Southern Laos is Amazing

Hey everybody...I'm back in Bangkok now after a week in Southern Laos. Anyways, like the title says, Southern Laos was amazing. I took an overnight bus from Vientiane to Pakse, then jumped on a bus to Champusak.

Champusak is the old capital of Laos, and it has the Lao version of Angkor wat (although even though I haven't yet been to Angkor, I'm guessing the Lao version is a lot more dilapidated). I hitched a ride with a farmer to the temple and spent the day checking out the ruins.

After that, I went back to the guesthouse, which had a restaurant on a balcony hanging over the Mekong - it was an amazing view. Not too much to do at night, so I just chilled out and went to bed.

The next day, I hopped on a bus to Don Det (Det Island) in Si Phan Don (4000 Islands). I met an American guy and a Dutch girl and we rode a pretty crappy public bus, which ended up blowing a tire and breaking down for 2 hours in a tiny Lao village. It was actually an interesting experience though, and I didn't mind it.

Si Phan Don was amazing - one of the most beautiful places I've seen so far. The Mekong river fans out and forms a bunch of little islands that you can swim between. On Don Det there is even a nice (although small) beach. Don Det was pretty chill, there isn't electricity on the island so most guesthouses run the generator until 8 pm, after that there's no electricity except at the Reggae Bar, a bar where you can get all kinds of "happy" meals and there's even a trampoline from the bar into the river.

I'm probably going to be in Bangkok for 3 days or so, after that I'm going to start heading north to Chang Mai as my course starts next week. Can't believe I'm going to have to study after a month of doing nothing at all....