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I am currently sat in a hammock on the banks of the Mighty Mekong River, its 7am, the sun is just coming up - apart from the cockerels, screaming child and diesel engine boats going up and down the river - it's peaceful, quiet and the perfect place to relax for a few days. We're on a little island called Don Det, a small island in the middle of the Mekong, only a stone's throw away from the Cambodian border…and it's lovely.
It's strange to think that we only crossed the border into Lao (no 's' - this was added on by accident during translation, interesting fact for your day!) 5 days ago, time really has lost any kind of meaning, our next date where we have to be anywhere is mid-June to meet Ken in Thailand (yep - he's back again for his birthday!)
We were both keen to get moving, after almost 3 months in Thailand it was time for a change, also, although Ubon Ratchathani was a nice place, it was essentially another quiet Thai city - we'd seen enough of them! So after only one night we decided it was time and grabbed an early tuktuk to the bus station hoping to get a seat on the International bus that would take us straight through to Pakse (the nearest town after the Lao border. We'd assumed that as the hostel lady had called us the tuktuk, she'd also told him where we were going - so you can imagine our confusion when we turned up at the airport! Unfortunately the international bus was full, so we were going to have to do it in stages. We bought a ticket for the next minivan leaving for the border at Chong Mek which happened to be leaving 5 minutes later which meant no time for brekkie! It was only an hour and a half's drive away though and when we pulled into the bus station there was one locals taxi (songthaew) waiting to take people to the actual border - or as it turned out, the next street along through a market. We managed to grab a breakfast to go from the 7Eleven and headed out of Thailand - again surprised at the lack of other Western travellers. Once we were stamped out of Thailand, walked through a tunnel and into a dusty open space with duty free shops and a few buildings, it was unclear whether or not we were actually in Lao and where we needed to go to get our visa on arrival. We kept walking and eventually found a small sign pointing towards the visa on arrival counter - I think it's possible that we could have walked straight through without anyone really checking our passports though - no immigration booths around as you usually see at borders! Anyway, we filled in our forms, paid the fee plus another $1 'handling fee', answered a few questions (the answers to which were already on the forms!) and off we went in search of a bus/taxi - or anything that would take us to Pakse. We'd opted to try for a minibus as our backs and backsides were not liking the thought of an hour and a half cramped into a songthaew unsure of the road conditions - expecting it to wait for any other travellers coming across, we were surprised when we got on the road straight away - looks like we'd just hired ourselves a personal minivan - oops! Lesson learned for next time - just take the songthaew, unless there's a big group.
We were in Lao! First impressions; it seemed hotter here, a bit dustier and the livestock had returned to the roads. The houses were more spread out and like the Burmese, were wooden huts on stilts. The people are friendly although the service is pretty lack-lustre - or maybe just a little too laid back! And the food isn't really different to Thai food in some respects, the usual rice and noddle dishes, a yummy minced meat salad called Lap (Larb in Thai)...we haven't tried a traditional Lao curry yet…although I'm in no rush, given the number of chillies they apparently put in them - almost 6 months in Asia and I still can't deal with too many chillies.
Pakse was a sleepy little town with not much around, all the 'tourist' accommodation was set on basically one road and it didn't seem like there was anything really to do other than sip on a cold Beer Lao and soak up the sunshine by the river…which is exactly what we did. We booked a bus out the next morning to take us further south to Si Phan Don (4,000 islands), we were starting with Don Khong (an island about 18km long and 8km wide with 2 small villages and a few points of interest - namely a cave and some Wats - yay, more Wats!). The guide book said it was the least touristy of all the islands (well, of the 3 that are generally visited, Don Khong, Don Det and Don Khone)…but we weren't quite ready for just how few people there were - travellers or locals - the place seemed deserted! Again, all the accommodation was set along the river and we quickly found a little guesthouse set back a bit for a decent price. We decided to spend 3 nights there and relax, pick up a bike and cycle around (which we didn't end up doing - it was super-hot!), but relax we did. On our way in, we'd seen a big stage being set up so went down to check it out after dinner, we're still not entirely sure what was going on, but someone stopped to talk to us and mentioned 'Women's Day', there was a big show with lots of older school kids doing different Asian dancing, representing the ASEAN countries - kind of felt like the Olympic opened ceremony with all the flags! We decided to grab a beer from a restaurant nearby that had a side view of the stage, little did we realise that this was actually the changing area for one of the groups! Soon, we were surrounded by people rushing to change into their next costumes, as surprised to see 2 white people having a beer as we were to see them, changing into swan outfits! It was fun though and we shared a few laughs with them and obliged to pictures being taken - something to share with their classmates on Monday!
So, the rest of our time on Khong was spent doing nothing - which is fine, but it's nice having something to do nothing when there's a bit more going on around, if you know what I mean.
Yesterday, we got the boat down the Mekong to Don Det - a much smaller island, and a bit of a traveller's haven. I was rather glad to get off the boat - it was a really narrow long boat, only room for 2 side by side and was full…but there were 2 women in the middle that really didn't understand the concept of weight distribution, so while they're unable to sit still in the same position for more than 5 minutes, me and the couple in front were working hard to rebalance the boat! I know it wouldn't have, but it really did feel like it was going to tip over and all I could think about was how I'd manage to save all my stuff from floating off down the Mekong! After a bite to eat and a coffee (so thick it was like treacle!) we went searching for a room and were quickly accosted by a Yorkshire man with a few teeth missing, talking very quickly about bungalows and the best view and we should really just have a look…ok the view was pretty good and even better - there were 2 hammocks on the porch - no more fighting over it! We booked in for a few nights while he proceeded to tell us about his book that he'd written about when he was caught up the Tsunami, and would we like to buy a copy for $10?...hmm. He later repeated the whole thing to us again, forgetting that he'd already tried to sell it to us before! We'll see how it goes but might find somewhere else to stay further down the island for a few more nights afterwards. Seems like there's a bit more to do here though, waterfalls to see, and the rare Irrawaddy dolphins are just down the south of the next island, we might even attempt a kayaking trip! We're in no rush though so as long as we have either left the country by 1st April, or are in Vientiane to renew our visa - we're all good.
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