Chinese lanterns left over from new year

We are leaving the Bolaven Plateau this morning so speak to a tuk tuk driver who says he's heading to Pakse in about an hour.  We decide to wander down to the main road and see if we can stop a passing tuk tuk or truck or whatever otherwise we’ll head back to the market in an hour.  As we stand there, an elderly French gentleman comes out of a restaurant and, with his non existent English and our almost non existent French, we manage to ascertain that he’s offering us a free lift with himself and his family.

We go into the restaurant where they are having breakfast.  It seems he was stationed in Laos for three years during the first Indochina war and has since settled here.  He is now 86 years old and is married to a Laos woman and has all his family here.  He has a people carrier type vehicle with two spare seats so in we get with him, his wife and some other family members including three kids.  Its a quick journey as we don’t make the many stops that the buses and tuk tuks do and we are dropped off a short tuk tuk ride from Pakse.  Unfortunately we couldn’t have much of a conversation with him but we tried and what a lovely man.

On arrival in Pakse we book our ticket to go to Don Khong, one of the 4000 islands, tomorrow.  Its the biggest of the three islands usually visited by tourists and the least touristy so we’ve decided to go there first.  We bump into Auguste and Stefan again this evening … they’re off to the Bolaven Plateau tomorrow but they might catch us up on the Islands.  Didn’t take many pics today but this is the leftover Chinese new year laterns crossing the street in Pakse.  We wonder when they’ll take them down … there are a few Christmas trees and happy new year notices still dotted about.