Long time no writing...

I'm sorry this place has been all quiet for a while! Laos simply would not let me upload photos, no matter where I went, and so getting online just to write--with such horrible and expensive connections anyway--just didn't seem all that tempting. Since my last post I made it directly from Pakse to 4000 islands at the very south of Lao, 5 km away from the border to Cambodia. taying on Don Kohng the first night was not so interesting, but Don Det is a truly backpaker's island, only without the Vieng Viang party-tubing factor. That's what you want, you say? Well, that's not what I want... I wanted a small shack of a bungalow on the beach, though--and that was what I got! Hooking up with 7 other random people form the bus down to Pakse the group got a bit big for me, though--and after a few days of lovely company but the downs of having to wait for democracy to take its turns around all diplocamtic corners, I caught a bus straight to Bangkok (Thailand) on the 15th of October. Travelling through Pakse, I carelessly left my lunch baguette in the first bus--and had one of my nicest moments in all of Laos when I strolled the local food market for a food stall and found the loveliest woman selling amazing noodle soup and something tasty I don't know what is called, but yum!--tasty! In fact, I think that was my best meal so far on the trip, if not only for the food then also for the lady and her photo posing for me with the dead chicken she would make soup with for the guests after me.. (Yes, I'd show you the photo here, but all these computers think my folders are .exe files, and so I cannot get to the pictures.) The bus trip to Bangkok was uneventful, but fortunately rather speedy. Arriving in Bangkok I made the mistake of getting a metered taxi from the northern busstation to the southern one. They're much cheaper you say? Right. Not if they take you half way around town first... He had a few charming tricks up his sleeve, but after almost six weeks in various Asian countries the tricks are rather easy to spot. In the end I told him off and gave him the money he should have, and from the lack of fighting back I reckon he knew he was exactly what I called him; a cheeting bastard liar. Getting on a new bus an hour or so later, I was finally headed for Surat Thani, and a boat to Koh Pah-Nang! Well, so I thought... The bus got to Surat Thani ok, and having 60 km left to get to Don Sak and the ferry--and 2 hours until the last ferry departed--I was happy and content. The bus ride took 45 minutes more than I had...and so I ended up on a ferry to Ko Samui instead. There are, undenoably, other ferries I could have taken; the problem is that when you'are at one ferry pier 60 km away from the other piers, they don't tell you that the night ferry still runs, 'cause it's not their company that runs it. Ergo, the night ferry does not exist at the pier you're at, and so you have to take the chance on it existing elsewhere, or you can go to, say Ko Samui. Enjoy! It was an ok night in a very decent hotel, though--with plenty of time for pampering my poor feet, skin and hair, so I had a great evening by myself! Finally arriving in Ko Pha-Nang the next morning, my Canadian friend Mikey, who has clearly stayed too long in Bangkok and got too used to local ways, picked me and my bags up on a scooter--I wish I had a photo! Ko Pha-Nang is a lovely little tropical island, although very typically living from tourism more than anything else. There are no fishermen on the beaches in the morning, no boats coming in that I can see...there are however numerous places selling you food, onward tickets, renting you bikes and offering you a beach-side bungalow for a more or less ok price. The weather has been a bit on and off, with rain showers every day so far, but I'll be staying here for a few more days until I head up to Bangkok again to have Mikey as my local guide for the weekend. I'm hoping to get some photos to you there, and some more words about what I've been up to.