#  >  > Travellers Tales in Thailand and Asia >  >  > Laos Forum >  >  2 Weeks Roadie. Laos, Cambodia, Thailand. (I'm knackered!)

## beerlaodrinker

Recently went on a roadie from Vientiane to 4000 islands in southern Lao then crossed the border to Cambodia then back into Lao via Thailand, Was a good trip but some long days driving. Kids were in the back bouncing around and kept saying, are we there yet , Are we there yet.

About a month before this trip we went to see the plain of jars. so i will throw those pics in to

Left Vientiane and headed for xiang quang province ( phonsavan town) to see the plain of jars. Wasnt overly impressed with the place or the jars. The road was in pretty good nick and some nice scenery

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## beerlaodrinker

Theres several different sites to see the jars but we just went to 1 site the wife was keen to see them all but i managed to convince her that the other ones would just have MORE jars. and that it was fast approaching beer o clock


I got to admit though they are a bit weird and you have to wonder what the fookers are for

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## beerlaodrinker

Xieng kuangs also another part of Lao that was heavily Bombed.



These locals had put them to good use.

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## PeeCoffee

Great stuff. Terrific pics. Keep 'em coming, BLD.

Love that first pic on the road ahead in your OP.

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## DJ Pat

Excellent trip photos, wanna see more.

Years ago this faux-hippie told me that I must see those jars ''because it's really far out, man'' 

Not sure if he meant distance or level of stonededness, as I'm yet to visit.

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## beerlaodrinker

> Excellent trip photos, wanna see more.
> 
> Years ago this faux-hippie told me that I must see those jars ''because it's really far out, man'' 
> 
> Not sure if he meant distance or level of stonededness, as I'm yet to visit.


 Even with a few bongs in me i doubt i could get to excited about them pat. Its a good days drive from Vientiane and apart from the stunning mountain scenery phonesavan didnt have much going for it as far as im concerned

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## beerlaodrinker

374 locals taking refuge in piew cave from the constant air strikes werent so lucky when the cave took a direct hit killing them all

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## beerlaodrinker

It can get a bit nippy at night in phonsavan

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## beerlaodrinker

We travelled next to pakse, Champassak then on the the hippy paradise known as don det.. Ive got plenty of pics left but ive got a bit more downloading to do so will bung up more later

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## DJ Pat

> Even with a few bongs in me i doubt i could get to excited about them pat. Its a good days drive from Vientiane and apart from the stunning mountain scenery phonesavan didnt have much going for it as far as im concerned


The guy had also visited Goa, Koh Phangan and Angkor Wat in the same trip. When I considered the trip years later I decided it was more his drug induced rambling state that would have made the place as 'far out' as he descibed, so I put it on hold. I'm yet to travel to 'nam, and will at some point, but to be honest travelling that distance to admire such a monument doesn't appeal to me, now that you've told me what kind of journey it would take, and I won't be driving.

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## OhOh

What car/truck did you use, which countries roads were the best and what arrangements did you make regarding accommodation? Lastly where did you arrange the insurances/visas for you, your family and your vehicle.

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## beerlaodrinker

> What car/truck did you use, which countries roads were the best and what arrangements did you make regarding accommodation? Lastly where did you arrange the insurances/visas for you, your family and your vehicle.


We have a 4 year old Fortuner which is roomy enough for 2 kids 2 adults and a bit of gear in the back



I got my Cambodian visa in Vientiane beforewe left, Kida and wife didnt need one as travelling on Lao passports, I also needed to get a Tourist visa for Thailand to enter by Land because under the new visa rules i can only do 2 land crossings per year now, ( Thai and Lao insurance i had already , Tried to get cambo insurance in vientiane but nobody sold it, Thought i might be able to get it at the cambo border but at that border (voeoung kam / Dom Kralor) there was nothing. Wasnt real happy about driving around without it but figured i would be even more alert while driving than usual.  The roads i drove on in Cambodia were all single lane and in reasonable shape, Locals in cambodia seemed to drive a bit better than there Lao brothers to. in cambodia we drove from the  border to stung treng staayed aa night then drove to siamreap, parked up there and just used tuk tuks and when leaving we crossed the border at osmach near Surin. I only booked accomadation in advance if i waas certain we would be there on the day, The idea was to stop whenever we felt like it, Thats the good thing about doing a roadie, The vehicle   just uses the yellow border passport, same as driving Lao Thailand

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## HuangLao

Great pic thread, per usual, BLD!!

Keep it up.
Cheers.

 :Smile:

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## beerlaodrinker

Help me out mods cant edit the title. Should be 2 week  roadie. Laos, cambodia, thailand Not 2 wek .   Damn fingers are to big

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## Thailandbound

Cheers, good pics. Looks like an adventure!  :Smile:

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## OhOh

Thanks.

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## Luigi

Very nice B. Looking forward to the rest, cheers.

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## katie23

Looks like another great thread. Thanks for the pics!

Your Mrs is looking quite fit! Kudos to her, and send her my regards.  :Smile:

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## Phuketrichard

thanks for the walk down memory lane, did similar trips by my car and planning a big one ( phuket- Chiang Khong- Luang prabang- Vientainne-4,000 islands- Kep-home this summer.
have car will travel:-)

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## fishlocker

Nice start to what I'm sure will be a well received picture thread. 
Cheers, the fishes.

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## beerlaodrinker

We stayed 2 nights in Pakse, i hadnt been for about 10 years and was surprised to see it had grown a lot



The First night we ataayed at the Champasak palace hotel which was once the last home of the last prince of Champasak  Chou Boon Oum before fleeing to France during the commie revolution of Lao in 74.

Interesting old hotel and a bargain at $22

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## beerlaodrinker

We drove the short distance to see WAT PHU considered to be the oldest Khmer archeological sites in Lao. The wife likes temples. I did try to tell her that it was just so so compared to Angkor wat, but she was having none my bullshit, so we saw it.

50 000 kips entry seemed pretty reasonable


I wont post to many Pics of Wat phu because you guys are likely to get Templed out by the time this thread gets to Angkor wat

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## beerlaodrinker

My Take on WAT PHU. Erm, its fookin old Innit

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## beerlaodrinker

> thanks for the walk down memory lane, did similar trips by my car and planning a big one ( phuket- Chiang Khong- Luang prabang- Vientainne-4,000 islands- Kep-home this summer.
> have car will travel:-)


 Thats  a  Huge trip

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## Luigi

Very nice cheers.

I like the look of Wat Phu.

I really like all those old Khmer temples.

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## beerlaodrinker

> Very nice cheers.
> 
> I like the look of Wat Phu.
> 
> I really like all those old Khmer temples.


 They are pretty cool , We  went for the 3 day pass at Angkor and only seen a  fraction of what is actually there, some people spend weeks. Way to long for me, they were all starting to look the same after a while. plus its fookin hot so the best time to go is at sparrow fart but the negative of that is the place is literally swarming with punters, Anyway i saw them 30 years ago and seem to recall there was always a vendor hovering nearby to sell me a beer, even inside the temple complex, Looks like they have cleared the vendors out.  Damn shame Really. Spoilt my cultural experience.

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## beerlaodrinker

It can be hard to find a good feed while on a Roadie in Lao but lucky for me the kids arent to fussy bit of barbie chook and rice and some papaya salad for mrs BLD and its back on the road again.

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## fishlocker

Next time if the wife is up for a challange drop her off at the steps between the two Naga at the base of the mountain. Then you race her to the Golden Buddha temple in your Toyota.  

You may want to take it easy on the winding road up as I don't recall them serving any beers at the top.

Now if you've both made it that far you can have a cold one at the restaurants at the base of the mountain just north of the Naga where the race began. :bronzecup:

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## fishlocker

> We stayed 2 nights in Pakse, i hadnt been for about 10 years and was surprised to see it had grown a lot
> 
> 
> 
> The First night we ataayed at the Champasak palace hotel which was once the last home of the last prince of Champasak  Chou Boon Oum before fleeing to France during the commie revolution of Lao in 74.
> 
> Interesting old hotel and a bargain at $22


Awesome spot for a picnic. 


Cheers, and thanks for the flashback. BILs sidecar couldn't make it with my big butt on board so we had to hoof it. Great fun and some spectacular scenery going up. 

As I recall the staircase was not quite up to code. No wheelchair access either. And here I thought the west was lawless. :ourrules:

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## fishlocker

22 dollars at the Palace hotel. You must have sent the wife in ahead of you. Just kidding, I met a guy from the UK at the rooftop bar there and he said he booked ahead for several nights and had a great room for 24 a night off bookings.com or something. That was around Jan 2017 so not bad. 

They showed us one of the palaces high-end Suites with access to the rooftop Terrace for just over a hundred u.s. dollars. Not too shabby for a palace. Nice veiws from up top and a pretty cool dome shaped bar to wet the whistle. 

Thanks for the memories but enough of my ramblings. 
Carry on........fish.

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## barrylad66

cheers mate......

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## bsnub

Excellent thread so far! Barry you have some great threads going so far as well! A tip of the hat to you both!

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## beerlaodrinker

Not barry. Buce. Just call me bruce

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## beerlaodrinker

> 22 dollars at the Palace hotel. You must have sent the wife in ahead of you. Just kidding, I met a guy from the UK at the rooftop bar there and he said he booked ahead for several nights and had a great room for 24 a night off bookings.com or something. That was around Jan 2017 so not bad. 
> 
> They showed us one of the palaces high-end Suites with access to the rooftop Terrace for just over a hundred u.s. dollars. Not too shabby for a palace. Nice veiws from up top and a pretty cool dome shaped bar to wet the whistle. 
> 
> Thanks for the memories but enough of my ramblings. 
> Carry on........fish.


Nope just booked it on agoda. Classic old hotel with a lot of history. Pretty sure if someone spent some money on it it would be a sort of classic like rafles in sinapore for example. But i cant see that happening.meanwhile i sure enjoy3d the ambience. The seond night after comong back from paksong we stayed at the athena hotel. More expensive but had a pool. Gotta keep the kiddies happy on a roadie

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## beerlaodrinker

About 35 kms from Pakse is a good spot for a daytrip called Paksong, Lots of waterfalls, coffee plantations etc

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## beerlaodrinker

The amazing tad fane waterfall, There are bungalows here if you want to stay the night but we headed back to pakse





These madd fookers were zip lining over it

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## beerlaodrinker

Lao coffee grown on the Boleven plataue is seriously good.





Found this japanese run strawberry farm , cheap and delicious

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## beerlaodrinker

Back in Pakse we needed a hotel with a pool and found the excellent Athena hotel



All that touring had made me hungry, Found this floating retaurant, Good food  with a strange Menu

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## fishlocker

As for the zip line I'm game, fish missed the line by a few months. My understanding is they have only been operating there for six months.  One more reason for a trip back I would say.

I promised myself next time I'd make it into the river on the right above the falls and dive into the pool below a smaller falls just before the big drop on the left with the Gopro. 

I hadn't a change of shorts last time which left three options. 

A: Embarrass myself in front of my niece.
Or
B: Spend the rest of the day working on a getting the wet pants rash.
Or
C: Next time bring a swimsuit and a towel.

I learned years ago ,after the the fact, at Khone phapheng waterfall Laos that option "A" is generally reserved for kids ten and under. 

Not that I got in any trouble but I did raise a few eyebrows.
Miss fish said it was no problem as I wrapped myself in her shawl before I took the plunge. Bil and Sil got a chuckle out of it as it clearly laid to rest any rumors floating about the community regarding that.......


the fish's nuts.

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## Luigi

Mental note: Do a tour of Laos.


Fantastic, cheers.

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## Phuketrichard

one thing i find nice about laos is if u have ur own car its a wonderful place to travel around...friendly people,great places to stay, ok roads with hardly much traffic and lots to see and do.

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## Luigi

I'll have a She Came Salad, please.  :Smile:

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## beerlaodrinker

From Pakse to  nakasang takes about 4 hours, you can park the car in nakasang then get a boat over to don det or don khone.

Grab a couple of beers for the boat ride 




Those travelling by motorbike can bring there bikes with them on the motorbike ferry




Don dets a pretty chilled out sort of place, Theres fuck all to do besides drink and smoke, we had 3 nights there and that was about enough







Don det main street

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## beerlaodrinker

My xmas Dinner

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## beerlaodrinker

If you were looking for a cheap place to hang out and get pissed and stoned then don dets the place,

Plenty of styles of accomadation to suit all budgets







we stayed at this one, Nothing flash but done the job

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## beerlaodrinker



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## beerlaodrinker

we hired some scooters and went exploring



The Japanese bridge takes you over to don khone

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## beerlaodrinker

Hired a Boat and set of to see if we could catch a glimpse of the endangered Irrawaddy fresh water Dolphin.





We were in luck.


Thats as close as we got to it

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## beerlaodrinker

Leaving dondet we stopped at the  khone pha pheng waterfalls ( more of a Rapid really) Before Heading to the Cambodian Border Crossing

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## beerlaodrinker

Vuen Kham border crossing (Lao side)


Dong Kralor on the cambodian side

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## beerlaodrinker

We stayed a night in Stung Treng. Its a bit of a shithole.










A good place for a beer

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## beerlaodrinker

Nothing to see in stung treng so we hit the road for Siamreap, About a 5 hour drive on a new sealed highway

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## beerlaodrinker

We had booked the excellent Sokha Roth hotel.

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## beerlaodrinker

We paid $62 Each for a 3 day pass to Angkor wat

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## beerlaodrinker

Siamreap is bloody hot so the best time to visit temples is in the early morning and Afternoon

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## Phuketrichard

THANKS, have yet to visit Don Det but was planing to on this summers trip<<<<
another photographer friend of mine has a small resort right on the river...
was crossing over to Cambodia easy ( hope thai car  is no hassle but have heard sometimes there refused )

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## beerlaodrinker

No problem at all  at the cambo border. Quite painless

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## Latindancer

A small but relatively painless transfer of wealth does wonders at borders   :Smile:

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## fishlocker

BLD I don't want to know the story behind the man in blue ^ but it would have made a really impressive juxtaposition pic if he would have tipped his head back a bit so as to look like he was chugging that glass of beer on the wall. Note to self, put that on the list.

Phuketrichard, you got to do it man. But if and when you do please please please post it for me. As I said before you and Bobcock are the ones that made me finally stop and think for a second about what I was really seeing as far a picture taking goes.  In fact I believe I may have accidentally snapped a few good ones on our last go round.  Thanks for that.

BLD you're scaring me, if an Ozzy says it hot, it's fricking hot! Thanks for the heads up. We'll bring umbrellas to hide under. Thanks for the pics, We hope we make it down next go round. Cheers and great thread. 

Fish.

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## pseudolus

Worth a try.

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## beerlaodrinker

After a day of Templing we usually headed to Pub street for beers and dinner


Kids liked the Fish foot massage, $2 for about 30 minutes and they throw in a beer.

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## beerlaodrinker

I thought the Thais ate some strange bugs but the cambos took it to a new level




I cant recommend the snake


Wife seemed to like the deep fried Tarantulas though

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## beerlaodrinker

Theres already quite a few threads on siamreap so im just gonna post up the Temples that interested me

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## Luigi

Those BBQ pics are great, was just showing them to the Sproglette, there was a good bit of euwwwwing and squealing, cheers.  :Smile:

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## Chittychangchang

Great thread BLD, those fish spas tickle like fook.

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## toslti

Good to see you again chum.... kids have grown!... mind you, so have you!!.... Living must be good

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## PeeCoffee

Great pics of your fantastic trip so far.
Thank you for sharing on the forum BLD.
I can't wait for the balance on your way home.

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## beerlaodrinker

Theres plenty of good food to be had in siamreap, No real need to eat bugs


Fish amok was good

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## beerlaodrinker

This place must of been good. They were lining up to get in there

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## beerlaodrinker

A few more temples







Kids were getting templed out to.

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## beerlaodrinker

We were pretty well done with Cambodia so headed  for the border crossing called Osmach?Chong chom and crossed into Thailand there, This brings you out about 70 kms from Surin




Theres a Casino on the Cambodian side where the thais like to go








Next stop Surin

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## pseudolus

^ Damn that's more like it. She's a real cutie.

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## Topper

Great thread BLD!

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## Luigi

^ innit.

A throw back to the good ol' days.

Cheers BLD.

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## Bogon

Amazing, had to wait until page 2 to get the money shot of BLD holding a tinnie!

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## beerlaodrinker

Peacoffee had already warned me not to expect to much going on on a monday and new years day in Surin. As we entered town the first thing i saw was a group of pretty girls, Good start


Checked in to the old and slightly jaded Tongtarin   hotel.

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## beerlaodrinker

Time to reaquaint myself with my old mate LEO

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## beerlaodrinker

After hunting down some food we found Surins Reggae bar

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## Jofrey

nice thread. cheers bld.

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## cdnski12

I crossed from Cambodia to Thailand @ the O'smach Border Post south of Surin in 2010. The Cambo's were rebuilding the entire Hwy. It was a mess. Thai GF & I travelled in hop on/off taxi. The driver was good. He knew the road construction well. 15 km south of the border, the Hwy Construction stopped at a huge cliff. The taxi chugged off down a faint track in the Jungle. I was more than a bit concerned. We got to the border safely. I gave the driver a huge tip. The Thai Immigration Officer spoke very good English. He told us that many travellers going south were robbed. We evidently were lucky.

Having spent 3 days in Siem reap in 2010; I went back there in 2015 for 9 days. I toured all over the 50 mile square Siem Reap Area & still didn't see it all. I'll go back there again. I found the street vendor food in Cambodia to be much better than Thailand. Excellent beer in Cambodia.

I also went to the Plain of Jars in 2010. many of the 1 km straight sections of the Hwy were actually Lima CIA Landing strips during the secret War in Laos. The Lao govt connected them up into the present hwy. There are 2 very large Stupas near Phonsovan. You can see the existing fill area of what must have been very large temples centuries prior. The wooden Wat Temples were sacked by various invaders. This was the eastern Opium Route leading from Kumming China, Vietnam to Nong Khai & on to Chiang Rai & Chiang Mai, for some 300-500 years.

I visited Pakse, Champasak & Wat Phu in 2011. Obviously there had to be a big population to justify such a large temple complex in the 11-13th centuries.

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