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Vientienne and 4000 islands
So after a good couple of days tubing it was time to make a break from Vang Vienne before it sucked us all in and never let us go.We all hopped on a bus and after a couple of very hung over hours arrived into the capital of Laos -Vientiane where I had to say good bye to the Irish lads who were going straight down to Cambodia.It was really sad to say goodbye to them as they had been a source of great entertainment to me over the past couple of weeks and made my experience in Laos even better than I could have ever hope - but the show must always go on and so must my travels, so it was good bye Irish trio and hello Vientiane.
Me and the rest of the crew spent only one night in Vientiane as we waited for a bus to the 4000 islands in the south, our time was spent lazing in a nearby hotels pool and eating noodles filled with ants … yum! L To get to our sleeper bus we were collected in a tuk truck which amazingly managed to fit over 30 people inside, I ended up hanging off the side with Leo who kept having to grab me as we went flying around corners and over speed bumps at god knows how many kilometers an hour so that I wouldn't get flung off the back like a pebble in a sling shot.The sleeper bus was busy, but luckily the boys nicked someone else's seat and we ended up with a great set up at the back of the bus, 9 of us in a space meant for 4 drinking whiskey and attempting to stop the precious m&ms from rolling away every time we went around the corner.After 12 hours we got to a middle point where we swapped buses and set off on the little 3 hour journey to the boat port, at one point the bus pulled over and all the lads got off to pee against a bush, all the girls got off and went behind the bushes, it was so funny, so cave man like yet so accepted by everyone on the bus as the only option, we pee together or not an all lol.
When I got to the boat port I was heaving my backpack onto my shoulder when I heard someone call me name - it was Kara!! My beloved Kara that I had travelled from Thailand to Laos with, she had left half way through tubing to go see central Laos and then bumped into me on the way south.Oh it was lovely to see her and great to know we had 2 days together on the islands before she headed off again.
Ok so the 4000 islands is where the river splits and land like bobbing apples at Halloween randomly dotted around the water float happily.I decided to stay on Don Det, not the biggest or smallest island but still a lovely one, very chilled very hippy and after tubing - very much what I needed.Me and Kara found a bungalow on the sunset side over hanging the river and then spent the rest of the day chilling out on pillows, watching the beautiful river float past and catching up on what each other had been doing since we parted, we also booked a Kayaking tour for the following day and then ate Indian food as the sun went down.
The Kayaking Tour!
So at 9am on my first full day on Don Det I could be found dressed in a bikini, yellow helmet and florescent life jacket (which was making me sweat profusely in the heat), I decided to accessorize this with a beautiful oar and matching kayak to make the outfit complete.And what action could you find me doing in this beautiful ensemble? Well I was stood in the middle of the main street (the only street with more than 3 huts acting as shops on it) in a group of 10 practicing how to paddle whilst also trying not to get conked on the head by still half asleep and therefore very unco-ordinated Kara. That's right 10 of us sat on dry land pretending to paddle and due to all the padding and helmets we looked as if we had just arrived from an epilepsy anonymous meeting.
Anyway after we had mastered the art of air/ earth paddling we decided we were ready to go all out and maybe even try it in water - low and behold the practice worked as we all managed to paddle forwards without a hitch, apart from the fact for some reason me and kara constantly went diagonally we really did look like pros! or so I thought anyway. We all paddled our way around the island and then just as we were getting the hang of things we ditched the kayaks and walked through the country side to go and see a waterfall - and what a powerful waterfall it was.Very much an angry looking waterfall I thought, lots of white water charging like a bull down the rocks and smashing against other charging bull surges of water at the bottom.
Now for some reason when I asked our guide what we were doing next and he said our kayaks were waiting for us less than a kilometer away from this massive scary as hell water fall it never occurred to me that the water might still be running quite fast at the place we were due to set off again?We all walked down to the river and happily started plonking ourselves into our kayaks and making sure our flip flops were strapped on and it wasn't until we pushed away from land and the current caught me did I notice that the whole river was white, not tranquil blue oh no it was fast and uncontrollable white, it was raging bull colour! - we were going white water kayaking!! As soon as Kara noticed I heard her scream, she freaked out and in her panic confused right with left meaning we crashed into a small boulder - luckily we held it together and didn't capsize.I yelled at her to "PADDLE WOMAN PAAAADDDDLLLLEEEE" and we made it down rapid number one with out our sanity but with our lives. Rapid number 2 was surprisingly a pretty similar experience to rapid 1 as me and kara ended up going the wrong way around a rock and instead of just pushing on forwards we panicked and decided to turn our kayak all the way around and try and go against the current up stream to try again? Nice idea but not well excecuted, Im not exactly sure what happened at one point we were moving backwards, kara was screaming that she didn't like it and wanted to "get off now" and I found myself paddling like a crazy woman with gritted teeth and a fixed stare.
Ok so on rapids 1 and 2 we didn't exactly show the most skill and or control but that's because we were just getting into the swing of things, when rapid 3 came around we flew over and around it, me and kara found the right line, paddled correctly and went flying without so much as a bump or a tilt of our kayak straight down the rapid and into the smooth water at the bottom.No one could believe it including us! Pro fess ion al id say and sooo much fun, all three of the life threatening and high dangerous rapids were a great laugh actually and I would love to do it again.
After the white water we got the chance to paddle through the forest on some of the quietest and most tranquil river I have seen, usually I'm on a motor boat of some sort, the engine making tones of noise and the boat splashing its way along meaning that all the wild life is scared away and the embience ruined, but there is none of that in a kayak - you just float along and take it all in, from our vantage point on the river we watched hawkes flying over us, fish swimming under us and discussed all the animals that were out there that we couldn't see, including the sawadee dolphins which was our next point of call.For lunch I sat with my group on a rock in the middle of the river, my kayak tied up to a line, eating rice and watching the water for signs of the famous Laos dolphins - unfortunately we didn't get to see any but we did get to have a cooling dip in the sea and a nice break from paddling.Our final stop of the day was another waterfall, this time it was extremely big and ferocious, one of the biggest in south east asia apparently which didn't surprise me at all.After a couple of pics and a cold drink we were driven to our kayaks for the last leg of the trip, the paddle home - as soon as we got in the kayaks we could see don det but it was clear that although it was in my vision it was no where near close to us.It took us 2 hours of paddling and sheer determination to get back, we battled strong currents arranged a race to make us all go faster and cheered each other on as our arms were so tired they wanted to give up but we had no choice but to plough on.It was a brilliant day and rewarding in so many way, me and kara had a proper laugh together and it was on this trip I met the group I would spend the rest of my time on don det with.
After Kara left I thought I would be on my own but I wasn't I kept bumping into people either from my Laos crew or from my kayaking trip, I spent my days cycling around on my lovely bright red bicycle, going over to the sister island for a little peddle around and then coming back on the windy little pathways which snake all across the island.I was so blissfully happy cycling along with my ipod on, the river gracefully floating past me on one side and islands farmland on the other, I would wave to locals and avoid the buffalo who slowly plod down the path on their way to graze.On a night I would read my book in a hammock for a while, watch the sun set and then meet my friends for dinner and drinks - so re3laxing and peaceful - so don det.
I loved my time on don det, I cant fault it at all, I had adventure on the kayaking tour, relaxation on my bike rides and reading time as well as fun having drinks with the new friends I had made.Don det is a beautiful little island with a relaxed vibe - you know this as soon as you look at a menu and see the happy menu at the back, …
Hamburger,
Cucumber salad with sticky rice (my fave!)
Large spliff
Happy shake (you decide how happy it should be)
French fries
Does it get any more laid back that that? I loved the 4000 islands, it felt like a little hide away from the rest of the world in a way, no cars or fast food, just travelers and life - perfect.
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