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We got dropped off at bus station with nowhere to stay. Kennys idea. Kenny agrees to go with tout that's standing there to Sihome backpackers. There were no doubles, so a four bed dorm it was. Not even a key for the door. Not impressed as the one we had looked at online was right next door, but felt like we had been roped into this one. Tired and sick, all I wanted to do was relax but no such luck in a hostel. O well, off we went to Noys fruit heaven: very good smoothie and baguette. Then pounded through the heat to the COPD visitor centre which was amazing. I'd highly recommend this to anyone in Vientiane. Tells you all about the secret war on Laos; ie they weren't involved in the war but ended up having bombs dropped on them by the Americans who were targeting Vietnam. Which has resulted in a huge amount of unexploded ordinance (uxo) in the countryside literally threatening the lives of locals everyday. It was telling of the work done by the hospital to help amputees with prosthetic limbs. Soo sad but so nice to see they are getting help. Afterwards we went to see arc du triumph of Vientiene. I huffed and puffed all day about the heat and not feeling well, poor Kenny having to listen to me. We had our cheapest Laos meal; holy basil pork and Kenny some other pork. Of course mine had chillis, which did not help situation. Back to the hostel to meet our room-mates, the icing on the cake, one had just been moved rooms as he had caught bed bugs... My worst nightmare. I just wanted to cry, esp when he hung the T-shirt up touching my bed-sheet. I slept in the other bed in my sleep sack.
The next day we didn't have a plan, so just stayed in the hostel until check out and then wandered around. Found a fountain but it was turned off. Sat in a coffee shop for a few hours, (comma coffee) found the presidential palace, went to a random museum, then back to hostel. Got our stuff ready and waited an extra 45mins until bus arrived. Of course when the bus took us to the bus station we realised we had missed the night market, we live a good market.
The overnight bus was terrible, just terrible. To start we got the back beds, which meant;
a) you couldn't sit up straight
b) you felt every bump in the road
c) instead of two double beds like the rest of the bus, the squashed 5 people in.
d) every time i needed to go to the toilet, I had to climb over everyone.
Let's just say I spent most of the night sitting on the stairs beside the toilet, and both cramping and heartburn were the other issues tonight.
We arrived in Pakse at 7am and couldn't check in until 2pm. The was my worst day of sickness (aside from the first day) and I actually considered going to the doctors as this wasn't normal and going on for too long. We lay on wooden chairs at the guesthouse reception from 7-10am until someone checked out and we could check in. Thankfully when we got to the room we had two double beds so we could spread out. Sleep it was until 1.30pm and sent even move from the room until 3.30pm when we got hungry. Having researched numerous times and not wanting to believe it, I came to the conclusion that it was the doxycycline malaria tablets that were making me ill. So little miss sensible stopped her tablets with the hope that I'd found the solution. Literally had a pizza then went back to the room to watch DVDs. Sorry Pakse, we have no idea if you had much to offer.
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