My last two weeks

Mekong fisherman at dusk

It has been a busy and fun couple of weeks since I last posted, so I will try my best to catch you all up! When I last wrote, I was hoping to get my Laos visa that night, which I did, and the next morning, I left for my last Cambodian stop - the town of Kratie. This is a very small town along the Mekong River that didn't have road access even 4 years ago, but now many travelers like me stop there en route to Laos. My first night, I stayed in a hotel with TV, so I was able to watch the awful footage of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami that had just happened while I was on the bus. The images were heartbreaking, and I know that the aftermath will continue for a long time. My second two nights there were in a nice place called Balcony Guest House, which of course had a lovely balcony on which to relax and read and enjoy mango shakes. One of the days, I rented a bike and took the ferry across the Mekong to the nearby island. There was a path about 9 km long around the island, which allowed me to enjoy a slice of really rural Cambodian life. Near the tip, there was a quaint Vietnamese floating village. Upon my return to the mainland, I had made up my mind to try krolan, which is a local specialty that I had realized was only available each day until the supply was gone - I had tried to find it for dinner the night before to no avail. It is sticky rice, beans, and coconut milk steamed inside a bamboo tube. I was able to eat some of the large tube that I bought, but then couldn't nearly finish it, and was thinking about throwing it away, when a boy walked up to me and gave me a smile. He was about 10 years old, and we couldn't communicate beyond smiling and sign language. I offered him my krolon, which he gladly accepted with a huge smile, and began devouring it right there. He picked every grain of rice off of it, and kept looking up at me with happiness. After he finished, we said goodbye, and then he suddenly grabbed my arms in a sort-of hug, came closer, and said something in Khmer that I tried to write down phonetically to attempt to have someone translate later, but this proved useless. I will never know what he said, but it was a very sweet moment.

The next morning, I was up early to have breakfast and catch my transport across the border to Laos. Of course I had no idea at the time, but this was to be my most challenging and difficult day of traveling thus far. I waited and waited to be picked up, and the guy at the guest house called a few times to make sure they didn't forget me. Eventually, I was picked up an hour late, not by the minibus that I was told I would get, but by a local guy with a Toyota Camry. I was told to sit in the front seat, which I obediently did, although at that time I was the only passenger. We proceded to go back and forth through the town, picking up various locals, and after about another half an hour, we passed back by my guest house again, and headed out of town. But we didn't get far, because then we went back and forth more, picking up more people. Once there were four people in the backseat, we stopped to pick up another guy, and I was wondering where he would sit. He got in the front bucket seat with the driver! So I was thinking, at least they are leaving the foreigner alone, and letting me have my own space! Unfortunately, this didn't last too long. We stopped yet again, and they opened my door, and motioned for me to move over, so I did. A lady got into my seat, which led to me attempting to sit on the seat belt buckle, which I complained about, and someone gave me a neck pillow to sit on. This thankfully lasted only about 20 minutes, at which point we dropped someone off and my seat partner moved back to the back seat. As I put my seatbelt back on, they all laughed at me. After probably 2 hours, we arrived to Stung Treng, which is the town nearest the border, where I was supposed to transfer to a big bus. We dropped every other passenger off first, and when I was the last person, he pulled up to a restaurant, let me out, gave me my bag, and left. Initially, this seemed fine. I went into the restaurant, and the lady there, in limited English, made it sound like someone was coming for me. She said that I had time to have something to eat and drink, that she called a guide to come and get me by noon. Since it was only 10:30 a.m. at the time, I didn't order anything to eat, but had a drink and went across the road to get some chips for the bus ride. As I sat there, it was really hot, so I moved into the restaurant and sat underneath a fan and read my book and waited. Once noon came and went, I started worrying, and tried to ask the man and lady at the restaurant if they knew anything, or if I could use their phone to attempt to call the guesthouse that arranged the transport for me to find out what was going on. They were of no help, so I went to another guesthouse to see if I could use their phone - they said no. I went the other way, to an air-conditioned cell phone store. The guy that worked there was nice, and let me use his phone to call what I thought was the guesthouse in Kratie - thankfully I had grabbed one of their business cards for my journal. I kept trying to ask whomever I was talking to whether he was Andrew, the Australian owner of Balcony Guesthouse. I never got a straight answer, and now I realize that I was probably actually talking to someone who arranges the transportation for them rather than anyone at the actual guesthouse. He told me to wait where I had been waiting, and that I would be picked up at 2 p.m. I thanked the nice guy, and obediently went back to wait longer. The owner of the restaurant asked me when I was leaving, and then started "fixing" his fan that was blowing on me. He basically told me that I should go wait at the bus station (which I would happily have done, had I known which bus company, and therefore bus station, to go to - the guesthouse had not given me an official bus ticket, but rather a receipt that only stated how much I had paid, and that it included my boat to Don Det, where I was going in Laos), that I should go and sit back outside, that he couldn't waste 2 hours of electricity on me - basically that I should leave his restaurant. At that point, I got pretty upset, and said that I would have happily left his restaurant as I was supposed to hours ago, but that I had no idea what was going on. He told me I wasn't very friendly, but then proceeded to "fix" his fan and tell me that I was once again allowed to sit underneath it. I waited there until 3, knowing the whole time that it was useless and that I would not get picked up. I had realized by that point that I would probably not get to where I was going that night, and that I would probably have to book transport the next day with a reliable company. I had looked in the Lonely Planet and located what sounded like a helpful person/guesthouse in that city, and went to find him. When I found him, he was indeed helpful, and spoke good English! He immediately called the guesthouse in Kratie for me, once I explained my situation. As I sat there, listening to him speak for a long time to the person on the other end of the phone, and realized that he was helping me, I finally lost it and started crying. Thankfully, he didn't even really acknowledge this fact, but just told me basically to go get a bus that was leaving for Don Det in 10 minutes around the corner. I wasn't sure exactly where to go, so I passed where the bus was, and ended up seeing the bus back behind me, so I turned back towards it, as it started going. I stood in front of it and waved my arms! They stopped, said yes they were indeed going to Don Det, but they weren't going to let me on with only the receipt that I had. Thankfully, a guy that had been of no help to me earlier pulled up and said something to them, and they were like,"Get on the bus." Once I got on, I just collapsed into the seat, and told my story to a very nice French Canadian man who was happy to listen. I couldn't believe I was actually on the bus, and going to where I was supposed to! What this experience made me realize is that, even though some days are awful, they always end - you always get there eventually, and have a good story when it's all said and done. I had really wished that I was traveling with someone that day, because I felt so unsure and alone. The border crossing went well, and I stayed on the bus as we were told to, mainly for fear that they wouldn't let me get back on if I got off! Needless to say, I was pretty happy to cross into Laos, as my view of Cambodia after that day wasn't the best anymore.

We arrived to the 4,000 islands area, and to the island of Don Det, after dark that night. I found a great little bungalow right on the river, for a little under $4 per night, and enjoyed my first Beerlao (the main beer of Laos, as the name suggests). The next morning, I was relaxing on my hammock, and met another girl who was staying at the same place as me - Isabel from England. We decided to rent bikes and head over to the sister island of Don Khon, where there was a nice waterfall.


Cool leaning trees

Me & some of the 4,000 Islands

 We also took a boat ride out to see the very rare Irrawaddy dolphins - there are only about 20 in this area, and 80 left in the whole Mekong River. It was a great day, and we ended it by watching the sunset over the Mekong River, with a mojito in hand. My next day there was pure relaxation in the hammock, and in the evening I tried the famous pumpkin burger with another new friend from Holland. I did not, however, try the even more famous "happy" shakes, which are laced with any of several drugs of your choice!

The next morning, I left for Tat Lo, which is another area famous for waterfalls, and also very remote. I was shocked on arrival to find that it was actually pretty chilly there - I had to dig out my warmer clothes from the bottom of my pack! That night, I slept with two thick blankets on, and with warm pajamas, and was still cold all night - by cold, I mean that it was probably 65 degrees, which IS cold when you are used to 85-95 all night! I wasn't impressed at all with the guesthouse I stayed in the first night, so the next morning I went to one that had been recommended to me and got a room, only to find that my friend Isabel was staying next door to me! This place was a huge step up, and there were a lot of nice people staying there. Every night, someone cooks and we all pitch in money. Isabel and another girl made a really simple but delicious meal of chicken with veggies, mashed potatoes, and garlic bread, with mango for dessert. I realized that I hadn't had a home-cooked meal since before I left home, which made it that much more delicious! That day, I visited the two waterfalls near town, which were really pretty, and then rented a bike to get to the third, bigger one that was 10 km out of town.

Tad Lo Waterfall

I wasn't sure where to go, but there were some boys swimming in the river who hollered that the waterfall was that way. They began leading me through some burned forests, crops, hills, villages, and over many boulders, to the point that I thought that couldn't possibly be the correct way. Eventually, we did arrive at the waterfall - but there was no water! It was a huge wall of rock with not one trickle of water coming over it. It is dry season here, and most of the waterfalls have been less than impressive, but it's still fun getting to them! The boys then began jumping off rocks into the water, and showing off for me. Then they led me all the way back to my bike, which was great because I don't think I would have found my own way back. An interesting story from Tat Lo is that two of the girls who were staying at our guesthouse had rented motorbikes, and one of them had hit a local lady in a freak accident. The lady had been in the hospital for a couple of days and they thought she was going to be ok, but then she died! Apparently the family was really great, and let the girls see the lady's body, and they were going to go to the funeral. They were staying there for several days, as the local police were doing an investigation and had their passports. I just can't imagine this happening!

The next morning, Isabel and I headed North towards Tha Khaek, which was thought would take about 6 hours by bus. Boy were we wrong! We left Tat Lo at 8 a.m., and didn't arrive until 10 p.m.! This was a classic case of "Lao time," which basically means that they go if and when they are ready, and maybe not even then! We actually had a really good time, and just enjoyed the experience. We had to change buses a few times, for no obvious reason. The funny thing is that they would tell us we were going, and we would get on the bus, only to eventually just get off again because we weren't going, and all of the locals had gotten off again. We couldn't communicate with anyone, so it was really confusing most of the time, but everyone was really friendly, so it was pretty fun. We started being adventurous and trying some of the local street foods being offered. A boy and his father had bought a big bunch of some kind of root vegetable - we were watching the boy eat it, and we offered him some money so we could try one. It was similar to jicima, and surprisingly juicy! We also tried chicken on a stick, which seemed rather scary at first but was actually pretty good. One of the many times we were stopped and waiting off the bus for no apparent reason, I watched a lady pull down the pants of a very small baby (I was able to ask and figure out that he was 3 months old) who was not wearing a diaper, and make a special noise, which then made the baby go to the bathroom! I have seen and heard of this happening in China, but I didn't know they did it here too. It was really amazing - an essentially potty-trained 3-month-old!? So we did finally make it to Tha Khaek, in time to walk around to find a room, and then have a quick dinner by the river before all the restaurants closed. The next morning, we went on to Ban Khoun Kham (also known as Ban Na Hin), which was supposed to be about 3 hours or less away. We figured that it might take us the whole day to get there, but were pleasantly surprised to arrive by noon or so! The reason for going there was to visit Kong Lo Cave, but we were told by our guesthouse that it was too late to go that day! So we wandered to the very small tourist information center to try to find out how to get to the waterfall. We ended up following maybe 8 boys once again through the forest, sometimes on a path, often over some very precarious boulders, to a swimming area where we swam a bit with them.

We never made it all the way to the waterfall, but assumed that once again, there was no water in anyway. The next day, we headed to the unbelievable Kong Lo Cave, which is a 7.5 km-long tunnel accessed by boat, underneath an immense limestone mountain. It was cold and pitch black in there, the only light being that of the headlamps on the guides. We had to get out a few times because it was too shallow. I wasn't able to take any picures inside, because it was too dark, but it really was amazing! It took maybe an hour or so to get through, and then we had lunch, and went all the way back through it again. Afterwards, we enjoyed a swim in the refreshingly cold river. That night, we had a very delicious Lao BBQ with the people we had met at the cave, and with Mama, the very eccentric owner of our guesthouse.



Inside Kong Lo Cave


The next morning, we were having breakfast when a bus pulled up on the road going past our guesthouse. The road is a very main highway that goes between Vietnam and the Lao capital of Vientiane, so we knew there were several buses that were heading East and North towards Vientiane, where we wanted to go. We were scheduled to take the 9:30 a.m. bus, which was about 45 minutes from that time. The bus people said that was our bus, and if we didn't take it, we were going to be out of luck the rest of the day. It was all very confusing, especially given that we were in Lao, where things are much more likely to be way behind than ahead of schedule! We decided to finish our breakfast and hope for the best. We checked out of our room and waited along the highway, and stopped the first bus that went by - it was going to Vientiane, and we were amazed to find that it didn't stop at all, and that we really did get there in the stated time of about 5 hours! We think maybe this is because it was coming from Vietnam, and therefore didn't run on "Lao time!"
Isabel and I have enjoyed two days in the city.


They have a lot of delicious street food here, and last night we tried one of the local specialties, which is a huge fish with lemongrass stuffed down it's throat, and grilled to perfection! We rented bikes and cycled around the city all day yesterday, visiting several temples.

Surprised by a field trip at Patuxai (Vientiane's Arc de Triomphe)!

Today, we are heading further North to Vang Vieng for some beautiful scenery and river tubing! Since it took so long to write this very long blog post (sorry!), I don't have time to post pictures as well since we have to check out of our hotel and head to the bus station. I will try to post pictures very soon though! Thanks to everyone for your patience, and your continued emails and messages! Keep them coming!