Don Det, Pakse, Bolaven Plateau

After we left Ban Lung, we caught a mini bus and then a giant bus to the Laos border. We crossed into Laos and took a shuttle to the Mekong River with about 10 other travellers. A slow boat took us from the river shore to Don Det, one of the 4000 Islands. On the boat, Dave and I met Fredrik from Sweden, Amber from the U.S., Leigh from Australia and Roud and Deis from Holland. We all got along well and have been hanging out for the last week. We spent the next 3 days relaxing on the super chill island. Most of our time was spent lounging in hammocks and drinking 10,000 kip (just over 1 dollar for 26 oz) whisky with water or coke or green tea. The most activity we did was on the first day when we all rented bicycles and rode them all over the island and its neighbouring island in the blazing heat.

After Don Det we travelled up to Pakse with Fredrik, Amber, Leigh and Margaret. The first night was spent sitting at one indian restaurant for a solid 6 hours (or longer, I am not sure when we left) eating amazing food and drinking Beerlao. The next morning we ate an amazing breakfast of scrambled eggs (with cheese), bacon and potatoes. It was so good that we were talking about it for the next 3 days. We all rented motorbikes and headed to the Bolaven Plateau for a 3 day trip. The scenery was amazing up in the Lao highlands and motorbiking on potholed dirt roads was a blast. The waterfalls we saw on the first day were the best waterfalls I have ever seen. I will upload pictures soon, but unfortunately I dirtied up my camera lens when I slipped and almost fell off a cliff at the first place we stopped (thanks to Dave and Fredrik for saving my life) and so all my pictures have a brown spot in the middle of them. I didn't bring my lens cleaner on our motorcycle trip so I couldn't fix the problem without making it worse. We stopped at one waterfall that was totally serene and looked as though the Smurfs would live there. Local kids were fishing and playing in the water, a hippy dude was sitting on the grass in front of his tent and monks were walking along the top of the waterfall. You could walk down below the waterfall and there was a hill in front of the waterfall with lush slopes all around. It was definitely one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. After checking out a few different waterfalls, Amber and Margaret left us to catch a sleeper bus up to Vang Vieng. Dave, Fredrik, Leigh and I continued in search of somewhere to sleep. The hippy dude at the waterfall told us of a place that we could stay. We had a hard time finding the place and it was getting dark. Just as we were considering the fact that we would probably have to sleep in the jungle, we found it! The sign said Happy New Year and a wooden laotian style house welcomed us. We found our way in and a woman greeted us. There was no power, so we had to use candles and flashlights. We played cards in the dark and then the woman brought us chicken soup (with ants) and sticky rice. After dinner we played some more cards then went to what would be Fredrik's, Leigh's and my worst sleep ever. We slept on a wooden floor with one blanket shared between 2 people and we each had a mildewy pillow. Dave said he had a great sleep, but the rest of us felt like we didn't sleep at all. Fredrik was tripping out from all the DEET he put on himself that had seeped into his body and I couldn't find a comfortable position for my boney body to sleep in.

The next day we checked out the waterfalls around where we slept (nothing special comapred to the ones we saw the day before) and headed out to our next destination. A wrong turn right at the beginning put us 2 hours in the wrong direction. We back tracked another hour and a half back to a town near where we slept, filled up on gas and ate some noodle soup. Leigh headed back to Pakse while Dave, Fredrik and I continued on. The day was amazing and we winded our way out of the plateau through densely vegetated valleys, across fast moving rivers and along red dirt roads which were pretty slippery. After 2 or 3 hours we hit a paved road and another waterfall where we all went swimming in the turbulent water. We continued along the tarmac through small towns and waving local children, happy to see foreigners. Right before we got to our next stop, Tad Lo, something stung me in the ear while I was going about 70 km/h. I let off the gas and instinctively touched my ear, only to get stung again in the finger. I stopped the bike and crouched over in pain. My ear felt like it had been pierced (even though I've never had it done, I imagine it feels similar) and my finger went completely numb and swollen. After a few minutes I was good to go again and we continued on, stopping every once in a while to talk to locals, take pictures and pee. We slept at Tad Lo, one of the many waterfalls and our room had a nice view of the river. We drank beer and Lao Lao with an Australian and Brit and then crashed on 2 beds between the 3 of us. The next morning we woke up at 11 and made our way back to Pakse. The place we ate the amazing breakfast was closed because it's Sunday! We were so disappointed, but we just went across the street and had some amazing Indian food (chicken tikka masala and several orders of garlic naan). We bought a sleeper bus ticket to Vietiane. Fredrik and I leave tonight in just over an hour while Dave is going to stay here tonight and then leave for Pai (Thailand) tomorrow where he will be doing kickboxing for a month. Fred and I will arrive in Vientiane tomorrow morning at 6 am and then catch a bus to Vang Vieng where we will meet up with Amber and party in the river!