Thanks to the day befores journey it took quite a lot of will power to make ourselves head for the bus station the next day for another journey into the depths of the Laos countryside - this time a place called the Bolaven Plateau - but we had the guide books descriptions of lavender tinted hill, beautiful waterfalls and lush coffee plantations to motivate ourselves so early the next day thats where we headed for.
This time our mode of transport was an actual coach but a coach like I have never seen before, and which left the couple travelling with us (who had been all around south america on their most basic public transport) staring at it in disbelief. The roof was so loaded down with sacks of what looked like building material that it didn't look there could be anything inside but inside there was everything from bags of rice and most of the contents of a hardware to a racoon in a cage and a chicken held the whole way in someones arms. Add to that peeling away plastic walls and then one little rusty fan tied to the ceiling for air con and that was our luxurious mode of transport.
But it got us there so we spent the next couple of days relaxing by one of the waterfalls and attempting to find the incredible scenery described in the lonely planet. We might have had more success with this if the tuk tuk (open air taxi-like thing) driver who took us to what was meant to be the most beautiful waterfall there had told us that there was a damn nearby that only opened at two in the afternoon - we arrived at 12 o clock and tried to look impressed by the tiny trickle of water on a massive rock face. It was still pretty beautiful everywhere else though.
From there we headed to the 4,000 islands right in the south of Laos. They are lots of islands (although I think ísland' must also refer to small hunks of grass sticking out of the water if there anywhere close to 4,000 of them) all in the middle of the Mekong. Definitely one of the most beautiful places we have been, there were palm trees everywhere, and you could just stay in little wooden bungalows looking straight on to the river. The whole of Laos was so laid back but 4,000 islands made everywhere else look hectic. In the name of when in roman doing as the romans we spent most of the time just lying in hammocks and watching the sunsets and it was lovely!
That was our last place in Laos and a very good way to leave it so after a few days we got the bus across the boarder into Cambodia and stopped off in a little town called Kratie on the Mekong river (famous for river dolphins although we didn't manage to see any) and then went to Phnom Penh. Phnom Penh was great, it was crazy compared to Laos but there were nice big park areas and also a big bit by the river so it didn't feel too full on. It was also the place for some of the best food of the trip so far. We visited Tuol Sleng which was the notorious prison of the Khmer Rouge regieme and this was awful but I think a really important place to go as everything that happened was only just over 30 years ago and when you know about it you can see how the country is still recovering from it now.
From there we went to Kampot - famous for pepper and actually the pepper there was pretty amazing (not something i really thought was possible!) and we are now in Sihanoukville right in the south where we have found the sea again at last! A nice place to relax for a couple of days before we head to Angkor Wat.
