4000 Islands

My journey to Four Thousand Islands was highly anticipated and much needed after an unfortunate week in Southern Laos.  When I got to the bus station, I noticed a severe shortage of buses and knew I was in for an adventure.  Turns out you don't take a bus from Pakse to the islands, instead you hop into a sorngtaaou, which is like a pickup truck with an extended bed that can uncomfortably fit 20 people...However you're in Laos so there were closer to 30.  At one point I also started hearing the crazy cawing of a rooster, which I took as a sign that I'd finally snapped and gone insane.  However, when I looked down I noticed a couple of cardboard boxes with air holes punched into the sides and sure enough, there were roosters underneath my seat...for the four hour journey.

The local couple sitting next to me didn't seem to care about other people's space, taking up as much room as three people normally did, even though their combined weight was probably only 20 kilos more than my own.  The dude was also getting all up in my bubble, it's just like c'mon bro, we don't need to touch.  Just leave a centimeter or two between us, everyone else is doing it.  I was distressed by his lack of bubble courtesy to say the least.   After four hours or so, we ended up in Ban Nakasang, which is near the two main tourist islands, Dons Ket and Khon.   It also dawned on me that the Dons were my mascot in high school.  Another looping thread in the interconnected web of this small world.

I had thought that transportation to the islands was included, but alas it was not.  Instead of dropping us at the docks, we had to walk a few hundred meters to get there and purchase a ticket for 15,000 kip ($2).  When we arrived I noticed a buffalo relaxing on the sand.  It's funny to see all the buffalo, cows, chickens, etc. running around free here.  Some of the cattle will trot up to you hoping you'll pet them, no different than a dog or cat.  Part of me wishes I had the willpower to be vegetarian, because you can see how happy and friendly the animals are over here.  I do at least have my working goal of eating vegetarian meals at least 50% of the time.

I have reason to believe the rooster is the father. Making these ducks...Chucks

Not the typical landscape of an island...

These are actually two trees with their limbs all intertwined.  Trees be spooning!

My bowels react to Laos food like the beating of these moths' wings...Spastic and violently

Once I got up into the town I found a pretty sweet bungalow along the river, complete with hammocks for $7/night.  The only downfall was that the shared bathrooms were about 50 meters away, consisting of 2 squat toilets and one shower.  Pretty gross, but I have Lowe standards, which are in fact even lower than low standards.  That night I found some tasty Indian food and just chilled on my hammock and watched the stars come up.  I ended up staying on Don Det for a week.  I didn't really doing anything touristy, just chilled on my hammock, got back into shape, and even started writing for real.

There are no ATMs on the islands, so eventually I had to go back to the mainland to get mo money.  I also decided to switch islands, heading to Don Khon, which is larger than Don Det, but has less tourists.  It also has the largest waterfall in Laos, so I figured it was worth checking out.  The island was pretty quiet and suffered power outages both days I was there, but that was normal on the other island as well.  I took a really random path to the waterfall, crossing through all the backroads until I ended up at a village where I asked for directions.  One of the patrons gave me a free shot of Laos Laos (locally made whisky), while another told me where to head.  People be friendly on the islands!

A road diverged in the woods...I took the path less traveled (which ironically led to way more travelling) and that has made all the difference

I was a little nervous about walking these planks...

So amazing, buffalo roaming free in the Mekong River.

All animals are naked but us, I wonder if aliens are naked too...I'd like to think so, especially if they have three boobs like the bird from The Fifth Element

The waterfall was pretty amazing and incredibly wide, but it is the largest waterfall only in volume, I learned.  It's not the highest or steepest, it just has a lot of water.  Thus it wasn't necessarily as impressive as some of the waterfalls I'd seen or even the one's Peppe and I climbed on Koh Phangan.  It was still pretty cool though and definitely worth the hike.  After two days on Don Khon, I decided to head back to Don Det, mostly because it was cheaper, but also because the food is way better.  I spent a few more days there before figuring out my route to Cambodia.

We ain't even been to the ocean, we've been running barefoot through the streams...

Well, I could be wrong, but I believe diversity is an old, old wooden ship, that was used during the Civil War era (Anchorman reference, drink!)

Tat Somphamit Waterfall

In retrospect, Laos was my least favorite country thus far.  The scenery was amazing from my entry into Huay Xia all the way to Vang Vieng, but then it wasn't anything special until I got to the Four Thousand Islands.  Before heading to Laos I'd heard conflicting things about the locals.  Some travelers told me they were lovely, while others told me they had a strong disliking of tourists... The quorum of my encounters were in line the latter assessment.  While some people were genuinely kind and friendly, like the lady who shared food with me on the bus, the majority try to rip you off and are rude to you if you don't buy things from them.  They'll also give you poorer service than locals and occasionally charge higher prices. One restaurant I went to had a buffet for 30,000 kip for locals, but charged 50,000 for foreigners.

Some workers also just pretend to ignore you.  At one point when I bought a bus ticket, I asked the girl when the bus left and which bus it was.  She just started staring up and to the left, pretending to ignore me.  As soon as I stepped away she took the next guy's order.  I found it to be a very strange culture, because they are a Buddhist nation, which means that you treat everyone with the same level of respect and are typically very passive, but the only passive part of their nature I seemed to find was their passive aggressiveness.  Plus my shoes were stolen and my flip flops broke, so I had bad shoe karma.  Many fellow travelers seemed to have similar experiences to me, so I guess be forewarned if you are headed there.  I'm glad I came to Laos and I did have a good time, but out of all the countries I have visited, this is the only one I don't anticipate coming back to.

Fishing at Sunset

You were born to shine...Oh you gotta shine before you blow em away!  Oh yeah, you'll blow em away :)

But alas it was now time to make my way to Cambodia, my most highly anticipated country in Southeast Asia.  It was to be the third country of my trip initially....turns out it's going to be the 7th.  The journey to Siem Reap is long and will require another land border crossing, but that'll be a story for another blog...


As I mentioned, I started writing.  Keep in mind, I'm going to get bored of it in about 3 weeks and quit.  Therefore, this will never reach fruition, but here's an excerpt anyways.

Prologue
As Caleb sat with eyes transfixed on the four inch touchscreen in front of him, he couldn't escape his failed attempts to block out the incessant talking of the child next to him.
"Hey miss, can I use the bathroom now?"
"Sure sweetie, it's open."
"Ok, but how about now, can I use the bathroom now?"
Having now listened to this child ask the flight attendant that one solitary inquiry over 30 times, he reluctantly decided to step in.  He told himself it was to be noble, to save the pretty flight attendant, but really it was to save his own sanity.  Waiting until the crew members had passed out of ear shot, he removed his ear buds and turned to the little boy.
"How's it going little man, what's your name?"
"I'm Charlie, who are you?"
"My name's Caleb.  How old are you buddy?"
"I'm five and a half."
"Wow, you're so big!  Listen," he began, now speaking much more softly, "I think you're starting to feel pretty sleepy, huh Charlie.  I think you might have skipped your naptime, so maybe you should go use the potty and then once you're buckled back in take a nap.  Does that sound good?"
"I'm going to use the potty and have nap time now."
"Sounds good slugger.  By the way, it also looked like you had some Teddy Grahams earlier..."

A few minutes later the flight attendant walked past and froze with shock upon seeing Charlie sleeping.  Meeting his eyes, they both shared a relieved smile and she let out a little laugh as Caleb pulled out his ear buds once again.  "I was expecting at least 20 more requests to use the bathroom before the flight ended", she whispered softly, so as not to risk waking the sleeping boy.
"Well luckily you'll be able to save some of that incredible patience for the next set of passengers.  Something tells me, Charlie boy isn't the only one of his kind."
"He most certainly is not", she replied.  "Oh, would you like me to take that", she said noticing the empty box of Teddy Grahams.
"Oh yeah, that would be great.  Thanks."
"No Problem, enjoy the rest of your flight sir."
Nodding his head to indicate that he would, he turned his attention back to the screen.  He wasn't sure about the morality of what he'd just done,  manipulating Charlie's mind into thinking he needed a nap, but it was a long flight and he was never one for patience.  Besides, he was nineteen, he was allowed to have a moral grey area.  It's not as if anyone could really stop him if he did do anything immoral anyways.  He could kill everyone on the plane and walk out of the wreckage laughing if he desired it to be so.  He was one of the most dangerous men in existence... And he was about to change the world.

Random GoPros

The Spacious Sorngtaaou

My beach buddy

Hammocks obliterate any desire you have about being productive, but you're so relaxed you don't care

Looking at Don Khon from Don Det

The kid in front of me was convinced this boat was going to tip.  I just figure if it tips, it tips.  One more story for the grand adventure that is life

The grass really is greener on the other side....So get over your hill and see what you find there