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Entering into the country where time goes a lot slower!!! We had to overnight in Kratie again when on the way to Laos and this time we opted for a very cheap 4$ per night room. It was basic but clean so no complains. Seems that Kratie offers cheapest food as well as rooms in Cambodia. We could have gone the same day to Laos but afternoon buses arrive late in the evening at the border and we did not want to pay even higher 'stamping fee' for our crossing. To be honest this whole fee process is a joke. Everybody knows it is illegal payment/bribe for doing nothing but yet no-one complains. People just pay and the worst thing is that last year it was 1$ on each side (from what I have read on travelblog) and this year it increased to 2$ on each side. Total of 8$ per two people which is a cost of a night in a hotel. Nevertheless we decided to avoid at least part of this so called 'stamping fee' so when crossing we said we don't have enough money left as we would withdraw Kips on Lao side. We did not want
to cause problems/delays to our fellow travellers on the bus so we had some change prepared.
When we were crossing the border we saw all the immigration officers being so happy about the fact that many buses arrived and everybody nicely paid their 2$ and it was kind of easy to tell them we don't have that money. Cambodian immigration took 2$ combined from us with a smile (what were they going to do? they cannot prove it is a real fee) and Laos immigration wanted $ and Cambodial Riel as well. So we gave them 2$ and 100 Riel note (.0025 dollar hahh). We should have paid nothing but then we would have caused waiting to our bus I presume ;-( We actually saw a whole group of people saying
'No, we are not paying' and they let them go. Problem is how to convince everybody in a bus to do so when people don't care that much?
We got to Don Det within next hour or so and we quite liked what we saw straight away. It was authentic, very basic village life that stroke us first. No proper roads, no brick houses just Mekong, stilt
houses and bungalows for tourists. We wanted to stay at the western – sunset side – of an island but it was boiling hot when we arrived and we gave up walking pretty soon. To our surprise it was not as cheap of a place as we thought. People on tight budgets were walking around with hopes of finding 20,000 Kip/2,5$ room (as per LP) and found nothing - cheapest accommodation without bathroom was in a range of 40-60,000/5-7$. We chose to stay in Pai Lao guesthouse with beautiful veranda over Mekong and clean and sturdy hats (50,000 Kip). It was later on that we found out that 3 months before there had been a village meeting and it had been decided to double the prices of accommodation on the island. It had all to do with island's increasing reputation as a cheap party place and it was something that none of the residents really wanted. There were few instances of drowning after alcohol which just created similar vibe to the one in Van Vieng.
In other words locals want to prevent young, broke and party seeking people from staying in Don Det. I am not sure how it
is going to help as same behaviour can be created by older thus wiser (?) visitors. Especially when all you can smell on the island is either food being prepared of ganja being smoked haha Anyhow we dropped our bags and reclined on cushions in a guest-house's restaurant. We did not get up until late at night. In similar fashion we never got to do all the things we planed for our stay here. We were supposed to cycle around, swim in a tube, go the see other islands etc. Well, within 5 days we stayed there we went to see one waterfall and went swimming twice but just next to our guesthouse. That was it and we loved it!!! There is something about this place that makes you sleepy, chilled out and hammock becomes your best friend.
Food is not the best on the Island but we managed to find some nice dishes in Indian restaurant and in a restaurant next door that served amazing chicken tortillas – yummy. We also tried Lao-Lao (called local whisky but really it is just a rice wine drink) which was cheaper than coke – can you believe it? Everybody seems to
enjoy this drink until you wake up in the morning with massive headache hahha But that is ok too as you can then go back to your favourite activity in Dot Det which is either lying in a hammock or sleeping. Maybe this laziness of ours had something to do with hot weather or maybe it was because local people took ages to do anything, imposing this slow paced energy on us? Our guest-house organised free sunset boat trips to one of the small islands so we signed up as well (really recommend it). It was a great way of meeting new people and seeing some more of the 4000 islands. As I said, except for that there was just us two being lazy, reading books and drinking Lao Lao ;-)
Last night we stayed in Don Det I happened to walked out of a restaurant with two different flip-flops. Not fault of my own as somebody took mine earlier. I realised it had happened the next day by spotting something was not ok with my feet, could not tell what at first haha They were almost identical flip-flops but one was Reef and one Havaianas. I went back
beach, beer and sunset
perfect combination;-)to the restaurant but was told that one of the girls had had black Havaianas and now inherited brown ones. Obviously she was not concerned as she had a matching pair of her size but this way I found out there were 3 of us involved haha You probably think why I mention it at all? Well something really weird happened later on and I just have to say this. When we already came to the mainland town and were waiting for a bus I noticed 3 girls, one of whom was walking really funny – like she was limping. I decided to check it out, naively hoping she may have taken my too small for her flip–flop (small size 4), hence the limping. When they were walking back I followed them and to my surprise I saw her wearing my flip-flop. What are the odds of that happening??? She was happy to learn where to find her brand new brown Havanas and I got my right shoe back haha It may seem weird that I am so attached to a rubber shoe but they were a gift from a work colleague and I happen to find them the most
comfortable flip-flops I ever had and thus they are simply irreplaceable, especially by some plastic, 'made in Asia' shoes (I mean quality not origin in here). Such a small thing and it made my day;-)
Ever noticed how little you need to be happy when you travel? Great company, few pieces of clothing, simple room and meal and a pair of comfy flip-flops seem to be enough for myself;-)
*Sabaaidii = Hello in Lao language
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Rob_n_Lorenza
Rob & Lorenza B
great photos - we love Laos - have fun!