Another scooter adventure in Laos; Crossing the Mekong

29th October 2010

Today Aaron and I set out on our second scootering adventure in Laos. Four days ago after returning to Thakek from “the loop” we got a seven hour bus ride south, still following along the Mekong, to Pakse. Having been off the beaten track for a while we were surprised to find ourselves amidst a lot of other western tourists in Pakse. We checked in to a comfortable room and discovered a cheap internet cafe, so we hung out there for the last few days. We spent most of the time catching up on emails, blogs and reading while living off tasty street baguettes, fruit from the market and doughnuts wich were going for eight for $1!
(Internet cafe in Pakse - closed on Sunday)

This morning we rented a 110cc scooter from our hotel. It's only $7.50 a day if we take it for more than three days, so we plan to take it easy on this loop and fit in plenty of sightseeing. Today we headed south west to Champassak, to visit an ancient temple. Next we will travel in a loop (or figure of 8) up to the Bolaven Plateau, north east of Pakse, for a waterfall extravaganza in the hill country.

As we eased out of town this morning I felt less nervous about riding behind Aaron. The smooth tarmac road was no challenge compared to some of our recent experiences. As we drove further from town the road narrowed and was dotted with villages. We searched for the Mekong river crossing marked on our hand drawn map the hotel had provided us with. The map was not as well explained as the one Mr Ku gave us for the last loop, but it would have to suffice. Realising we had gone too far south we stopped at a small wooden, roadside cafe for lunch. With the few Lao phrases we had learnt we communicated “koy kin je”, “koy kin bo xin” (I eat vegetables, I don't eat meat). The lady nodded as if she understood, but some time later she reappeared with two bowls of vegetable and beef fried rice. Not wanting to offend her I accepted the dish and ate around the mince as best I could.

Back on the hunt for the river crossing we searched down some side roads and were pointed to where the “ferry” was. It wasn't surprising that we had difficulty identifying the crossing place, since all that we found at the side of the very wide river was a few small wooden crafts. We with our bike were ushered onto a small wooden platform, that straddled two wooden canoes, one with a motor. We pulled alongside another bike and a few other people. The small boat motor growled and shuddered as we started our slow traverse of the river. At either end of the platform was a small wooden railing, one of which I gripped onto. The current of the water was quite strong and we chugged across slowly. Occasionally some of the murky brown water swelling below would splash over the front of the craft and onto my feet.

When we reached the safety of land on the other side Aaron pushed the bike up a steep embankment, then we followed a path through a temple to find the one small street running through Champassak town. Looking back there was no sign or way of knowing the crossing for the river was through the temple. It was now about three in the afternoon as we motored along the road lined by a variety of guesthouses. We picked a place with a restaurant that had a view over the river and settled down to a restful evening. We're looking forward to visiting Vat Pau, the ancient temple and palace ruins at the foot of a mountain tomorrow.