More illness

(I’ve skipped my recounting of the Thakhek loop for now as it’s a lot of writing and I don’t want to delay the rest of the journey, I’ll upload it when I have a lot more time)

So not much of an update in the last week because less has been going on. After finishing the loop and another very restful stay at Naga’s, We headed south towards Don Det in the 4000 islands. Now this journey turned out to be a bit of a pain, requiring three different minibuses an overnight stay in Pakse and a ferry at the end.

The first minibus was the worst. We had been advised to take it instead of the local bus by a hostel host for some reason, but not only did it not take us to Pakse, our intended transfer point, it dropped us off at Savannakhet which was only about a third of the way there.

To make matters worse the driver kept stopping to let people in until we had 24 people crammed into the back of a Toyota Hiace. Thank God it didn’t go all the way to Pakse as my knees and back barely lasted for three hours and absolutely would not of been happy with another five.

The stay in Pakse was fine, you can tell it is the main city of the south of Laos more for functional and beauty purposes, but it was still interesting to have a look around and Dan and I found a nice bar with live music and friendly cats to chill at. The three hour trip to Don Det The next day felt mercifully short and we arrived on the lusciously green island city in the middle of the Mekong around noon.

Dan and I relaxed for the afternoon before meeting some people we had met on our travels previously for dinner. We had a good night chatting and visiting a couple of bars one of my favourite nights out yet until disaster struck.

Me and Dan both woke up at about 2 am feeling awful. Dan was throwing up, I was having major problems at the other end, and we both felt super dizzy and nauseous. This lasted for pretty much the next 48 hours, wearing off fairly quickly after 36 once we’d got around to eating.

Dan thinks this was food poisoning but I reckon it was a mixture of dehydration, heat exhaustion and tiredness from an intense week. Either way I’d lost the two days are dedicated to this place that I worked hard to get to, missing out on some epic scenery and good vibes with the people we have met/reunited with on the first night.

Oh well…

Some Imodium and a four hour bus trip later I’m back in Pakse, mentally preparing myself for my 10 hour bus to Da Nang tomorrow. I’m finally leaving Laos and heading to Vietnam after 22 days. I can see why everyone goes to the north: it’s great. There’s lots to do (Mostly in Vang Vieng and some other parts I didn’t go to) and all the backpackers travel that bit as I quickly found out when I constantly saw the same people for two weeks. The south is less well travelled but undeniably worth it for some of the nature and adventure on offer.Read more