Photos (all of the photos were taken by me, except the one of me. Unfortunately I don't remember who took it. I was too blissed out):
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| top deck |
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| view from top deck |
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| early morning on the river |
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| Wat Phou |
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| temple at Wat Phou |
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| I got a little too close |
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| exotic river mammals |
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a small section of the Khone Falls
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in the midst of the 4000 islands
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Recommendation:
Lernidee Trains and
Cruises handles pretty much everything from Pakse, Lao at the start of the trip
back to Pakse at the end. All you have to do is get to Pakse. The easiest way,
flying from Bangkok via the capital city of Vientiane, can be pretty expensive
-- almost $500.
An alternative,
flying from Bangkok to Ubon Ratchathani in NE Thailand, is much less expensive,
even adding in the cost of the transfers between the airport and Pakse (the
transfers can be arranged by Lernidee). This does add another 2-3 hours to your
travel time, but its a pretty interesting drive through the hinterlands of
Thailand and Laos, not to mention the border crossing which is an adventure in
itself.
If you decide to do the transfer, I recommend
that you tip the driver in Thailand when he drops you off at the border
crossing. I gave him 100 Baht (about $3) and he made what looked to me like a
special effort to meet me on the other side and hand me over to the driver for
the Lao portion of the transfer.
