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Published: October 7th 2005
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On the bus...
Notice the beautiful interior I added some pictures to the last entry, make sure you take a look.
We had a change in plans, and decided to go see Cambodia before we went through Vietnam. This allowed us to see Southern Laos on the way.
We to had a "VIP Bus" from Vientien down to a southern Laos town Called Pakse. The bus was an overnight ride, about 11 hours long. The bus was certaintly VIP, but with a lot of flavour of Laos culture. Each window had pink curtains with turqoise ruffles on top, there was a tv up front blasting kareoke or Lady Boy comedians, we had stewards wearing weird little uniforms going up and down the isle bringing us food, and the outside of the bus was pink and yellow!
Once it came time to unload the bus, we were accosted by a gang of Tuk Tuk drivers. They must have stayed up all night waiting for us to arrive. Before I could even step off of the bus, Tuk Tuk drivers flooded in shouting "where you go!?!". That was the last thing I wanted to deal with after such a long ride.
We were going to stay
the bus...
Notice the beautiful exterior. in Pakse for a couple days waiting for our Cambodian Visa to arrive, but the town seemed pertty boring. Instead, we decided to hang out on a little island called Don Det for 5 days. Don Det is one of the islands in the Mekong river delta, where there are fresh water dolphins, waterfalls, and 3000 islands that spread across 14km of river.
So instead of having a chance to relax after our all night bus ride, we thought we could withstand a 3 hour ride down to Don Det. Once we arrived at the bus station we were extreemly shocked. There was no bus going down to Don Det, but there was giant truck full of locals. The back of the truck had benches on either side, and a cover over top. The truck was packed to the limits (17 locals, 5 squealing pigs in burlap bags, 1 chicken, 2 babies, and a ton of crap that the locals were hauling down to Don Det. This was a nightmare of a trip! Half way we were attacked by a large group of women selling meat on sticks. They surrounded our truck and started shouting/shoving meat into our faces!
Some of the locals bought meat...but I was a little skeptical. These girls were so persistent that they would even slap people on the side of the face with a meat stick just to get their attention!
After 3 hours, a few bruises, slaps in the face with meat, and a loud ruckus created by livestock we finally arrived at our destination. I was greeted by a cute little monkey that jumped up on top of me! We took a river boat over to the island and hunted around for a place to stay. The island had one dirt path along the river bank. Along this path there were numerous huts where the locals lived, and many many pigs, water buffalos, and chickens that resided in the front yards! Sometimes the water buffalo (huge cow/buffalo animals with nasty looking horns) would step out onto the path in front of us. I did my best to try and navigate around them hoping not to piss them off.
We decided to stay in some bamboo huts alongside the river. The huts were supported directly above the rushing water, and had big private decks with hammoks! This was great! The
Truck
This is the truck that we piled into with 17 locals, pigs, and chickens. Eventually i found a spot hanging off the back (next picture). Bungalows (as the locals call them) were owned by a really nice family that also had a restaurant out front. The Grandma of the family was in charge of the entire operation - her name was Momma. She was crazy.
The people there, and generally most of the peple on the island were awesome! They were always so happy, laughing at anything and most of the time at nothing.
The island had no electricity or phone lines, no sinks in the washrooms (just holes and hoses), and no money exchanges (I only had $50 left, what do I do!?). This was not a problem though, as I only spent $25 in 5 days living like a king!
We spent most of our days laying in the hammoks, riding around on bicycles, laying on the beach, playing cards, checking out waterfalls, swimming in the river, eating, enjoying beers as the sunset on the Mekong river, and best of all - foreigner vs local volleyball every day at 4pm. We had a good laugh at some of the menus and the horrible translations. There was a "hangover brunch" that consisted of scrambelled eggs, garlic margarine, cheese baguette, 500 mg of parasautimol,
10mg of valium, and a cold pepsi! I never tried it.
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itchy_feet
Nicole Marcotte
Hey dude! You don't know me, but I just finished the exact same trip (I even recognize some of those kids from the hill tribes!). I rode that same bus from Pakse to Don Det with 35 people! I don't know why I'm writing this, I guess I'm nostalgic already. Live it up while you're there!