Tha Khaek is a small town on the Mekong bordering Thailand, and not a place a lot of travellers go. It’s mainly used as a stop between Kong Lor Cave and destinations further south. The bus leaves Kong Lor village at 2pm every day for Tha Khaek, and it had been my intention to use this bus, however at the last minute a better option arose.

Julien, a French traveller that two of my cave companions had met, had a campervan and offered us all a ride. Julien has spent the last two years driving from France, passing through 22 countries before arriving in Laos. His story is amazing and you can read more about it on his website. By 12pm we were ready to go and we all piled into the campervan for what became one of my favourite ways to travel…..with great people, great music, and at our own pace.

We arrived in Tha Khaek early evening without any plans. Were we going to stay the night, or continue by bus directly to the next town on our itineraries, Pakse? At this point we split up, with two of our number deciding to head to the bus station to try and get the 6pm overnight bus south. Julien was sleeping in his camper of course, so that left me and the young couple from NZ to find a guesthouse. This proved more difficult than expected, but after a bit of a walk we found a place, and soon headed out to find dinner. Walking along the Mekong, the locals were friendly and even wanted their photo taken, while giggling profusely.

There were a few restaurants along the Mekong and we chose one for its view over the river, and the sunset that was about to enrapture us all. The closer the sun got to the horizon, the more pink and purple filled the sky, and in turn reflected in the river. It was one of the most magnificent sunsets I had seen, and while we were watching Julien wandered by and joined us as well.

We were joined at dinner by a friend of Julien’s and had a fun meal over a few Beer Lao’s, but it wasn’t until later in the evening that the real party began. Heading back towards our guesthouse we all strolled down the main street only to come across a small street party. With the street partially blocked, there were about 30 people sitting around tables filled with homemade Laotian food and beer, with a small band playing, and children playing a version of elastics nearby. We stopped to watch, and soon Julien was chatting to some of the men at the party. Then they were all taking photos with him. A short moment later and we were all being invited to sit down and join the fun.

Food was brought from other tables and placed in front of us, and I had the best larb (traditional Lao dish) I’d tasted so far. Small beer mugs were filled and handed around, and we were soon clinking glasses and over and over and over as more and more people came over to share their beer with us and have their photos taken with the falang (foreigner). Not satisfied that we were drinking fast enough, soon we were being coaxed to scull, bottom’s up, 100%!!! Hilariously we did as we were told and more and more glasses of beer appeared in front of us.

Not satisfied with just getting us drunk, soon the band requested that the falang join in on the dancefloor, and up we got, dancing with them like they were old friends. Lao dancing only really has one move, a certain movement of the hands, and I couldn’t even get that right. We just bobbed around on the dancefloor until the song was over.

We stayed and partied for about two hours with these wonderfully friendly people, most of whom didn’t speak English (the party was for an anniversary of some sort, but I couldn’t quite get what it was), and we eventually made our exit before things got too messy. The nearest bathroom was the dodgy karaoke place across the road. All in all it was an unexpectedly hilarious and fun evening, and those are usually the best.