more Lao

3/3/2011
-Parted ways with Patricia, and rented bikes again after breakfast, rode to Dome Det, the Fins wanted to see the town and the beach, they were looking to get a suntan, and i was looking forward to more swimming.
-swam for a while, and watched the Euro partiers do their silly thing, including a dude who was too drunk to say on his tube, got caught by the current and wound up stuck in a tree on the other side of the Mekong. funny to watch.
-the swimming instigated ear problems which i'm still dealing with, i can't hear fully out of my right ear, and can't find hydrogen peroxide anywhere.
-spent the day lounging on the beach, pretty nice.
-then rode back to Dome Khone, booked bus tickets to Champasak the next day.
-early same same dinner, beers on the balcony and early to bed.
3/4/2011
-boat to the mainland, then bus to champasak, which was actually the bus to Pakse, but dropped me and this German guy Andre off at a corner, of the main road and a dirt track that led to the boat landing to go to Champasak, nothing there but a lady selling dead squirrels and partially dead rats stuffed in a cage. Had to hire motorbikes to take us, then two long boats joined together by deckwork to cross the river. Champasak sprawls along a single road, and the only attraction is Vat Phou Champasak, an ancient Khemer hindu temple adapted to be buddhist.
-picked up from the boat landing by a jovial lao guy who ran a nice guest house who took us there by Tuk Tuk.
-wandered around champasak, but really nothing to see, some buddhist temples and guys drinking and playing petanque.
-had dinner at a sprawling empty restaurant on the river by myself, the owner was very talkative, he was renting the place from the gov't
-hung out at the guest house with Andre.
3/5/2011
-Rented bicycles to go to Vat Phou, long ride, but the road side was dotted with massive sculptures of buddha wrapped in tree roots:

-it was a long ride to Vat Phou, then lots of stair climbing, i have a shitload of pictures but the internet is real slow so i'll only put up a few so you get the idea.

-just a taste, there's so much there, incredible old stone carvings and whatnot.


more to come, waterfall photos, and much more.