Goodbye David, Goodbye Laos

March 10, 2011

Vientiane is one of those capital cities one can overlook quickly on a trip through SE Asia; but not without reason. After leaving VV, this town seemed incapable of capturing our attention. Perhaps arriving directly from the sterile and orderly environs of north America Vientiane would have been able to impress. After visiting Bangkok, and Chiang Mai, and with Vang Vieng freshly bruised onto our buttocks, we left for greener pastures ASAP.

After a sad goofbye to David (who was off to KL for a few weeks on the Malay beaches) we hopped onto a sleeper bus to the island refuge of Don Det. One of the aptly named four thousand islands (Si Phan Don), Don Det is a bit of a beach paradaise on the middle of the dry season swelter of landlocked Laos. An outcrop of limestone in the middle of the Mekong has led to a series of fantastical waterfalls, and a pseudo delta above them, formed by sand and silt that falls from the water as it waits to tumble over the rocks. The water here is actually see through!!

As we pulled up the the island after an 18 hour, 4 vehicle (Bus, smaller bus, smallest bus, boat) trip from Vientiane, palm leaves waved us hello, and Sarah is pretty sure one of the river fish winked at her. It may be this island is a bit magical... Or it could have been exhaustion induced hallucination. We'll never know for sure. We quickly found a nice guesthouse with the only two amenities I care about when near sand: a shower, and a hammock. I'm quite happy they threw in the ceiling fan and bed for free though.

On day 2 on the island we decided to brave the heat and explore Don Det and Don Khon on bicycle. These two inlands are connected by an 19th century French rail bridge that was built along with ports above and below the falls to move goods up river. Sightseeing includes the largest waterfall in SE Asia ( by volume) and boat trips to spot freshwater Irrawady dolphins! While both are guaranteed the be there by the locals, only the waterfall kiosk offered our money back if we didnt see it. I didnt want to add disappointment to the agony, discomfort, sunburn, and wedgie I was already enduring from our bike trip so we skipped the boat tour.

After 3 days of relaxing on the banks of the Mekong, we are planning to head towards Siem Reap tomorrow to jump into the ancient world of Angkor Empire. But first, we'll have to brave the treacherous border crossing to Cambodia. Don't worry mom, it's only dangerous to your wallet.

Sander