2025年7月22日星期二
2025年5月12日星期一
Laos Travel Vlog Part 10 - Journey from Pakse to Attapeu
I hopped o a tuk-tuk in Pakse, heading to the bus station for a journey to Attapeu. In Attapeu I explored a town and then visited the local visitor´s center, only to receive some pretty unexpected news about my next destination.
2025年4月18日星期五
2025年4月7日星期一
2025年3月1日星期六
2023年12月19日星期二
2023年6月24日星期六
2023年4月29日星期六
2023年4月14日星期五
2022年12月28日星期三
4000 ISLANDS, DON KHON & DON DET 🇱🇦 I LAOS
We visited Don Khon and Don Get situated in the south of Laos! This group of islands called 4000 island (because there is 4000 of them) are in the middle of the Mekong river. To get from here from Pakse is only a short 2 hour ride and a small boat ride to the island. These islands are so relaxed and really are a backpackers utopia!
Come with us as we explore both islands on the bicycle. Did we make a mistake visiting in the wet season though ? The answer is YES! We wished we visited in the dry season as you would be able to access the beach and also see the amazing waterfalls better.
We hope you enjoy the video :)
2022年10月2日星期日
2020年3月12日星期四
The 4000 Islands by Kayak
The 4000 Islands by Kayak
The 4000 Islands in southern Laos, low lying sandy clumps in the Mekong River, are famous for their easy-going pace, banana pancakes, afternoons in hammocks, dolphin-spotting opportunities, wide-sky sunsets, and raucous parties.
I’ve cycled over traces of the old French railway tracks through mango and teak forests, walked the slow loop of sandy trails wriggling through the islands’ small communities, and flitted about from one vestige of French power to another, to bar, to café, and guesthouse many times. I’d never considered taking to the water, though, until now.
The Mekong River can look formidable at times – a fast-flowing wide milk chocolate brown river cut with rocky islands and drowned trees. But a kayaking trip sounded exciting, and with a chance to spot the area’s rare Irrawaddy dolphins, too, I eagerly signed up.
Green Paradise’s kayaking expedition wisely includes free breakfast for its mainly land-lubber clientele. After fuelling up with baguette, egg, and thick Lao coffee at a restaurant on Don Det island, we grabbed life jackets and tucked into our kayaks. Hoping to halve the work of paddling, I jumped into a kayak with our guide, Mr. Sam.
V Patient Mr. Sam spent a good deal of time barking ‘right, right’ as our crew of 21 – Brits, Australians, Dutch, French, and Hungarians – took to the water like ducks, I mean clumsy humans, grappling with kayak balance, water flow, and huge thickets of vegetation that reared up unexpectedly.
Our first destination was downstream at Don Khone Island’s Pa Soi rapids. Early on we temporarily lost part of the group, one kayak team fell into the river, and one kayak got sucked into a cluster of bushes and became entangled. The heat was unforgiving but we giggled at these mishaps and continued on our journey navigating clumps of trees and mini islands. We parked up just before Pa Soi rapids and walked over a bridge to look at the frothing water below.
The kayaks had been moved beyond Pa Soi Falls to a safe spot; we boarded them again for a journey to the bottom of Khone Island. At Hang Khone village, at the tip of Khone Island, we packed into a longtail boat to head upstream in search of the critically endangered Irrawaddy dolphin. We clambered up the sandy hill of a large island and looked across the stream of the fast-flowing river. The dolphins, their wet skin glistening in the sun, surfaced and ducked as they searched for fish in the food-rich pools. It was thrilling to catch a glimpse of these rare mammals. The WWF reports there’s been a slight increase in their numbers in the Mekong in Cambodia from 80 in 2015 to 92 in 2017 but not in Laos. In the Lao Mekong, there are just three. While munching on a lunch of baguette, chicken, and fried rice we saw all three of them about 30 to 40 times – all fins, snouts, sleek metal-grey bodies gleaming in the strong sun.
Back at Khone Island we fetched our kayaks and headed out downriver to a pickup point on the mainland at Ban Veunkham. The sun was crippling but, like a miracle, there on the riverbank at Ban Veunkham was a stall with a packed icebox. We cleaned it out of Beerlao and Coke before boarding a truck to visit the mother of all waterfalls – the kilometers-wide Khone Phapheng Falls.
At first sight, you can see why it defeated French colonial explorers. It’s a seething, frothing mass of thundering water swirling over sturdy boulders as it fights to enter Cambodia and the lower Mekong. The French found themselves in these parts when they were shoring up claims to the river and their Indochina colonies. The French needed to move gunboats into position to defend new territorial claims but navigating past the raging Khone Phapheng Falls – with its 21-meter drop – had defeated French minds. They built a railway across Khone Island, directly west of the Phapheng Falls, so two gunboats could be hauled across it; the railway infrastructure (some of which we saw at Hang Khone village) was later adapted for commercial traffic with steamboats on the river thrown into the mix. When roads were built in the 1930s the railway fell into disuse. Today, rusty locomotives stand abandoned at the edge of paddy fields, the last tangible remnants of island railway traffic.
After ice cream – more energy – we boarded our kayaks at Nakasang village to paddle downstream and back to Don Det Island. As the rose-pink sun began to set, the light was beautiful, the water appeared like silk, clumps of greenery took on a velvet glow, and fishermen were pootling about in pirogues.
Of course, after so much exercise, we replenished our muscles with more sundowner Beerlao as soon as we clambered back on to dry land!
GETTING THERE
Lao Airlines has daily flights to Pakse from Vientiane, Luang Prabang, and Bangkok. The 4000 Islands are 3 hours south of Pakse by road.
~The Laotian Times~
The 4000 Islands in southern Laos, low lying sandy clumps in the Mekong River, are famous for their easy-going pace, banana pancakes, afternoons in hammocks, dolphin-spotting opportunities, wide-sky sunsets, and raucous parties.
I’ve cycled over traces of the old French railway tracks through mango and teak forests, walked the slow loop of sandy trails wriggling through the islands’ small communities, and flitted about from one vestige of French power to another, to bar, to café, and guesthouse many times. I’d never considered taking to the water, though, until now.
The Mekong River can look formidable at times – a fast-flowing wide milk chocolate brown river cut with rocky islands and drowned trees. But a kayaking trip sounded exciting, and with a chance to spot the area’s rare Irrawaddy dolphins, too, I eagerly signed up.
Green Paradise’s kayaking expedition wisely includes free breakfast for its mainly land-lubber clientele. After fuelling up with baguette, egg, and thick Lao coffee at a restaurant on Don Det island, we grabbed life jackets and tucked into our kayaks. Hoping to halve the work of paddling, I jumped into a kayak with our guide, Mr. Sam.
V Patient Mr. Sam spent a good deal of time barking ‘right, right’ as our crew of 21 – Brits, Australians, Dutch, French, and Hungarians – took to the water like ducks, I mean clumsy humans, grappling with kayak balance, water flow, and huge thickets of vegetation that reared up unexpectedly.
Our first destination was downstream at Don Khone Island’s Pa Soi rapids. Early on we temporarily lost part of the group, one kayak team fell into the river, and one kayak got sucked into a cluster of bushes and became entangled. The heat was unforgiving but we giggled at these mishaps and continued on our journey navigating clumps of trees and mini islands. We parked up just before Pa Soi rapids and walked over a bridge to look at the frothing water below.
The kayaks had been moved beyond Pa Soi Falls to a safe spot; we boarded them again for a journey to the bottom of Khone Island. At Hang Khone village, at the tip of Khone Island, we packed into a longtail boat to head upstream in search of the critically endangered Irrawaddy dolphin. We clambered up the sandy hill of a large island and looked across the stream of the fast-flowing river. The dolphins, their wet skin glistening in the sun, surfaced and ducked as they searched for fish in the food-rich pools. It was thrilling to catch a glimpse of these rare mammals. The WWF reports there’s been a slight increase in their numbers in the Mekong in Cambodia from 80 in 2015 to 92 in 2017 but not in Laos. In the Lao Mekong, there are just three. While munching on a lunch of baguette, chicken, and fried rice we saw all three of them about 30 to 40 times – all fins, snouts, sleek metal-grey bodies gleaming in the strong sun.
Back at Khone Island we fetched our kayaks and headed out downriver to a pickup point on the mainland at Ban Veunkham. The sun was crippling but, like a miracle, there on the riverbank at Ban Veunkham was a stall with a packed icebox. We cleaned it out of Beerlao and Coke before boarding a truck to visit the mother of all waterfalls – the kilometers-wide Khone Phapheng Falls.
At first sight, you can see why it defeated French colonial explorers. It’s a seething, frothing mass of thundering water swirling over sturdy boulders as it fights to enter Cambodia and the lower Mekong. The French found themselves in these parts when they were shoring up claims to the river and their Indochina colonies. The French needed to move gunboats into position to defend new territorial claims but navigating past the raging Khone Phapheng Falls – with its 21-meter drop – had defeated French minds. They built a railway across Khone Island, directly west of the Phapheng Falls, so two gunboats could be hauled across it; the railway infrastructure (some of which we saw at Hang Khone village) was later adapted for commercial traffic with steamboats on the river thrown into the mix. When roads were built in the 1930s the railway fell into disuse. Today, rusty locomotives stand abandoned at the edge of paddy fields, the last tangible remnants of island railway traffic.
After ice cream – more energy – we boarded our kayaks at Nakasang village to paddle downstream and back to Don Det Island. As the rose-pink sun began to set, the light was beautiful, the water appeared like silk, clumps of greenery took on a velvet glow, and fishermen were pootling about in pirogues.
Of course, after so much exercise, we replenished our muscles with more sundowner Beerlao as soon as we clambered back on to dry land!
GETTING THERE
Lao Airlines has daily flights to Pakse from Vientiane, Luang Prabang, and Bangkok. The 4000 Islands are 3 hours south of Pakse by road.
~The Laotian Times~
2017年1月12日星期四
New Laos-Cambodia border crossing opens
New Laos-Cambodia border crossing opens
Champasak province in Laos, in the lower Mekong basin shares, a common border with Cambodia. (Photo: KT/Sonny Inbaraj Krishnan)
A new crossing on the Cambodia-Laos border, the Trapeang Kreal international border gate, opened officially on Tuesday.
Prime Minister Hun Sen and Laso Premier Thongloun Sisoulith were to preside over the ceremony, Cambodia’s Foreign Ministry said.
The crossing connects Cambodia’s Stung Treng province with Laos’ Champasak province, according to a report by the Khmer Times.
Thonglien Sibounthien, managing director of Viengchampa Tour in the Laos city of Luang Phrabang, said on Monday the opening of the border gate will not only facilitate tourism but also boost trade between the countries.
“Opening the border is really good and that is very important for both of us. It means better income,” he said.
However, the poor state of the roads was still a concern and visas were expensive, aspects which each country has to improve.
The opening of the gate follows the state visit by the new Laos prime minister to Cambodia in June.
At the time Mr Sibounthien urged Cambodia to increase trade and investment in its northern neighbour because commerce between the two countries was small and there was ample room for expansion.
The president and group CEO of Acleda Bank, In Channy, also welcomed the opening of the gate. The Cambodian bank has invested in Laos since 2008,
He said it would play a big role in promoting investment, trade and investment with Laos.
Visitors from Laos to Cambodia fell in the first 11 months of last year.
Numbers dropped more than 10% to 314,415 from 349,759 in the same period a year earlier, but Laos was still number five on the list of international visitors to Cambodia, the Tourism Ministry said.
~News courtesy of Bangkok Post~
Champasak province in Laos, in the lower Mekong basin shares, a common border with Cambodia. (Photo: KT/Sonny Inbaraj Krishnan)
A new crossing on the Cambodia-Laos border, the Trapeang Kreal international border gate, opened officially on Tuesday.
Prime Minister Hun Sen and Laso Premier Thongloun Sisoulith were to preside over the ceremony, Cambodia’s Foreign Ministry said.
The crossing connects Cambodia’s Stung Treng province with Laos’ Champasak province, according to a report by the Khmer Times.
Thonglien Sibounthien, managing director of Viengchampa Tour in the Laos city of Luang Phrabang, said on Monday the opening of the border gate will not only facilitate tourism but also boost trade between the countries.
“Opening the border is really good and that is very important for both of us. It means better income,” he said.
However, the poor state of the roads was still a concern and visas were expensive, aspects which each country has to improve.
The opening of the gate follows the state visit by the new Laos prime minister to Cambodia in June.
At the time Mr Sibounthien urged Cambodia to increase trade and investment in its northern neighbour because commerce between the two countries was small and there was ample room for expansion.
The president and group CEO of Acleda Bank, In Channy, also welcomed the opening of the gate. The Cambodian bank has invested in Laos since 2008,
He said it would play a big role in promoting investment, trade and investment with Laos.
Visitors from Laos to Cambodia fell in the first 11 months of last year.
Numbers dropped more than 10% to 314,415 from 349,759 in the same period a year earlier, but Laos was still number five on the list of international visitors to Cambodia, the Tourism Ministry said.
~News courtesy of Bangkok Post~
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