To horribly abbreviate:

I enjoyed Luang Prabang and headed to Vientiane for the Chinese New Year. I found nothing happening in Vientiane for the New Year, in fact everything was shut down. I spent only 1 night there. I was eager to get south to have a little time to see something in Southern Laos before having to make it to Cambodia for the fieldwork. After much back and forth deliberation I decided to spend 2 full days with two guys I met in Tha Kheak to go to the Kong Lo cave. We rented motorbikes and I learned to ride for the first time! It was a blast to drive, though also very nerve-racking. I definitely wouldn’t do it alone. The scenery on the way to the cave was straight out of Jurassic Park, beautiful and dramatic. The cave was really amazing. It’s a 7km under-mountain river that is actually used as a means of transport for villages on the other side. The fastest way for them to take products to market is by boating for 30 minutes through the blackness of the cave. I had to spend another night in Tha Kheak, a night in Pakse, and finally I found myself on the islands of Si Phan Don in the Mekong river, a traveller’s oasis. I got a simple bungalow (no electricity or bathroom) for 2 nights for $2.25/night on the small island of Don Det. I saw the Irrawaddy River Dolphins and tried as much as possible to do nothing, though there was blogging to catch up on (yes, I was really really behind) and laundry to do to get ready for the fieldwork. I rented a bicycle which I rode to the far end of a different island, where my chain then snapped on me and I spent an evening and following morning walking around to return the bike to its owner. All in all, I really enjoyed Laos, but I feel I really need to come back to explore more in-depth and experience it at the pace of life that is actually Laotian, and not my rush to reach Cambodia by the 20th.