Been There Don Det!

After a stuffy five hour bus ride from Champasak, we were happy to arrive at 4,000 Islands, made up of three main islands located on the Mekong River at the southern most tip of Laos. We immediately boarded a small boat for the short ride across the Mekong to the island of Don Det. Known as the 'fabled travelers' mecca', the island is 4km in length and lined with bungalows and hammocks offering expansive views of the Mekong and surrounding luscious vegetation. Don Det has only one narrow dirt road with accommodations on one side and restaurants and tour agencies on the other. Eventually the pot hole filled road winds through rice paddies filled with water buffalo and a footbridge connecting to the other islands. Instantaneously, upon disembarking our wooden boat, we fell in love with this mecca. This euphoria lasted only minutes until we realized not one of the 4,000 islands had an ATM and our wallets were thinning.

We checked into Mr. Man guesthouse and Teo, the owner, came to our rescue. We had no other option but to fork over $7.00 of our precious dollars for Teo to ferry Lisa via boat and moped to the mainland where she exchanged money at the only bank, still consisting of no ATM. If you've kept updated on our blog, this may remind you of our international border experience. During this two hour journey, Gabi reclined on her private riverside bungalow deck in a hammock contemplating ways to make some cash in case Lisa returnd empty handed.

Money in hand, Lisa returned and Gabi had already made friends with the neighbors and planned a fishing trip which would end in bbqing our catch. We joined two girls from Australia and two guys from England on a very narrow Lao style fishing boat with a man and his eight year old son. We were deposited on a sand bar and our guides handed us each a fishing poll with a piece of brick or metal pipe used as a weight and a live worm on the hook. The only tugs we got were from plants our line got caught on in the current. Within the last five minutes one of the Britts caught a four-inch fish, offering a limited bbq dinner for the six of us. A moment later the sun suddenly disappeared and we were caught in a pelting downpour with no cover. The guide and his son thought it was hilarious and jumped out of the boat in the Mekong for warmth while yelling things in Lao, leaving us cold,.confused and credulous. Eventually we coaxed them back into the boat and they returned us to land one hour before our fishing trip was supposed to end. Fish-less and hungry we returned to our bungalow for a cold shower and dinner at the Mr. Man restaurant. In the four days on Don Det, we would not eat one meal outside of this eatery thanks to our bonding with Teo.

The following day we rented bucket bikes and set out towards Don Kan, the other main islands, winding between pedal deep puddle filled potholes. Greeting water buffaloes and children along the 6 km ride, we reached the Tat Somphamit, also known as Li Phi falls meaning 'spirit trap', one of two waterfalls in this area. We saw a cooking class sign at one of the food stalls at Li Phi and impulsively signed up. The matriarch of this family run business,  Mama Dam  (translates to Black Mama) taught us to make fish cakes and sticky rice. We accredit ourselves to how delicious they turned out. To your advantage this menu item will be an addition to our previously promised ... Black Mama  enjoyed chatting with us and bestowing her culinary expertise and family stories on us. Before departing Lisa and Black Mama traded Sins, Lao style skirts. Returning sweaty from out 12 km ride, Lisa tied a bright yellow dress to our riverside bunglow and we immediately walked up stream to the end of the dirt road, left our clothing at the northernmost bar, and jumped into the Mekong without tubes to the astonishmet of onlookers. We floated downstream, avoiding trees, boat motors, possibly dolphins and other obstacles in the flooded river until we saw the yellow marker calling us to shore. The high adrenaline dip was a perfect ending to a fabulous day.

Our final day in beautiful Don Det consisted of a full day kayaking trip to see the rare Irrawady dolphins, of which only 20 exist in this area. After exhausting paddling, led by our non-English "English" speaking guides, we reached a viewing point on the Cambodian border where we saw pink dolphins playing. We were explained that Laoatians don't hunt dolphin and regard them as a sacred animal as they scare away crocodiles. We paddled to the Cambodia side of the Mekong and took a dip before paddling to the Khom Phapheng Falls. These falls are the largest in volume in SE Asia pouring millions of liters over the Laos-Cambodia border.    

As we said our goodbyes to the 4,000 Islands and our bungalow at Mr. Man, Teo surprised us with two blue and white handmade friendship bracelets. While tying them on she said "for happiness, luck and funny". We gave her a hug in return, which is something awkwardly received by Laotians, but appreciated.

With mixed feelings of sadness and excitement, we left our beloved Laos the following morning en route to Cambodia in hopes of an easier internatonal border experience.

Chomp on a Sock? Champasak!

Imagine sitting on the bus for what you were told to be four hours but instead turned into seven. Then imagine waking from a sound sleep at 11:30pm for "dinner" at a truck stop in the midst of a downpour. You think you are 15 minutes from your destination but in reality you still have two hours to go. At 2:00am you, two women, are abruptly awoken by the driver and hurried off the bus with each of your two backpacks to a pitch black corner of a new town and to top it off, you can't even figure out where you fall on the map in your guide book. This was our grand arrival to Pakse. One hour later, at 3:05am, we settled into our over priced yet mediocre guest house (the only one that was open past 11:00pm). Within minutes we realized the air conditioner was broken and had to call the  adolescent desk attendant to come to our rescue in the sweltering heat. Moments after he left, Lisa found herself stuck in the bathroom which had no door knob. After fidgeting with the lock, Gabi again called on our adolescent savior who came the rescue with a giant butcher knife to pry open the lock. By 4:00am we were sleeping soundly...

Awaking to yet another down pour, we ate at an Indian breakfast at our guest house and headed out on our own walking tour of the city. Our first stop was the Wat Luang, adorned with colorful concrete pillars and detailed carved wooden doors and painted murals. We entered the wat as the local monks were preparing to sit down for lunch. A head monk sat in the center of the wat blessing the meal while roughly 30 thirty younger novice monks sat on benches along the periphery with looks of hunger as the food got colder and colder. As the prayer ended the downpour doubled in volume and we had no choice but to sit, with watering mouths, on bamboo mats watching the monks devour their lunch. As the finished, we stayed and chatted with a few monks ranging in ages of 21 to 30. Many of our questions regarding the monk lifestyle were answered and they were happy to practice the English they were studying. We quickly realized they were also quite happy to talk to two women as they began to ask us questions about marriage and requested to take photos with us on their cell phones which were blasting American hip hop in the temple... They explained, among other things that monks are forbidden to have girlfriends while practicing monk hood yet all planned to leave and marry quickly post graduation. At this point we found it most appropriate to leave.

We woke early the next morning to board a small wooden boat to Champasak, two hours down the Mekong River. With our speaker and ipod in tow, we played jazz for the enjoyment of fellow travelers, we hope adding to the charm. Upon arrival we checked into a riverside bungalow adorned with hammocks and a restaurant over looking the river.

Immediately we rented bikes and set out on a 10km ride to Wat Phu Champasak, one of the most important archaeological sites in Laos. Some say this structure may have been the blue print for Angkor Wat. Built in the 6th century on a hillside, this sprawling temple is a tribute to the Hindu god Shiva. Upon arrival, hungry from our long journey, we rewarded ourselves with boxed wine, laughing cow cheese and seaweed crackers. At the top of the hill, the highest puja, we sacrificed three drops of blood, in the form of boxed wine to the alter of three Hindu gods; Shiva, Vishnu, and Krishna. We fueled our white elephant (read previous blog), by following signs stating "Elephant -->". To our amusement, we encountered an enormous moss covered rock with an elephant face carved into it.

We descended the stone staircases towards our bikes, walking along an avenue lined with phallic statues symbolizing Shiva's spiritual reproduction. After a delicious lunch, and five minutes into our 10km ride home, yet another downpour ensued. Drenched we returned to our bungalow and spent the evening playing Phase 10 and Yahtzee. During dinner we met an Italian gentleman who whom we offered a glass of our boxed wine. He responded with "no thank you, I come from the region where Chianti originates". We understood that our wine was beneath him. (This followed our first attempt at 'befriendship' to a French woman whom declined our generous wine offer because she came from the region that produced Merlot.)  He further explained that he worked for Prada "quality control for accessories in Hong Kong" and generously offered us a discount of 50% off clothing cutting the costs to $2,000-$3,000. We did not indulge in this generous offer, instead opting for our backpackers' attire.

The following morning we crossed the Mekong and borded a bus to 4,000 Islands.