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At the moment I'm on Don Det, an island in Si Phan Don that is probably the most relaxed place in the world. This is probably a good thing considering how tired we all are (the only thing we've really done here is become experts at our new preferred activity - Lying), but it is a bit frustrating when you have to wait nearly hald an hour then walk over and wake the waitress up to order your food.
Before coming here we had a pretty full on week. We spent alot of time in Luang Prabang, five nights in all. A highlight was the night market which is the most easygoing and pretty market I've ever been to. Even the flurescent lighting looked like fairy lights under the red tents covering kilometres of scarves, jewelerry and t-shirts (we walked by at least four people exclaiming 'it goes on forever!'). I bought way too much pretty stuff, but the best thing I spent my money on was a a street stall off the market selling meat on a stick. I was dubious when Sylvia and Sarah wanted it for dinner but it was amazing - perfectly tender chicken breast on the inside and salty basting on the outside.
After a few more days of massage, cooking courses and swimmig in a beautiful turquoise waterfall which is always how I imagine waterfalls should be and am always diapointed, we headed to Van Vieng. I cannot claim this was as happy an experiene as Luang Prabang. Van Vieng is like the Queenstown of Laos, surrounded by sheer cliff covered mountains and known as the adventure capital. But I think by either Van Vieng or Queenstown standards we had a bit too much of an adventure.
We only had one full day so decided to use it to bike to a group of caves 14kms out of town. The bike ride down a main motoway and then a bumpy dirt road and across a bamboo bridge was exhausting enough. We visited the first cave which wasn't particularly exciting except for the massive spider with coathanger like legs (admittedly smaller than your average coathanger but still pretty big) and the elephant shaped stalagtite (or is it stalagmite?). Then we made our first accidental mistake in asking a local man for directions to the next cave. 'This way' in New Zealand does not usually correspond to 'I am now going to be your guide and take you to the next cave. I am then going to lead you deeper and deeper and tell you each time you ask how much longer 'only five more minutes.' It also doesn't mean 'We will walk, climb and drag ourselves through this cave for two hours in knee-deep water, ankle deep mud, up slippery rocks and under low rocks. You will desperately want to get out but it turns out I don't speak English so I can't understand you. We will finally end up 3kms underground by a dark lake and will not take anywhere else until you go swimming. When, nearly in tears, you say you want to go back to Van Vieng, i will walk off down a different path to the one we came down and you will have no choice but to follow me. Oh, and yes one of the torches just died, one is flickering on and off and the other two are getting very faint, don't worry about it.' It turns out 'this way' does mean that in Lao.
To be fair all three of us should have been alot more assertive and told him to go away. We didn't really realise what we had gotten ourselves into until it was too late. After over three hours underground, climbing 5kms, Sylvia bumpinng her head hard, my shoes breaking and alot of panicking the three of us emerged covered in mud, dust and bruises into the light. It was one of the best sights I've ever seen.
After getting away from our 'guide' as fast as possible we wandered back through the rice fields (Sarah:'I think we're lost' Sylvia: 'I don't care, we're lost outside') we got back on our bikes and rode 14kms back to Van Vieng.
We had exciting plans of tubing down the river but the next day, after being woken at 3am by drunk British men imitating dying elephants in the room above us, all we could do was lie in a cafe (a genius cafe with mattresses instead of seats facing a TV playing continuous episodes of Friends) waiting for our bus to the capital Vientiane, which turned out to be the most falling apart bus I've ever seen with surprisingly comfortable seats.
We only spent a night and a day in Vientiane but it was a day and night in luxury. Because we got there late and it's the high season we could only get expensive accommodation (wouldn't want to spend $8 each a night too often). It was lovely spending the night in a comfortable bed in a big room with a nice view and no stomping elephants or roosters able to he heard.
The next day we really just ate. I mean, we had showers and booked a bus and used the internet in between, but the main focuss of the day was eating. The food in Vientiane is really good and alot of it is French/baked goods-related. I finally achieved my goal of eating a Sundae - me and Sylv have been looking for weeks, by getting a decadent (it had a cherry on top) banana split at a place called Joma bakery (if you're ever in Vientiane or Luang Prabang, go there, everything is delicious - I would know - I've tried most of it).
In the evening we got a sleeper bus to Pakse. This is not 'sleeper' in the literal sense of the world. I see no way that anyone can sleep on bed with five people (some of them strangers) crammed on it with a constand bouncing motion. However I did very much enjoy the disco lights in the floor. Feeling like a zombie, we arrived in Pakse, got another four hour bus to Si Phan Don and a boat across the Mekong to Don Det.
Once we had found a bungolow by (actually over) the river with a balcony and three hammocks for $2 each a night I had a very long nap. Other than meals, I have spent the fast majority of my time here horizontal. It's just that kind of place. Better go, my hammock is missing me.
- comments
Ceri Good grief! What a terrifying thing to have experienced - definitely the beginnings of some adventure novel. I'm very glad you were all ok and have taken some time out to recover. And now I want french pastries!
Sandra Hi Charlotte Great to hear of all your adventures and misadventures. What great writing experiences that fill all of your senses. Take care and look forward to reading more.