Relaxing in the Isles

Day 71 - 73 (09/06/08 - 11/06/08): Don Det, Laos

I spent three wonderfully relaxing, beautiful and enjoyable days in Don Det. As I said before, Don Det is a little perfect slice of tranquility, a small island bounded by the mighty Mekong river on all sides, and home to nothing more than a few backpackers, rice paddies and water buffalo. The island is joined to the neighbouring island of Don Khon by a small bridge built by the French during the colonisation. On the first full day we were there, Charlie, Lou and I rented some bicycles to explore the islands. The bikes were the old fashioned type, very upright, bent handlebars, full mudguards, a little basket on the front, and to complete the look, a little bicycle bell. The weather was scorching hot, and very soon we were soaked in sweat, as is normal for this part of the world. We spent most of the day cycling around, over the rough farm tracks that criss-cross the island. The scenery was very picturesque, lots of little rice fields with children playing in them and water buffaloes wallowing in the mud. We crossed the bridge (after paying a small toll) to Don Khon and went to the large waterfall. The waterfall here was very impressive, although not really a waterfall, more of a large collection of big rapids the swirl around giant boulders and come crashing down through the gaps, driven by the mighty power of the Mekong River. They were very big, and definitely a sight to behold. By this stage by cheap rent-a-bike had developed some problems, with the chain falling off pretty constantly. Normally this is an easy fix, although sometimes the chain would jam itself tight between the cassete and the wheel hub, requiring a lot of tinkering and brute force to fix it.

We continued cycling down to a small 'beach', a little bit of sand next to a small inlet off the river. There were a few warning signs up saying that it was very dangerous to swim there if you went to close to the river itself. The current is phenomenally strong, and their was a small memorial to a backpacker who died there a few years ago. However, we were all hot and sweaty, and so went into the water anyway. We just stuck to the little inlet, and it was fine, no current at all. There were however some small fish that delighted in nibbling on parts of us. Back on our bikes and we explored the rest of the island, finding a small local village and more water buffalo. At one point we came across a very dodgy looking bridge. The structural work was made of old iron, and it looked stable enough, but it only had a few narrow planks running across the top of it to walk over, less than a foot wide. To top it all off, the bridge was high enough that a fall would not be very nice. We all got across in the end, trying different styles of getting the bikes across. We found our way back across the islands, with me stopping every few minutes to put the chain back on my bike. Luckily we had rigged up a little 'device' of ribbon and leaves to stop the chain jamming, and so fixing the chain was a simple thing that I could do in a few seconds (I got a lot of practice).

The next two days on Don Det I spent doing almost nothing. I would actually wake quite early, when the morning sun came into my bamboo hut. I would lie in bed and read my book, and then perhaps migrate outside to my hammock, where I would continue to relax and read my book, overlooking the Mekong river. Ultimately, a pretty good way to spend the day, and it beats being in an office by a long shot. At night we would meet up for dinner at one of the eateries. Afterwards we would spend most of the evening sitting on someone's deck around some candles, listening to (battery powered) music and having a few drinks. On one night we went across to the other side of the island (about a 2 minute walk) and watched the sun set across the Mekong river and the plains of southern Laos. Overall, a pretty good way to spend a few relaxing days in the middle of the Mekong river doing almost nothing except enjoying the peace of the place and the company of good friends.

Lao local Transport

Day 70 (08/06/08): Don Det, Laos

It was with a touch of sadness that I had to leave Tadlo, it was such a beautiful and relaxing place. I met Lou and Charlie for breakfast, and we caught a tuk-tuk back to the main road. We had to wait there for a little while before the local bus came past. Once again we went back to the 'Pakse Southern Bus Terminal' and were greeted by numerous people wanting to know where we were going. Eventually we figured out what to do, and found our way onto the back of a very crowded truck. Unfortunately we were the last on, and so were squeezed into the back. I had a sack of something at my feet, and so couldn't even put my feet down. A number of local Lao guys where hanging off the back, one of whom spoke good english and spent a lot of time fascinated with my blonde leg hair, which he constantly touched (much to Charlie's amusement). Three very sore hours later, we arrived at our destination stiff, sore and very dusty.

Siphandon, otherwise known as the Four Thousand Islands, is in the very south of Laos, near the Cambodian border. The Mekong river has been gathering water and momentum since starting in China, and by now it is a very large river. At Siphandon the river breaks into a large delta, spreading across the flat land, forming numerous small islands. Some of the islands are quite large and support habitation, others are just tiny small outcroppings poking up above the river. We had picked the small island of Don Det as our destination, which was a quick boat ride from the mainland. Don Det is a wonderfully laid back place, just a small collection of guesthouses, eateries and paddy fields. The island has no mains power, and just runs a few generators in the evening. Like Tadlo, it is a brilliant little quiet spot to relax and just chill out. After a much needed meal, we found a nice guesthouse. I got a little bamboo hut right on the river, complete with small deck and hammock, all for the princely sum of $2NZ a night. Fantastic.

The tranquility of Tadlo

Days 67 - 69 (05/6/08 - 07/06/08): Tadlo, Laos

The sleeper bus, while comfortable, is not quite a bed and I only managed to get a couple hours of napping during the journey. However I am also at the point where I consider ten hours in a bus (at least a decent bus), as an average journey, and in all honesty it didn't really feel all that long. We arrived in Pakse about 7 in the morning, and as is typical in SE Asia, were assaulted by the waiting tuk-tuk drivers mob as we stepped off the bus. We politely declined them all, and walked the very short distance into the centre of town to find some breakfast. Pakse is a very small place with not much happening for it. Mainly it is used by tourists as a stepping stone to the surrounding countryside, which is exactly what I was doing.

I considered the possibility of going on a guided tour of the local area, however the rates charged by the tour company were horrendous, upwards up $90USD for a two day trip. The kind of money would normally last me over a week in this place! So I just decided to do it myself and head to a small village called Tadlo, which not many people have heard of, but I had been told about it through the travellers grapevine and decided to check it out. Garth and the two other English people we caught the bus with were planning to go straight on down to the Four Thousand Islands in the south of Laos, which is where I would be going after Tadlo.

For some reason in a lot of places in South East Asia, the main bus station is well outside town, and so we split a tuk-tuk for the 20 minute ride there. The 'Pakse Southern Bus Terminal' was little more than a large dirt patch surrounded with some market stalls. All manner of vehicles were in here, offering transport to all sorts of places. Our tuk-tuk driver sorted out the others, putting them on the right 'bus' to the Isles (although it was actually a large truck with bench seats at the back, filled with locals, sacks of rice and a couple of screaming cavorting piglets, and of course the odd chicken). I was led to a very old bus, where I too climbed over the sacks of rice and local children to a very small upright and uncomfortable seat. However after the lack of sleep from the overnight, I was soon fast asleep, sleeping through the bumpy dirt road and all. Arriving at the Tadlo intersection, and I joined the few other backpackers for the 2km walk down the road to the village. Despite the sweltering heat and our packs, the walk was very nice, passing through a traditional Lao village, complete with waving kids.

I found a very nice bamboo hut overlooking the river and the waterfall. I had a small walk around to explore the area, the waterfall is very nice, quite wide, and reasonably high, set in amongst large trees and dramatic cliffs. Further down the river you could see all the local children swimming and playing, while the woman washed clothes and the water buffalo took an afternoon dip to escape the heat. Despite my best efforts to stay awake, in the later afternoon I collapsed onto my bed and had a good nap to recover from a long night and a long day of travel.

The next day was exactly what I needed, a day of doing nothing to recover from the hectic nature of the previous three weeks. In my defense there was a light rain falling for most of the day, and so after a long sleep in, I spent most of my day sitting on my little deck (which was awfully rickety and was nowhere near level) on a plastic chair, watching the river and the waterfall and reading my book. I went and found a quite little eatery for dinner, and halfway through my meal, I got a wave from Charlie and Lou walking past. They had followed my tip on Tadlo and had just arrived that day. We joined together for a beer, and had fun talking to the old Lao lady who ran the place. Even though she must have been into her fifties, she was clearly as high as a kite and a great laugh. She explained to us with a great smile how she fostered her 'little plants' up on the hill. It was a very funny time, and something that could only happen in a place like Laos.

The following day the weather was a lot better, and so I met up with Lou and Charlie for the day's adventure. The guesthouse didn't have any more maps of the area, and we didn't really want to pay for a guide so decided to explore the river for ourselves. We knew there was another big waterfall upstream and so followed the river by clambering over fallen trees, skirting the banks and jumping from boulder to boulder, all the while humming the Indiana Jones theme. The waterfall upstream slowly came into view, and it was very impressive. There was a large sheer cliff, and at several points across its large width, the water streamed over in big frothing cascades. There was actually a small bamboo 'bridge' across the river, and this really was from an Indiana Jones movie. Very quickly we were swimming in the big pool underneath the waterfall, being careful not to get too close to the swirling currents under the falls or strong current taking the water down the rest of the river. After this wonderfully refreshing swim we found a path up the cliff and proceeded to follow the river further upstream. Up here there were lot of locals fishing and washing clothes, and as usual plenty of naked little kids playing in the water. We found little herds of goats, and several small fields of vegetables, irrigated by the river. Overall it was fantastic, a truly beautiful place where we really felt like we where in the middle of Laos.

For the return journey we decided to cross to the other side of the river and walk back along the path. We scouted an area that had a lot of boulders and rocks, and managed to make it most of the way across while still keeping dry. However the gaps between the rocks got too large and we were forced to wade across a quite deep, flowing section. Normally this would have been an easy swim, however we had bags with us and I had my camera. I managed to get across in the end, although my bag got wet (nothing to worry about). I managed to keep my camera dry by holding the camera bag handle in my mouth and keeping it just above the water. The hardest part was not laughing with Charlie and Lou as they looked back and saw the ridiculous scene of me in chest deep water frantically biting into my camera bag and trying to keep it above the water. Another fun experience to remember about Laos.

We walked down the small path through the countryside back to our village. Arriving there it was still too hot and we went for another swim in the river. There were a bunch of kids swimming in a pool amongst some rocks and small rapids and so we joined them, taking it turns to be pulled along by the river before standing up and moving back into the pool. The current was awfully strong in the shallow part, and it made for good fun. All the small kids actually stayed in the current and proceeded to go down through the next little series of rapids, screeching and hollering the whole way, before getting out and running back to us. I, unfortunately, followed them. While having fun swimming in the current, I didn't stop in time and got swept down over the rapids. I wasn't too worried as I had seen all the kids do it, and I was in the right position with my feet forward and body behind. Unfortunately, I then proceeded to smash my shins right into a rock, flipping me over, and I bounced through some other rocks before managing to catch myself and stand up before being swept down the next series (which the kids were staying well away from). Apart from a nasty bruise and scrape on my shins, I was fine, and I enjoyed a good laugh about it with Lou and Charlie.

Our last night in the beautiful little village of Tadlo was spent enjoying a few good drinks of the local whiskey while sitting on my balcony overlooking the river, bathed in the flickering glow of candlelight. As I have said before, Laos is an amazing place..

A day in Vientiane

Day 66 (04/06/08): Vientiane, Laos

The day was spent in a pretty leisurely fashion. I had a good sleep in, my first decent one in days. I had been told that there wasn't much to do in this sleepy capital, and so Garth and I booked a sleeper bus leaving that night to go to Pakse, the next destination of mine. I had originally intended to go out to one of the big temples just outside town, or perhaps the Buddha park, but after sleeping in, checking out of the guesthouse, eating some food and catching up on some emails, it was already the early afternoon. So I just spent a few hours walking around the city, meandering aimlessly through the less touristy parts. I quite enjoy just walking around new places, you get a feel for the vibe of the place and see what the 'non-tourist' parts look like. I walked past a couple of quite impressive buildings, and stopped at the 'Black Stupa', a very old stonework Stupa that is now a roundabout.

Walking back to my guesthouse in the mid afternoon, I heard someone yell something at me and ran after me down the street. Not knowing exactly what was going on I turned around and was confronted with the face of an old friend from New Zealand, someone who had gone to College House with me in my first year of uni. A fellow engineer (albeit only a chem eng), he is working on a mine site in northern Laos through and Australian company and was down in Vientiane for a few days. He had a colleague with a car, and so we all jumped in and went down to a pub for drinks (incidentally, the same pub I was in the night before). We had a good chat over a few drinks and laughed at all the old stories and caught up on the news of mutual friends we knew. It was definitely one of the things I least expected to happen in the sleepy streets of Vientiane!

Unfortunately after a few hours I had to leave and meet Garth for dinner before our bus left. We found a great curry place and proceeded to eat a lovely curry with samosas and naan bread. Brilliant. We said a quick goodbye to Charlie and Lou, before leaving for our bus. As is usual with any transport here, we waited for a good half hour at our guest house before the tuk-tuk arrived. We piled into this, and after picking up more and more people to the point of overfill capacity we arrived at the bust terminal. There was some confusion as the person issuing the tickets didn't have a matching ticket for my receipt (like everyone else I had booked and paid at my guesthouse). Nevertheless, after a few of them argued in Lao, I was given a ticket and sat down in my recliner seat of my VIP bus for the next ten hours.

Status Update

The last week has been spent in the south of Laos, a truly beautiful and amazing place where everything and everyone is very relaxed and happy. This also means that (working) internet connections are as rare as hen's teeth, and so I have had no chance to update this blog.

I have now left Laos, and am in Cambodia, in the city of Siem Reap, home to the world famous temples of Angkor Wat. It is quite a touristy place, which also means there are reliable internet connections, and so I will try and catch up on this blog. Inevitably I will skim over details, but oh well.

To the capital of Laos

Day 65 (03/06/08): Vientiane, Laos

And so it came to be my last day in Vang Vieng. The whole Gibbon crew was leaving today, and so once again our loyal group of Gibboner's got further fragmented. Simone was heading off to Bangkok and Lucy was going north to Hanoi in Vietnam. The remaining 4 of us, myself, Garth, Lou & Charlie were all heading to the south of Laos, and had booked the same bus to the capital of Vientiane.

Our little group had breakfast together, in the same place we always have breakfast. Even though we had all been tubing many many times, we all still felt a pang of jealousy as we watched as the 'tubers' for the day gathered their tubes, jumped into tuk-tuks and prepared themselves for a day of great fun. We lamented the breaking up of our group and reminicsed about how good a time we all had together. Even the owner of our guesthouse, who had come tubing with us a few times, was sad to see us go.

At 1pm we climbed aboard our minibus, and it was with some sadness that we said goodbye to our home for the past 13 days. We will all remember it with great joy and it will hold many happy memories for us. However, amongst all the melancholy, was also the deep down excitement of travelling. We would be going to new places, to discover new things and experience new adventures, and as much fun as Vang Vieng was, moving on to new places is also always fun.

The minibus ride only took just over three hours, and I actually managed to sleep for parts of it. The south of Laos is considerably flatter than the mountainous north, and as such the roads got smoother and less windy the further south we got. We arrived in Vientiane in the late afternoon. Vientiane is the capital city of Laos, although it is actually rather small, with a population of only 200 000. Everyone I have met, and even all the guidebooks say that there isn't really a lot to do in the city, and to spend as little time there as possible. The original plan was to use the time to get a Cambodian visa, but luckily the guesthouse we stayed in can organise it for you overnight, so that made things easy. We are staying close to the Mekong River, and across from it you can see Thailand. Dotted along the river are a number of small little restaurants/street stalls, where I had dinner with Garth, and an Irish guy who was on our bus and sharing our room. That evening we met a few other travellers outside our guesthouse, and ended up going to a local pub and drinking a few beers. Tired from all the travelling, and probably still not completely recovered from tubing, I ended up going to bed reasonably early and having a good nights sleep.

Tubing Tubing TUBING!

Days 58 - 64 (27/05/08 - 02/06/08): Vang Vieng, Laos

I ended up spending a lot more time in Vang Vieng than I originally had planned for, a total of 13 nights in the end. It is the kind of place that can do that to you. I met quite a few other travellers who were also staying for a lot longer than they originally thought. The simple truth of the matter is that Vang Vieng is just a very fun place. I have been to lots of places that I have really enjoyed for one reason or another; I loved the history at Kanchanburi, the relaxed vibe of the Perhentians, and of course the unforgettable adventure of the Gibbon Experience. But Vang Vieng is just pure unadulterated good old fashioned fun.

Most of the time in Vang Vieng was spent tubing, with the odd day of rest and relaxation thrown into the mix. In the end I went tubing a total of seven times, and each time was a blast! I realise you must think that it would get boring after a while, but each day was always as fun, if not more fun, than the last. Part of the reason is that there always new people doing it, each day new people arrive and bring their energy and enthusiasm to the party. And of course there are the giant rope swings, which never get old. To show just how high the big one really is, I have attached a video of myself doing it. You will notice there is quite a drop after letting go before you hit the water! Another reason that I really enjoyed Vang Vieng and the tubing was the great company. When we first arrived in VV, there were 9 of us from the Gibbon Crew together, which made for a lot of fun. Joe and Justin left after a day, and a few days later Gemma and Johnny left, to much sadness. The rest of us stuck together, and were later joined by Simone. Louise had 2 of her friends come out on holiday from the UK, and so we were one big happy family, having meals together, tubing together during the day and dancing away the night. We still met a lot of other people, particularly when you run into the same old people each day out on the river.

There isn't really much more to say about what happens during a day tubing that I didn't mention in my last post, although each day always has its own little unique moments. One of the days it rained a fair bit, and the resulting mudfight at one of the river bars drew in everyone, willingly or not! Unfortunately a lot of the funny stories are only funny if you were there, and so repeating them here would be pointless. Each morning we would gather for breakfast and recollect the stories of the night before, giggling and laughing about what had happened.

On one of the relax days, I got on the back of Charlie's scooter and we drove out of town to a collection of caves and a small swimming hole. The journey involved driving through some old muddy rice paddies, some of the time I would have to get off and push the scooter as it got stuck in the mud. It was a lot of fun. The caves were not particularly impressive, mostly pretty small. One cave was very long and thin, I had to breath in to fit through. At the end was a deep swimming hole. One of us held the torch, while the other gingerly floated in it. It was actually quite scary going for a swim in almost complete darkness, with unknown things lurking in the water below you...

On another relax day the others rented scooters, while I rented a mountain bike and we went 7km out of town to another series of caves and a small swimming hole. The road was pretty mud and quite rough in places, which can be very hard on a scooter. However, it posed no problems for a mountain bike, and as such I rolled in before any of the scooters did. The swimming hole was quite nice and relaxed, with a small rope swing and jumping platform. There were also some caves around, but it started raining pretty heavily, and we decided to not bother with the caves. The ride back was great fun, and I got very muddy indeed.