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Prior to heading to Tha Khek we had a couple day stop over in Vientienne again. This was so that Steve could collect his passport which he had left here to allow his Vietnamese visa to be completed. In the day we had free here we ventured out on a local bus to a place called Xieng Khuan (Buddha Park), whcih contained lots of fantastic sculptures all of which were apparently completed by amateur scuplturs, hard to believe when you see the detail and size of some of these displays.....
The following day we headed to the bus park in the morning and got on a local bus to Tha Khek. This bus actually turned out to be just as comfortable as an air con bus given the air con never worked very well and ventilation was therefore far greater on this bus with the huge windows to hang out of, not to mention it was far cheaper as well!!!! After the 7 hour journey with a lot of stops along the way to drop off and pick up people, produce and anything else that would fit on the bus we arrived at Tha Khek bus park. We grabbed a tuk-tuk to a guest house Camille (from Luang Prabang) had recommended to us. We grabbed a bed each in the dorm room here and after dinner went out to explore the surrounding town. This did not take up too much time given that it is a very very small quiet town (and I mean quiet in terms of Laos, which is equivalant of ghost town!!). Everything was shut up and only a few people still out on the streets, it was only 10pm as well!!!!
In the morning we hired a motorbike and headed out into the mountain range. This is a ppopular trip called 'the loop' which takes in a number of caves along the way and can normally be completed in about 3 days. We headed out and took in the fantastic scenary which I have to say must be some of the finest I have seen so far, really peaceful roads and backgrounds around here and we ended up just riding through it all for a good few hours. Stopped off a couple of times for some drink or food. The roads soon changed and began to turn into mud tracks set amongs quarry after quarry.......... This made for some tretchurous riding through here and with the scenary now lacking I soon got bored of the riding!!! We hit another viallage and had a look at the map and realised how far we were still from getting anywhere near even half way of the loop. We at this point decided that we were not to bothered about the caves anyway given the vast number we had already seen and instead decided to turn the bike back and ride through the hill views again. Ride was all fine until we hit a quarry where they had been spraying water on the mud tracks to stop the numerous trucks from kicking up dust. All weel and good for the trucks not so friendly for the little motorbike riders!!!! After a couple slips and slides the inevitble happened and the bike was gone from under us and off sliding down the road we went....... Few scrapes and scratches but nothing more then this oh and of course being very very muddy from the wet road. Still pretty funny and the truckers with their concerned loooks soon turned to laughs when they saw us smiling caked in mud!!!!!
When we arrived back the bike was not sounding too healthy and were a little concerned we may be charged for this, however when the guy saw us covered in mud he was more concerned about checking we were ok and did not once mention anything about the bike or any potential damaged caused????
That evening we headed down to the riverside to see if anything more was happening down here and it was a good choice. After some grub we headed to a bar called 'Smile Barge Bar' which was a floating bar on the Mekong. Quite how this managed to float mind you with the amount of poeple in here all dancing and jumping around I do not know. When place was shutting we headed to another bar where we met group of locals who we got chatting with. When this place closed they then gave us a lift home on the back of their scooters. The next day was a real relaxed day of sitting in front of the guest house tv watching film after film. By about 8pm my head was starting to ache from staring at the box all day so there was only one solution head to the pub again. Down we went to Smile bar again and this night there was a band playing. They were all Americans who were living in Vientienne. Wouldn't say they were the greatest band in the world but entertaining anyway especially seeing the locals go mad to the western music!!!! The night was good fun although going out may have been a mistake given my delicate state and this was confirmed about 30 mins after entering the bar when I shat myself....... Now I know my state of stomach control has been a regular inclusion on these blogs and I did state I was going to leave it out form now on this was the fear from previous experiecnes coming true. White surf shorts, no boxers and a big mess. Still not to let this spoil the evening I sorted myself out in the sess pit of a toliet and before you could say 'Roberts your fathers breother' we were back in control of the situation and nothing that a few beers would not help me forget about!!! Couldnt sit down for a good hour or so mind you. haha.
Thtat evening whilst walking home a police officer stopped and offered a lift home, he then proceeded to flag down another motorcyclist to give Steve a lift home. We said to drop off at end of road, however given the small scale of town and direction we were heading in they knew exactly where we were staying and took us right up to guest house. Where on earth else would randoms stop and be so friendly to offer two total strangers a lift home?? Unbeleivable!!!
Following day was a tuk-tuk to the bus station and another 7 hour local bus journey down to Pakse, where we would then be able to get our bus down to the 4,000 islands down south.
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