Coffee & tea plantations at large, a literal church replacement, pineapple, cashew, guava & passionfruit farming were to be seen & tasted along the way. weddings were taking place in several villages as it was sunday & were well attemded by the villagers. bathing with some of the local kids was great fun, watching the locals spreading out magnok chips for sundrying in hmong villages & 2 road accident with min. One person dead were the days main events before spending the night at quang scn. The landscape on the central highlands was great & more than made up for the bumpy roads.
the day after was again good fun, consisted of passing by More plantations, mostly coffee, cashews, some bananas that were situated close to the way we took. Waterfalls, then more rice paddies, old IFA trucks still in use on rough roads, river crossing by a hand-towed boat, then followed by trying to find our way to the next bigger road through the rice fields.
Hotel was almost on the waterfront of lak lake as was found out next morning. There the fishermen were going on about their business, rice paddies were being looked after, a funeral held along the main road. We stopped at a hmong village, which had been resettled there by the governement, providing free schooling, healthcare etc in exchange for the villagers giving up their nomad lifestye of burning, farming & moving on. The ride continued through mountainous scenery with lots of coffee plantations, as well as cashews, later sugar cane and other crops. The road was great for the places we passed, one hmong & an even bigger dao wedding, a collapsed bridge replaced by a hanging bridge on top, the amazingly sweet smell of blooming coffee trees. In the afternoon the coast was in sight, lots of red flags with yellow stars & fishermen heading out for work in tiny vessels. Nha trang itself seems quite touristy, signs in kyrillic language & announcements for keeping the beach clean in english, a gondola connecting town to one of the islands in the distance. Another nightbus ride to hoi an, feels almost like sleeping on a couch.

we were taking a ferry across mekong river as the new bridge wasn't yet opened, at the border into vietnam for the first time the luggage got checked. Coming into ho chi minh city took over an hour, the towns size & general traffic, specially the amount of motorcicles, was impressive as well as the greenery. Being dropped off at the backpacker district steve & I quickly found a nice place with a local family in a quiet alley & went for a walk to notre dame, a temple, saigon river & downtown; everywhere the parks & greenery was being looked after intensively, maybe in preparation for the upcoming 40th anniversary of the victory. After some searching the myanmar consulate was found the next morning (visa application will require some preparation) & visited the markets of chinatown, before we teamed up again & with the other two later that night. Their missing moped was purchased the next morning, so our ways parted. Following an extensive walk (first rain for me in vietnam) a nightbus took me to dalat.
The morning was surprisingly chilly & with sunrise went to town to check for a canyoning tour & had a great day out hiking, climbing, floating & abseiling in a nearby valley with loads of other people & good guides. In a hostel there was great company & the idea of taking a easy rider tour for the next few days came.
The following morning Bom was advicing the tour & shortly after we hit the road. Passing extensive agricultural areas (eg strawberries, artichokes, flowers) we passed through great sceneries of the hilly landscapes, stopped for weasel coffee (coffee fed to weasels/ferrets before being grinded to the actual product - a bit smoother, less bitter) in some of the very extensive coffee plantation area, but also went along rice paddies (in Vietnam from 2 up to 4 harvests a year) & tea plantations, to see the elephant waterfall, got into rain on the last few kilometers before reaching bao loc.

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At the border it got very bureaucratic with quite a few fees to be paid, checks passport decoration, at this rate might need a new one some time soon. The bus had to be changed in the middle of nowhere, once we set off for siem reap the driver made the most of the new road almost flew for as long as at was in good shape. In general nothing much seemed to have changed since laos, maybe smaller cars, better built houses, the farming fields seemed a bit less organised, the settlements more green from palm trees in between houses. Once In town everything seemed a bit gloomy as there was a huge blackout over the entire town. A tuktuk dropped me off at the address passed on by friends Steve, manu conny, that were already waiting for a bit. since we hadn't seen each other there was a lot to catch up with. The next 4 days we spend with a walk through town, visiting its market, purchsing tickets for temples transportation, etc. Thanks to its nearby khmer Temples, of which angkor wat is the most famous one, siem reap is a tourist magnet draws in a huge crowd. The area over whichthe temples are spread is vast, so some means of transport is essential. over the Centuries of the khmer reign every ruler decided to have their own Temple, that then also served as town with some holding 100000 citizens, thus the developments changes in taste can be studied well there by archeologists. the first evening we went by tuktuk to srah sran water reservoir pre rup temple for sunset, early next morning by bike to ta prohm (fairly overgrown by trees reknown from the tomb raider opening scene, apparently), ta nei a botanical garden, almost 100000 people fitting preah khan, magnificent bayon temple with faces all over, then later for the nightmarket. Since on this day we hadnt sweat enough yet, steve I decided to visit a temple further away by bike the next day, leaving early to watch sunrise with several otherhundreds of tourists at angkor wat, then cycling some 30 km to banteay srei, a small yet richely decorated temple that reminded me much of some of the ones seen in india (its said the khmer took some influence from them), before returning at a slow pace in the heat. Later went to visit the temples banteay samre, banteay kdei sunset angkor. The last day on the 3 day ticket for the temples it was a not so easy to fimd the motivation to go again since by then the novelty had worn off a bit, yet I went once more for angkor sunrise, a revisit to bayon, then finally the real angkor visit (due to a buddhist holiday the innermost part was closed, the outer circles with huge bas-reliefs was however more than enough to keep one busy) back to town. From home a few old pairs of glassses were still in the luggage, destined to be left to an NGO, that couldnt be found in town anymore. So the glasses were to go to the local childrens hospitals benefit, however ended up directly in the pockets of the guards of said institution... It was time to leave town we got to battambang the next afternoon took a look around to see whats left of french colonial architecture, exercise in the public gym on the riverside once again tasty food and fruity shakes. The following day a Tuktuk drove the 4 of us through the larger town area with its attractions, starting from the statue of battambang (story of the disappearing stick roasted pig offers to the deity), on to ride the bumpy bamboo train, cross a long suspension bridge to see a Cambodian wedding playing with the kids at the riverside, a tree occupied by huge fruit Bats, another temple (on a hilltop with nice view), a briefing on history by people who had experienced the khmer rouges reign first hand, followed by a visit to a killing cave. Closeby was another temple, this one with many monkeys whilst decending from the hill we could already see millions of bats leaving their caves into the sunset, a spectacle that would go on for another half an hour. The group split the next day when steve I took a very Fast bus to phnom penh, where the vietnam visa had to be taken care of. After a few issues with the bicycles to be rented, we opted for a front door delivery motorbike rental gave it a fun spin around town for the rest of The day. The chaeung ek s-21 genocide centres were the main things to visit the next day, however we also made time to visit several markets (amazing russian market: seems like a gigantic spare part collection for motorcycles, where they literally could be build from scratch), sights a movie at the local cinema.

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The busride to luang prabang seemed fairly long, but maybe just due to the fact that the minibus carried more passengers than it should have. Again going slowly on partially bumpy roads, through green & hilly landscapes, passing mostly small villages along the way. Upon arrival in town a hostel was quickly found just in time to watch the sun set from the banks of the mekong river. Had a pleasant evening walk around theBeautiful towncentre on Peninsula with its Colourful nightmarket (mostly textiles/fabrics, great choice of food & lao coffee). Drugs seemed to be offered at every corner, where the lights werent strong...
went to watch Sunrise from the temple on hill in the middle of luang prabang & afterwards on to  Rent a bike to go to tad se, a cascading waterfall literally through the forrest, in the rainy season that is. to get a bit of this feeling I went for a rivercrossing. Back in luang prabang it was time for a visit to the local phosy market, closeby an atm spontaneously kept the creditcard, yet everything was solved within a matter of minutes. Museum on the local ethnicities was closed as it was yyet another monday. During an evening walk it was obvious the day hadnt gone great for the streetfood vendors as there were heaps of Leftovers, later to be thrown away. It seemed a bit odd, on one side obese vendors & hours later people eating out of plastic bags found on the streets. Meanwhile a visit to a broadband internet cafe proved yet again to be very different perception of broadband...
on a Crowded bus through mountainous landscape, the journey went on towards phonsavanh. Along the way through Small villages the locals wealth visible no longer on SUVs but on material for construction of houses (rattan vs concrete), stopping many times to refill cooling water for brakes of hyundai bus. Many times garbage & plastic bags filled with vomit were thrown out of its windows. At the accommodation for the night, my fellow travellers & I were first presented the facilities, then the opium grown directly at the front door. Later went for a Market visit at phongsavanh.
next morning we Rent 2 motorcycle for 4 people, heading for the plain of jars, where ancient carved stones in the form of big jars were supposedly used for burials. On the unpaved roads it didnt take long to have a flat tire, but everytime help was only a short distance away. Aparts from the threedifferent archeological sites we drove to a dry waterfall & on the way back went to watch an old soviet tank. back to phonsavanh for watching the documentaries at MAG, an organisation that helps the locals in professionally clearing villages & farmlands from unexploded ordnance. (UXO).
over what first seemed decent, paved road yet halfway turned into bumpy dust road it was the following day on the bus to paksan. Nice mountainous scenery as we came down from the plain it got much warmer, dry rice paddies abound & saw an MAG team at work in one of the many villages., the bus was used by the passengers for shopping on the road & transportation of all sorts, incl. Live chicken, seemingly having endless capacities as it was following the windy path with a few washouts. in pakxan the bus transfer worked well & soon reappeared the mekong, bigger than ever,tree & corn farming plus else on its banks.
Close to takhek is a large karst area & one of the countries biggest hydropower stations, which can be visited following a route called the loop. For the next 3 days I was following this route through the beautiful scenery, visiting a number of caves of which a few are actually used as temples, passing odd areas of now flooded lands where dead trees are sticking out of the water, hiking through an insect-noisy forrest to a tall waterfall, seeing tabacco farms before heading to one of the biggest caves in the area & crossing it by boat & afoot.
On it was to savannakhet where everything of interesting seemed closed as it was monday, including tourist office & Dinosaur museum, however found a place with excellent vegetarian tofu dishes & best maracuja shake
At the late arrival in pakxe all hostels seemed either closed already or full. After quite some time searching Found a dorm with phone, a friendly host & tourguide.
closeby to town is yet another greater are that can be seen on a Loop, the bolavan Plateau, where tea & coffee is grown, the latter being filtered, served in espresso like quantity but of almost sirup consistence. The banana harvest seemed to be done with as there were many burns ongoing, often the root of a plant called mann, used for food & animals, was left in slices to dry in the sun on the roadsides.
returning to pakxe I Was asked for my advice in regards to marketing for the hostel (proud).
from there by bus & makeshift ferry to champassak to visit the 6th century khmer remains of vat phou in the heat of the day.
After a longer ride arrived in nakasang where the mekong is very wide & exist si phon don, the 4000 islands. took a boat at sunset on to don det & went cycling don khon in search for a place to stay.
To get to know the island I went cycling around don khon, got to see waterfalls, more dry rice paddies, crossed a collapsed bridge, learned that french had to build a railway system on these tiny islands when due to tensions with siam steam boats had to be transported past the (during dry season impassable ) waterfalls & rapids - by trains (back then the laotian road didn't exist).
what followed was a fun day of kayaking around the 4000 islands on the Mekong, where we paddled to waterfalls, some minor rapids & got to see a few river dolphin, watching from a distance.
Then a day of rest before setting off for cambodia.

From phongsaly to hat sa is a bumpy & dusty road. Close to the start is a quarry, from Which chinese trucks take the stones Into the valley to yet another construction site. The bus transport happens along the very same road & due to the dust can be difficult to see the magnificent view into the cloud covered valley with few tree-covered islands standing out above the clouds. Going at 20km/h, the bus slowly winds its way down, all along cheerful lao music playing.
In hat sa the nam ou river is passing by & tickets are readily available at this season. The boat driver is called in & off it goes through the steep valley, few rapids & through a vegetation ranging from deep forrests to corn & banana plantations along the riversides, goat, pork & buffaloes roaming around freely, kids & adults fishing. After about 2.5 hrs the dam uder construction apears & its time to change ride, cross the river & after about 45 mins re-embark a similar boat. The dam is just one amongst several along the nam ou, apparently all cconstructed by the northern neighbor, just as well as roads & bridges. The day ends at muang khua, a quiet town along the road from oudomxai to vien bien phu in vietnam, but drawing in a number of tourists for going on trekking tours to nearby akha villages. On the riverbanks the locals grow amongst other things grapefruit, corn, tamarind,  papaya, Salads, etc. we end the day on a few glasses of lao-lao.

It seems all falang (westerner tourists) have decided to leave all at once in the morning, quickly 2 boats are filled & spontaneously the days destination will be muang ngoi, as the car seats for this destination seem more comfortable than wooden planks. the passengers by now know mostly each other from previous experiences, the trip is similar to the previous day (valley less steep except for the karst landscape towards the end, again a few, fantastic king fisher birds can be seen too) & after less than 4 hrs the fairly touristy desstination is reached. As one is leaving the boat offers for guesthouses are approaching, everything is prepared for the tired traveller. A walk through town reveals that the place can be reached by land for quite some time; scooters have arrived, small trucks are used for overland transportation & a massive telephone pole has been put in place. still, surrounded by tree covered mountains, nam ou flowing by nothing much seems to disturb the peace. Following the road out of town one can quickly witness slash and burn in progress to make way for more banana / rice plantations, however. For a really nice view over the town & river one can climb a closeby hill, with two extensive caves along the way (encounters with huge centipedes included). the place i stayed at (mainstreet crossing) is run by a swedish expat, who puts on really good & well visited buffets for dinner & breakfast, also has bicycles to rent.

Weighing the options of visiting more caves on a bike tour along the road from town or continuing further down river I boarded one of the many boats the following morning. Through even higher karst landscapes & a few more rapids the cruise went on to nong kiao, where some time was spend on the bridge crossing the river - drying clothes as the backpack had been stored at the lowest part of the boat...by mini bus on to luang prabang.