Waterfalls, jungles and hospitals!!

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Getting through the Cambodia - Laos border was an interesting experience which involved allot of arguing with border police/con men who wanted to charge us a little extra for their back pocket. For me this wasn’t really a big deal $2 dollars extra is not a large cost with the excitement of entering a new country. My comrades however were not as laid back and demanded a receipt for their $2 charge causing one of the guards to loose his cool and shout allot then storm off. The best bit however was that when Jason got his receipt he marched out the office and proceeded to urinate on the border gate in front of the guards! Quality entertainment.

We switched transport in a small village just over the border; we had arranged to get all the way to Don Det from Cambodia for about $8 each through some guy we met. It involved switching from boat to bus to truck... etc. Travelling in Laos was very different from Cambodia, mainly because the roads are actually paved. This took me as surprise because I assumed that Laos would be a bit behind Cambodia in terms of development, not so. We were now cursing into Laos in a large truck thing, we decided to sit on the roof so we could wave at the locals as we passed by and announce our arrival, which was a good laugh and the kids always love waving and laughing at strange daft white people. We eventually got to the Mekong river where we were to get a boat out to Don Det island, we discovered at this point that we were not going to get across as part of the package we had paid for in Cambodia, this enraged my comrades and one of them jumped on a motorbike and chased down the departed truck. after a couple of hours of waiting about playing with about 30 or so local children "hello, thank you, 12345" the local boat driver decided to take us to the island for a reduced price. (This came after we all lay down to sleep rough, the hospitable nature of the people from South east Asia prevents them from allowing guests like us to sleep rough (they would have been ashamed) so they were forced to take us to the island.)


Don Det is an island in the "Thousand Island" region of the Mekong River, a vast river that runs through Tibet, China, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. It is a small island with lots of huts you can stay in for 1 or 2 dollars a night, the river fish is amazing to eat and there are paddy fields and waterfalls that can be toured with a rented bicycle. I loved how relaxed it was, only a few hours of electricity a day, cheap huts to stay in, cheap good food and drinks and stunning sunsets and scenery, not bad at all. We hired bikes one day and managed to get to another island called "Kong Island" where I challenged an old lady to a number game and lost. We stayed for a couple days then took off leaving Kev behind who had allot more time in Laos than us. We did however take another friend with us, an English girl called Karen who was travelling alone and was heading the same way.

The normal thing at this point would be to head in a northerly direction to Pakse, the largest town in the region. However, when reading some guidebooks we were very tempted to venture east into the Champasak and Attapeu provinces which are very un-travelled and are meant to contain many spectacular waterfalls, jungles and tribal folks. Just the fact that we were going off the beaten track and would be pretty much the only foreigners in the area was enough for it to get my vote!

Getting there was a little tricky. We decided to try to get to Tad Lo, in Champasack, a remote riverside area with guesthouses situated next to a famous waterfall. In getting there we had to switch transport a few times, hitchhiked, and paid some randoms to take us a stretch. (It is possible to just get a bus but it would have meant waiting about 5 hours).
When we got to Tad Lo we found an idyllic situation, small huts by the river costing between 1 and 2 dollars a night, and a restaurant overlooking a fantastic bit of waterfall.

The next day we decided to get back on motorbikes and head on a 100km round trip, past Sekong, into jungle, in search of a massive famous waterfall... tiger country!

The bikes were not so great, 125 engines and thin wheels, not fantastic for off-roading. Nevertheless we managed to find the waterfall (stopping for lunch at what we thought was a small restaurant, but I now reckon it was just someone’s house).
The waterfall was fantastic and the jungle was one of the best I’ve been in, easy to imagine tigers roaming about waiting for stupid Caucasian tourists to cross their paths.

On the long journey back Jason and I went on ahead for a while. We decided to take a detour to check out another waterfall and when returning to the main road we assumed that Tim and Karen must be well in front, so we moved fast to catch up. As the hours past by we never caught them up and when it got dark the conditions became very difficult, the air thick with flies, mozzies etc and a great number of animals randomly crossing the road. The off-road stretch to the guesthouse was particularly dangerous, but we still did it at a fast enough pace to be shocked not to catch the others up. We were then further astounded to find when arriving at the guesthouse, that Tim and Karen hadn’t returned?

The hours past by as we debated the various explanations for their absence, coming to the conclusion that they stopped somewhere for the night because of the bad conditions. In the morning however they still hadn’t returned and at around 10 or 11 we (me especially) began to panic. The panic came in the form of silence as we realised that the only reason they hadn’t made it back by now was that they had had an accident. The worse part though was that we knew they'd be able to contact the guesthouse if that was the case. It might seem dramatic but I really thought they were dead. It really wouldn’t have taken much considering the speed we were going without helmets on those flimsy bikes!

We explained the situation to our guesthouse owner, who took off somewhere, I guess to ask around the local town. At around lunch time, a good 24 hours since we had last seen them a local woman came and found me saying "your friend, your friend" I asked "is he ok?" to which she just shook her head..... Not what I wanted to see her do! I approached the entrance and saw an ambulance and any locals standing around just staring at it and me. It might sound dramatic but I was completely convinced I was about to see a dead body and I found it very difficult to approach. Unbelievable relief then filled me as I saw Tim sitting in the front seat! When he saw me the tears came, he'd been holding it back for 24 hours. He honestly looked like he'd been in a blender. Bandages everywhere cuts and more bandages on his face, clothes torn and covered with splatters of blood, I didn’t care cause he was alive.
He told me straight away that Karen was still at hospital but was ok; she had suffered a face injury. They were both very lucky! What happened was, not long after we passed them, they lost control of the bike at speed, probably due to a flat tire. They came tumbling off it and Karen was knocked out. Tim had to then use a Lonely Planet to ask for people to get them to hospital (still can’t believe he had to do that). They managed to get to a tribal hospital in Sekong where they were all stitched up.

So we all got in the ambulance with all our stuff and Karen's, and went back to the hospital. Karen was doing well so we checked them out and spent the night in a Sekong guesthouse. Sekong was a place where we really felt we were the only white folk to visit in a long time, so incredibly isolated; the population is made up from various tribes, instead of Laos.

The next morning we go a bus straight to Pakse, the largest town in the south. We stayed in Pakse for a couple days as Tim and Karen decided how best to finish there travels. Tim bought flights back to Cambodia, I did too, we had planned to go back through Vietnam but with Tim hardly able to walk it wouldn’t have worked. Karen was heading north to meet her mum. In Pakse, Jason and I hires another bike (this time with helmets, and allot of caution) and took off to find some famous Angkor Wot style temples called Wat Phu. This was a great trip which we ended with a traditional Laos massage in Pakse, ideal after all that motorbiking!

The next day we parted ways, and me and Tim got our flight to Siem Reap (Laos Airways!) then a taxi to Phnom Penh, not the cheapest but a very quick way of getting back. Tim left the next morning to fly to Bangkok then Scotland; he had brought his flights forward a few days.

I stayed on in Pnom Penh for a couple days before flying back to Bangkok. In Bangkok I had 12 hours before my flight to Scotland. I spent the day at the Rainbow House orphanage I had been working at, then headed for my 10pm flight.......DIDNT NOTICE THE MILITARY COUP!!!!!!

The flight of-course was cancelled due to military taking control of the country and having no money, I split a taxi with a girl from the flight who was also stranded, who came back to stay at the Rainbow House (we had to jump over the gate to get in at 3am). The taxi ride was amazing, literally driving round tanks with no traffic in sight. The next day we managed to get flights with other airlines (Emirates are chicken!). I was finally heading home after an awesome 8 month trip... eventful right to the last few hours!

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Photos

Don Det - Mekong
need good eyes to drink at this bar, generator power stops at 10pm.

Don Det - Mekong
Sunset on Mekong

Laos
Back of a random truck

greeting the locals
we have arrived!

Waterfall
very far from anywhere

US Bombs
In Sekong theres an organisation that finds and stores old US bombs which the country is strewn with.