Vientiane to Don Det and back to Vientiane

I was early for the night sleeper so sat quietly reading a Stephen King book I’d bought in Vientiane. My bags were by the side of me and after a while, I noticed that a rather scruffy man kept walking past and eying up my bags. I moved them to the other side of me and he stopped coming near!

The bus was very nice but unfortunately the ‘double bed’ was only 33 inches across. Luckily for my sleeping companion, the bus wasn’t full and he found another berth near the back!

It was quite comfortable with just one in but it would have been very cosy with two of us. I would have ended up sitting in the aisle rather than being squashed! We got to Pakse around 7 am, in time for the bus to take us to Ban Nakasang and then over to Don Det. The 'ferry' was one of those very narrow boats with a big outboard motor. It was not easy to get on to it and even worse getting off. I went looking for the guesthouse and everyone kept telling me it was very far. The Canadian must not have known that there were two ferry landings and I'd been dumped at the wrong one!

I passed many beach huts but they were all on the sunrise side and I wanted the sunset. I finally found what I was looking for and checked in (that's a laugh!). It was only later I realised that I should have been in Sunset View Bungalows and not the Sunset I'd chosen. I wasn't complaining as it was only one pound eighty per night (no pound sign on this keyboard).

We had a terrific thunderstorm that night and you cannot imagine the noise the rain made on the corrugated tin roof! The girls next door came in a 1am and woke me up. That was it for the night. About 3am I could here pattering outside on the stairs. It was pitch black so I got the torch.. It was the dogs from the house sheltering from the rain. They wouldn’t be shifted and pattered around for the rest of the night. The thunder and lightning continued until daylight at 5:30.

Wouldn’t you know that on an island with no mains electricity, the battery would go in my digital camera. I also needed to charge the new camcorder battery so I asked the man at the internet place. I got them charged but couldn’t get the camcorder to work and I was considering my options – go back to Vientiane with it (another overnight on the bus) or carry on and hope to get it fixed under guarantee when I got home. I decided to go back and then get a flight to Siem Reap for Angkor.

16-08-09

I’d booked a waterfall tour with the guy at the internet place. That was leaving at 8 am. Back over to the other side on the titchy boat, a ride in a minibus for about one and a half hours, turfed out at the site and told to be back in one hour – some tour!! The driver could only get first, third and fifth gears and he was taking passengers down to the border and then picking up more to go to the islands along with the three he’d dropped off at the waterfall. Well the waterfall was spectacular but it would have been nice to have someone explain things to us.

We got back to Don Det around lunchtime so what to do? There was a small bridge connecting Don Det to Don Khon and that island had a waterfall too so maybe I should walk to it? I set off on the sunrise side of the island and although it was quite hot, the path was very shady. I got over the bridge and a little man jumped out and demanded 9,000 kip for crossing it. I paid up then called at a café for some lunch. I made the mistake of shaking the warm bottle of tomato sauce and when I took the lid off, it exploded all over me, the table and the floor! What a mess I was in. All I could do was laugh. The lady took me to the bathroom and cleaned me of best she could. My top dried on me while I was walking to the waterfall and it was miles away. I then had to walk back but I took the shorter tuk-tuk road across the middle of the island. I couldn’t have walked on that road during the day as there was no shade. I must have walked about 12 kms in all but it was a nice walk and I took it very slowly.

Although the island was lovely during the day, the nights seemed awful long once the generators were switched off at 10 pm, so two nights were definitely enough.

18-08-09

I didn’t leave until 11 am but the unlucky ones who were catching the 8 am ferry would have got absolutely drenched as the heavens opened just before they left.

It was a nice run back to Pakse with time to spend in the town before catching the night sleeper back to Vientiane. This bus had 40 inches for a double bed but again I didn’t have to share it with anyone. I was over the back wheels and the bus swayed from side to side like a boat but I managed to sleep OK.

19.08.09

I had breakfast before looking for a room as it was quite early and then when I started asking I was told to come back after 11am. I needed a room before then just to dump the bags. Like I always say, there is always a room at the best hotel in town. The Vayakorn wasn’t the top hotel but it wasn’t cheap – but they did take Visa! It was quite an old hotel with huge rooms and lovely wooden floors. Outdoor shoes were not allowed up the stairs and there were warnings to be careful coming down in socks as ’’you may fall down’”.

I went back with the camcorder and the man was very surprised to see me. I told him I couldn’t get it to work. Wouldn’t you know, he just switched it on and it started!!! I hadn’t been holding the button in long enough. He was most apologetic as he thought he hadn’t taught me properly! Talk about feeling a right divvy! Any way, problem solved, now to get the ticket to Siem Reap. There were no flights out until the 21^st. I weighed up the options; back to Pakse on the night sleeper, over to the Cambodian border and then on to Siem Reap, two and a half days travelling; or going into Thailand (the border was only thirty minutes away), flying down to Bangkok (it was a pretty cheap internal flight) and by road to Siem Reap - again two and a half days on the road. I booked the flight!

I had my evening meal about 7:30 and found I was dropping asleep so back to the hotel. My sleep patterns are shot to hell. I find I am going to bed at 9 pm and waking up and being out for 6 am.

20.08.09

All the temples were decked out in bunting and I found out later that it had been some kind of holy day when people took food, gifts and money for the monks. It seemed quite a social affair and I’m only sorry I didn’t get the full tale.

I took a walk down by the river at night and it looked really nice with all the food stalls set out. It really reminded me of the Greek harbours. I met the French couple who had been on the bus from Phonsavanh having a last meal before they flew home the next morning.