After a 10 hour bus journey from Vientianne(which was actually quite comfortable!) with another fellow backpacker Kostas, we arrived in Pakse in the south of Laos.
We spent the afternoon in a tuk tuk going to the Tad Fan waterfall but on the way it poured down (1st rain we have seen in 3 weeks) and when we arrived at the waterfall we saw it for about 5 minutes before steam rose up and it dissapeared! On the way back we stopped at a local school and the children were so sweet and loved our digital camera so the next day we got one of the photos of them all developed and left it with their teacher. We saw some local villages and everyone was so friendly. It actually felt like we were the only tourists they had ever seen although I doubt it!
The next day the same tuk tuk driver took us to Champasak for the day to visit the temple ruins. It was a good hike but with amazing views over the countryside. On the way down Steve tripped and cut his toe and there was blood everywhere. Although I had the plasters and the antiseptic wipes I wasn't a very good nurse but this Italian lady who was a doctor grabbed Steve's toe and sorted it out. Fortunatenely it was better than it looked so Kostas and I didn't have to carry him down!
Champasak is on the other side of the river to Pakse so we had to take a car ferry across. This consisted of 3 boats joined together with bits of wood on top! While waiting for the ferry on the way back, a local bus got stuck trying to come off and we spent the next 1/2 hour watching them try and get it of with all the people on. Eventually, the got it off and we could make our way back across the river but the bus was ruined!
That evening we went and stayed at the Tad Fan waterfall in a bungalow that had an amazing view of the waterfall. There are 2 of them which plunge 150 metres to the bottom of the valley so we decided to go on a trek to get closer to them. If I had known what we would be doing I would not have agreed! The trek started with a 45 minute clamber down the side of a really steep hill and we had to cling onto the roots and branches of trees to stop us slipping. We arrived at the top of the 1st waterfall and made our way across it, very scary when you have seen how far it drops from across the valley! I was petrified and when we started our next climb to the next waterfall I completely panicked and the guide had to hold my hand for the rest of the way! Having arrived safely on the other side we were then confornted by a mad local who was chasing a snake that was in the bushes just where we were about to go swimming! If I had been able to I would have turned back but fortunateley the route back was much easier than the route there! Steve continued to do a full days trek but I spent the afternoon recovering on the balcony of our bungalow staring at the waterfalls not quite believing that I had walked across them!
After 3 nights there we took a 3 hour bus further south. We were the last ones on the bus and I sat next to the driver. There were 3 massive holes in the windscreen right in front of my face that looked like bullet holes and with no seatbelt on and blood on the ceiling I didn't exactly feel at ease!
We arrived in 4 Thousand Islands and Steve will now continue the rest of the last 10 days which get progressively worse as far as my sanity is concerned!
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