Backpacking sketchbook 6: South - finally! 8:55 AM

What a relief to get going. We flew to Pakse, jumped on a songthaew and got out of Pakse as soon as possible. Thank God we weren't stuck there! Our journey to the 4000 islands took a good few hours on the road, it was great to cover some distance and get some clarity and open space.

The 4000 Islands are located on the Mekong river in the South of Laos. There are various islands to visit and we liked the sound of Don Det an Don Khong. A fisherman took us to Don Khong in his longtail boat. It was wonderful to be surrounded by a mass of fast moving fresh water - such a different landscape and energy. We wanted to go to Don Khong because of its traquility and silence - but it was a little bit TOO quiet - with no other diners in any restaurants in sight. It was a strange feeling to order a banana pancake and after waiting 10 minutes you see one of the owners little sons come back with a bag of eggs. Things move slooooow here. We made our move after one night to Don Det more due to lack of time than lack of fast paced life.

Don Det is a typical place for backpackers to get stuck in. It's chilled and quiet but with enough travellers around to have a good time. The perfect place to find some hippies moving around in a world of cherry picking, working in hostels and smoking copious amounts of bamboo bongs. It hasn't been trampled on to a point of aboslute tourist destruction and the basic accomodation keep the lanie's away... for now.

I turned my drawing into a mural at "The Happy bar" and loved it. We savoured the little time we could spend until we had to move on to Ubon Rachatani to catch a flight to Phuket.

Backpacking sketchbook 5: Almost like Christmas in Laos 11:15 AM

The festival of lights arrived. The first time we strolled into a temple yard filled with paper lanterns we were filled with wonder. Really wonderful wonder. It was the first moment after our terrible ordeal that another positive emotion took over. I know I didn't write about the ordeal - but basicaly we - well our two travelling companions - were targeted as tourists by corrupt police and it was hectic and horrible. I will just say this DO NOT go to Vang Vieng.

Annyhow the festival of lights was busy, noisy and visually amazing. I have never seen so much life in Luang Prabang - If I closed my eyes it almost felt as if I was back in a nightmarket in Taiwan. We followed the crowds and hung out at the temple were the brightly lit and ornate handmade boats were finished off, carried down to the river - accompanied by loud chanting and drums and being send forth on the Mekong.

We watched many lanterns being lit and released into the air and by releasing the lanterns we secretly asked that all our worries will be over and set free into the night sky. We almost lost our ears to kids being totally irresponsible with firecrackers and finally settled down at the nicest bar next to the river for a well deserved bottle or two of red wine. Bidding Luang Prabang farewell along with saying a sad goodbye to our friends who had to stay for an unknown period of time.

My advice for the New Year: Believe in that lantern and let the worries go!