Sunday, March 23, 2014
A wonderful night’s sleep on the Bolaven Plateau, and the first time in a long time we did not hear the humming of an air conditioning unit. Bliss.
A big day’s drive as we planned to go to Savannakhet some 280 kms away. Although the Laos roads are very good – in comparison to National Highway 6 in Cambodia – they are remarkably slow. There are slow trucks, solid white lines on bends which means no overtaking, the constant threat of police hiding in the bushes, a continual stream of villages and posted speed limits which are ridiculously slow. The average speed is probably 60 km/h.
The drive off the plateau was very nice. We had a choice of roads and were lucky enough to choose the unsealed back road. It was bumpy as hell but a lot of fun. More dust collected on Sterlin. And we got to see rural Laos life which was also nice.&
Once we got to Savannakhet, our initial impression was not great. But the place quickly grew on us. We visited the Mekong and grazed across the water over to Thailand. A month or 2 ago we were on the other side of the river, in Mukdahan, at a lovely coffee shop where we met a Swiss/Thai couple over lunch.
We checked into the Phonepaseud Hotel. For dinner we found Lin’s Cafe were we had a delicious meal.
Monday, March 24, 2014
After a breakfast at our hotel we returned to Lin’s Cafe for lattes. It is sad how in ‘coffee country’ hotels manage to serve some undrinkable brew they try to pass as coffee…
Upstairs from the cafe there was an informative exhibition on Savannakhet’s Historic District. We picked up a leaflet with a self guided walking tour of the district full of old French Colonial style buildings, in different states of (dis)repair, with some beautifully renovated.
