4,000 islands SUCK!

Saturday, February 18, 2012

I’m sitting in my lounge chair outside my bungalow on Don Det after a hard day at playing at the beach with friends.  Don Det is one of a few inhabited islands in the area of Laos known as 4,000 islands. It’s a quiet, tiny island bordering Cambodia and is the jumping point for people continuing their travels there. I had heard the stories of how much people love it here.  Most people plan to spend a few nights and end up at least a week because it’s so nice.   To be honest, I’ve seen more beautiful places (like the tropics), but the island is so small and has such a laid-back atmosphere that you can’t help but love.  There are no cars on the island, its small enough to rent a bike and see the entirety of the TWO islands (Don Det and Don Khonge) in a few hours.  There are no ATMs on the islands (they do boat runs back to the mainland to get money) and I’ve yet to find any place with hot water.  Up until 3 years ago, there was no electricity and 2 months ago, no internet.  You can see the rapid growth and it leaves me conflicted to know that I’m a part of this.  I’m almost tempted to lie and say it sucks so that people will stop coming and it can retain its small-town ways of life and charm.  So, yeah, don’t come. It sucks here.

Enjoying a sunset from Little Eden restaurant

No, but really.  To get here was quite the journey.  The last day of biking the loop ended in Tha Khaek around 6:30pm.  We grabbed dinner and then the twins decided they would head to Don Det that night.  I tossed around the idea of heading back to Burma with Joe and Steven but we couldn’t seem to coordinate schedules.  So, instead, I decided to join the boys and head off that night.  With an hour or so to spare, we all borrowed Steven and Joe’s shower, had a sad goodbye (I miss my Dutch brother-lovers already!), and then set off for the bus station.  I wasn’t crazy about the idea of another trip having JUST ended a 3 day SORE one, but I figured even an overnight bus ride would be more comfortable than a bike.  It’s amazing how quickly perspectives can change!

We arrived at the station just in time to catch a local bus (as opposed to the more expensive, nicer tourist ones).  I was skeptical at first, but loved it more than the VIP buses.  First of all, it came with loud Laos karaoke music all night long.  But the best was that it was not full so I had an entire row to myself and could actually sleep some.  This was necessary since the bus left at 10pm, we arrived to Pakse around 6am.  From there, we still had another 4 hour ride (although we had no idea how long it would be) in the back of a pick-up truck with two benches along the sides and one along the middle. We were crammed in like sardines and I was just thankful for the open air or my claustrophobia would have set in.  I immersed myself in a book and, apart from bladder and hunger issues, one flat tire, and fish juice from a little old lady’s market bags that spilled all over everyone, wasn’t too bad. I smelled it half-way through but chalked it up to the kid peeing next to me.  Sorry kid.  Speaking of kids, the two next to me sat quietly and content the entire journey.  Amazing.

crammed in here for over 4 hours

Once there, we hopped onto a boat that shuttled us over to the island.  By 11:30 am the day after leaving Tha Khaek, we made it! We arrived at the beach and weren’t sure how we were going to contact our friends who had arrived a few days earlier.  We should have known not to worry since as we pulled into port we looked up and spotted Elmer and Jeroen walking towards us! I did mention how small the island is, right? We grabbed some breakfast with them and then checked into our rooms, which we were lucky reserved for us since the island is so small and can’t accommodate the numbers coming these days.

We spent the rest of day 1 laying on the beach, reuniting with our other friends, Hilde, Jorien, and Maarten.  It was lovely weather and I had fun playing paddle ball and playing in an inner tube with Maarten and two little Russian boys living in Thailand.  At night, we watched the sunset at Eden Restaurant (owned by a Belgian and great food) and then danced at our favorite little beach bar. Everything on the island closes at 11pm so every night at that time, everyone goes to the beach for a relaxing bon fire.  This week, there happened to be a guy with a clarinet and a few with guitars who supplied nightly music.  No one went night swimming as a girl had drowned there and floated up only the day prior to our arrival.  Our friends, along with others we met saw her pop up and, as you can imagine, were a bit traumatized.

Day two on the island, I awoke early (thanks to the chickens outside my room) and decide to rent a bike for a day and explore the other island.  It cost me less than $1 and I had a blast! I had been told to just follow the ONE road on the island to a bridge.  Well, anyone who knows me knows that if there’s a way to get lost, I will find it.  I did.  Well, actually I didn’t, but I did find a unique way to get there. It was through the rice fields and it was silent and really peaceful so I was grateful for my lack of direction that day.

I eventually made it to the bridge to Don Khonge, paid my 20,000 kip toll and crossed over to search for the waterfall.  It wasn’t the swimming kind I had hoped for, but still big and impressive.  As I was searching for a beach near it, I met an Austrian girl, Gurdi (sp?—sorry) and we spent the day together enjoying coconuts on a deserted beach, swapping life stories, watching dolphins, and biking around the islands.  We also ran into Christian (an Engineer to be from Norway) and David (a train driver from Belgium) who I had met the night before. 

Enjoying a private beach, coconut, and fun with Gurdi.

The dolphin boat ride was….interesting! : )  After getting a quote on a boat price, we recruiting several others to join so we’d lower the cost.  We returned with everyone, only to discover that the price had now changed to be per person so it was actually going to cost more.  Sneaky.  After several minutes of bargaining (it was a matter of dollars, but still), we agreed on a price (25,000 kip per person, about $3) for an hour tour on the river to see the famous river dolphins. 

We split into two groups.  The first canoe took off and mine proceeded to follow right behind.  We, however, made it about 5 minutes out and the engine died.  With no radio or method to contact anyone, our 16 year oldish captain promptly removed his pants, jumped in, and swam , towing the boat with him back to shore.  It took 35 minutes, he had to dislodge us from rocks several times, and he didn’t give up.  Now that’s initiative!

We swapped canoes and drivers and tried the trip again.  This time, we were lucky and we made it out to the river spot to see the dolphins.  Upon arriving, we could spot some about 100 meters away.  We asked to get closer but were turned down since apparently it was Cambodian waters and we couldn’t approach.  So, there I sat, a few feet away from Cambodia, watching endangered dolphins (threatened from fishing techniques that include grenades) from atop a rock in the middle of the Mekhong, for $3.  Loved it. 

After the trip, I rode back to the island, grabbed coconut ice-cream on the way, and ran into some other Dutch friends of Joe and Steven.  Grabbed a bite to eat and finally found a place with working internet so got some photos uploaded and read some emails---thanks for the song list, Joe…you’re the best!!!! After a quick nap, I met up with everyone around 9:30pm at our “usual” bar and played pool and sat a bit until heading to the bonfire.  I only stayed about 30 minutes since it began to rain and I had plans to see the sunrise the next day (today).

I met up with Gurdi and Dutch "Falereo" to see the sunrise at 5:45 am today.  It was tough getting out of bed but since I promised I’d be there, I dragged myself there.  Turns out we were all hoping the other would not show too but we all did.  Unfortunately, it was cloudy so we didn’t see much.  By that point though, I was up so decided to go for a run.  It was nice a quiet through the farm fields and a great way to start the day.  Afterwards, I grabbed breakfast and worked on my blog, running into Gurdi and Eddie as well.  Jeroen soon joined and we moved to Adam’s bar (where you can buy dvd, music, etc. downloads for your electronics) for his meal (internet didn’t work there either) so we then moved to Little Eden and hung there a bit since there internet did work. I downloaded lots of new music (THANKS for the playlists, DJs Joe and Jeroen!)

After some good internet time, a nice salad, and dropping my laundry at reception, we made it to the beach by 12:30 and spent the rest of the day relaxing there.  It was perfectly overcast just enough not to be too hot but enough to stay out all day.  I had a nice afternoon nap and then a very civilized dinner with my Dutch gang: Eddie, Ronnie, Jeroen, Hilde, and Jorien.  We ate at Little Eden, the Belgian-owned restaurant overlooking the water.  I had a white-wine sauced FILET (this is rare to come by, you usually have to eat around bones) of fish and REALL white wine.  PLUS, a chocolate-banana dessert.  It was SO good! I even got to SKYPE my family while there! It was supposed to be the last dinner with everyone together but everyone decided not to leave just yet : ) After dinner, we tried to go to our favorite spot but the electricity was out (this happens frequently here) so we hopped across the street and hung out, meeting up with other Slow-Boat friends who had arrived on the island today (Natalie and Graham). GREAT night!

I’m set for one more relaxing beach day today before I head to Cambodia tomorrow.  I guess I’ll buy my ticket tonight so I have to go, otherwise, I may never leave this terrible place.