It's Been a Bad Day. Please Don't Take a Picture.

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  Don Det, Lao Peoples Dem Rep
Saturday, March 4, 2006

J: Okay, so we are post-posting. It has been a bit tricky over the past couple of weeks to connect with the rest of the world. And I have to warn you...this is going to be a long one.

Our last day in Luang Prabang we saw one more Wat (temple), which was actually pretty great. The book says it is Luang Prabang's best. There were more of those amazing glass mosaics (but we could take pictures this time). We then went to a fantastic restaurant, Tamarind, opened actually by an Aussie now living in Laos. It is apparently some of the most honest Laotian food in Luang Prabang, available in a restaurant. What makes it typical are the ingredients (lots of fresh herbs and spices), the dishes (actually more like dips), the sticky rice, and how it is eaten. So what you do is take a small amount of sticky rice into your fingers, then make a little ball out of it, and then dip it into one of the sauces. YUM! What could be better, you get to play with your food and eat delicious Lao dips!! (M: It is fun, delicious and I didn't get too sticky - I know which of you are thinking that I would be SO sticky, Ash and Dan!) One was smoked eggplant, another cilantro and other greens (my favorite), and the other a tomato base. They were great. The other typical dish we got, which we had actually also had in the market were these spring roll type things. We were given a few different fillings to put into lettuce leaves and roll right up and eat. Also delicious! Needless to say we completely disagree with the Lonely Planet's assertion that Laos food is just really unexciting (hello! did they even go to Luang Prabang?). (M: We also had this great betel-cinnamon tea and a banana-coconut milk-honey smoothie. I think we were most impressed with the food in Luang Prabang of any place we had been thus far. Really, sticky rice is where it's at.)

So as we departed, sadly, from Luang Prabang we thought our plan to get into southern Laos to Si Phan Don (4,000 Islands) was pretty much fool proof. We couldn't have been more wrong. Boarding the little plane that took us from Luang Prabang to Vientiene was just the beginning of what proved to be a "Bad Day" (and a half)! Okay, so we took this little plane for less than an hour just a bit south in Laos, where we planned on spending our "lay-over" before boarding a bus, checking email and doing a posting. Well, we were told we had to wait for two hours before we could get on the free taxi to the bus station. Close to three hours later (after spending our time writing out postcards and being stared/glared at by various Laotian men), the taxi arrived and we proceeded to pick up numerous other travelers (four more than could really fit in the taxi) before getting to the bus station (probably another hour plus later).

We boarded the "V.I.P." bus (AC and "comfy" seats and dinner) around 8:30 PM and started off on our 10 hour bus ride. At around 4 in the morning, I realized we had been stopped for a while. I couldn't tell what was going on out on the street, but admittedly started feeling a bit freaked out. Why weren't we moving and why were there so many Laotian men (about 6) standing around where our baggage was stored? (M: We had read in The Lonely Plant that this stretch of road can be dangerous and has been known to have hold ups, so being a bit freaked out was not a random response.) A couple of hours later it finally got light and the driver turned off the engine (killing the AC). We all sort of stumbled out of the bus to find out that the axle on one of the wheels had broken and it didn't look like we were going anywhere any time soon. The funny piece (and indeed this may be the only funny thing all day) was that we had heard a number of travelers saying that their supposed 6, 8, or 10 hour trips had turned into 12, 14, 20 hour trips. We were feeling pretty lucky that we hadn't had that experience...until Laos! Around 11 AM one of the guys appeared on his motorbike (having left only max of an hour earlier) with the magical part to fix the bus. Now the question you may be asking yourselves, as we were asking each other (the driver and others didn't speak English), is why did it take being there for around 6 hours for him to scoot off on his motorbike to get the part?! This, my friends, remains a mystery.

We arrived in Pakse (the jumping off point to get to the islands) at the hottest part of the day. After running off to the bathroom and watching the hated bus pull away, I realized I couldn't find my wallet! It was a minor freak out in which I pulled apart both mine and Missy's daypacks and Missy ran into the bus station to have them contact the bus. Although they first said they couldn't find it, about five minutes later the woman came running out to tell us they had indeed found my wallet on the bus! SO LUCKY, no?! The finding and retrieving of the wallet was by far the highlight of my entire day. We then took another taxi (with a whole group of travelers) to another bus station. Let me pause here, though, to explain a little bit of this situation to you in greater detail (sorry if you don't want to hear it). When I say "taxi" I use this term rather lightly. This isn't like being in the city where the yellow taxi pulls up and you get inside and usually there is AC. Nope, these are more like pick-up trucks with two, maybe three, long benches and a roof over them, yet still open to the air on the sides. And comfortably they can fit about 10 maybe 12 people. But the Lao mentality is to shove in as many people as possible, making it quite possibly the most uncomfortable taxi ride. Also, this so-called bus station that we were dropped off at was more like a market (series of stalls of food and other random things that the locals may want/need) and not at all like a bus station.

But we got on the taxi and spent the next 6 + hours miserably packed in (M: By packed in, she means there were around 30 people and at least that many watermelons, plus bags INSIDE the truck. There was more baggage on the truck's roof), in the serious heat and dust of Laos. Some may see this as romantic...really getting to experience rural Laos like the locals, but for me after the flight and the sleepless night on the bus this was just one more step towards, well, hell. After the bumpy roads and seriously sore tailbones, we arrived at the port to go to the island of Don Det. It was dark, probably about 7 PM and we boarded one more mode of transportation...a boat. It was actually a nice little boat ride in the absolute pitch black. The best part was the final relief from the sun. Upon arrival we headed down the main pathway to find a guesthouse/bungalow. After a bit of searching we actually were offered a really cute little spot right on the water, with a little balcony and hammock. I won't bore you with the details of how dirty, hot, and hungry we were, because really how can I keep complaining? We were in Laos!

Si Phan Don is actually a really interesting area. It is part of the Mekong, between Laos and Cambodia, where the river fans out and there are thousands of islands (we are not sure what is actually considered an island there, but indeed there were islands as far as the eye could see). We spent some time on the island just walking around, swimming in the Mekong, and going for a kayak trip. Now you have to understand that the use of the word kayak is pretty loose (again) as they were more like long, thin rafts that you would use for whitewater rafting. You may be wondering why there weren't more typical kayaks for use. There were, but we were told that it was actually safer to use these raft-like kayaks...for the RAPIDS!!! Yep, we kayaked/rafted through some Mekong rapids. And although we were scared and I was obnoxiously yelling to Missy to "paddle right, now paddle left," they were probably the most fun part of the trip down the river. Well, that and the dolphins!!! Yep, that's right, fresh water Irrawaddy dolphins. We ate lunch on a rock between Laos and Cambodia and watched the dolphins splash around in the Cambodian Mekong. Now because we are in Southeast Asia, there were of course waterfalls (sensing a theme here?). They were beautiful and one of them boasts being the biggest in Southeast Asia. (M: Also, the food on Don Det was pretty great. Delicious stir fry and noodle soups, etc. Also Beer Lao is good stuff. Especially Beer Lao Dark.)

By the end of our two and a half days on Don Det, we were anxious to move on so we crossed back to the mainland, hopped on what should have been an air conditioned mini-bus (anyone surprised that it wasn't?) and rode back to Pakse where we spent the night before getting on a plane to Cambodia...and we gleckel on...

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