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I've added 2 blogs today so make sure you read the Siem Reap - Cambodia one before this one! x
Well we made it to Laos - just about!
We got up at 5am for the bus, and we got off the bus about 5.30pm! Once we got off the bus we were ushered onto a small wooden boat which took 15 mins to get us over to Don Det - an island which is part of the 'Four Thousand Islands'. The boat trip was lovely as it was almost sunset so the sun was really low in the sky.
Once on the island, Gem, Matt, 2 other couples who were on the boat and I went ahunting for a place to stay for the night, we trekked a little way up the dirt path which I'm guessing was the islands 'main road' but the bungalows up that way -although cheap - had shared bathrooms - which wouldnt have been a problem in itself, but the shared bathroom was across the road, through the pigsty, through a field - I'm not even exaggerating that much here! And I didnt fancy taking a trek to the bathroom in the middle of the night if it was that far away! So we came back down near the harbour and got some cheap cute bungalows there instead (with private bathrooms yay! The bungalows were raher basic - we were back in the land of flush your own toilet and no hot water. Plus the water that came out of the taps was brown, assuming straight from the river, which seems to be where the toilet contents got deposited also -NICE! We made sure we brushed our teeth with bottled water!
Once settled in we headed out for dinner in a cool little place playing reaggae and had low tables and cushions on the floor to sit on - it was the busiest place we could find and it had about 12 people in it including us, but it was chilled and nice. The food was shocking but I'd lost my apetite by that point so I didnt mind too much.
Went to bed after dinner, with a big ghecko that I named Gethin, hanging on th wall above my head. Little git woke me up a couple of times with is weird ghecko noises but its nice to have a pet!
The next da we woke up to more torrential rail (boooo!) so we chilled in the cabin for a bit and then headed out for breakfast and the sun came out again at 11 which was good! We decided that although the island is beautiful, theres not much to do there so we booked some bus tickets for the next day to move on to Pakse.
Don Det is exactly the mental image I had of travelling before I came away. Im so glad we eased ourselves into it gently with Snooky basic huts before coming to Laos as if I'd come straight here the shock of it all prob would have sent me booking the first flight home again! This place is really poor but te people are so nice and I'm so glad we are finally slightly off the beaten track and somewhere where there are more locals than tourists. I've decided I'm not going to eat any more western food from now on - apart from breakfast as I cannot deal with rice and noodles for breakfast!
2 months in and I feel like a totally different person - I'm certainly not the person I was before I left the UK. I've learnt to let go of a lot of things and relax - I have no stress whatsoever anymore - m shoulder injury has not played up once while we've been here even though I've been lugging a heavy back pack and sitting for 12 hours on coaches. I no longer care about make up or my hair or looking good or trying to impress anyone.
When we first came out I was judging everything by what I'd left behind at home - and now I'm jus enjoying everything for what it is. As much as I love this travelling though, I do feel that my heart belongs firmly at home with my family and friends - I will be sad when my trip is over but I will not be sad to be going home. So many people here do everything they can to not go home, lots never want to home. Being here has made me realise how much I have at home and how lucky I am. I love it here but my heart belongs in London with my mum, dad, 2 wonderful brothers, my family and all my beautiful friends who I miss dearly and wish were here experiencing this all with me!
Fecking hell I really do sound like a stupid hippy now - I better go have a Laos beer and man up a bit!
Anyway we are in Pakse now so I will write again soon.
Love to you all, as usual
Shelley x
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