Southern Laos

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The bus to Nakasan in Laos was quick and painless, even the border crossing. Both the Cambodians and Loas officials ask for a ‘stamp fee’ or bribe which you can’t get out of paying and a man on the bus offers to get your passport stamped on both sides asking for $4 - $1 bribe on the Cambodian side, $2 bribe on the Laos side and $1 for himself. Rowan, the NZ guy I was sitting next to, and I decided this was a little out of control so did it ourselves, saving $2. I got away with only paying $1 to the Laos official by only giving one and pulling out the Khmer trick of repeating “sorry cannot, one dallaaar, only have one dallaar, sorry”. It worked. Everyone going to the 4000 Islands gets dumped on the highway where a sawngthaew takes you to Nakasar and from here you take a boat to Don Det. It was just dark by the time we got to the island, making it hard to judge guesthouses since there’s not a lot of artificial light around. I went for a cheap bungalow on the riverfront, sunrise side with balcony and hammock, but the hammock turned out to be crappy. I had dinner with Rowan and met a group of other people on the table we sat on, talking until bed time.

I rented a bike for a day with Rowan and Annette, a German girl we’d met the night before. We rode to the southern tip of Don Det, over the bridge to Don Khon, where you are charged a foreigner ‘fee to visit the natural beauty of Don Khon’. There are 2 waterfalls on this island, neither of which I would classify as a waterfall. There are also a few beaches – sandy banks making it easy to swim from although one beach has such strong currents that swimming is forbidden. We took a boat ride from one of the beaches to the dolphin spotting area where we sat in the hot sun for over an hour spotting the fresh water Irrawaddy dolphins. We saw plenty, but from very far away and you only ever hear them and see their fins. Maybe that’s a good thing because I saw a photo later and they are really ugly looking things! We rode to the Southern tip of Don Khon which is the actual dolphin spotting area and another place you can go out on a boat. We arrived back at Don Det just in time to see an amazing sunset with Beer Laos. Later that evening I started feeling really sick and went to bed early with no dinner.

I was awake most of the night but felt worst in the morning. I’d planned on going kayaking but wasn’t able to do anything but lie in the hotbox that was my bamboo hut all day, getting up to wet my sarong to cool me down whenever the heat was more uncomfortable than my other pains. I was convinced I had Malaria, or worse, Dengue since I had all the symptoms (which are also typical symptoms to many other things like the flu and food poisoning). I was so convinced I was planning on going straight to Vientiene which has a decent hospital for diagnosis and good connections to Bangkok where you have to go for treatment. But luckily I didn’t have Malaria. It was most likely the fresh spring rolls I had for lunch the day before and by the afternoon I was able to read and by late in the evening I was feeling pretty ok.

I decided I was well enough to travel the next day so I went back to the main land and took a sawngthaew to Pakse, then a bus straight to Tat Lo on the Bolaven Plateau. I’d been told that travelling in Laos with US$ is fine, and actually better than carrying kip but things have obviously changed. You can still pay in US$ but you’ll get a terrible rate. I changed a bit of money in Don Det but only enough to last a few days since the rate was pretty bad still. I forgot to change more before leaving so I was running very low by the time I got to Tat Lo which is just a small village by a couple of waterfalls. My guesthouse let me pay in US$ for a reasonable rate and by skipping a few (or most) meals I had enough money to get back to Pakse where they have banks and ATMs! I walked around the village and the closest waterfall that evening and did more of the same thing the next day. Theres another waterfall further upstream which is larger but not as fun to swim around since you can’t climb around. There is also a nice remote village you can visit. I borrowed a bike for a few hours also and rode back to the main road where the bus dumps you to buy bananas then further up hill past the village and through another couple villages and then into barren farmland. I spent the afternoon hanging out at the better of the 2 waterfalls (signage made it hard to work out which of the 2 is actually called Tat Lo since this is also the name of the village) swimming and talking to the Portuguese couple I met on the bus from Pakse and watching the kids playing. I t was a really nice peaceful place to relax. After 3 days of barely eating you don’t want to do much more than sit under a waterfall.

I caught a bus back to Pakse the next morning which is where I am now, waiting to hop on a night bus to Vientiene. I changed some money and am pretty excited about eating some food! I haven’t even been here a week yet but Laos is already my favourite country I think, taking over from Indonesia. Everything is so cute. I am even dealing with the slowness of everything pretty well. I’m ok waiting 1 hour or more for my food, which is good because I don’t have much choice.

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Photos

my balcony
how did I end up with so many books??

Comments

[m.i.a.]

the likeness of your blogging style to jane eyre
so me and felicity are reading (well felicity is listneing to audio book while tomato picking) jane eyre and have both decided that your blogging style is the modern day equivalent of jane eyre's narration! (this means you are going to become a penguin classic!) the part that clinched it for me was you laying in your room thinking you were going to die from malaria! very jane eyre-ish! i am loving the 'waterfall' comments! and who really cares about seeing waterfalls when you can see those amazingly cute handmade bridges! and excuse me who is the sexy boy on the mekong dolphin spotting boat!!!! im also enjoying the creepy photos from your window of unsuspecting locals! im glad you are loving laos so much but be careful (this warning might be too late) remember the story with laura and the bread...!!!!

[MadeleineY]

What story about Laura and bread?? I never heard that one! I feel bad blatently taking photos of locals so most of the time I try and do it the sneaky way