Tour Day in the 4,000 Islands

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All I have to say is that if you ever see the company we bought from, don’t buy there. It was a complete sham.

We got there at 12 and found we had a group of seven and then we followed a guy down the road to a different restaurant where we could buy beer before getting on the boat. This was a different man from yesterday and he didn’t speak English. Apparently the other man went to a wedding today, so he wouldn’t be around. Anyways, after much debate over who got how many beers and whether or not there would be a place to keep them cold, we loaded our beer on the boat and got in, the French Canadians sitting on the floor of the boat as there were not enough seats.

We first picked up ice and then they stopped at an island where we all got off, walked into the woods a bit, and he told us “wait”. For what? Who knows because about five minutes later we got back on the boat and went to another island. This time we walked up the bank and opened some beers. Three people went fishing, and thank goodness not everybody wanted to because there were only 4 poles.

Shortly after the two “guides” brought up some sucker fish they’d bought in town and started cooking them over a fire. I asked about chicken and rice and he said no. So Ronald and I didn’t eat lunch. The highlight of the tour was when Ronald and the French Canadian guy went to tackle a buffalo to ride (which they did…the Canadian brought one to the ground by the horns and Ronald hopped on before being charged at by what I can only assume to be its angry family) in the fields nearby.

After a less than satisfying lunch, we all decided to just get the guide to take us back to Don Det. He had been planning for us to watch the sunset from where we were, facing the wrong direction. We all agreed we could just watch the sunset from a restaurant or some other spot on Don Det and go back to the tour place tomorrow at 12 for some sort of refund. When we got there I left a note taped to his desk and we bid our goodbyes till the morrow. We went with the Canadians to eat at Hanuman’s, the same place Ronald and I went to last night. The tuna salad sandwich is so good there.

While Ronald worked a bit, I went to the Reggae Bar with Joe and Mike, a couple of guys from Jersey that are staying at the same place. It’s pretty much just like any other place with mats on the ground to sit on and low tables as well as reggae music and the standard Happy menu. The food is sort of expensive though.

Technical Details
* most restaurants have: hammocks, pads on the floor to lie down on, triangular pillows to rest on
* some restaurants sell happy cookies and brownies (30,000) and can make any dish “Happy” for a little extra kip (usually about 20,000)

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