The group's down to the original two and J. and I are getting used to not
having Lads in every crack and crevice. Suddenly having to research and organize
things ourselves, we've entered a rather uncomfortable realm.
Usually it's B. with his lonely planet out, giving us directions about how much
money we were all going to need for 'this' bus to 'there'. Now it was all up to
us, what?
J and I sat on the bus on the way to 4000 islands, it had been an 18 hour
journey since Vang Vieng where we'd said goodbye to the troops. The 'guide' at
the front of the bus was shouting out the names of various islands between
rather loud gibberish that no one understood. We heard '’Don Det’, for young
people!' and decided that was our best bet. I looked at J. puzzled 'we're going
to the beach right?' I was picturing 4000 sunny islands of paradise with palm
trees and pina coladas. 'Jess Laos is Landlocked'.. oh. It turns out over 3000
of the islands are rock formations about the size of my hand, mangroves and mud
line the sides of the rivers and the only really affordable island is ‘Don Det’,
where we luckily landed ourselves. The other day we floated down tubes joking
about how we’d organize our lives on these islands. ‘Grandma can sit on that
one in her rocking chair, the rest of the family can go on ‘Don Khong’ (the
island attached to ours)’ but the rule is never to cross the bridge. And all our
mates would be on ours.’ So that’s a goal to work towards..
The next day started with our groups tradition, ‘coffee and Cigarrettes’
(roll the ‘R’ as you say it). A meditation and a swim in the lagoon later we’d
rented bicycles and were off across the rickety bridges, bumpy roads and into
the bamboo forests that were covered in ash from all the recent burning (they
burn the bamboo/ foliage every year to fertilize the ground and make space for
new crops). We discovered the waterfalls that gushed around us. They weren’t as
‘serene’ as Luang Prabang but the jagged rocks gave the place a pre-historic
feel, dinosaurs would have made the scene complete. After a dip in the top of
the waterfalls we made our way down to the bottom, passing a dark sunkissed man
that sat inbetween two windswept rods of bamboo that made the perfect border
around him. The colours were sandy and the heat was strong, it felt like we
were in a desert, and the thought of my empty bottle of suncream made my skin
glow. We walked down and found a few other backpackers baking on the beach. The
swells in the water were strong and little whirlpools formed all over the
place. The sun slowly sank and we cycled to the ‘viewpoint’ before heading
back. Never have I seen such a vast expanse of sky and water, it was so still
and serene with one or two long boats disturbing the flat water with a ripple
or two – the pictures don’t do it justice. We rode back as the sun
went down, spotting mini wind-tornado’s that swept up the dry leaves and dust. A
full day in the sun had taken it’s toll, we’d stop now and then for breaks as our
legs tingled and the world spun. We got back, realizing J. had lost his shirt,
and after getting into a new one we met our Canadian couple for a long awaited
dinner. The conversation flowed and lead to a game of kings cup, a drunken go
at pool and an after party at the beach. Huddles of people crowded in the dark
around little candles that had been dotted all over the beach. The flower fumes
soon got too much and food was in order. 4 mad-eyed teenagers rampaged around
town, asking every person, restaurant and shop if they had any food, we managed
to scavenge yogurt, 6 baguettes and chocolate sauce – result. As we got back to
our guesthouse we opened the bamboo barrier to get in and I jumped as the buffalo
immediately herded their way inside, followed by a pack of barking dogs. We
looked at each other in fear and slowly, with panicked eyes we walked back to
our bungalow, arriving without a scratch. 
The next day was ‘mong-day’, one of a few. We bought a bowl of flowers'
that cost less than a bar of chocolate, and ended the day with a social drink
at '4000 islands bar’ and a few familiar faces. We decided activities were in
need and booked a kayaking trip for 8am the next morning with a group we’d
hooked up with. With minutes to spare we jumped out of bed, having missed our
alarm and made our way to breakfast that was part of the package. Somewhere
between before and after breakfast, J’s shoes were stolen, so he walked
barefooted towards the kayaks by the port. We hopped into double kayaks and
headed down the lagoon, past the buffalo’s lapping water inbetween mangroves. ‘Check
out those Pigs having sex!’ J. screamed out, motioning towards the river bank,
the Japanese kayakers beside us roaring in laughter. We stopped at the small
waterfalls that we’d been to a few days before, had a little cool down and
hopped back in our kayaks to head to lunch. There were huge wooden contraptions
all over the place that were used everywhere for catching catfish. The animal
diversity isn’t big here, but they do have a lot of lizards. When we stopped
for lunch we were greeted by little kids running around. A lot of the little
boys held wooden sticks with a circle of plastic string at the end – used for
catching lizards. As painful as it was watching them squash and throw around
these lizards, it did make me smile seeing kids playing in nature as opposed to
sitting in a cybercafé. We ate lush watermelon, banana’s and fried rice before
hopping back in the water and kayaking to the border of Cambodia. At the border
the guide told us all to stop rowing and look up, there we sat, in silence, as
the Irrawaddy dolphins glided in and out of the water infront of us. They were
eventually steered away by the motor boats that joined us but it was such an
incredible moment that none of us expected would happen. We made our way to the
‘biggest cascade of waterfalls in south east asia’ that required a tuk tuk ride
and a walk. As we arrived I look over at the rock with the best view to see a
crowd of monks all in light orange attire admiring the waterfall. Behind them
was white serenity. Foaming water over jagged grey rocks – we ran up to the
rock with the monks and looked down, 2 bloated dogs floated beneath us,
smashing against the sharp rocks in time to the waterfall’s blows. It was
enough of a warning sign to remind us of the waterfall’s strength. After
everyone had enough photo’s, we headed back to the river, where I made friends
with a group of little girls – losing a wet towel to the current in the process
:s. We arrived back, exhausted and sunburnt. We had a group dinner and a few
flower fumes for ‘L’s last night’ as he slowly lay down with a smile after a
happy brownie or two... The night ended typical J&J style, the
only sounds that could be heard were the crunches of crisps and the rustling of
packets. 
We’d planned a mong day but made the effort to adventure on – renting tubes
to float down the river, hopefully not missing the ‘last stop’ and ending up
like the dogs at the bottom of the waterfalls that lay ahead. J. had bought a
$1.50 bottle of tiger whiskey for St. Paddy’s day (on the bottle it read ‘Sweet
and Mellon instead of ‘Mellow’, if they couldn’t spell their slogan right, was
the percentage of alcohol wrong too?), the bottle was soon gone as it slipped
through his hands and towards the muddy bottom in a matter of a minutes –
probably best.We fought the current and gave up, ending up back at the main port in a new group of people who we spent the rest of the night with at the ‘Herb Garden Party’ out in the rice fields. We all showered up and the boys sorted out their lost room key. It turns out they don’t have any spares here, so the manager walked up to the door, squeezed the lock, and it popped open. Fab security. Hair styles were all decided upon and the party begun with many rounds of ’21, bing bang boom, grunt’ etc. all managed without a deck-o-cards. Pizza was all baked in their make-shift clay oven, and the ‘unlimited till 9’ booze was in the bucket in the corner. The toilet was nifty, made out of bamboo with a bin of rice kernels to scoop in after your business was done. The host of the party was a couple that had been here for a year and looked a little loony. She was doing all the admin and looked at us with glazed eyes and huge pupils, her voice dragging out every word. We sat in a group and ‘Manny’ the manager of ‘Happy Bar’ walked over to us, a J in his hand and a cricket on his leg – his new friend, that was soon transferred to K. for the rest of the night (he stopped freaking out after 20 minutes). The dogs that continuously scratched their fleas all over the place proved to be a bit more of a nuisance than the cricket.. We woke up with a hang-over and it turned into another mong-day, lying comfortably in one bar and walking lazily to the next, waking ourselves up with a jolt as we jumped off the 5m plank outside ‘Reggae Bar’ into the Mekong. Tomorrow our Visa runs out so we’ve got to jump the border to Cambodia then.
I can’t believe we’re here already, our time with the lads in Vang Vieng
went so fast, here goes an attempt at summing it up.. Vang Vieng was amazing. One day was spent at the swimming pool, hoping to get in without a ticket but having to buy one anyway, boys hanging their goods out over the rails to poor freaked out tourists on long boats, after-sun sessions and fish and chips for dinner, learning about Jn’s mayo obsession in all its glory. One day a huge group of us went cycling to the waterfalls that we never found, arriving home and looking for my wallet, (containing $400 and my debit card), that was never found and having group dinners in front of family guy or friends. The day after was a day for women – whether it was labour day or international womens day I don’t know, but it was awesome – women stumbling over each other by the Mekong, tubing down the river, completely.pissed. It was nice seeing the girls let loose for a change, stumbling men get boring after a while.. Showers were wasted in this weather as perspiration was endless. One night we agreed on fancy dress, pulling together the few scraps we had in our limited wardrobe for ‘Jungle Party’. The night started in the Irish Bar with some incredibly strong drinks, a few games of 21, a bonfire and a rave. The night ended with drunk kisses, tears and a sore heart... Feeling alone in someone’s company being the shittiest parts of travelling away from home... ‘Jn. the stripper’ lightened the mood, followed by a tied up T. a drunk Frenchman in the shower and a tomato on our ceiling – living with Lads is a laugh. The card was sorted out the next morning, and yet another trip to the police station was called for to get a report written – it was fast and efficient, the police here being 10x more helpful than in Vietnam. The night that followed was my last of being 18, and I didn’t want to be anywhere else. We played darts at the Irish bar, danced at Buddha bar and shotted tequila at moon bar. 00:00 struck and the DJ played ‘Happy Birthday’ as I squeezed T. and J. for setting it up. That night we met Lala, avoided the creepy little drug dealer and I met my ‘sister’ who had the same ‘going out alter-ego as me’, exciting stuff. After closing time, our room was soon full again, and we somehow chose one phrase to learn in each of our languages, mumbling in Spanish, Dutch, French and Greek, our food hunt at 3am hadn’t been a success but our acquisition of new phrases had! The bedsheets were inked with multi-lingual ‘Happy birthday’s’ that we only remembered in the morning. (‘Neuken in de Keuken op de keukentafel’ is how you say our phrase in Dutch, if you were wondering ;) ) Daytime came, the police report was picked up and a big breakfast at the Irish Bar was called for. Cake and pressie time came around (& a free bottle of lao wine!) and I laughed as most of them had a message about ‘not losing anything’ on them.. we hopped in a tuk tuk and headed to the blue lagoon. Seeing an older group on the way who’d just falled off their bicycles and scraped a knee made us cringe as we thought back to a few weeks ago. The blue lagoon was beautiful, we floated in rings and swung off swings, ‘No smoking Weed’ signs scattered the place, a volleyball court to the left and a few metres above lay ‘Gollum’s cave’ that we explored for hours. At one point we all stopped to break, and got to know the guys we were walking with. Coincidentally we’re all sharing the same Halls at Leeds Uni – the world only gets smaller. We finally reached the lagoon again, just in time to watch a huge English guy jump from the highest branch of the tree, do a backflip and land perfectly in the rubber ring floating beneath him, it was the cherry on top of an amazing day. By the end of it, we were spent and in denial about leaving so we decided to stay an extra day while time was still on our side. Night time involved authentic pineapple crumble and a movie in bed.. our last night together.
Morning time came and adrenaline was ON. Coffee, cigarettes, packing, paying the manager who we’d never met, breakfast at the Irish bar (a last steak baguette), goodbyes, facebook details, bus station. Tears were shed as the family hugged goodbye and their bus headed away from us and towards Thailand. I looked forward to the video of my naked welsh choir singing ‘Happy Birthday’ with smiles on their faces, something that hadn’t happened the day before! J. and I boarded the hot sweaty bus, craving a cold shower. We had to be sensible and responsible now, checking for our passports and money as we arrived in Vientiene, the capital of Laos. We had a quick dinner, getting discounts for the cockroach in J’s soup, and got on the luxury double bed sleeper bus that had 4 bunks, passing out and arriving in Pakse for the last bus to 4000 islands. Soon we’ll be able to say been there Don Det but we’re gonna try and squeeze our visa’s dry and enjoy the last few hours before that time comes, Thank you Laos and family. x
Recipe of the day: Lao Green Curry
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBKaeNiDldE
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