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Yesterday we arrived into Cambodia and we are currently staying in a small town called Kratie. It's absolutely baking here, so we got up early this morning (7am- well, that's early for us!) in order to make the most of the slightly cooler temperatures. We took a walk along the river, out to the rural villages, and then back into the main area of Kratie. It was about 9km in all and took about two and a half hours- by the time we had finished we were definitely ready for breakfast!
Before crossing the boarder into Cambodia, we visited some other areas of Laos south of the capital Vientiane. Our overnight bus to Pakse was, you'll all be relieved to hear, vomit free! It was actually quite a comfortable journey and the bus did indeed have beds for you to sleep in. The beds are pretty small in length so not so good if you're of average height or above, but this obviously didn't pose a problem for me!
We stayed in Pakse for one night- not much to do or see but we took a wonder around the town and market. The next day we headed to Champasak, about two hours further south, mainly to visit the ancient temple Wat Phou. The temple itself is about 8km outside of Champasak, and we decided to go there by bicycle as suggested by our guide book and also the staff at the guesthouse where we were staying. Even though it wasn't that far and the road was completely flat the whole way, we hadn't factored in the heat and it ended up being pretty hard work! The sun was beating down on us the entire way there (yes Mum, I was wearing plenty of suncream and a hat!) and by the time we arrived we were pretty exhausted (and extremely sweaty- lovely!) It was worth it though as the ruins of Wat Phou were quite impressive, even though it did require climbing up a lot of steps which was a struggle after the bike ride. Thankfully there were plenty of people selling drinks when we got to the top so we were able to recover before embarking on the cycle back to the guesthouse.
Having said that, it didn't stop us from hiring bikes again a couple of days later we when got to the island of Don Khong. Don Khong is part of the 4000 Islands situated in the Mekong River. Beautiful views across the river combined with a peaceful setting made it a perfect place to relax for a couple of days. Not that you would really call a 25km bike ride 'relaxing', but again the road was flat and there was a light breeze this time so we enjoyed it nonetheless!
Don Khong was one of my favourite places that we visited in Laos. My other favourite was Luang Prebang, so it turns out that I enjoyed the first place and the last place we visited in Laos the most! Not that the rest of Laos wasn't great- we have pretty much liked everywhere we have been. In the end we spent almost three weeks in Laos. We originally didn't expect to stay so long and we clearly underestimated the amount there is to see and do. It definitely shouldn't be overlooked as a place to visit- I would recommend it to anyone.
In comparison, Cambodia is a much smaller country so we won't be spending as long here- probably about ten days or so. Tomorrow we are taking a bus to Siem Reap (famed for the legendary Angkor Wat temple) where we will spend about three days, and then on to the capital Phnom Penh. I will try and update you again from there (before we head into Vietnam) but again I won't make any promises!
Jess
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