Flying over the mountains from Phonsavan to Vientiane, then across the planes to Tadlo - in a bus - was fun. The peaks are round and the road is lined with villages, pigs and children. Tadlo was supposed to be on a plateau with lots of plantations. All the coffee and banana trees were covered in other vegetation and there was no elevation, but the area itself was charming. We spend a couple of days living like a proper Lao, ie no electricity, no email, no phone; rambled around finding the 3 waterfalls and drove Moon, the elephant, up and down the hills. After risking intoxication in Tadlo, we pushed it to Don Det - far more challenging little islands on the Mekong where ALL the population of the village was determined to poison the tourist, through cooking, drinking and washing... We just had enough time to see the very very very endangered Irraddawwy (clearly some problem with the name here) dolphin (a small population of 10), eat some water lilies and tubers, stop Cristian from gobbling up some skewered cockroaches, then left for Pakse. Ahh, Pakse, the very uncharacteristic city where the pepper spray was first used. A night to remember, more for the stalker than for us as he is probably still crying and spluttering as we speak. Anyhow, nothing serious, just another chapter of the adventure.
Cucaracias spiedini as lunch during the bus journey.
Elefant ride in Tadlo.
The elefant driver.
Anyone wants cat fish for dinner?
On the Mekong looking for dolphins.