The border was a breeze as the bus driver handled all the visas and passports. You can see the progress of the tourist trade in Laos here. Only a few months ago you could not receive a visa upon arrival at this remote crossing (Don Kralor). Now both countries are constructing large new immigration offices here. As for now, it is only two small shacks and a counter-balanced pole acting as the gate between nations.
Just over the border, now past sunset, we disembark along the road at the turnoff to Si Phan Don, or, the Four Thousand Islands of the Mekong. We jump into the back of a covered flatbed truck for transport down a dark and dusty road, choking on dust, to the shores of the Mekong, where we board a long-tail boat and travel the shallow expanse of the dry season Mekong to the small island of Don det, a budding attraction for travelers. A few years ago, there was nothing on any of these islands besides small villages that relied on fishing for income. Now two of the islands, Det and Khon, have small traveler villages with bungalows on the water and a minor variety of restaurants.
It was at one of these places that Lauren and I each rented our own bungalow, complete with bed, mosquito net, and porch with hammocks. Don Det is a lazy place where one with a less restless spirit could hole up and lay in hammocks for a few weeks straight. We did a bit of that but also chose to explore the area.
Our first full day in this place we rented some tiny bicycles and set about riding the length of Don Det (about 2 km), crossing the old French railroad bridge to the neighboring island of Don Khon, and riding the legth of that island as well. At the far end of Khon there is an old pier where you can look across the Mekong into Cambodia. At certain times of day there is supposed to be a pod of Irawaddy river dolphins that chills out here, but you can only really see them by boat.
We rode back up to the West side of the island where we saw a modest beach and later a large cataract waterfall that was quite impressive even in the dry season. From the falls we were able to locate a small swimming hole for a quick bath in the Mekong.
After filling up with some noodle soup near the bridge on Khon, we headed back to Det to get some hammock rest on our porches and enjoy the sunset and the soothing (or perhaps headache-inducing) sound (roar?) of the cicadas in the large tree on a nearby island. After that was dinner and an unfortunate incident at a riverside bar which I will try to cautiously describe.
Before going to bed, we decided to grab a drink. I ordered a straight laolao (a local rice whiskey) while Lauren felt adventurous and ordered the "Happy Laolao" cocktail because we had been seeing it on many of the menus in town. When the waitress mistakenly brought us two of the cocktails, I did not contest. It was a mix of laolao, lime juice, sugar, and some sort of crushed leafy material that I thought might be basil. We ignorantly drank up.
Without going int0 a full account of the next few hours, I will just say that when you order anything with the word "happy" in it in SE Asia, expect that you might end up more than just refreshed, with an effect that I will just call some type of food poisoning (for our younger readers). It was an interesting night nonetheless.
Due to the Happy Laolao incident, the next day was a bit of a wash. As it was our last day in Si Phan Don, and we had already seen the typical tourist sights, we resigned ourselves to drinking fruit shakes (not of the happy variety) and laying about in the shade. That is, after all, the best way to enjoy Don Det. The next day we caught a boat and a bus north to Pakse.
In my short time in Laos, I have seen how it is still a bit pristine, perhaps too much so for its own good. In Thailand and Cambodia, you are often being bombarded with sales pitches and offers for tuktuk rides. Not so here. The people are laid back and unpretentious, and things move a bit more slowly. When at first we arrived here and realized how every place we went to eat, the service was slow and terrible, my frustration quickly turned into enchantment. The fact that the people here do not cater to the western desire for snappy and attentive service is something special. It reminds me a bit of being in El Salvador. The Lao people are still relatively unjaded by the traveler, and therefore you often experience more genuine interactions with the Lao than you normally would in the traveler haunts of Thailand or Cambodia. I have seen nary a beggar or salesman here.
I know with near certianty that in a few years, places like Don Det will be much more overrun. This place is too good, too genuine and nice for the tourists not to colonize it. You can see the change in the riverside construction projects 9still modest at least) and newly paved roads.
It is the way of the traveler though. In the quest for genuine experiences off the beaten track, we beat down the track a bit more, thus making it easier and more accessible for the next wave of travelers. Slowly it changes from the adventurous travelers who are trying to escape the travel-party scene of Siem Reap or Thailand, to the travelers who will only come to a place after it has become well established and easy to access by comfortable modes of transportation.
Change happens though and we should not fear it too much, and while it might make the Laos experience less genuine for the adventurous traveler, perhaps it will help the locals gain some more independence financially, if not culturally. Perhaps in a few years, the Burmese government will begin to allow more access, then we will have a whole new nation of fresh meat after Laos has been decisively colonized by the traveler's dollar.
That is my rant for the day. I hope you enjoyed it. I am currently writing this in Pakse and my sister and I will be taking an overnight bus to Vientiane tonight. For our next adventure installment: Pakse and the Bolaven Plateau via Motorbike.
And Dan: to greet someone in Laos, you say "Sa-bai-di"; thank you is "Khawp Jai". "Don" is island and "Si Phan" is 4,000. Have fun with that.
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