Over a couple of days in Pakse I explored the Angkor era ruins of Wat Champusak and the waterfalls of Tat Fan. Both of which would have been covered in a single day trip in most countries, however, I learnt the hard way that things go very slowly in Laos, especially the public transport, and that the organised tours, which I prefer to avoid, save a lot of time and headaches. Wat Champusak was 38km outside of Pakse.... not far you would think and so I thought... and yet it took me 2 and a half hours to reach by public bus, stopping numerous times along the way to pick up a bucket of fish from someones house or drop off some thatched roofing at someone else's house. All whilst squeezed amongst 20 or so Laos people in a 'bus' that was the equivalent of a covered ute with bench seats, all staring at the blonde farrang stupid enough not to take the much quicker organised tour with the rest of the farrang. Anyhow, got there in the end and was lucky enough to get a much faster ride back in a tuk tuk with a charming old german gentleman who was talking to his Laos guide about how he was going to pay him....with women - delightful. 
From Pakse I headed north to Vang Vieng via overnight bus... lovely. Using a squat toilet on a bus whilst ricocheting around the bends of windy mountain roads was added to my list of experiences - definitely under the 'never to do again' column though. Judging by the smell I wasn't alone in finding using the facilities challenging, which made having my bed directly above the toilet even more of an experience. Vang Vieng was lovely though, even if far more touristic than most places and full of bars with travellers laying back watching endless reruns of 'Friends' and 'The Simpsons'. The mountains were lovely scenery and I was smart enough this time to join a tour of the caves with Kayaking and tubing. 
I obviously hadn't completely learnt my lesson though, as the next day I decided to hire a bike and head out to one of the better caves in the area, something the guidebook assured was easily done. Or not, first mistake was not hiring a mountain bike, which made riding along on unpaved roads (and at one point a patch which I am certain was actually a pebble river bed) feel more like operating a jackhammer than riding a bike. My second mistake was being a gullible twat who, when unsure of which direction to take to Phu Cham cave, asked locals and actually believed what they said. Thus, having taken several wrong turns and paid for entry into two caves which were decidedly not Phu Cham, despite claims from said locals that they were, I finally arrived at Phu Cham hot, dusty, sweaty and sunburned and about 3 hours later than expected. 
It was worth the visit though, an amazing huge cave with a lovely blue swimming hole outside - into which I jumped fully clothed in preparation for the long, dusty ride back. From Vang Vieng I caught a VIP minibus up to Luang Prabang - I don't want to know what the ordinary buses would be like, the VIP was experience enough. Luang Prabang was lovely, great old buildings, night markets, there was just a really nice feel to it. The first day I signed up for two half day tours, the first to Pak Ou caves and a weaving village - nothing terribly exciting there, but a nice trip down the Mekong all the same. The second was to Tat Kuang Si, which was a gorgeous waterfall with a series of swimming holes at it's base. Very pretty.On the second day I ventured out on a bike again, to visit a second waterfall, Tat Sae. Yep, not only had I not learnt my lesson, I had managed to talk another Aussie girl into going along with me. I had seen the turn off to Tat Sae on the way into town, therefore knew where it was and knew the road was paved and fairly easy going all the way. So we hired mountain bikes (had learnt that lesson) and headed out there. It was hot sweaty work, but much easier on the paved roads with good bikes and we covered the 15kms pretty easily. We took the turn off, headed through the small nearby village, parked our bikes and paid the boatman $1 to cross the river to the waterfall.... to the completely dry, not a drop of water left, full of leaves and bugs, waterfall. Yep, that's right, the guidebook said it can run a little low in dry season, but didn't happen to mention that it completely disappears. Still, it was a good ride and on the way back through the village we caught the attention of a bunch of kids at the local school so had fun showing them photos of themselves, so it was a worthwhile trip.
Then, after getting up early the next morning to watch the monks collecting their alms (man
those guys walk fast! Perhaps to avoid the hordes of tourists trying to take their photos?) I boarded a slow boat for a 2 day trip up the Mekong to Huay Xai. And no, that's not fog in this picture, it's smoke - the effects of slash and burn agriculture. You pretty much can't see more than 100m into the distance in most of nothern Laos and Thailand at this of year. From Huay Xai I headed off on the 'Gibbon Experience' - 3 days and 2 nights of walking through the forest, zipping along flying foxes and sleeping in treehouses. This was, without a doubt, the absolute highlight of my trip - muchas gracias Lee for the recommendation! After walking a short way into the forest we were harnessed up and clipped on to the first of 3 very long flying foxes - about 300metres long. Wow, I have had issues with heights in the past and was fervently not thinking about what I had signed myself up for.... and luckily it was all good. Yeah, it was high, you're about 40 metres above the forest floor and above
most of the canopy for that matter, but what a rush! And the view! Too good for words, it was just amazing and yes, my legs were shaking a tad from the adrenaline rush afterwards, but nothing to be scared of.This is the final zip line and was definitely one of the highest and it took us straight into our tree house where we were to spend 2 nights. This is Andre, one of the guys in the group, who just liked to go partway along the line and 'hang'. And no, I definitely did not give this a try, zipping along at speed is one thing... the moment it looked like slowing down or stopping... I'll skip that thanks!
Below is our treehouse. It had fantastic views and one of the most noticeable things about being out there in the forest was the birdsong... it was constant and lovely, they even sang right
through the night. Unfortunately we weren't lucky enough to see any black gibbons, but we did get to hear them singing on the second morning, quite a unique sound. Despite my past reservations about heights I felt quite comfortable in the treehouse - perhaps with the exception of the toilet... a ceramic squat toilet covering a hole and placed right next to the railing of the house and swarming with large bees (without stings, but still, more company than I usually like when using the toilet).On the trek back to town at the end of the trip we passed through a hut
where many of the Gibbon Experience workers stay and here I had the amazing opportunity to play with a baby moon bear, who had been rescued from poachers. To be able to pick and hold a normally wild animal like this was absolutely amazing. Because it was still so young it was trying to nurse on anyone who passed by, frequently sucking at ankles of people standing around, or in this case my arm. I ended up with a couple of nice big hickies after this! I have a video of it which I will try to get online, but he made the most amazing noise whilst sucking, kinda like a vacuum cleaner.Anyhow, enough on Laos. From there I headed off to Paris, where I am now sitting, shivering, reminiscing about what sunshine and warmth felt like. Have been interviewing madly for jobs and hope to have something finalised by early next week after a couple more interviews... and then on to finding an apartment. Didn't expect that to be harder than finding a job, but it's proving to be so. Oh yeah, and then the small matter of learning French... piece of cake eh!
Sorry, very long blog, but it's been a while... that's enough for now.
