, because our bus ride to the Cambodian border town of Stung Treng turned out to be an 8-hour trip rather than a 12-hour trip, that or we had misunderstood the projected travel time. Either way, it was like an early Christmas present.

We stayed the night in Stung Treng, then bid farewell to Cambodia the following morning. Two buses, two tuk-tuks, two mini vans, a ferry, a motorbike taxi, and a boat trip after leaving Siem Reap, we arrived safe and sound in Dong Kong, Laos.

-Julia



The journey began as we left Siem Reap


Phil gets beat at pool by some Cambodian women and doesn't take it well


Jan and Bastian, Germans who convinced us to stay out past our bedtime


Phil's breakfast bares striking resemblance to a chromosome, no?


Whizzing by the Cambodian countryside


Hotel in Stung Treng was not made for tall people


Ferry across the Mekong in Stung Treng


Cambodian couple on the ferry


This was the border "hut", very official-looking


Roaring Mekong river (it was the rainy season, so the water level was quite high)


Welcome to Laos...or is it Lao?