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At the southern tip of Laos, the Mekong river swells and divides to form the 'si phan don' or 'four thousand islands '. Some islands are a foot across and only surface in the dry season, some are big enough to house a few fisherman, others are home to villages, temples and rice paddies. On some of the larger islands, stilted bungalows are available for hire and an abundance of travellers lounge in hammocks gazing out over the meandering mud brown Mekong. It was on the Island of Don Det that we spent our last few days in Laos, before heading south to the Kingdom of Cambodia.
We took a songthaew from pakse to Ban Nakasang; it was a bumpy, dusty journey. With our feet wedged between peoples vegetables and our mouths covered with handkerchiefs we trundled down route 13, past the motorcycle shop where we'd sheltered on our return from Chamapasak. Stopping at every house and settlement to drop off cabbages and sacks of rice noodles we arrived at the river village in the heat of the day.
The main road of Ban Nakasang was being surfaced and was an obstacle course of holes. Our few words of
Loas got us a good deal on some sunhats and some waterand the lady pointed us in the dirrection of the ferry terminal. A small wooden hut where two officals lounged. It was very business like for Laos. The prices chalked in English on a board gave no room for negotiation and we were efficiently issued tickets and shown to a flat bottomed but quite canoe like boat.
Don Det was a good place to recover from several days of bum destroying bus rides. Being low season, it was immensely peaceful. There were no cars and very few people, just the lap of the river. An orangey dirt path looped the edge of the island which was lined with local and tourist huts. The centre of the island was green with rice paddies. That characteristic rice shade of green, that is almost too green to be real. The river flowed brown and slow. It was a perfect haven from the insanity that is travelling in Asia and a wonderful place to read the many books we'd been lugging around. Books are my weakness and are always the flaw in my plan to travel light. In Beijing, I had in
my pack two T-shirts and two pairs of trousers and fourteen books. It was good to do some reading and lighten the load. We also met a few other travellers and had some interesting discussions about the world, lots of the places we'd been we had been fairly isolated.
Our hut was set towards the end of the tourist ghetto. It was the cheapest place we stayed in laos but standing on stills over the water, with electricity and a veranda it was all we could ever need. Lying in our hammocks on the veranda we watched the local families drift by in their small wooden boats. The 'Guest house' manager was a smiling middle aged Laos man who was hotel clark, travel agent and restaurant chef all in one. He cooked very badly and communicated using only English numbers, wild gestures and enthusiastic smiles. He seemed to be on duty 24 hours a day and I never saw him talk to anyone except an ancient man (again with a big smile) who seemed to live under a mosquito net in the corner of the wooden decked restaurant. Presumably, the managers father, the old one emerged once a day
and hobbled to our hut to haul up the fishing lines he'd tied to our veranda railings. Shaking his head and showing us his bare palms he'd grin manically over the lack of fish or crabs. For the amount of fishing going on around the island there didn't seem to be much fish.
The problem with Don Det was that in being such a haven it wasn't real. When we left our little enclave, we didn't encounter the touching Laos hospitality we'd grown used to. The food on offer was bad imitation western and it was mainly served with scowls. The locals stayed separate and generally didn't return our 'sabaidees' (the standard Laos greeting) or our smiles. Everywhere else in Laos, smiles had been unconditionally heaped upon us. Like sleepy cats the Laotians purred when you reached out to them. Now I felt like I was back in Russia, where a cold facade was the first thing I ecnountered.
Don Det was also the only place we'd been that had really had a tourist ghetto. A whole section of the island was filled with western style eateries and bars. Quiet when we were there, with a few
lonely travellers flip flopping around but obviously the scene of some partying at other times. I wondered if this was related to the cold reception. The island is relatively new on the tourist trail and although that brings in money I suspected that maybe the locals weren't so keen on this beautiful island being over-run by drunken westerners. Fair enough really. But it's a shame.
Our Hotel man, seemed like the only local who didn't mind us and happily mumbled to us in Laos whenever we saw him. As we finished our books we arranged our onward journey. Our man took us in his little boat back to the mainland and arranged for us to get on a bus to Kratchie, in Northern Cambodia.
I left Laos wondering about the different types of travellers that exist and working out where I fit in. We'd skipped another tourist hotspot further north after receiving the following recommendation to go there: “I spent two weeks just going between the bars, I was so drunk all day, I don't remember much, I didn't want to leave. It was wonderful, everyone there was English, it was just like being in England”.
Call
me dull but that's not my thing. I live in England. I can go to bars and see English people at home. I travel because I want to experience a different world to the one I know. I'm not out to have crazy times that I don't remember afterwards, I just want to see and absorb and try to understand as much as I can. The more I remember the better.
My memories of Laos will be of a dusty, steaming and beautiful country with people who are open and kind despite the poverty that so many of them suffer. Most places we went, we were greeted with smiles. Saronged women and children watched us with curiosity. On one bus ride, we had no lunch so the driver gave us some of his. People pointed us in the right direction, carried our bags for us and apart from tuk-tuk drivers didn't try to squeeze us for every cent we had. I only hope that the mass tourism that is currently descending on Laos doesn't spoil its sleepy innocence.
Travel info:
Pakse-Don Det:
1. Songtheaw from pakse to Ban Nakasang. 4Hr, 40,000 kip. Regular departures all morning.
2. 5 minute walk to ferry terminal in Ban Nakasang
3. Boat from Ban Nakasang to Don Det, 15,000 kip/p all day. 15 mins.
Don Det- Kratchie in Cambodia via Dom Kralor: Essentially, you cross to Ban Nakasang then get transport to the border, buy visa ($20-25), pay bribes to grinning officials ($2-5), walk across. Then get on a Cambodian bus and travel along nice tarmacked roads to where ever you are going. Many travel agents and guest houses on Don Det will sell you tickets straight through to stung treng and beyond, you can also just jump on a bus heading south in Ban Nakasang or on route 13. Fares seemed to vary from about $6-20 depending on where you wanted to end up. We bought a straight through ticket from Don Det to Kratchie from the hotel man for around $8pp. The journey took most of the day with a long wait on the Cambodian side of the border but there were no problems. N.B. Don't buy a through ticket to anywhere off highway 7 in Cambodia as sometimes those buses just don't run and you wont get a refund. Maybe its different in high season but I'd say if you want to get to NE Cambodia go to Stung Treng and change.
Shamefully, I don't know the name of the place we stayed, it was about half way down the east side of Don Det where things just began to get more peaceful. There are plenty of huts to choose from all over the islands. Ours had ensuite bathroom, mosquito nets, 2 windows, double bed, 2 hammocks and electricity all for about 20000 kip.
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Rob_n_Lorenza
Rob & Lorenza B
An interesting blog. People travel for lots of reasons and I admire yours ... "I just want to see and absorb and try to understand as much as I can" I hope you continue to absorb and understand others and particularly yourself even more through your travels.