Advertisement
Published: March 18th 2011
Edit Blog Post
Making my way to Cambodia
For the past couple of weeks I’ve been in southern Laos. Sorry you haven’t heard from me in a little while, but it can be really hard to find wifi in this part of the world. It’s definitely not like back in the states! When we left Luang Prabang, we took a bus down to Vientiane, which is the capitol of Laos. It was so hot outside when we got there! We would’ve done anything for a pool to jump in or a good water balloon fight. The neatest thing we did in Vientiane was go to Buddha Park. I’ve seen a lot of Buddha statues on my trip already but never so many in one place! We were there for almost 2 hours looking at all the different statues and taking pictures. I feel kind of bad that I can’t help take pictures for Nate and Jessie, but the camera she has is bigger than I am! I’d have to jump on the button just to take a picture! I really liked the big laying down Buddha statue we saw and the temple that we could climb up inside of. It overlooked the entire park!
It was really funny to see Nate and Jessie climb up the stairs to get to the top. Those openings were definitely not made for taller people. After the park, we walked around for a little while to find something to eat, but I had to be really careful. There are big pieces of the sidewalk missing all over the place, so if you don’t watch your step, you’re going to fall right into a big hole! After Vientiane, we went to a small town called Tha Khaek where Nate and Jessie wanted to rent a motorbike and take a 3 day trip outside of the town. Some parts of the road were so bumpy that I felt like I was going to fly right off of the bike! I had to hold on with both hands, my feet, and even my TAIL when we went over some of the biggest bumps. At night, we ate at a small restaurant right down the road from where we stayed at. We quickly realized that some of the people that run the place were catching cicadas and putting them in an empty bottle. I asked them why they were catching them, and
they told me it was so they could eat them. One of the guys even brought over a plate of them that they had fried and seasoned so we could try them if we wanted to. Well, Jessie and I said no thanks, but I’ll give you one guess who ate one…Nate! Not again! Aren’t you sick of trying bugs yet? He even said that he actually LIKED the taste, too! Are you kidding me? Would any of you be brave enough to try one like Nate did? The coolest part of the motorbike trip was when we got to go to Konglor Cave. When you get there, they have guides who take you on a boat through the cave since the river runs all the way through it. We all had our headlamps on the whole time because it was so dark inside. There was even a part that where we got to get out of the boat and hike through the cave, and they had lights that lit up the cave so you could see really well! It was also really interesting to see how people lived in the villages we drove through. We took some pictures of
the houses. I bet they look a LOT different from your homes. It sure was interesting trying to ask people where to get gas. You have to remember, they don’t speak English here. Can you think of how YOU would communicate with them? Jessie and Nate uses a combination of words, facial expressions, hand gestures, and acting to do their best. A lot of the locals laughed at them because they looked to silly, but how could you not laugh? I was even laughing and they’re my friends! The other part of this trip I liked was when we stopped at a lookout point on our way back. You could see tons of huge, sharp rock sticking up really high in the air all over the place! I wish I could have ridden my own motorbike, but I couldn’t find one small enough for me anywhere! The scariest part for me would have been trying not to hit any of the animals in the road. Can you believe we had to watch out for dogs, cats, goats, pigs, cows, snakes, ducks, chickens, and even water buffalo? Those things are so big that they don’t move for anyone! If I was
that big, I don’t think I would either. Haha! We went to Pakse after Tha Khaek and rented another motorbike, but this time it was just for one day. Nate and Jessie said their butts couldn’t take anymore bumps after our trip in Tha Khaek! We saw a couple of waterfalls that were really neat, but we were so excited to get to the next place on our list that we didn’t stay here very long either. After a long ride in a songthaew and a small ride on a ferry, we arrived at a small island called Don Det. Don Det is one of the bigger islands that make up an area known as the 4,000 islands on the Mekong River. Many of them are really small (they could even just be a small patch of trees), but they were perfect for swimming to from our room. During the wet season when the river is much higher, many of the islands actually disappear under the water. We were so happy to be able to swim that we stayed here for 5 nights! One day we rented tubes and floated down the river all day. Aaaahhh, now that’s the life
for ME! I love monkeying around! The only part that Nate didn’t like was the roosters every morning. There was a big one that kept walking right underneath our hut and letting out the loudest cock-a-doodle-do I’ve ever heard! The worst part was that he started at 4:30 in the morning and didn’t stop for hours! So much for my beauty sleep! I was really surprised at how many kids there were on this island, and they sure are creative. Since they don’t have enough money to buy a tube or something to float on, they collect empty water bottles so they can tie them together and make their own raft. Every time they saw us, they would swim out to the island we were on so they could play with us use our tubes for a while. Because people in Laos have much darker skin, the kids were very curious about Nate and Jessie. They kept poking them and laughing as if they were from a different planet. Are you guys sure you aren’t from Mars? I’m just kidding! When we weren’t swimming, I would climb into one of the hammocks outside of our room so I could take
a nap and rest a little bit since I knew the roosters would be waking us up bright and early. One day, right after I got in the hammock, Nate and Jessie were in the room getting their clothes organized. All of the sudden, Nate told Jessie that she should leave the room, but he didn’t tell her why. She knew something was wrong, so she quickly left and ran down the steps. Nate grabbed one of their packing cubes and pushing a giant cockroach off outside and onto the ground. Man, I really don’t like those things! It’s a good thing Nate didn’t tell her what it was first. I think she would have run him over trying to run away from it! Although, that WOULD have been kind of funny to see. I’ve decided that Don Det was one of my favorite places in all of Laos, and part of me was really sad to leave. It’s ok though. We’ll be at the beach a LOT in a couple of months, but for now, we’re heading to Cambodia. I’m so excited to try a new country! I hope they like little monkeys! Wish me luck!
Wylie
Advertisement
Tot: 0.126s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 9; qc: 57; dbt: 0.0526s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
The Travel Camel
Shane Dallas
You are an adventurous monkey!