Southern Laos

Two days in one-street Champasak were pleasantly relaxing and included a visit to Wat Phu, another Angkor-era temple complex where the position at the base of a mountain was half the pleasure. The local bank closed for 2 days so had to change money in a shop. One internet cafe had WiFi but Apple Mac's wouldn't speak to my Windows mobile phone. Discovered our international SIM cards don't work in Laos.

Two days in Pakse with the luxury of ATM's and internet choice. Downloaded loads of stuff from our architect in France and spent ages reading.

Having made some difficult decisions we took the plunge and rented a motorbike (110cc Suzuki Smash for afficionados) and headed for the Bolaven Plateau. It was only 50km to Paksong at the centre of the plateau, but Chris hadn't ridden a motorbike since his accident nearly 20 years ago, and never with a passenger. The drive went through some interesting villages along the way and we arrived safely. Cooler at 1500m.

Next day we drove a short way south over a dirt road to a small village where we parked the bike and walked to some interesting rock formations, a Buddhist cave and our very own waterfall tumbling off the edge of the plateau - lovely! About a 3-hour walk and nobody else around.

Decided to go for the big Kotamtok waterfall next day, knowing it might be difficult after talking to other travellers who had come past it. The first 30km were on a dirt road being reconstructed, then another 24km on ordinary dirt. But worth the trip because the falls are about 100m high. Stopped and looked for about an hour.

Then we noticed smoke coming from the forest at the top of the fall and soon this was spreading. As it was close to our road back we got back on and headed for home - but too late. Flames and smoke were close to the road and local villagers had blocked it. So it was the long way back, but mostly over asphalt so easier riding. Also through some lovely country we wouldn't otherwise have seen and we managed to stop at another waterfall for a swim. But a 200km day made it a pleasure to stand up at the end.

The last day we followed another dirt road and walked some forest tracks to a village we didn't know existed. I think our arrival surprised them.

After all that excitement we caught the local buses about 400km north to Tha Khet, a scruffy expensive town where you can stare at Thailand across the Mekong.