Don Det - 4000 islands?

Next we headed to Don Det - but first we had to get the Stray bus across the Mekong... On a raft of planks, as you do in SEA.....

Getting the bus on the raft

Success!

Driver and fellow strays relaxing until the next tricky bit - getting the bus back off!

Our punk rocker captain!

How many men does it take to get a bus off the 'ferry'? At least 3 with one to photograph it!

Success! We gave the driver a standing ovation!

So the main thing about Don Det is that it's an island. There are a lot of them in the Mekong at this area - however there are not 4000 so the name 4000 islands is a misnomer. The name arose from a language misunderstanding and stuck.

The other things that Don Det is known for is chillaxing by the river, tubing and hammocks! We participated of the hammocks but not the river - it's very brown at this time of year and didn't look too clean. Kitty had seen a dead pig floating in it further upriver and that was enough to put us off....

So hammock for sunset it was - and a very nice sunset it was too:

The following day we decided we needed some exercise - so we hired bikes and headed off down the island towards Don Khone where there promised to be another waterfall and perhaps some Mekong dolphins.

The path down the island was basically a track, but heavily used by the locals on motos, bikes and on foot. The wooden plank bridges across the streams were a little unnerving given that the planks moved!

We made it to the bridge across to Don Khone and to the waterfall - the waterfall is a large rapid which makes the Mekong impassable to boats from the ocean. Now the reason why there is a bridge between the 2 islands is because the French - whilst trying to defend their Indochina possessions from Thailand  - wanted to get gun boats over the rapids. With Vietnamese help they built a railway all the way from the base of Don Khone up to the top of Don Det - so the bridge was the railway bridge and the 'road' we cycled on was the old railway bed.

Waterfall

Cat at the tip of Don Khone - can you see the dolphins?! (No me neither, but you can see Cambodia in the distance!)

Water buffalo at various stages of watering & mudiness! Mud mud, mud mud, nothing quite like it for cooling the blood!

On the way back up the island for beers at a sunset bar we met a few locals on the path - one guy pushing a trolley by hand (you usually saw them hooked up to a motorbike) was very taken with my height, sunglasses and blonde hair, and having noticed that I wasn't wearing a wedding ring, said I could marry him! I just laughed and then cycled on....

Another glorious Don Det sunset -this time with beer!

Nb the accommodation on Don Det was bungalows - however not all are the same quality - we put up with concave beds in a sweat box because we were only there for 2 nights, so check out the room before you agree to take it! (We didn't have much choice being on the tour :s )

Monkey homestay, another waterfall & Wat Phu

After a dubious 'local' baguette of homemade pâté with extra pig lard we left Thakek and headed to our next homestay.

This required buying our dinner from the market and changing from the orange Stray bus to a Sorngtaaou (4 wheel drive truck with seats - more robust than a tuk tuk!) and heading down some dirt roads.

On the way we stopped at a turtle sanctuary - the turtles are considered sacred as they are meant to be the souls of departed villagers, however they are ugly as f*ck!

Next stop was the Buddha park and scroll library where we girls had to dress up in traditional dress to access (not entirely sure why - the boys could just wear what there were wearing!)

Library on stilts

Buddha park

Religious scrolls on palm leaf

The cupboard the scrolls are kept in - amazing that they've lasted so long without proper storage!

The girls dressed up traditionally - we almost look demure!

After the religious stop we headed to our second homestay which was at a village by the monkey temple - so in our luggage was a lot of bananas for feeding time. Most of the monkeys were well behaved with us - but the squabbling over the bananas amongst them was a little scary!

In the back of the truck going to meet the Stray bus the next morning. We waved to a lot of school children on their way to school!

Next stop was Tat Lo waterfall on the Bolvean plateau - this area of Laos is famous for its coffee growing. We just enjoyed the spray from the waterfall!

Getting a little bit wet!

Next stop was Wat Phu - billed in the guide book as a smaller less crowded version of Angkor Wat - a load of tosh! Yes it was built at the same time as Angkor and had a road leadi directly to that other temple complex, but it's nothing like the same scale of size or grandeur and hasn't been well preserved despite the fact that its still in use as a religious site - originally Hindu, now Buddhist.

Kong Lor and boat festival

From Vientiane we headed to Kong Lor - a tiny tiny village with one rather large cave.

7.5km of cave to be precise....

The cave was carved out through the karst by the river - so the best (& only!) way to see it is by long tail boat.

However these were considerably smaller boats than I've been in before - no fancy chairs, life jackets provided and only 2 inches of clearance above the water, needless to say we got wet!

The cave was pretty spectacular - in places the ceiling soars to 100m high and when we stopped to look at the rock formations the stalagmites and stalactites were impressive (especially because of the lighting - everything else was pitch black!). We also saw bats hanging from the ceiling.

When we had done our successful pass through the cave - which involved climbing a rapid, some weren't so successful at that! - we paused at the village the otherside and grabbed some refreshments. Shortly it was back on the boat and back to the rapids - whilst we made those we did get grounded on gravel banks inside the cave a few times - luckily for us the boat guys got out and pushed!

That evening we enjoyed a movie marathon when we should have been out in the village enjoying the opening celebrations for the end of Buddhist lent. Those that did go took part in the ceremony and blessing and then the traditional dancing etc. However for most of us overindulging in the Lao Lao the night before meant a lack of motivation to get out and join in!

On the way to the border town of Thakek we stopped at a secret location surrounded by rock formations for lunch - unsurprisingly it's well known by the climbing community.

On arrival in Thakek we were met by hordes of crowds - the boat festival was on to celebrate the end of Buddhist lent - the ceremonies to bless the boats had been the night before.

We managed to see a few boat races from the edge of the packed street we were staying on - prime location for all the activities, centred between about 7 soundstages, no point trying to sleep so we had to join the party!

To start off we saw paper lanterns being lit & flying majestically away into the night sky. Also offerings of flowers were being made and candles in them lit before they were floated down the river. Large floats of lights in the shape of ships came down the river - firing out fireworks periodically. 

It was all a bit manic with hand launched fireworks whizzing above the crowd - paper lanterns either failing to rise or going up in flames.But after a few beers you didn't really mind that - so off we went to one of the loud sound stages to dance like falangs amidst the young Lao people! 

The people were very welcoming for the whole of the festival - although we stood out so obviously and we got a lot of stares for wearing shorts or singlet tops. A few women stopped to stare at us and attempted to ask questions - but there was a bit of a language barrier. We managed to communicate that we liked the falang music, but we also knew Laos style dancing - that got a laugh out of them!

Some of the older women and kids would also come up to us and grab and rub our arms - I'm not 100% sure why - think they were checking to see if our whiteness came off! They were more confused with those of our group with deep tans!

Coping with cluster bombs

Laos is the most bombed country in the world.

Not many people know that, strangely enough as it was never publicised at the time.

The US spent $2m a day to bomb neutral Laos during the Vietnam war - every day for nine years.

WTF America?!

The reasoning behind the bombing was to close down the Ho Chi Minh trail which came over the border from Vietnam, but they managed to bomb 70% of the country.

However the effects are still seen 40 years later as 30% of the ordnance is unexplored and still live in the ground in Laos - just waiting for kids to pick up cluster bombs (they look like tennis balls) and play with them. Or for the adults to see a large bomb casing and imagine how much money it will bring them to feed their family.

Bombies - the anti personnel cluster bombs - one canister could cover a 30m radius

100 people die from bombs or bombies exploding each year.

Many more are injured and disabled.

This is where organisations like COPE come in. We visited the COPE centre in Vientiane, next to the disabled stadium & Paralympic training centre.  

COPE helps people without limbs from exploded ordnance and other disabled people in Laos - including those with club foot. They help in a number of ways - prosthetic limbs, household improvements, physical therapy and training with specially adapted devices like the ones below:

Despite the fact that the Americans are to blame for the unexplored ordnance their main source if funding is from Austria - not the US.... Even Hillary Clinton admitted that the US should do more in a recent visit.

Viva Vang Vieng!

So the road to Vang Vieng on the orange Stray Asia bus was the windiest one I've been on in a while.

Getting to Vang Vieng meant going up & over some mountains until we arrived in limestone karst scenery - truly stunning!

On the way we stopped at a rest point with a loo with a view. The squatties didn't have any windows - just open sided to the valley and view after.

After we got to Vang Vieng we had to go through the official rite of passage for the town and go tubing. This requires renting an inner tube, getting a tuk tuk up the river and drifting down it stopping off at bars as you go. The multitude of bars and swings and zip lines meant that lots of people used to die here - so the government closed down most bars and removed the swings and zip lines. Having almost crashed into rocks under the surface of the water in my tube I can see how things would go wrong...

But for us it was all fine - until Cat and I got into some mud wrestling - unfortunately there were rocks under the mud and we both got grazes - ouch!

That evening was a group dinner with the Stray Asia crew and for those that could handle drinking for that long - dancing! However I couldn't so to bed it was.

The following day whilst some of the girls chilled out their hangovers, V, Kitty, Morag and I cycled out of town to the organic mulberry farm. Mr T - the owner and manager took us on a tour around, showing us the different mulberry bushes (for fruit or for feeding the silk worms - not something they focus on anymore), the goats, the pigs, the guinea pigs, the mud brick houses and then finally we got to try some mulberry leaves tempura, mulberry green tea and goats cheese!

Day 3 in Vang Vieng we decided to cycle out of town to the blue lagoon. This is situated by a cave about 7km along the dirt track out of town. 

To get to the track you have to pay a toll to cross the bamboo bridges and when they say dirt track they mean track with a lot of stones... Even on a mountain bike it felt like being on a bucking bronco! 

But it was worth it for a dip/swing/jump into the lagoon!

Whilst the girls went tubing on the final day V and I had a chilled morning (me nursing my illness with a tonne of paracetamol and strepsils - it's amazing what the pharmacies stock over here!) and then took a tuk tuk to the second bar to hang out with the girls for a few hours, grab some lunch and body paint before heading back to get ready for dinner.

That's my leg at the bottom - Cameo was body painter extraordinaire!

Our final dinner was pies at Gary's Irish bar - not exactly Lao!

Luang Prabang

Luang Prabang is a really beautiful French colonial town - tiny but perfectly formed and so cute! It's stayed this way by being a UNESCO World Heritage site and they don't allow buses and trucks into the town centre which is refreshing.

On arrival here we headed straight to get some baguettes for lunch - gotta love the French influence!

Then to cool down we took a tuk tuk and boat to Tad Sae waterfall - we're lucky to be here at the end of the wet season as this waterfall doesn't exist in dry season.

The water was so nice and refreshing - I actually felt cold for once!! We all splashed around in our t shirts and shorts (modesty being a key part of the locals lives) and summoned up the courage to jump off the waterfalls.

That evening we had a posh dinner at Dyen Sabai which involved taking a boat across the Nam Khan river and walking up the steps by the river bank illuminated by rope lights. The restaurant sits on a series of platforms on stilts by the river - it's really pretty but a mosquito lair! The only place I didn't put repellent was the soles of my feet - so of course that's where I got bitten!

Cat & me with the rest of the girls in our group, plus Billy our tour leader.

The restaurant's speciality is the 'fondue' - more like a BBQ and stock pot in one. You get a bucket of coals with a special metal top - you fry the meat on the top and add noodles & veggies to the liquid around the side for a complete meal. The buffalo meat was very tasty!

The following day 4 of us went on a trek with our local Stray guide, Cho. We started off in a Khamu village and also went through a Hmong one. These distinctly different tribes have different ways of building their traditional huts - however there was one similarity - they all had satellite dishes!

We trekked through the fields outside of the village and into the jungle to see the hermit cave. The cave  was used as a bomb shelter during the Indochina war and is named for the large stalagmite that had been carved into a figure.

In the fields.

Avoiding the leeches in the jungle we headed to Kuang Si waterfall - waking down part of it where the wet season water level runs over the steps and passing monks on their way up.

The full glory of the waterfall.

After a quick cold swim we had a lunch of BBQ fish, sticky rice with Lao papaya salad and stir fried veg - all very healthy!

We were up early to see monks receiving alms but too late so we went to yoga and brunch instead, followed by massages. Mine was a warm herb massage and smelt lovely!

For sunset we headed to Phousi hill (also spelt Phu Si - English script language is quite flexible here) pronounced pussy - lots of jokes about that.....

Sunset was beautiful despite the hordes at the top of the hill - apparently sunrise is the better time to go....

That evening we ran into Kitty in a bar (having last seen her in Chang Mai headed for Pai) and celebrated by going to the only late night action - bowling!! The cheapest way to drink at the bowling was a bottle of the local rice whiskey, Lao Lao and seven up - it's not true what they say about not getting hangovers from Lao Lao! 

The next day we were all suffering and chilled out at Books & Tea cafe to watch The Killing Fields on DVD.

When we were feeling up to it we hired bikes and cycled around town, visiting the most famous temple  Wat Xieng Thong with its amazing decoration & mosaics.

To finish our bicycle tour we headed over the old bridge across the river - a tad scary with all the mopeds and motorbikes following us! 

We then headed to Dyen Sabai for happy hour drinks and a scrabble competition, bringing me out of retirement - although I didn't win, I didn't come last :)

We also visited the national museum which used to be the royal palace until 1975 when the communist party won power and ended the monarchy. The palace isn't that old - built in the 1950s and has lots of 60s furniture as well as lots of gifts from other countries on display.

The royal car collection was all gifts from the American government and the palace had its own petrol pumps - just about the only thing we were allowed to photograph!

As we had some more time in Luang Prabang we were able to lounge around at the pool La Pistoche for a couple of days - sampling their 2-4-1 cocktails! We also tried out the night market buffet - 10000 kip for all you can pile on your plate (less than £1) and 30000 kip for a BBQ fish to go with it - we ate well in Luang Prabang!

On the morning we left we finally managed to get up at 5am to see the monks collecting alms - unfortunately it was a bit of a circus with many tour groups wizzing up in buses, not knowing what they were doing and getting in the monks faces with flash photography (a complete no no). We'd been warned before that it was touristy and not to buy rice from the street sellers to give the monks - soon there will be more locals selling rice than giving alms....