Before we leave the island we admire the beautiful tropical plants growing in this fabulous hotel setting.
After breakfast we did the reverse trip in a tuk tuk, bike, boat & tuk tuk to our cars.
Today we have about 380 km to our overnight stop with a border crossing into Laos, so it will be another long day. But first we drive along the Mekong for about 20 km to a spot where we pick up 4 boats and go to see the Mekong dolphins. We actually saw quite a few of these fresh water dolphins (although we didn’t capture them on the camera) which was a lovely start to the day.
The drive along the Mekong river passed through small villages & it was interesting to see the the fuel pumps for the motor bikes and the houses in this regiopnal area.
We made good time to the border arriving a little after 1 pm despite the roads deteriorating about 40 km before, with more dirt sections than bitumen, but not too many potholes. We came across a couple of motor bikes carrying a pig in a most unusual way.
The exit from Cambodia was smooth and quick so we said farewell to Sam our guide and drove into no mans land to stand under the trees & have a cold drink as it was 42 degrees. We met our Laos guide Johnny and we were soon allowed to proceed through the barrier to Laos immigration to get our visas. The advertised price of a visa was $30US which we paid, however in order for us to collect our passport with the visa there was a $2US handling fee? The border crossing took us about 1.5 hours which is excelolent.
As we drive through small villages the obvious difference between Cambodia & Laos is the style of the houses, the Laos houses are constructed of brick which is rendered and sometimes with a 2nd storey of timber. The temples are more ornate in Laos with a lot more gold on them and there is an enormous gold Buddha on a hillside. The cows & water buffalo in Laos like to wander onto the road without warning which adds to the challenge of dodging around motor bikes and carts. The new year celebrations are building up, we notice a lot of young people with brightly coloured hair and spraying people with water which seems to be part of the tradition.
We arrive at our hotel which overlooks the Mekong river at about 5:30 with a magnificent sun set.
Good to see your making good progress!!
Looks like amazing scenery and culture,
Try to avoid the building sites and pot holes!! Hehehe
Happy Easter much love candice and sean.
Thanks and to you two also! Have a good Easter. Can’t help picking up a nail, unfortunately the tyre is stuffed, OK as a short term spare but not for too many km’s.
love Mum xox
Love the tropical plants we always enjoy them in Penang. Bike safety!!!!!! More relaxed than here at home. Once again we see in Penang whole families on a motorbike, no helmets, babies sitting on Mum’s hip facingthe traffic. Everyone seems very relaxed. You have extra pressure dodging local animals back here we dodge the locals to keep safe.
Bernadette and Michael