Sweating in Pakse

The further south we go, the hotter it's getting. We're sitting in an internet cafe...it's 8:30 in the evening here and still a hot, humid 30 degrees. Multiply that by 2 and that's how hot it felt on our bus, on the way here.

We boarded a bus in Savannahket this morning at 10:30 and began the long 277 km trip to Pakse. As we've learned, 277 km doesn't sound like a far distance, but on a local bus, anything can happen! We settled into our seats as best we could for how ever long the journey would take, armed with the knowledge it would probably take a long time.

The bus ride proved to be pretty typical, and fortunately not to eventful. It was more cramped than many of our other bus rides have been. Brian couldn't put his legs straight out in front of him because the space between the seats was too small. We lost track of how many times we stopped to pick people up along the way, after we hit 15, only 10 km from Savannahket.

As expected, the bus aisles filled with people on plastic stools again....but fortunately we weren't near any kids with sick stomachs! We also learned that buses are used as moving vans for people. We picked up a few people who seemed to have all their belongings with them (including baby chickens, and their motorbike which was piled into the back of the bus), perhaps planning to move to another city.

All in all, the trip wasn't too bad, and only took 5 1/2 hours. We're in Pakse now and even after showering of all the sweat from the bus ride, we're soaked again. It's so hot here, you sweat sitting still.

We plan to rent a motorbike tomorrow to head into a town called Tadlo in the Bolaven Plateau. We'll spend a night there and then head back to Pakse again to catch a bus back to Thailand. We'll most likely be without internet for the next day or so, so it'll be a surprise for you if you hear from us!