Leaving Laos

It was yet another early start for the intrepid travellers on Saturday, as we boarded yet another minivan, this time bound for Don Khong, the largest of Laos'4000 Islands. Soon, we were on the banks of the Mekong, waiting for another ferry to whisk us over to Muang Khong, the main (and perhaps only?) town on the island. Well, hamlet would be more accurate!!!

We quickly found a simple but cheap guesthouse (which was welcome after the expense of Vientiane) and dropped off our bags. We were soon off riding around the island on bicycles, all this before midday! It was great to finally feel like I was in the real Laos, cycling past forests, rice paddies and cattle grazing by the roadside.

As we sped along, the guesthouse leaving us further and further behind, I imagined getting a puncture and having to walk all the way back again in the midday sun. it would be just my luck! However, things were going swimmingly until Kendall's bike chain came off, and it took considerable effort and the use of some sturdy twigs to get it back on again, especially as it had got wedged behind the front and back cogs, and was bone dry - not a single drop of oil anywhere! It was a relief to set off again, and thank goodness we had got our bad luck over and done with for the day!

We enjoyed a leisurely lunch back at the guesthouse, before setting out in the afternoon in the opposite direction, and this was even more rewarding as we passed through many tiny settlements and watched the locals harvest their rice crop by hand. It was so good to be away from the tackiness of Vang Vieng, and the posh, touristy boutiques of Luang Prabang! Some children were fascinated with us as we zoomed by, so we stopped for some 'hellos' and photos - one little guy was chuffed to take a red biro from me, bless him!

Beautiful Laos Children

After using the GPS to work out that we were a good 5km away from the guesthouse (and that was as the crow flies), we thought it best to head back again. It wasn't long though before I found it a real struggle to keep going. "Are we going uphill?" I asked, my thighs burning, which I couldn't quite understand as the road looked as flat as a pancake...

Flat was the operative word - I looked down and Emma had a puncture! Damn it, I knew it!!! I peddled on regardless, but as the girls started to move away from me, it was futile to continue on. Kendall offered me her bike, and she took Fiona's (who hitched a ride on the back). Katie then took mine by the handlebars and cycled all the way back to the guesthouse with two bikes. I felt awful about it, but when I attempted to do the same, my weedy arms couldn't take the weight and I just couldn't cycle in a straight line.

Eventually, we all made it home again and worked out that we had done about 15 miles over the course of the day, not bad really! Cold showers were required all around and then we just took it easy until dinner on a verandah over the Mekong. It was time for bed as another early start lay ahead of us...

On Sunday, we took a little boat south along the river to Don Det, a much smaller island close to the border with Cambodia. It was a lovely journey, much better than all the buses we had been cramped into, and soon after landing on the island, we quickly found some quaint little bungalows with a sunset view. Imagine our delight to find that it was only 15,000 kip per night for a twin, which worked out at roughly 50p each!!!

Mr. Ki's Bungalows, 50p per night!!!

We soon met up with Nat, from Wales, who has a photography degree - poor girl had her ear bent by me all day, plus I showed here all my Moo cards!!! I don't think she minded too much really, and we spent the afternoon browsing each others' snaps. We ventured out in the evening to a little Indian restaurant, and I splashed out on a chicken rogan josh (well, I think it was really a tikka masala in disguise), steamed rice, a butter naan and TWO cans of Sprite! Well, I had an excess of kip and once you leave Laos, you can't exchange it anywhere! What a nightmare, when the bill arrived, it was 10,000 less than I thought it would be, so I had to order dessert, just to spend some more!!!

This morning, we had YET ANOTHER early start as we boarded the little ferry back to the mainland and squashed ourselves into another minivan to the Cambodian border. We were dropped off and were a little concerned when the vans pulled away. We were even more concerned when moments later, they drove back past us, with no bags on the roof, in the direction we had just come from!

We were charged a dollar each to be stamped out by Laos immigration, which we were expecting, even though technically this is a scam, as we all had Cambodian visas, paid for in full. However, once we walked the few hundred yards across no-man's land to the Cambodian officials, it all kicked off... They wanted to charge us $2 each to get in, even though we had all paid at least $20 for out visas. I was quite prepared to pay it, as a couple of dollars I could live with (although had it been much more than that, I may have joined in the fuss!)

An American girl started kicking off at the officials, protesting that she had paid already and that "I want you to give me my passport back right now!!!" To cut a very long story short, many people made such a fuss that the passports were stamped and no money was taken - by the time I made it to the front, I simply handed over mine, and waited. I wasn't asked for any money, so when it was handed back to me, I simply thanked them and made a discreet exit...

Anyway, off we went after a good while in a different minivan to Stung Treng for lunch, then onto a third van to Kratie - it was gone 4pm by the time we arrived. The girls went straight out on motorbikes back to the Mekong to go look for Irrawaddy dolphins - I stayed back to have a long shower and a long nap...