Day 45 - 48 Myanmar, Yangon. - Beds, Buddhists and Buses.

Our last night in Laos was at a pleasant, but simple guest house back on Route 13, to stop for the night, following an appetising evening meal of crisps and yoghurt and a cup of 3 in1 Nescafe coffee!!! .................... The local fried 'bird' didn't look too appetising!! .......... we got a good and well deserved, nights sleep.

Roast 'Bird on a stick' ...................... not sure quite which bird! ..... looked like flattened road kill!!

With an early rise we made our destination at Europcar in Vientiane early with time to enjoy a good brunch and great coffee at JoMa Cafe. We dropped the children off with all the rucksacks at the Cafe to order, while we drove a few blocks away to drop the car off. When all the paperwork was complete Europcar kindly drove us to JoMa Cafe and agreed to pick us back up 40 minutes later, after brunch, to take us to the Airport!! ...................... now that is what you call service!!! All in all Laos was a wonderful country and the people were extremely welcoming, friendly and very genuine, a country where you felt safe wherever you were.

We took a short flight from Vientiane to Bangkok then on to Yangon in Myanmar (Burma), where we didn't quite know what to expect and Myanmar was probably the one place we hadn't had too much time to research and this soon came home to roost! But, "This is Burma" wrote Rudyard Kipling. "It is quite unlike any place you know about". ....... and, as in Kipling's day, having had the luxury of ATM machines all over Vietnam and Laos, in Myanmar, International ATM's didn't exist!! We found out at the Airport from a grumpy Australian man (thats not a generalisation, .... he just sounded grumpy ................. mind you after we heard what he had to say there were now a few grumpy Brits in the Airport!!) who said "ya can't get cash in this country, .......... thats why I've had to come over here with $14,000 cash in ma pockets .............. it's bloody hopeless!!"

Ahhh!!! .................. problem challenge No. 1!! ....................... We only had $300 between the five of us for three weeks!! ..................................................... bugger!!!!!!

The Old Colonial Governement Buildngs, now empty, built to show the Burmese people the strength of the old Empire. This is where Bogyoke Aung San (Aung San Suu Kyi's farther) was assassinated following his overwhelming majority in the 1947 elections.

In three moves (1824, 1852 and 1885), the British took over all of Myanmar. The Burmese King and Queen were exiled to India and their Grand Palace at Mandalay was looted and used as a barracks to quarter British and Indian troops!!! .............. mmmmmmh! ..... they are a nice bunch of people!

Other evidence of colonial architecture.



Jo had only got the 'SE Asia Lonely Planet' out during the flight and the money situation wasn't mentioned in any great detail and non of the other articles we read mentioned it - we had even had time in Bangkok to get money out, so it was even more frustrating.

We met 'Saw' a local taxi driver who worked with the Tourist Information Office, "There is only one place in Yangon you can change money, at one of the travel agencies and they will charge about 7% .................. You cannot get money from the Banks and there are only ATM's for local cards" ................................ bugger!!!!

It was a very strange feeling arriving in a country, with not enough money to get out and not enough money to stay in! .......................... you suddenly have to place a lot of trust in local people and your own judgement of character! ..................................................kind of focuses your mind a little and ironically, having mentioned Rudyard Kipling's attachment to Burma, thoughts of his very famous poem "IF", come flooding to the forefront of your mind .............................

'If you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you; If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, But make allowance for their doubting too: If you can wait and not be tired of waiting .............etc. etc' ...... Kind of sums up Burma really!!

Problem challenge No. 2!! ................. Hotel prices. After 'Saw' had taken us to the fifth Hotel (nothing booked) we were faced with the news that since November, last year, Hotel prices had gone up by 200 to 300+%. In some cases, with many of the better Hotels, a $56.00 room rate was now being sold for $240.00 - $300 a night (in many places we need 2!), following a high demand from the Chinese and Japanese business men, who were more than happy to pay it. As a result there has been a major outcry from many of the tourist operators who have not been able to renew contracts with Hotel Operators at previous low (respectable) prices, even to the extent of hitting the front page headlines in the Myanmar Times!! .............................................. bugger!!! It was made even worse as today (Saturday) was the 'Full Moon Festival' at 'Shwedagon Paya' and apparently Buddha's Birthday (or one of them!) and effectively a Bank Holiday weekend, so there was an influx of some additional 5,000 locals to celebrate at the main pagoda. ............... he's obviously a very popular chap!!It was now getting late and we were all very tired and hot and we couldn't afford to blow our only cash on one nights accomodation, just in case we had difficulty in getting money out, which 'Saw' promised for Sunday afternoon! ..... We eventually bartered a single room for five of us for $45.00, with me sleeping on a mattress on the floor. We stood and watched our very helpful and smiling hotel staff bring the mattress into the room, .............. clearly it had previously been heavily used on the film set of 'Slumdog Millionaire' and we all stared at each other with a rye smile ................ and that feeling you get in your stomach, just before your about to throw up!!! ............ I felt it might be more hygenic to simply sleep on the floor!! and you know when something is sooo bad ........ you feel there is no point in even mentioning anything ........ the room turned uneasily quite until the children suddenly jumped on their respective beds, to 'bagsey' their place, landing with a look of determined ownership, just in case Dad decided to change his mind and volunteer one of the children for the matress on the floor!!! Fred, Imogen and Jo slept in a double bed and Harry in a single bed!! The Hotel Spa and jacuzzi wasn't quite finished yet!! ................. well, it hadn't even been started!! ............ in fact I don't think it actually featured in the manager's business plan!! ............ but I am sure he had visions of it one day!! - All in all, a bit of a squeeze; the children even refused to get their teddies out of their rucksacks ..................... well, I think it was actually the teddies that REFUSED to get out of the rucksacks in case they caught something - but it served its purpose until we could feel more financially comfortable.

The next day we made our transaction at the Travel Agents to get cash and were charged a massive 10%!! .............OUCH!! ............. Whilst there, we booked our flights for our reduced itinerary - half the dollars gone already We now had to change dollars for local Chit .................. sounds like an American drug deal!!! (spelt Kyat but spoken as Kit or Chit). This again was more difficult than anticipated. By the time we had concluded our money transaction at the Travel Agency, the Banks were closed for lunch and we were told to come back in an hours time. This was a good excuse for us to eat and we found a very good cafe for a welcome lunch stop, that also took dollars. After lunch, we were going to head into the famous local market, known as the Scot market, apparently so named as it was a Scottish Company that built it back in the Empire days. Before this we popped back into the Bank to get some Chit ............... "sorry, no money"!!!!! ...................... Great, the Bank had run out of money!!! ....................... We walked back out onto the very hot and bussling street, ........"You want to change money sir, ..... come with me" ................ Well, left with no option but 'the black market' we followed our man through the tiny covered market alleyways, where goods of all sorts could be purchased, gold, diamonds and other gems, paintings, cloths, food, wicker crafts, wooden carvings and much more; in one market alley, out of another, down another, ducking under items hanging from the ceilings, left, right, across a street, ........... At one stage I thought of dropping bread crumbs or rice! to find our way back, but we eventually arrived at his friend's very small jewellery kiosk. Checking the situation out as best we could, ......... it was as good as we were going to get inYangon, we changed $200 at a fairly respectable rate!! You had to be quite careful as in Myanmar as people only liked dealing in crisp notes, anything that was slightly worn or even marked with a pen, would not be acceptable currency in many places ....... so beware as a 'fist-full' of old notes from a less respectable 'black marketeer' wouldn't even buy you an ice cream!! Fred also changed his 10 pounds sterling for 12,300 Kyat ............... I have never seen such a big smile on his face!! .......... he thought he had won the lottery!! ................... Little did he appreciate that he now had enough money to buy a bag of custard buns and a sprite!!

We wandered around the huge number of market stalls, with the children stopping to look at all the precious gem stones of Jade, ruby, aquamarine, saphires, emeralds, diamonds and many more. These stones, together with gold seemed in abundance in Myanmar, as I believe they have a wealth of minerals that occur naturally in the mountains. There appeared to be so many stalls selling these precious stones, but clearly, like most things in SE Asia, its a question of quality and many of the stones in the markets, although real were not as pure as others - luckily the budget didn't extend to buying jewels ......... phew!! sorry Jo!! Some of the local art work was extremely well done and clearly there were many talented artists in Myanmar. Copying famous works of art was a very popular past-time, so if you want a realistic Vangh Gogh 'Sunflowers' hanging in the hallway, this is the place to come.

Scot Market's numerous stalls and small alley-ways.

After haggling for a few things in the Scot market we left and made our way to the 'Shwedagon Paya' ('paya' - 'holy one', a religious monument - Temple). This was a huge Golden structure and a defining image of Yangon, a couple of km north of the centre, with the gilded spire being a symbol of Burmese identity. It rises 98m from its base, glistening in the sun and dates back 2,500 years - if legend is to be believed. -

This is truly an amazing site and the children looked up in awe as we walked into the compound through the south entrance toward the main stupa and its 82 other buildings. The 'Paya' is said to be built upon the hill where Buddha relics have been enshrined, including eight hairs of the Buddha!! The stupa has reportedly accumulated more than 53 metric tonnes of gold leaf!! The top of the spire is encrusted with more than 5000 diamonds and 2000 other stones. - a good job Burma doesn't suffer from travellers!!!!! ................. they'd have that lot off before you could say "Shwedagon Paya"!!!

Top: The huge 'Shwedagon Paya'. Next: 3 'monkets!' - female monks. Next: Fred being eaten by a crocodile!! Bottom: A group of local tramps begging for food and shelter in Myanmar!!

The entrance to The Strand Hotel - refurbished to its former glory.

Although we couldn't afford a nights stay at the well known 'Strand Hotel', the grand old colonial hotel by the port, that has historically hosted the likes of Rudyard Kipling, George Orwell and many Royal Families, having been totally refurbished about 10 years ago, we thought we could stretch to a cocktail. Getting there was an experience, we decided to take the local bus from the 'Paya'. A local man helped us with directions to the correct bus stop and said he was taking the same bus, so we could follow him. We all bought Cornetto ice creams on the way to the stop and waited with our friendly local, for the bus to arrive. It turned up fairly quickly and then the fun began. We had forgotten how full these local buses get and 2 adults and 3 children all with ice creams wasn't going to go down well. We piled on to the bus and were hearded in with loud shouts from the conductor to 'move down, move down!!' (in Laos)......... I didn't think we could move down any further .......... but I was wrong! ...... "move down, move down!!' .......... we in fact, moved down several more times towards the back of the bus into small pockets of space that I hadn't realise existed!! .......... silly me!!! ...... there was now bearly enough room to breath, let alone think about trying to get your wallet out to pay the conductor!! Our local man, who obviously knew the system, managed to keep himself near the front and seeing our plight actually paid all our bus fares to the conductor!!! .............. now would that happen in the UK!! .......... I don't think so! We now had the added complication of trying to eat ice-creams, with your head firmly stuck in some locals arm-pit, the bus of which was swaying from side to side and constantly stopping to pick other people up!! ............. where the hell they were going to go I had no bloody idea!! .....HOW we were actually going to fight our way off the bus at our required stop, was was going to be a major logistics excercise that I would have to start planning now. Another major complication we were now faced with, was that fortunately I had finished my ice cream quickly, however, Freddie, who was squashed in between me and several local people, had mistakenly chosen a 'Jack Fruit' ice cream!! not good, as Jack Fruit tastes like onions!!! Fred, not being of a stubborn nature, holding this barely licked ice cream, firmly refused to eat any more!! ............. However much I tried to insist that he eat it very quickly, as we were now in a bus with what seemed like 300 local people, that would normally hold a maximum of 30, in temperatures that were melting hot, for the next 20 minutes, ........ if some poor soul at the back wanted to get off, at least 100 people would be smothered with 'Jack Fruit' ice cream!! ............... Fred didn't consider that outcome to be anywhere near as bad as having to eat this horrible tasting ice cream, so stood his ground with 'Jack Fruit' ice cream slowly starting to run down his hands and, as the bus jossled, all over my shirt and the shirt of the lady next to me!! ........ oh .... and hear we go, someone at the back wants to get off!!! .......Jack Fruit ice cream touched the souls of many people on that bus trip, until we finally manoeuvred him next to a window and one local woman, seeing his plight put his hand out the window and got him to drop what was left on the road!! ........... We managed to fight our way off at the right stop and our local man refused to accept payment of our bus fare (It worked out at about 10p each! but a very nice gesture) and coctails at the grand 'Strand Hotel' were definately well recieved!!

After cocktails, hosing Fred down in the 'rest rooms' and the children providing a free music concert in the Hotel foyer on the decorative wooden xylophones, we headed for the 'Monsoon' restaurant for supper, another grand old colonial-era building, with good eastern and western food choices and great shakes to keep the children happy!.

The taxi back was hilarious, we flagged one down outside the restaurant with the help of one of the waiters and all piled in! .................... this car was something out of 'scrap heap challenge'!!! ..... and to be honest with you, I don't think it would have won!! ......... The back seat looked ok, but when Jo sat down with a scream, as there were no springs in it, wonderring how she was going to actually get out of this car and I sat in the front holding on to the door ......... with no window! ....... just in case it swung open round a corner. The only thing that was working properly was the radio, held on by a piece of dexion! ...... and as far as MOT and insurance went? ...... it was us that needed to take out the insurance and I think MOT in Myanmar, simply meant Means Of Transport!! This was something in the UK you wouldn't dream of getting into, but we later learnt that until VERY recently cars were very difficult to get hold of and even a second hand chinese taxi would cost up to $56,000!!, hence most of them were barely road worhty.

The smaller 'Sule Paya', another, (2,200 years old!) temple in the city.

Yangon was certainly a city of contrast, with a mixture of old colonial buildings left over from the days of the empire; huge and extravagant golden temples, amongst parks and general old commercial buildings. The wealth of some of the worlds top hotels such as 'The Savoy', 'The Shangrila', who own 'Traders' and 'The Strand'; the dour Government buildings which run the city; the high prescence of armed police and military on the streets and the familiar sites of orange robes of buddhist monks that can be seen in most places.

We eventually made it back to our 'room'! and rose early the next morning for a flight to the magical ancient town of Bagan, a place where some 4,400 temples exist within some 42 sq. km, dating back some 800 years.

Day 41 - 45. Islands, Caves and Dark days.

The Bolaven Plateau and waterfalls had taken us 80km on a round trip out of our way, off Route 13 and once off the main roads some are metaled and some are simply dirt roads that slows up the journey considerably, but it's all part of the fun. Our sturdy 'Ford Everest' 4x4, a comfortable, but fairly heavy and cumbersome vehicle that took a bit of time to get used to the braking distances was standing us in good stead.

It was a long drive down to Si Pha Don, but we needed to keep good time, to reach the Four Thousand Islands as soon as we could. However the further we headed south, the closer we were getting to a distant and fairly large storm. We had been warned not to drive after dusk as the roads became particularly dangerous with drunk drivers and vehicles without lights together with all those things crossing the roads in the day that were still crossing them in the night! ..... only at night, they became almost invisible. It looked like to make up time we would have to drive some of the way in the dark, which I was not looking forward to, but this would give us more time to chill out when we got to our destination.
With the looming dark clouds above, dusk came early and it wasn't long before we hit the storm, which was a pretty impressive one. First of all the wind started blowing, with trees being thrashed about infront of us, looking as if they would be blown over at any minute. There was no rain yet but we were surrounded by black clouds and lightening. .... Then the rain started in between lightening strikes, in very quick succession and huge claps of thunder. The rain was some of the heaviest we had ever seen and the streak lightening was all around us, some of it fantastic to watch but the children by this time were feeling a little uncomfortable and constant 'wow' sounds where coming from the back as another bolt of lightening hit the ground somewhere ahead, then a sudden crack of thunder right above us. ......... On the bright side there was not a lot on the road because of the weather, which meant fewer things to hit, ................... or perhaps they all new something that we didn't? ..... and I must admit it was getting a little worrying. We eventually saw the sign for Wat Phou and turned off the main road toward it, in the hope of finding somewhere to stay, however, once again, the rain was belting down, with thunder and lightening all over and certainly no sign of accomodation. After a couple of huge streaks of lightening, that seemed to hit the ground a mile or so ahead of us, we decided to call it a day and turn away from our destination and attempt to drive through the storm, heading south for The Four Thousand Islands, another 140km away. We eventually came out of the other end, the rain disappeared but the lightening could be seen all around us for quite some time, but unscathed, quite impressed and glad to be in one piece, we now needed a bed for the night, as soon as possible.
We stopped at a very basic business guest house/motel on the way down in one off the villages near Si Phan Dhon. A bit off the beaten track and not mentioned in the guide books and although very basic, it was cheap and a welcome rest. We tried the food at their restaurant, which was edible and our hunger made it taste even better and we got chatting to a group of men that were writing for a Thai guide book. They mentioned a local fish market that was going on at 7am tomorrow morning nearby and also one of South East Asia's largest waterfalls (by volume), that was also nearby, so we decided to take a look in the morning before heading for the Islands. We got to the market early and wandered around. It was not only a fish market, with all different types and sizes of fish laid out on the floor of each stall together with live frogs with their back legs tied to stop them escaping, but also a meat and vegetable market. The butchers stands were very impressive with every possible bit of the animal laid out in front of you and if you weren't sure from what animal it came, you needen't worry .................. it's HEAD was on the corner of the table to let you know!!! ................... And if that wasn't enough to make you feel peckish for breakfast you could always grab a quick bag (large green leaf) of fried bugs to nibble while you browsed the produce!!! ............................. maybe we'll skip breakfast!!

'NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK!' at the local Market.

Harry choosing his new authentic Halloween Mask!!

Fresh live frogs and a light snack of freshly fried 'bugs'!! ..... to nibble while you wander.

We left the market, buying a few mango's for breakfast and headed for Khone Phapheng Waterfall, which spans 14km across the mighty Mekong River. It is listed as the worlds widest waterfall, but by western standards is more like a huge tumbling rapid than a high fall. We climbed down the rocks to get a closer view - no elf and safety here - and had a fresh mango breakfast ................. with a view.

We then headed for the river ferry crossing to the main Island of Don Khong ..................... well, that is 'ferry' used in the loosest sense of the word!! ............ more like a floating bit of metal with a tug boat on one side. ............. Watching a Cement Lorry trying to get off while we were waiting to go on was amusing. If he moved forward too fast, the whole ferry moved in the opposite direction leaving a stretch of river between the ferry and the shore!! ............. It was like watching a game of tennis ......... Backward, forward, backward, forward! ....... Eventually he splashed his way off the platform and as this ferry seemed to be far LESS afloat than some of the others resting on the shore, it was removed from duty and we were ushered onto another one, the looked more likely to make the trip across.

The boys and a young monk at an ancient temple on Don Khong
Don Khong was the largest of the Four Thousand Islands, 18km long and 8km wide, the islands of which comprise an archipelago of sandbars and rocky islets in an area of the Mekong River which is 14km at its widest point. It was a fairly laid back and relaxed island and with an hour and half's boat trip to the smaller island of Don Khon, it was possible to see the rare fresh water Irrawaddy Dolphins, however sightings were not gauranteed. We tried some of the local food on Don Kong, which certainly wasn't Laos food at its best and the accomodation was fairly limited, so after a tour of the Island (which if we are honest was not as scenic as we had anticipated) in the car, in the intense heat of the day, we decided to head away from Si Phan Don, back to The World Heratige site of Wat Phu in Champasak, that we had turned back from in yesterdays storm. We had heard that there was a little known fishing Island called Don Daeng here, off the beaten track and a French Company had recently set up a Hotel called 'La Folie Lodge Hotel', which comprised a number of timber chalets overlooking the beach (Mekong River beach), with a stunning backdrop of the mountains at Champasak, on the other side of the river. This was 140km trip north of the Four Thousand Islands, but a trip we felt was worth doing, and following a reasonable journey we came across the signs for Wat Phou and took a left turn off the main road, this time travelling down this same stretch of road in the daylight and not the horrendous storm of the night before!!

We soon came across the village and drove through to the end, hoping to see Wat Phou, but came to a place to park the car and the end of road. The lonely planet seemed to suggest it was a short walk out of the end of the village, but after walking down a narrow track and trying to cross a large ditch by balancing on a sewerage pipe, we realised that this couldn't possibly be the way in to a World Heritage Site!! .................... but in Laos anything was possible! We abandoned our trip and headed for a sign that said 'La Folie Lodge Hotel', finding our way to the river shore where a host of activity was going on, all very surprised to see a western family, laiden with rucksacks and day sacks, strolling toward the river. We bartered a local boat to take us to 'La Folie Lodge' and had a very pleasant trip up the Mekong, being dropped off in the shallow waters, of what looked like a beautiful white sandy beach and in the intense heat of the day we strolled up the long beach, with only essential rucksacks, the rest being left in the car, towards steps leading to the reception, in huge anticipation that they would have available rooms!! ................ luckily they did ............. and it was a wonderful place to stay, with stunning views of the Champasak and Phoa Kao mountain on the other side of the Mekong, looking toward the historic site of Wat Phu. (yes, it was on the other side of the river ............. not across the sewerage pipe!!).

Local Boat to 'La Folie Lodge Hotel' and hot walk across the sand to the Hotel

La Folie poolside and stunning view. ------- Sunset view from the restaurant balcony.

We managed to strike a very good deal with the german manager of this french Hotel as it was low season and on arrival there was only one other couple staying there. There busy season runs from October through to February, after the monsoons. This was their HOT season and unluckily for us, they were experiencing a heat wave!!! ................ but even at 43 degrees, it was better than the rain in blighty!! We did nothing but chill out the first day and catch up with a bit of reading. Our first evening meal was quite comical as a lot of the time we only ordered half portions for the children and generally shared everything. However, they got the order completely wrong. Harry and Fred were served mine and Jo's meal; but only half portions, That was already eaten before I was served Imogens meal; half portion. Imogen eventually got what she asked for and Jo didn't get anything!!! Luckily Jo had eaten some salad as a starter so was quite happy and as they served everything up in such a pleasant way, we weren't too concerned. We made a comment amongst ourselves about being at 'Faulty Towers'. The next day we met the Laos Assistant manager, a very jovial young chap, who spoke good English and greated us all by saying ............. "Welcome to Faulty Towers" and asked us how last nights meal was. Jo and I looked at each other with an embarresed smile, concerned that our conversation the night before had been overheard, but he explained that he really enjoyed watching 'Faulty Towers' on TV and that the in the low season they employed staff who spoke very little english so were always getting things wrong. After their English lessons, he would get them all to sit down and watch 'Faulty Towers' .............................. Possibly a little risky with a German Manager!!!! ........"don't mention the w......!!"

The next day we took a boat to the World Heritage Site of Wat Phou (Vat Phou), the original construction of this Hindu Temple of which started around 600AD, later being rebuilt in around 1000AD. After centuries of lying in ruin, hidden within the jungle, a French explorer, Henri Pamentier, rediscovered Wat Phou in 1914. After photographing the site it once again disappeared from the worlds conciousness. It wasn't until the mid 1980's that interest was resurrected, when UNESCO initiated an archeological survey of the site. This survey led to heritage legislation being implemented, with the conferring of protected status being given to the site only in 2001. Wat Phou is believed to be some 200 years older than the Temples of Angkor Wat in Cambodia and are thought to have provided the blueprint for their construction. The Temple was constructed around a natural spring thought to be sacred and current archeological digs are being undertaken by both France and Italy, working with the Laos Government, to help fund this work. The children loved it, as did we, and you were still able to walk around and inside the ruins, that were carefully being restored. The original city was believed to have covered some 2 sq.km, which would leave a huge amount yet undiscoverd. Harry's trip was made complete when a mango fell off one of the trees he was standing under - a welcome snack and good luck omen.

After another relaxing day at 'La Folie', catcing up on a bit of school work and diaries, in between cooling down with a swim, we arranged our boat for the next morning to take us back to the village - where we had abandoned our car for the last three days - as we had a huge distance to travel to make it back to Vientiene by 11am on Saturday, in time to catch our flight to Burma. The distance was some 660km to be precise, plus a 170km detour to see the Kong Lor Cave, but the road was reasonable for the main stretch, ........... as before, it was just the odd sudden bump, hole, dog, pigs, cows, water buffalo, geese, chickens, child, other human being, scooter, tuk-tuk, overtaking car, truck, or articulated timber lorry, that we needed to be very aware of. .................. so pretty simple really!!! .................. a breeze!!! ...... as mentioned before, it was like being inside one of the childrens video games, anything could happen at any time, but as Fred was in the car with us and constantly held the 'high score for his game 'CW2' (whatever that is!), I felt we had good back up!!
In-between villages we could make up time on the roads but one slight problem was bridges and there were many road bridges along the way ranging from 20m to 60m long. Now for the first 100km, the bridges were level with the road, as you would normally expect, so the transition from road to bridge was un-noticeable and there was no need to change speed. However, somewhere around the 100km mark, things changed for the next 50km ......... the bridges weren't quite level with the roads. This would result in a large dip in the road just before the bridge with a sharp rise up to the bridge level, but this was completely un-noticeable until you were actually about 10m from the bridge?!! ........................ trying to remember exactly which bridge this change occurred was the difficult bit!! ....................... We eventually found the bridge that indicated the start of the change over and like a scene out of ' The Dukes of Hazard ' we managed to get all 4 wheels off the ground, to the sound of "yeeeehaaa" from the boys in the back as Freddie bashed his head on the car roof, whilst 'Daisy Duke" (minus attributes), couldn't stop laughing and shouting "Again!! ..... Again!" .............................. I don't think so!! .......... Bridges for the next 50km would now be taken at very slow speed. However, clearly not slow enough!! ..... Just before a pit stop at Thakhek every car was being pulled over by military police, including us. Pleading ignorance and claiming not to understand, our officer insisted, with a large smsile, I was speeding, "you went through speed trap, please get out of car" ................. oh great!! thats all I need!! .... Now, a tourist being pulled over by the police means pound signs!! and I didn't have a lot of money on me! ....... so I was envisaging perhaps at least a couple of years chained up in a Laos prison, on nothing but bread and water, ........ well and probably eggs for breakfast, as that is what we always got for breakfast in Laos!! ......... I think we were each on 14 eggs a week!! ....... I was escorted over to an open tent where I joined another four smiling military policemen who showed me what speed I was doing in their litle note book. 90 had been written down next to my number. Clearly they had been in a slight disagreement as to what figure to put down, as several numbers appeard to have been written beneath the 90 and the number before mine, that was the car infront of me, was only doing 70!! ............. and he got away scot free!! ........... how does that work. After a little complaining, they asked for 50,000 kip (about $6) smiled, exchanged a few jokes, while they wrote out my ticket and we were on our way. ......................... Harsh, but Fair, thats what I say!!
It was a long trip and we eventually reached the turn off point for Kong Lor Cave. It was 85km to the cave and the first 40km were very winding and slow. At one point we saw a young local standing on the side of the road having come out of the jungle, with a rifle!! .......... That was a little nerve racking as we had heard tales from some of the other countries we had visited of historic hold ups in certain places ................. hopefully he had just been shooting his supper!! We eventually got off the winding road and turned on to, what used to be a gravel track but now had a metaled surface and was fairly straight alhtough some of the villages were very crowded with locals, scooters and tuk-tuks, so great care was needed!


Imogen surrounded by Butterflies.


We eventually reached Kong Lor Cave, organised our boat, which became 2 boats, and headed for the cave. It was an amazing experience and enterring the cave was extremely eerie, as the light suddenly faded to complete darkness. We all had head torches and this cave was 7.5km long, cutting its way through the huge limestone mountains, with some of the cathedral like ceiling heights reaching distances of up to 100m. The water level was very low and the narrow timber boats would sometimes scrape the bottom in various places. We walked inside the cave at the begining for a short section, winding our way through huge 'stalagmites and stalactites', which the children found awesome and they were very impressive, the children desperately trying to find some small crystal souvenir to remind them of their trip. Before coming out, our boat couldn't restart his engine on a couple of occasions ................ now that was eerie!! ....... all we needed now was the torch batterries to fade and die!!! After coming out of one end and stopping for a snack, we then headed back through for the cave for the return trip and the change in temperature was very noticeabale once you had enterred the cave, with a cool mist washing over you in some of the more caverness areas. When the journey was complete we disembarked from the boat and walked through the water to get back to land, at one point Imogen managed to fall through the last floating bridge section, up to her neck in water!! .............. much to evryones amusement! After drying off we now needed to get back to the Route 13, some 85km away and start eating up some of the journey back to Vientiene, as we had to get there by 11am at the latest the following day. The trouble was dusk was already upon us and I was not keen to drive back through the villages and winding roads, to the Route 13, in the dark, but it looked as though we had little choice. We would try to find some accomodation on the way but it was going to be very limited.

We drove through the first couple of villages which were bussling with life. Everybody was out and about, even the youngest of children would be sitting or playing, literally, on the side of the road. Scooters without lights were everywhere, 2 up, 3 up, without helmets and children as young as probably 8 or 9 were riding scooters! It was extremely difficult to see them until you were almost upon them. The third village we came to was the same, with loud music coming from one of the street stalls, but as we drove out of the village we were suddenly met by a large group of people almost blocking the road, with a tuk-tuk, 4 wheel van, on one side of the road. Thinking through potential situations, I slowed down but drove slowly through the crowd. The incident soon became clear as the wreckage of a scooter was all over the left hand side of the road, almost unrecognisable as a scooter, then the lower half of two bare feet and legs came into view, revealing the body of what looked like an 11 year old girl. She was lying, stretched out, no helmet or protective clothing, but clearly dead in the road, the front of the tuk-tuk completely smashed in, from what looked like a head on collision. Unfortunately, the children could clearly see the body from the car, an image that I suspect will stay with us all for some time to come. A couple of km up the road was a small local hospital, thinly manned, but we called in to make sure they were aware. They had already sent two men out to the scene. A very dark end to a now very dark night, but unfortunately I suspect, a scene that happens all too often on the roads at night in Laos.